F.C., will
communicate with Messrs. Mills & Cheyne, solicitors 130 Bedford
Row, W. C., he will hear of something to his advantage.
Difficulties with the military can be arranged."
Desmond read this advertisement over once and then, starting at
the beginning, read it over again. Gunner Barling... the name
conjured up a picture of a jolly, sun-burned man, always very
spick and span, talking the strange lingo of our professional
army gleaned from India, Aden, Malta and the Rock, the type of
British soldier that put the Retreat from Mons into the history
books for all time.
Advertisements like this; Desmond reflected dreamily, meant
legacies as a rule; he was glad of it, for the sake of Barling
whom he hadn't seen since the far-away days of Aldershot before
the war.
"Buzzer" Barling was the brother of one Private Henry Barling who
had been Desmond's soldier-servant. He derived the nickname of
"Buzzer" from the fact that he was a signaller. As the
vicissitudes of service had separated the two brothers for many
years, they had profited by the accident of finding themselves at
the same station to see as much of one another as possible, and
Desmond had frequently come across the gunner at his quarters in
barracks. Henry Barling had gone out to France with Desmond but a
sniper in the wood at Villers Cotterets had deprived Desmond of
the best servant and the truest friend he had ever had Now here
was Henry's brother cropping up again.
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