human
By Jove! Tom Newcombe, by all that's wonderful!
gpt
That's not his name. It's Blanchard. He's a young fool of a farmer, and Lord knows what he's got to be so cock-a-hoop about. Up the hill they're selling every stick he's got at auction. He's ruined.
human
He might be ruined, indeed, if I liked. 'Tom Newcombe' he called himself when he was with us.
gpt
A soldier!
human
He certainly was, and my servant; about the most decent, straightforward, childlike chap that ever I saw.
gpt
God!
human
You're surprised. But it's a fact. That's Newcombe all right. You couldn't forget a face and a laugh like his. The handsomest man I've ever seen, bar none. He borrowed a suit of my clothes, the beggar, when he vanished. But a week later I had the things back with a letter. He trusted me that far. I tried to trace him, of course, but was not sorry I failed.
gpt
A letter!
human
Yes, giving a reason for his desertion. Some chap was running after his girl and had got her in a corner and bullied her into saying 'Yes,' though she hated the sight of him. I'd have done anything for Tom. But he took the law into his own hands. He disappeared--we were at Shorncliffe then if I remember rightly. The chap had joined to get abroad, and he told me all his harum-scarum ambitions once. I hope the poor devil was in time to rescue his sweetheart, anyway.
gpt
Yes, he was in time for that.
human
I'm glad.
gpt
Should you see him again, Tremayne, I would advise your pretending not to know him. Unless, of course, you consider it your duty to proclaim him.
human
Bless your life, I don't know him from Adam, declared the Major.
gpt
I'm not going to move after all these years. I wish he'd come back to me again, all the same. A good servant.
human
Poor brute! What's the procedure with a deserter? Do you send soldiers for him or the police?
gpt
A pair of handcuffs and the local bobby, that's all. Then the man's handed over to the military authorities and court-martialled.
human
What would he get?
gpt
Depends on circumstances and character. Tom might probably have six months, as he didn't give himself up. I should have thought, knowing the manner of man, that he would have done his business, married the girl, then come back and surrendered. In that case, being peace time, he would only have forfeited his service, which didn't amount to much.