we find that exalted Indian official, Sir W.
Mansfield, entertaining certain dire suspicions
in his own mind that his aid-de-camp, Captain
Jervis, had been making free with certain stores
of which he had the charge, and which were
the property of no less a person than Sir
William himself. Among the numerous and
most varied functions devolving upon Sir
William's aid-de-camp—of which something
more presently—those of housekeeper or
steward seem to have held a prominent place,
and it was in the exercise of this office that he
obtained the entire control over all the good
things, such as ham, preserved meats, choice
wines, and even sardines, Harvey sauce, and
pickles—as it comes out in evidence—with
which the great Sir William's store-rooms were
filled.

When and how it happened that misgivings
first entered the mind of Sir William concerning
the strict honesty of his aid-de-camp, it
seems difficult to find out. Such misgivings,
however, did enter his mind and found rest
there; and so one day, after a consultation of a
somewhat critical nature with his butler, he
determined to bring Captain Jervis before a
court-martial, charging him with the
misappropriation, among other things, of one hundred
bottles of sherry, two of port, sixty-one of
champagne, twenty-four of sauterne, eighty-
eight of claret, and one hundred and fourteen
of that favourite Indian beverage bitter beer.
He is also accused of making free with a bottle
of vinegar, one of mustard, two of salad oil,
one of mixed pickles, two of Harvey sauce and
sundry jars of capers, jam, and other delicacies.
There had been picnics got up it appeared at
the station during Sir William's absence, when
a great many of these stores had been made
use of, and when, according to the accusation
brought against him, Captain Jervis had sold
some of the wines belonging to his chief to
some of the officers of the regiment. Of course
the aid-de-camp's indignant defence is that
he had intended to make all these things good
when the time came for sending in his accounts,
setting the value of the different articles against
certain sums due to him from Sir William for
other matters, and so striking a clear balance.
But there would seem to have been all sorts of
delays in the rendering up of these same accounts,
and Sir William appears to have become
impatient, and so the accusation and the court-
martial followed. Captain Jervis appears to
have made himself unpopular with his
commanding officer in various ways, but especially
by this slowness in sending in his accounts; a
reluctance which may have been, in part,
attributable to an announcement made by Lady
Mansfield, who appears to have got mixed up in
some mysterious way in the transaction, that
she herself was minded to examine the accounts
of this suspected aid-de-camp, or one might
almost say aide-de-ménage, at the first available
opportunity.

There is one circumstance connected with this
great sardine and pickle case which, though
not directly bearing on the theme which we are
illustrating, is yet in itself so good and refreshing,
that it must be allowed to come in for a
word in parenthesis. On one of the days of
trial a certain document, or, as it was called, a
"memo," elaborately defining Sir William
Mansfield's ideas as to the duties of an aid-de-camp,
was put in in evidence, as showing that
at least Captain Jervis, who had had many
previous opportunities of studying it, could not
plead ignorance of the things that were
expected of him in his official capacity. As the
reader would, perhaps, like to know what is
expected—in private life—of these gentlemen,
whose duties have always seemed to us
outsiders to consist in galloping wildly about at
reviews and sham fights from one part of the
mimic battle-field to another, with no particular
object, we will just quote one or two extracts
from this wonderful " memo," by way of
imparting some information on this important
subject to those whom it may concern.

We find it stated in this document, "That
aides are to wait daily on Sir William, and that
the one in waiting is to dine; that orders from
Lady M. are to be regarded as orders from Sir
William himself." "Proper respect is to be
shown to guests," Sir William says, and,
à propos of this, makes the following special
remarks: " Many visitors having come, on one
of Lady M.'s reception days, for the purpose of
waiting on her ladyship, it seems to have been
forgotten by the A.D.C. in waiting that it was
part of his duty to usher in ladies or gentlemen
who called, and to remain in the drawing-room
while the visit lasted, peforming his part in the
entertainment of the visitors, and showing them
out again."

"The  commander-in-chief has learnt, with
great pain, that in the case of one of his aids-
de-camp, the ordinary civility of calling upon
families who are in the habit of visiting at his
excellency's house has been omitted. His
excellency says, once for all, that he cannot permit
such a state of things, now that it has come to
his knowledge. No officer is fit to be an A. D. C.
if it does not suit him to call generally on all
the visiting acquaintances of his excellency and
Lady M., and to be on such terms of familiar
courtesy as to be able to take his part in the
general conversation of the dinner-table and the
drawing-room, with the ease of one on visiting
terms." Arduous duties these for a gentleman
who might happen to have " no conversation,"
and who might yet be a valuable and efficient
officer. But Sir W. has not done with his
victim yet as we find by the following: " His
excellency desires to signify his disapproval of
the disappearance of an A. D. C. from the
drawing-room after dinner, before the departure
of the guests. This, however unintentional, is
a rudeness to the guests, and disrespectful to
the lady of the house, unless there is an especial
engagement, which, in the ordinary course of
society, should be mentioned to the latter."

We have space but for one more extract from,
the memo.: " When Lady M. is in India, any