Occasionally I receive letters from friends whom I have not seen
lately addressed to Lieutenant M---- and apologising prettily inside
in case I am by now a colonel; in drawing-rooms I am sometimes called
"Captain-er"; and up at the Fort the other day a sentry of the Royal
Defence Corps, wearing the Créçy medal, mistook me for a Major,
and presented crossbows to me. This is all wrong. As Mr. GARVIN
well points out, it is important that we should not have a false
perspective of the War. Let me, then, make it perfectly plain--I am a
Second Lieutenant.
When I first became a Second Lieutenant I was rather proud. I was a
Second Lieutenant "on probation." On my right sleeve I wore a single
star. So:
*
(on probation, of course).
On my left sleeve I wore another star. So:
*
(also on probation).
They were good stars, none better in the service; and as we didn't
like the sound of "on probation" Celia put a few stitches in them to
make them more permanent. This proved effective. Six months later
I had a very pleasant note from the KING telling me that the days
of probation were now over, and making it clear that he and I were
friends.
I was now a real Second Lieutenant. On my right sleeve I had a single
star. Thus:
*
(not on probation).
On my left sleeve I also had a single star. In this manner:
*
This star also was now a fixed one.
From that time forward my thoughts dwelt naturally on promotion. There
were exalted persons in the regiment called Lieutenants. They had two
stars on each sleeve. So:
* *