timid as a hare.
She blushed and smiled, looked down so shy,
And then--looked up again--
My comrades warned me: 'Mind your eye,
With Twisting Jane!'

I wooed her thus, not sure but slow,
To kiss she vowed a crime,--
For she was 'reining back,' you know,
While I was 'marking time.'

'Alas!' I thought, 'these dainty charms
Are not for me, 'tis plain;
Too long she keeps me under arms,
Does Twisting Jane.'

Our corporal-major says to me,
One day before parade,
'She's gammoning you, young chap,' says he,
'Is that there artful jade!
You'll not be long of finding out,
When nothing's left to gain,
How quick the word is "Threes about!"
With Twisting Jane!'

Our corporal-major knows what's what;
I peeped above her blind;
The tea was made--the toast was hot--
She looked so sweet and kind.
My captain in her parlour sat,
It gave me quite a pain,
With coloured clothes, and shining hat,
By Twisting Jane.

The major he came cantering past,
She bustled out to see,--
'O, major! is it you at last?
Step in and take your tea.'
The major halted--winked his eye--
Looked up and down the lane;
And in he went his luck to try
With Twisting Jane.

I waited at 'attention' there,
Thinks I, 'There'll soon be more.'
The colonel's phaeton and pair
Came grinding to the door.
She gave him such a sugary smile,
(Old men is very vain!)
'It's you I looked for all the while,'
Says Twisting Jane,

'I've done with you for good,' I cried,
'You're never on the square;
Fight which you please on either side,
But hang it, lass, fight fair!
I won't be last--I can't be first--
So look for me in vain
When next you're out "upon the burst,"
Miss Twisting Jane!--
When next you're out "upon the burst,"
Miss Twisting Jane!'

"A jolly good song," cried the affable young gentleman who had
instigated the effort, adding, with a quaint glance at the grizzled
visage and towering proportions of the singer, "You're very much
improved, old chap--not so shy, more power, more volume. If you mind
your music, I'll get you a place as a chorister-boy in the Chapel
Royal, after all. You're just the size, and your manner's the very
thing!"

"Wait till I get _you_ in the school with that new charger," answered
the other, laughing. "I think, gentlemen, it's my call. I'll ask our
adjutant here to g