as charged with drunkenness. His defence was
as straightforward as it was brief:

I had just been ordered up to the Front. So I stood my friends a
dinner; I had a bottle of Burgundy, two liqueurs, and a brandy and
soda, and--I am just nineteen.

This ingenuous plea in confession and avoidance pleased the Court. He
got off with a reprimand.

The _liaison_ officers deserve a chapter to themselves. Their name alone
is so endearing. Their mission is not, as might be supposed, to promote
_mariages de convenance_ between English Staff officers and French
ladies, but to transmit billets-doux between the two Armies and,
generally, to promote the amenities of military intercourse. As a rule
they are charming fellows, chosen with a very proper eye to their
personal qualities as well as their proficiency in the English language.
Among them I met a Count belonging to one of the oldest families in
France, an Oriental scholar of European reputation, and a Professor of
English literature. The younger ones studied our peculiarities with the
most ingratiating zeal, and one of them, in particular, played and sang
"Tipperary" with masterly technique at an uproarious tea-party in a
_patisserie_ at Bethune. Also they smoothed over little
misunderstandings about _delits de chasse_, gently forbore to smile at
our French, and assisted in the issue of the _laisser-passer_. Doubtless
they performed many much more weighty and mysterious duties, but I only
speak of what I know. To me they were more than kind; they gave me
introductions to their families when I went on official visits to Paris
and to the French lines; zealously assisted me to hunt down evidence,
and sometimes accompanied me on my tour of investigation. Among the many
agreeable memories I cherish of the _camaraderie_ at G.H.Q. the
recollection of their constant kindness and courtesy is not the least.

One word before I leave the subject of the Staff. There has been of late
a good deal of pestilential gossip by luxurious gentlemen at home about
the Staff and its work. It is, they say, very bad--mostly beer and
skittles. I have already referred to these charges elsewhere; here I
will only add one word. A Staff is known by its chief. He it is who sets
the pace. During the time I was attached to it, the G.H.Q. Staff had two
chiefs in succession. The first was a brilliant soldier of high
intellectual gifts, now chief of the Imperial Staff at home, who,
although emb