"Twas so we found O'Hara, he that Rafferty killed six years gone, when he wint to his death wid his hair oiled, whistlin' _Larry O'Rourke_ betune his teeth. Kape out av the Married Quarters, I say, as I did not, 'Tis onwholesim, 'tis dangerous, an' 'tis ivrything else that's bad, but--O my sowl, 'tis swate while ut lasts! "I was always hangin' about there whin I was off duty an' Bragin wasn't, but niver a sweet word beyon' ordinar' did I get from Annie Bragin. ''Tis the pervarsity av the sect,' sez I to mesilf, an' gave my cap another cock on my head an' straightened my back--'twas the back av a Dhrum Major in those days--an' wint off as tho' I did not care, wid all the women in the Married Quarters laughin'. I was pershuaded--most bhoys _are_, I'm thinkin'--that no women born av woman cud stand against me av I hild up my little finger. I had reason fer thinkin' that way--till I met Annie Bragin. "Time an' agin whin I was blandandherin' in the dusk a man wud go past me as quiet as a cat. 'That's quare,' thinks I, 'for I am, or I should be, the only man in these parts. Now what divilment can Annie be up to?' Thin I called myself a blayguard for thinkin' such things; but I thought thim all the same. An' that, mark you, is the way av a man. "Wan evenin' I said:--'Mrs. Bragin, manin' no disrespect to you, who is that Corp'ril man'--I had seen the stripes though I cud niver get sight av his face--'_who_ is that Corp'ril man that comes in always whin I'm goin' away?' "'Mother av God!' sez she, turnin' as white as my belt; 'have _you_ seen him too?' "'Seen him!' sez I; 'av coorse I have. Did ye want me not to see him, for'--we were standin' talkin' in the dhark, outside the veranda av Bragin's quarters--'you'd betther tell me to shut me eyes. Onless I'm mistaken, he's come now.' "An', sure enough, the Corp'ril man was walkin' to us, hangin' his head down as though he was ashamed av himsilf. "'Good-night, Mrs. Bragin,' sez I, very cool; ''tis not for me to interfere wid your _a-moors;_ but you might manage some things wid more dacincy. I'm off to canteen', I sez. "I turned on my heel an' wint away, swearin' I wud give that man a dhressin' that wud shtop him messin' about the Married Quarters for a month an' a week. I had not tuk ten paces before Annie Bragin was hangin' on to my arm, an' I cud feel that she was shakin' all over. "'Stay wid me, Mister Mulvaney,' sez she; 'you're flesh an' blood, at the least--are ye not?' "'I'm _all_ that,' sez I, an' my anger wint away in a flash. 'Will I want to be asked twice, Annie?' "Wid that I slipped my arm round her waist, for, begad, I fancied she had surrindered at discretion, an' the honors av war were mine, "'Fwhat nonsinse is this?' sez she, dhrawin' hersilf up on the tips av her dear little toes. 'Wid the mother's milk not dhry on your impident mouth? Let go!' she sez,