As a subaltern, M. de Haldimar had ever been considered
a pattern of rigid propriety and decorum of conduct. Not
the shadow of military crime had ever been laid to his
charge. He was punctual at all parades and drills; kept
the company to which he was attached in a perfect hot
water of discipline; never missed his distance in marching
past, or failed in a military manoeuvre; paid his mess-bill
regularly to the hour, nay, minute, of the settling day;
and was never, on any one occasion, known to enter the
paymaster's office, except on the well-remembered 24th
of each month; and, to crown all, he had never asked,
consequently never obtained, a day's leave from his
regiment, although he had served in it so long, that
there was now but one man living who had entered it with
him. With all these qualities, Ensign de Haldimar promised
to make an excellent soldier; and, as such, was encouraged
by the field-officers of the corps, who unhesitatingly
pronounced him a lad of discernment and talent, who would
one day rival them in all the glorious privileges of
martinetism. It was even remarked, as an evidence of his
worth, that, when promoted to a lieutenancy, he looked
down upon the ensigns with that becoming condescension
which befitted his new rank; and up to the captains with
the deferential respect he felt to be due to that third
step in the five-barred gate of regimental promotion, on
which his aspiring but chained foot had not yet succeeded
in reposing.
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