"Yes, miss; on the camp bed. He has fever as well, through the cold water they soused his head in when he got violent. He will be all right in a few days. I have put a piece of raw beef on his eye and a poultice on his jaw. He won't be able to talk for a day or two, but that won't matter. As William, his father, used to say: 'Many suffer through too much talking, but very few through too much silence.' I want you to come and look at him, miss." "Me! Oh! Mrs. Hulver! I don't think I need come. I am sure that you know what is best for him, and will see that it is done," said Eola, not at all in sympathy with the suggestion. "All the same, miss, I should feel more satisfied if you would glance your eye over him," said Mrs. Hulver, in her most determined manner, which, as Eola knew by experience, took no denial. "It will be good for him to see how seriously you take it. As William--that was my second--used to say: 'Get your shot in when and how you can; don't wait for the enemy to come and ask for it.' It's just the same with advice to the young." "I am afraid I can't do any good." "Oh yes, you can, miss; and it isn't you to take a back seat where duty calls and you're really wanted. Of course I know that young soldiers are hot-headed, and we can't give them or any one else our experience any more than we can give them our digestions. Experience unbought teaches naught. They've all got to have it like the measles, and it seasons them and makes men of them. As William--that was my first--used to say: 'Man is like a curry; he needs a lot of seasoning, and it can't be done all in a minute.'" Eola rose very reluctantly. Visiting sick soldiers who were suffering from their own indiscretions was not at all to her mind. Mrs. Hulver's tongue continued to run on. She bemoaned her boy's behaviour in one breath, and made excuses for him in another, with many quotations from the sayings of the defunct Williams. "The boy had no business to go into the canteen at all; but he's young and easily misled. As William--that was my first--used to say: 'You can't roll a good cigar with green leaf.'" Then as Eola lagged behind, showing increasing disinclination for her task, she urged her more strongly. "Come along, miss, please! Come for my sake and show yourself. It's for his good. You need not stay long. Just stand a minute near the bed and say as solemn as you can make it: 'William, I'm sorry to see you like this. Let it be a lesson!' Then you turn and go away quite slowly, and you say to me as you leave the room: 'This is very sad, Mrs. Hulver, very sad in one so young!' he won't forget it in a hurry you may be sure. Dear! dear! who would have thought it! As William--that was my third--used to say: 'Reckless youth makes rueful age.'"