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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Queen's Scarlet, by George Manville Fenn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Queen's Scarlet
+       The Adventures and Misadventures of Sir Richard Frayne
+
+Author: George Manville Fenn
+
+Illustrator: A. Monro Smith
+
+Release Date: March 12, 2008 [EBook #24813]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUEEN'S SCARLET ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+The Queen's Scarlet, by George Manville Fenn.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+The 17-year old Sir Richard Frayne, Baronet, and his cousin Mark, are
+both at a coach for the Army exam, after which, if successful, they
+would join the Army as officers.  But Mark is seen to be a cad and liar,
+and there is a fight between them, Mark being apparently dead.  Dick,
+who is a good musician, goes off with his flute in its case, intending
+to make his way to a city where there is an Army barracks and a Naval
+port, presumably Chatham, since we are in Kent.  He had intended to
+cross a river by a certain bridge, but the river was in flood, and the
+bridge had been washed away.  As he is looking at this, a drowning
+shepherd boy is washed by, and Dick dives in to try and rescue him,
+unsuccessfully.  But Dick's servant had followed him, and seen him dive
+in, assuming that Dick had committed suicide.  Furthermore the
+shepherd's body is later recovered, and presumed to be Dick's, so that
+it is buried at Dick's home church-yard.  Mark recovers, his sickly
+father inherits Dick's estate and baronetcy, but dies, and Mark in turn
+inherits.
+
+Meanwhile Dick had joined up as a bandsman.  Another regiment marches
+into the garrison town, and Dick's former servant turns up, and to his
+astonishment recognises Dick.  Mark is also an officer of this second
+regiment.  After various events in which Dick and Mark are both
+involved, though Mark pretends not to recognise Dick, there is a
+confrontation, in which Mark shoots his cousin in a hop-field, leaving
+him for dead.  But some workers who are spraying the hops for aphid,
+come across the body, and realise it is not quite dead.  Eventually
+Dick is nursed back to health in the barracks hospital, and Mark
+leaves, never to be seen again.  Dick easily recovers his estates and
+the title, finding that Mark had greatly lost the value of the estate,
+but with care he manages to recoup most of the loss.  He also passes the
+Army exam, and joins a regiment as an officer, having a distinguished
+career in the Army, as his father had done before him.
+
+It's a fairly short book, less than nine hours to read aloud, but an
+interesting one, and you will enjoy it.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+THE QUEEN'S SCARLET, BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+HEAD FIRST.
+
+Two rooks flew over the Cathedral Close, and as they neared the old
+square Norman tower they cawed in a sneering way.
+
+That was enough.  Out like magic came the jackdaws from hole and
+corner--snapping, snarling, and barking birdily--to join in a hue and
+cry as they formed a pack to drive away the bucolic intruders who dared
+to invade the precincts sacred to daws from the beginning of
+architectural time; and this task over, they returned to sit on corbel,
+leaden spout, crevice, and ledge, to erect the feathers of their
+powdered heads and make remarks to one another, till the chimes rang out
+and the big bell boomed the hour.
+
+"Bother Mark!" said Richard Frayne, Baronet.  "If he had ten thousand a
+year, he'd spend twenty.  I can't do it, and I won't."
+
+Richard Frayne puckered up his brow and began reading away at Lord
+Wolseley's Red Book--after being interrupted by the jackdaws--trying to
+master the puzzling military details, but finding it impossible while
+his brain was full of his cousin's money troubles; and at last, in
+despair, he pitched the little leather-covered book aside, walked to the
+side-table, took his handsome flute from its case, set up a piece of
+music on a stand, and began to run through a few preliminary flourishes
+that were peculiarly bird-like in their trilling, when there was a tap
+at the door and Jerry Brigley thrust in his head.
+
+"Wants to see you, sir."
+
+"Who does?" said Richard, hurriedly putting aside his flute.
+
+Jerry held out a card.
+
+"`Isaac Simpson, clerical and military tailor,'" read the young man.
+"What does he want with me?"  Then, quickly: "Oh! of course!  I know.
+Show him in."
+
+A little, stoutish, smooth man, in shiny broadcloth and a profuse
+perspiration, entered directly after, carrying a brown leather handbag
+and his hat, which he took from his left finger and thumb and used to
+make a most deferential bow.  There he stood, smiling and sleek, dabbing
+his face with a red silk handkerchief.
+
+"Very hot morning, sir, and your room's a bit 'igh."
+
+"You wanted to see me?" said Richard rather distantly.
+
+"Well, yes, sir--begging your pardon, sir.  By Mr Mark Frayne's
+introduction, sir.  Said business was business, and I might venture to
+call, sir.  Been Mr Mark Frayne's tailor, sir, three years come next
+quarter, sir; and I've ventured to bring my new patterns with me, sir."
+
+"My cousin should have spoken to me first, Mr Simpson," said Richard,
+"and I could have saved you this trouble."
+
+"Trouble, sir?  Oh! dear me, no, sir!  It's a pleasure to me to have the
+honour.  You see, I almost knew you personally though before, sir: Mr
+Mark Frayne was always talking about you and your country place.  Now, I
+have here, sir," said the visitor, rattling open his patterns like a
+card-trick, "some fashions that only come down by post this morning,
+sir; and I said to myself, `Here's your opportunity.  You can't expect a
+gentleman as has his garments from Servile Row to care about goods as
+every counter-jumper in Primchilsea has seen.  Go and let him have the
+first selection.'"
+
+"Thank you, Mr Simpson," said Richard, coldly, as he thought of his
+cousin and the money; "I have no reason for exchanging my tailor.
+Greatly obliged to you for calling."
+
+"No trouble, sir; no trouble--a pleasure, as one may say.  I thought I'd
+bring all the patterns as I was coming.  Then shall we settle that other
+little bit of business, sir, at once?  Some other time, p'raps, you may
+be able to give me a line."
+
+"What other business?" said Richard, flushing a little.
+
+"That little affair of the money, sir."
+
+"I have nothing to do with Mr Mark Frayne's affairs," said Richard,
+warmly.
+
+"Oh, sir, don't say that to a poor tradesman, sir!" said the tailor,
+shaking his head reproachfully, as he reopened the little handbag and
+drew a flat bill-case of large size from among the cards of patterns.
+"Mr Mark said if I would make it a bit easy, and drew at three, six,
+and nine, you would put your name to the paper, and there would be no
+more trouble."
+
+"My cousin had no right to say such a thing to you!" cried Richard.
+
+"Oh, sir, don't say that; it's such a little amount to a gentleman!  I
+have drawn it in three bills, a heighty and two fifties--hundred and
+heighty!  Why, it ain't worth thinking about twice for a gentleman like
+you!  Ha, ha, ha! it's like making three bites of a cherry!"
+
+"How much?" said Richard.
+
+"Total, hundred and eighty-three--five--six, with the stamps, sir," said
+the tailor, producing three slips of blue paper.
+
+"My cousin said he owed you only about eighty pounds!" cried Richard.
+
+"For clothes, sir," said the tailor, with a deprecating smile.  "The
+hundred was the cash advanced to oblige you, sir, as a gentleman."
+
+"What!"
+
+"The hundred I advanced for you two, Sir Richard."
+
+"For us two?  My good fellow, I had none of the money."
+
+"Oh, sir, don't say that!" cried the tailor, reproachfully.  "Of course,
+I know that gents wants a little money extry sometimes, and that it's a
+tradesman's dooty to help and oblige a customer if he can; and I did."
+
+"But--but--"
+
+"Don't, sir; please don't--you hurt me!  I respect Mr Mark Frayne very
+much; but you can't know him without seeing as he's a bit too free with
+his money, and I should never have dreamed of letting him have it if it
+hadn't been for you, sir."
+
+"It was not for me!" cried Richard, who was regularly roused and
+indignant now.  "I have nothing whatever to do with my cousin's debts."
+
+"Oh, sir, please don't!  I have not come for the money now, though it
+would be very convenient, for wholesale houses objects to waiting.
+There you are, you see!  You have only to sign the three bits of paper,
+and there'll be no more trouble for you at all."
+
+"But, look here," cried Richard, angrily, "you are insinuating that I
+received part of this money!"
+
+"Wouldn't it be better, Sir Richard, to say no more about it?" said the
+tailor.  "Money is money, sir; gold's gold; and, as for silver, why it's
+quicksilver, ain't it, now?  Of course, I know what young gents is, as I
+said before; and I don't want to make any trouble about it."
+
+"But listen," said Richard, trying to be quite calm and cool.  "Do I
+understand you aright?"
+
+"Oh, yes, sir; I'm right about money."
+
+"That I shared the borrowed money?"
+
+"Why, sir," said the man with a smile, "you don't suppose I should have
+lent it to Mr Mark Frayne, whose father's only a poor parson?  Not me!"
+
+"Then you lent it to him because you believed I was to have part?"
+
+"I lent it to you, sir, because I knew you was a barrynet, and would
+come in for your money in three or four years' time, and, of course, to
+oblige you--being short."
+
+"But--"
+
+"For I says to myself, `There's the money a-doing nothing in the bank,
+and it's obliging a gent who won't be above orderin' a few garments to
+make up for you obliging him, and--'"
+
+"Confound you! will you let me speak?" cried Richard angrily.
+
+"Of course, sir.  Glad to hear you speak, and sorry I come at an
+inconvenient time, when you were busy with your music; and--let me see--
+didn't Mr Mark say something about your wanting the cash to buy a new
+pianner?  Or was it an old fiddle?  I quite forget, sir; that I do."
+
+"Will you be silent a minute?  Did my cousin say that money was for me?"
+
+"Oh, yes, sir; or I shouldn't have--"
+
+"Then it was a lie--an abominable lie!" cried Richard, in a rage.  "Sign
+those papers and acknowledge that I had the money?  No!  So you can be
+off, and tell him so."
+
+Mr Isaac Simpson screwed up his face, bent over the table, and
+carefully spread the three oblongs of blue paper out, one above the
+other, holding the ends down, and smoothing them out slowly.
+
+"Well," cried Richard, hotly, "do you hear what I say?"
+
+"Oh, yes, Sir Richard Frayne, Baronet, I hear what you say," replied the
+tailor: "but I was a-thinking, sir."
+
+"Then go and think somewhere else."
+
+"No, sir; I can't do that, because, you see, I'm thinking about you.
+Here's 'undred and eighty-odd pound of a poor man's hard-earned money,
+most part of which you owe me."
+
+"It is false!  I don't owe you a penny."
+
+The tailor shook his head.
+
+"I can't afford to lose it, Sir Richard; and you can't say but what I
+want to make it easy for you with them bills."
+
+"I do not want anything made easy for me," cried the young man; "I can
+pay my just debts."
+
+"And, don't you see, sir, it wouldn't be pleasant for you if I was to
+write to your parents and guardians--leastwise, as you have no parents,
+your guardians--and ask them?"
+
+"Write to them, and so will I."
+
+"But I don't want to do such a shabby thing about a gent as I've tried
+to oblige."
+
+"I tell you I never authorised anyone to borrow money for me, sir."
+
+"Well, Sir Richard Frayne, Baronet, there's the transaction down in a
+neat handwriting in my book, and I give a cheque for it, and there's the
+cheque as come back from the bank with your name on the back, as well as
+Mr Mark Frayne's on the receipt."
+
+"What?"
+
+"As afore said, sir; and people--I mean your lawyers and guardians--'ll
+believe it.  They won't be so shabby as to say you were under age when
+they have lots of your money in trust."
+
+Richard stared at the man, half-stunned.
+
+"There, Sir Richard, don't let's make a fuss and a lot of unpleasantry
+about a trumpery little amount like that, when it is all so easy for
+you."
+
+"I say I've never had the money.  Go to Mr Mark Frayne."
+
+"But don't you see as that's as good as saying he's been a-swindlin' of
+me?  And if I goes to my lawyer and lays it all before him, he'll be for
+putting it in court, or p'raps worse; and it would go very hard on Mr
+Mark.  I'm afraid they wouldn't treat it as if it were a debt; they
+might say--"
+
+"Silence!"
+
+"That's what I says, sir.  His father a parson, too; and it wouldn't do
+Mr Draycott no good.  Hadn't you better sign?"
+
+"Without seeing my cousin first and making him explain?  No.  Take away
+your papers at once."
+
+"To my lawyers, sir?"
+
+Richard hesitated.
+
+"No," he said at last.  "I'll see my cousin, and bring him on to you."
+
+"Ah!  Now that's talking sensible, sir.  We can settle it, of course.
+Why, it would be such a mad thing to go to lawyers and make expenses,
+and have a reg'lar trouble, when your name on three bits of paper would
+save both of you from unpleasantry."
+
+"Both of us?" cried Richard.
+
+"Well, yes, sir, perhaps; for there's no knowing what people might say.
+They can be tidy hard on anyone as won't pay when he can."
+
+"That will do!" cried Richard angrily.  "I have told you that I will see
+my cousin."
+
+"Ve--ry good, Sir Richard," said the tailor, carefully doubling up his
+slips of paper.  "But hadn't you better sign now, and see him after?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Well, sir, you know best; but if it was my case, and I hadn't had the
+cash, I should sign, and then go and give my cousin the howdaciousest
+hiding he ever had.  That's better than sending him to prison and before
+a judge.  I wish you good-morning, sir--I suppose I ought to have said
+Sir Richard Frayne.  I shall be at home all day to-morrow, sir,
+a-waiting on you."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+IN HOT BLOOD.
+
+"Yes, and you'll have to wait," cried Richard Frayne, as the door closed
+on the man, and he listened to the departing steps as he involuntarily
+crossed to the stand, picked up his flute, and rearranged the music, but
+only to throw it down angrily and replace his instrument.
+
+"The scoundrel!" he cried.  "Here, I must have this out at once."
+
+He was no longer the quiet, dreamy-looking musician, but full of angry
+energy; and in this spirit he went straight to his cousin's room,
+knocked, and went in; but the place was empty.
+
+"Seen my cousin?" he cried, as he encountered Jerry, the house servant,
+valet, and factotum.
+
+"See him smoking in the garden 'arf a hour ago, S'Richard."
+
+Richard hurried down into the extensive grounds, and came plump upon Mr
+Draycott, the well-known military tutor and coach, tramping laboriously
+up and down one of the gravel paths, with his hands behind, giving a
+loud puff at every second step, for he was an enormously fat man, to
+whom walking was a severe trial, but a trial he persevered in from a
+wholesome dread that, if he neglected proper exercise, he would grow
+worse.
+
+"Hullo, Frayne!" he cried, "I want to see you--" _puff_.
+
+"Yes, sir?"
+
+"Look here, I'm very much put out about you, Frayne--I am,
+indeed!"--_puff_.
+
+"What about, sir?"
+
+"Oh, you know"--_puff_.  "Of course, I never object to my pupils
+having their own hobbies; but you have been carrying your
+musical"--_puff_--"whims to excess"--_puff_.
+
+Richard coloured.
+
+"I do not see why a soldier"--_puff_--"should not be a good musician,
+though the trumpet"--_puff_--"seems more in the way than the
+piano"--_puff_.  "But you ought not to have gone in debt over such a
+matter"--_puff_.
+
+"In debt, sir?"
+
+"Yes.  Don't repeat my words!"--_puff_.  "Now, I have warned you against
+it!"--_puff_.
+
+"You did, sir; but I don't understand your allusions," said Richard,
+though he suspected that he did.
+
+"Then you ought to, sir!"--_puff_.  "Hasn't that money-lending
+tailor"--_puff_--"just come from dunning you?"
+
+"Yes, sir; but--"
+
+"There, I know all about it.  Pay him off, and never get into such a
+hobble again"--_puff_.  "Coming, my dear!"--_puff_.
+
+Mrs Draycott, an exceedingly thin lady, was calling from the French
+window of the drawing-room, and the "Heavy Coach," as his pupils
+nicknamed him, went puffing off up to the house.
+
+"Oh, I can't stand this!" said Richard to himself.  "I must have a
+thorough explanation.  Mark shall speak out.  Why, Draycott believes it,
+too!  That scoundrelly little tailor must have told him.  Hi!  Dillon,
+seen my cousin?"
+
+This was to a fellow-pupil, who was coming down the garden.
+
+"Five minutes--ten minutes--ago, going across the Close.  Gone to see
+the river; it's getting flooded.  What's the row?"
+
+"Oh, nothing--nothing."
+
+"But you look as if you were going to knock his head off."
+
+"I am," cried Richard, over his shoulder, as he hurried off.
+
+"That's right.  Hit hard!  Save me a lock of his hair!" shouted the
+youth; and then to himself: "Serve the beast right!  What's he been
+doing now?"
+
+Richard Frayne met a couple more of the "Heavy Coach's" pupils as he
+crossed the Cathedral Close, where the calm silence of the old place
+ought to have quelled the angry throbbing in his veins; but it had an
+opposite effect, and the cries of the jackdaws which clung about the
+mouldering tower sounded like impish derisive laughter.
+
+"Anything the matter?" said one of the pair.
+
+"Yes; seen my cousin?"
+
+"Yes; he's down in the ruins, seated, like Patience on a broken
+monument, smoking and smiling at the river.  Don't pitch him in.  I say:
+is there a row on?"
+
+Richard Frayne did not answer, but walked away, crossed the creek
+bridge, beneath which the water ran thundering as it hurried toward the
+river, giving indications that there must have been a heavy rainstorm in
+the hills twenty miles away, though all was sunshine there.
+
+He hurried on along the lane, turned out of it, crossed a couple of
+fields, and made his way toward a pile of ivy-clad ruins, whose base was
+washed by the river, now brimful, and here and there making patches and
+pools in the lower meadows further on.
+
+These ruins were the remains of one of the great ecclesiastical
+buildings dismantled in the days of Bluff King Hal, and still showed the
+importance of the edifice, with its lancet windows and high walls
+surrounding a green patch that was at one time an inner garden
+surrounded by cloisters, of which only a few columns were left, and was
+now as secluded and lonely a spot as could be found for miles.
+
+A visitor would have paused directly to admire the beauty of the old
+place, which raised up thoughts of the past, but Richard did not stay,
+for to him it only raised up secular thoughts of the present, with
+tailors' bills, borrowed money, forgery, and lies.
+
+But there was no sign of Mark Frayne; and, growing moment by moment more
+excited and angry, Richard hurried here and there, looking sharply
+round, coming to the conclusion that either he had been misinformed or
+his cousin had gone, when he caught sight of a yellow and black fragment
+of flannel projecting from behind a pile of stones at the corner
+farthest away from the swollen river.
+
+"The cur!" he muttered, as he hurried forward, leaping over fallen
+blocks and fragments which showed still the groinings of the old
+cloisters.
+
+"That's like you!" he cried, as he came suddenly upon Mark leaning back
+in a niche, and who looked first white, then scarlet.  "What do you
+mean?  Hiding, like the sneaking coward you are."
+
+"You're an idiot!  I came here to see the flood rising."
+
+"At this end?" cried Richard, contemptuously.  "No, you didn't.  You hid
+here because you saw me coming."
+
+"What!  Hide from you!" cried Mark, defiantly.  "I like that!  Why
+should I hide from you, fiddler?"
+
+"Because you felt what was coming out, and that I knew the miserable
+cheating act of which you have been guilty."
+
+"Here! what do you mean?" cried Mark, in a bullying tone, as he edged
+up, scowling, towards him, and looked down upon the meek musician, whom
+he felt he could at any moment pretty well crush.
+
+"I mean that if poor sick Uncle James knew what I have just heard it
+would break his heart."
+
+"I don't want to hear any cant about my father," cried Mark, changing
+colour a little.  "Tell me what you mean, or--"
+
+He made a menacing gesture; but, to his surprise, Richard did not
+shrink.
+
+"I mean that that wretched man has been to me about your debts."
+
+"About my debts?  Oh, you mean Simpson about his bill.  Well, I don't
+want your help now.  I can pay him.  He must wait."
+
+"But he will not wait.  He threatens to expose you if the matter is not
+settled at once."
+
+"Pooh! what is there to expose?  Every fellow gets in debt more or less.
+Tailors have to wait.  Every fellow gets behind for his togs."
+
+"Yes; but he does not forge his cousin's name when he wants money."
+
+"What?" roared Mark, shaken for the moment.  "Here," he cried, seizing
+Richard by the arm, after a glance round to see if they were alone,
+"what does this mean?"
+
+"It means this," cried Richard passionately, "that your creditor has
+been to me this morning, and has just left me, after showing me how you
+have disgraced the good old name of Frayne."
+
+"I?  How?"
+
+"How?" cried Richard, whose voice was husky from emotion; "by writing my
+name to the cheque for the money you borrowed, telling the man it was
+for me."
+
+"Well, so it was!" cried Mark, seizing him by the other shoulder and
+shaking him.  "No backing out now!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"You had it nearly all.  And, if it has come to this, we'll have it all
+out now.  What do you mean about the cheque?"
+
+"I mean that you forged my name.  I knew nothing of it till just now."
+
+"I--I--did what?" cried Mark, as if astounded.
+
+"I have told you.  Take your dirty hands off me!  It is disgrace enough,
+without--"
+
+"I--I put your name to a cheque!" roared Mark.  "Why, you infamous,
+lying cad: unsay every word!  You know the money was borrowed for you,
+and that you spent it on your miserable music!  Confess it before I
+break every bone in your skin!"
+
+Staggered, mentally and bodily, by his cousin's retort, Richard Frayne
+gave way, and was borne back against the ruined wall of the old
+sanctuary; for Mark had, by a quick action, seized him hard by the
+throat and held him fast.
+
+"Why, you must be mad!  You dare to say I did that, you infamous--
+lying--"
+
+He had gone too far, and there was a moment's pause; for, before he
+could utter the next word, Richard Frayne had given himself a violent
+wrench sidewise, freed himself and struck out at his assailant.
+
+But it was a feeble blow, consequent upon his crippled position, and,
+with a savage laugh, Mark turned at him again.
+
+"I'll teach you to talk like that!  Down on your knees and swear that it
+was all a hatched-up lie, or--"
+
+Mark Frayne's words were checked again, for he had never really seen of
+what his cousin was capable till now.  He knew that he took part in
+athletic exercises, and he had had the gloves on with him often enough
+before, and knocked him about to his heart's content.  But he had now to
+learn that Richard Frayne, the white-handed lover of music, fought
+better without gloves than with, while the soft-palmed hands had
+knuckles as bony as his own.
+
+"Liar!" muttered Richard between his teeth as he struck out with his
+left full at Mark's mouth, sending him staggering back, but only to
+recover directly and come on furiously again.
+
+There was only another round, and it was very short.
+
+Richard Frayne, with every nerve twitching with rage and indignation,
+followed up his second blow with others, planted so truly, and with such
+effect, that within a minute he was driving his adversary back step by
+step, till, blind now with fury, he put all his strength and weight into
+a blow which sent Mark down like a piece of wood, to lie, inert, with
+his head resting against the broken, lichen-covered fragment of an arch.
+
+"Steady!  Hold hard!" shouted a couple of voices, and the two young
+fellow-pupils, who had followed, leaped down through a broken window,
+from whence, hidden by the ivy, they had watched the fray.
+
+"You second Dick Frayne," cried the first, "and I'll see to Mark."
+
+Richard hardly heard what was said, for there was a sound as of surging
+waters in his ears, followed by a roar of words that seemed to thunder.
+
+For, as the last speaker went down on one knee to raise up the fallen
+lad, he uttered a cry of horror, and then let the young man's head
+hurriedly down, to shrink away with his hands fouled by blood.
+
+"What is it?" cried the other, running forward; while Richard's hands
+clutched at the air.  "What is it?--cut?"
+
+"Cut!" sobbed out the other.  "A doctor!--quick!  Dick Frayne, what have
+you done?  He's dead!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+TWO PACES TO THE REAR.
+
+After plunging as we did head first into the great trouble of Sir
+Richard Frayne's life, I must ask my readers to let me go back, in
+military parlance, "two paces to the rear," so as to enter into a few
+explanations as to the position of the cousins, promising that the
+interpolation shall be neither tedious nor long.
+
+Only a short time before Richard Frayne struck that unlucky blow,
+general-valet Jerry entered the room with--
+
+"Here you are, Sir Richard, two pairs; and your shoes is getting thin in
+the sole."
+
+"Then I must have a new pair, Jerry."
+
+"Why don't you have 'arf dozen pairs in on account, sir, like Mr Mark
+do?"
+
+"Look here, Jerry, if you worry me now, I shall throw something at you."
+
+Jeremiah Brigley, who had just put down two pairs of newly-polished
+shoes, rubbed his nose meditatively with the cuff of his striped morning
+jacket, and then tapped an itching place on his head with the
+clothes-brush he held in his hand, as he stared down at the owner of the
+shoes--a good-looking, fair, intent lad of nearly eighteen, busy over a
+contrivance which rested upon a pile of mathematical and military books
+on the table of the well-furnished room overlooking the Cathedral Close
+of Primchilsea busy city.
+
+The place was fitted up as a study, and a curtain shut off a smaller
+room suggestive of a bed within; while over the chimney-piece were foils
+opposite single-sticks; boxing-gloves hung in pairs, bruised and
+swollen, as if suffering from their last knocking about; a cavalry sabre
+and a dragoon officer's helmet were on the wall opposite the window.
+Books, pictures, and a statuette or two made the place attractive, and
+here and there were objects which told of the occupant of that room's
+particular aim.
+
+For beneath the helmet and sabre stood a piano open, and with a piece of
+music on the stand--a movement by Chopin; a violoncello leaned in its
+case in one corner, a cornet-a-piston showed itself, like an arrangement
+in brass macaroni packed in red velvet upon a side-table; and in front
+of it lay open a small, flat flute-case, wherein were the two halves of
+a silver-keyed instrument side by side, in company with what seemed to
+be its young one--so exact in resemblance was the silver-mounted piccolo
+made to fit into the case.
+
+There were other signs about of the occupant's love of the sweet
+science; for there were a tuning-fork, a pitch-pipe, and a metronome on
+the chimney-piece, a large musical-box on the front of the book-case,
+some nondescript pipes, reeds, and objects of percussion; and, to show
+that other tastes were cultivated to some extent, there were, besides,
+several golf-clubs, fishing-rods, a cricket-bat, and a gun-case.
+
+But the owner of all sat intent upon the contrivance before him upon the
+table, and Jerry scratched his nose now with the edge of the
+clothes-brush.
+
+"Beg pardon, S'Richard--"
+
+"What the dickens do you want now?" cried the young man, impatiently.
+
+"On'y wanted to 'mind you of what I said lars week, S'Richard."
+
+"Didn't I tell you to talk to me when I wasn't busy?"
+
+"Yes, S'Richard; but, you see, you never ain't not busy.  When you ain't
+at your books, getting ready for the gov'nor, you're out with Mr Mark
+Frayne, sir, or some of the other gents; and when you are at home here,
+sir, you're always tunin' up, an' windin' up, or 'venting something."
+
+"Well, there, I am, Jerry," said the young man smoothing his
+perplexed-looking brow.  "Now, then, what is it?"
+
+"Only this, S'Richard," said the man, eagerly, and he now had laced up
+the shoes he had brought in and thrust them beneath the curtain.  "You
+see, my father he used to say as it was a chap's dooty to try and rise
+in the world."
+
+"Yes, of course," said Richard Frayne, thoughtfully taking up a piece of
+the contrivance upon which he had been at work.
+
+"And he said, S'Richard, as you ought to be on the look-out."
+
+"Yes.  Well?"
+
+"Well, S'Richard, that's it; I'm on the look-out."
+
+"What for, Jerry?"
+
+"To better myself, S'Richard.  You see, it's all very well being here
+valetin' for the young gents and you, S'Richard; and I s'pose, as far as
+character goes, there ain't a better coach nowhere than master, as they
+says passes more young gents than anyone."
+
+"No; Mr Draycott is a very clever scholar, Jerry," said the young man,
+looking as if he wished the servant would go.  "Well?"
+
+"Well, sir, that's all very well for a character for a noo place, but a
+chap don't want to be cleanin' boots all his life when they ain't
+shoes."
+
+"No, Jerry; that would be rather a monotonous career.  But what do you
+want me to do?"
+
+"Well, S'Richard, it's making very bold like; but I can't help liking
+you, sir, and 'fore long you'll be passing and getting appointed to your
+regiment; and as I've got a great taste for soljering myself, I thought
+I'd ask you to take me with you."
+
+"You--you want to be a soldier, Jerry?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  Why not?" said the man, drawing himself up, and brushing the
+tuft of hair over the top of his forehead, so that it stood up fiercely,
+and gave his whole head some resemblance to the conventional naming
+shell of military ornamentation.  "Of course, I couldn't think of a
+military eddication and going to a coach, S'Richard, and passing; but
+lots of chaps have risen from the ranks."
+
+"Yes, I suppose so," said the young man, who looked more bored and
+fidgety; "but I don't think I ought to promise to take you, Jerry.  I
+don't know that I shall pass and get my commission."
+
+"Oh, yes, you will, sir."
+
+"Of course, I should like to have you with me, Jerry, because you
+understand me so well."
+
+"I do, S'Richard; and I allus feel proud o' doin' for you.  I often
+watches you when you goes out, and I says to myself, `Look at him!  I
+cut him, and brushed him, and shaved him'--not as there's much to shave
+yet, sir."
+
+"No, Jerry," said the young man, passing his hand over his upper lip and
+chin; "it's rather a work of supererogation at present."
+
+"A what, sir?"
+
+"Work of supererogation, Jerry."
+
+"Exactly, S'Richard; that's just what it is.  But don't you get out of
+heart, sir.  I was smooth as you once, and now if I goes two days you
+might grate ginger with me!"
+
+"Well, we will see," said the young man; "but if you want to--to--"
+
+"Better myself, S'Richard; that's it!"
+
+"Don't let another opportunity go."
+
+"Oh, yes, I shall, S'Richard!  You said you'd like to have me, and
+that's enough for me!  I'd wait for you, sir, if I had to stop till you
+was a hundred!  But, beg pardon, S'Richard, is that there to make a
+patent mouse-trap?"
+
+"Which?" said the young man angrily.
+
+"That there thing as you're making, S'Richard."
+
+"Pooh! what nonsense!  Jerry, you are not musical."
+
+"Well, sir, I ain't a moosician, as you may say, but I was a dab at the
+Jew's-harp once, and I've got a very tidy flootina 'cordion now; only I
+ain't no time to practise."
+
+"No, Jerry," said the young man, thoughtfully, as he laid out his little
+pieces of mechanism on the table; "this is an attempt to invent a means
+of producing musical sounds by percussion."
+
+"With p'cussion-caps, sir?"
+
+"No, no! by blows."
+
+"Oh, I see, S'Richard."
+
+"I have often thought that more might be done, Jerry, in the way of
+obtaining musical notes."
+
+"Of course, S'Richard."
+
+"You see," said the young man, dreamily, "we produce them by vibration."
+
+"Yes, S'Richard, and whistling, and fiddling, and blowing trombones."
+
+"Exactly; that is all connected with vibration."
+
+"Oh, is it, sir?  I s'pose you're right; but then there's pyanners, sir,
+and orgins, sir, street and otherwise!"
+
+"Exactly, Jerry," said the young student drily.  "There, I'm busy now;
+I'll remember what you said, and, if I can have you with me, I will."
+
+"Thank you kindly, S'Richard.  Don't you be afraid as I won't do my
+dooty by you!"
+
+"I won't, Jerry.  Then that's all, isn't it?"
+
+"Well, S'Richard, not quite all; there's your cousin, sir--Mr Mark,
+sir."
+
+"Well, what about him?"
+
+"Only this, S'Richard: if you'd speak to him, and tell him as servants
+ain't doormats, I should be greatly obliged."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Only this, S'Richard, as it's getting beyond bearing!  I don't want to
+go complaining to Mr Draycott, sir, but there is bounds to everything!
+Havin' all kinds of hard words chucked at you--`fools' and `idgits' and
+`jackasses'--and when it comes to boots and hair-brushes, I says as it's
+rough enough; but when it's a soda-water bottle and a plate, I can't
+stand it, and I won't!"
+
+"What had you been doing to annoy my cousin?"
+
+"Nothin', S'Richard.  I just work for him same as I do for my other
+gentlemen, or for you, sir; and you never threw a bad word at me in your
+life--let alone boots!"
+
+"Did the things hit you, Jerry?"
+
+"No, S'Richard, I can't say as they hit me; but they hurt me, all the
+same.  Servants has feelings same as gents has."
+
+"I'm very sorry, Jerry.  Mr Frayne is a little irritable sometimes."
+
+"If you made it often, S'Richard, you wouldn't be very far out."
+
+"Well, often then.  His studies worry him, I suppose."
+
+Jerry made a peculiar grimace.
+
+"And he has had a little trouble once or twice with Mr Draycott."
+
+"Yes, S'Richard, he ayve."
+
+"There, I'll speak to him, Jerry.  He doesn't mean anything by it, for
+he's a good fellow at heart; and when he feels that he has hurt your
+feelings I daresay it will mean an apology, and--perhaps something
+else."
+
+"Thankye, S'Richard, thankye," said the man.  "I know'd you'd say
+something o' that sort, but don't you speak to him.  It wouldn't do no
+good.  He wouldn't 'pologise to such as me; and as to a tip--not him!
+There, S'Richard, it's all right now.  It did me good to say all that
+out to a real gentleman, and--pst!--Any more orders, S'Richard?"
+
+"Eh?" said Richard, wondering at the man's manner.  "No, thank you;
+that's all.  What's the matter?"
+
+"Pst!  S'Richard," whispered the man hurriedly.  "Talk of the
+No-we-never-mentions-him, and you see his--"
+
+The door opened with a crash, and made the pictures swing upon the wall,
+while Jerry drew on one side to let the fresh-comer enter the room.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+MARK IN A HOLE.
+
+"Hullo, thick-head! loafing again."
+
+It was a dark, olive-complexioned young fellow, of Sir Richard's age,
+who swung into the opening noisily, cigarette in mouth.
+
+"Not loafing, Mr Frayne, sir," said the man in an injured tone, as he
+fixed his eyes on the rather handsome student who had entered the room,
+and took in at a glance his white flannels and yellow-striped blazer,
+from the breast-pocket of which a thick gold chain was hanging.  "Beg
+pardon, sir; you'll be losing your watch-chain's out o' buttonhole."
+
+"Well, what business is it of yours, idiot?  If I lose it, you might
+find it.  Perquisites--eh, Jerry?"
+
+"There, S'Richard," said the man, flushing.  "Now, ain't that as good as
+sayin' I'd steal a watch?  I'd take my oath I never--"
+
+"That will do, Jerry," said Sir Richard, sternly.  "You needn't wait.--
+Why can't you leave the fellow alone, Mark?"
+
+"Why can't you act like a gentleman, and not be always making friends
+with the servants?" retorted the young fellow addressed.  "So that's it,
+is it?  The confounded sneak comes tattling to you, does he?"
+
+"No!" cried Sir Richard, rather gruffly; "but he did complain of your
+forgetting yourself and throwing things at him."
+
+"Oh, did he?" cried Mark Frayne, catching up the nearest thing, which
+was the model his cousin had been making, and hurling it at the
+offender, but without effect, for Jeremiah Brigley already had the door
+open and darted out; the panel receiving the model instead of his head.
+
+Sir Richard Frayne sprang to his feet to save his model, but too late;
+it fell, shivered, to the carpet, and the new-comer burst into a roar of
+laughter.
+
+"I don't see anything to grin at," said his cousin, indignantly.
+
+"Not you!" said the other, letting himself down on to the keyboard of
+the piano with a loud musical crash, and laughing heartily all the time.
+"Why don't you get on with your work?  Anyone would think you were in
+training for a cat-gut scraper at a low theatre instead of for an
+officer and a gentleman."
+
+"Mark, old chap," said Sir Richard, good-humouredly, as, with rather a
+rueful look, he picked up his broken model, "every man to his taste.  I
+like music; you like dogs."
+
+"Yes; and they make a precious sight better music than ever you do.
+Soldier!  Pooh!  You haven't the heart of a cockroach in you.  Thank
+goodness, you'll soon have to do your exam.  That'll open your eyes, and
+I shall be glad of it.  If I were you, I'd try for an engagement in a
+band somewhere, for you'll never get a commission."
+
+"Perhaps not," said Sir Richard, quietly.  "But what's the matter with
+you, old chap?  Been having a row with Draycott?"
+
+"Draycott's a bumptious, pedantic old fool.  Fancies he knows
+everything.  A brute!"
+
+"Take a couple of pills, Mark; your liver's out of order."
+
+"Put an angel's liver out of order to be here!  I won't put up with much
+more of it, and so I'll tell him.  I shall dress as I like, and do as I
+like, even if I haven't got a handle to my name.  Sir Richard, indeed!--
+a pattern for me to follow!  Next time the fat old idiot say's that to
+me, I'll throw the books at his head."
+
+"Oh, that's it, is it?"
+
+"Yes; that's it, is it!" cried Mark Frayne in an angry tone.  "I tell
+you I'm sick of it!"
+
+"Nonsense!  What had you been doing?" said Richard, fighting down a
+feeling of resentment, and looking smilingly at his cousin.
+
+"What's that to you?" growled Mark.
+
+"Not much; but I wanted to help the lame dog over the stile."
+
+"Look here," cried Mark, fiercely; "none of that.  If you want to insult
+me, say so right out, and then I shall know what you mean.  None of your
+covert allusions."
+
+Richard Frayne laughed outright, and his cousin took a step forward
+menacingly.
+
+"Why, what has come to you?" cried the former.  "Don't be so peppery.  I
+want to help you, if I can."
+
+"Do you?" cried Mark, eagerly.  "There, I'm sorry I spoke so sharply.
+That brute Simpson has been writing to Draycott."
+
+"Simpson, the tailor?  What has he got to write about?"
+
+Mark Frayne scowled, and gave a kick out with his leg, but did not
+answer.
+
+"Have you been running a bill with him?"
+
+Mark nodded.
+
+"Then why don't you pay it?"
+
+"Why don't I pay it?" snarled Mark.  "Am I a baronet with plenty of
+money?"
+
+"No; but you have as good an allowance as I.  You ought to be able to
+pay your tailor's bill."
+
+"'Tisn't a bill for clothes," said Mark, sulkily, and he picked up a
+book, opened it, and threw it impatiently across the room, making his
+cousin wince a little.
+
+"What then?  Surely you haven't been such a fool as to borrow money of
+him?"
+
+"Yes, I have been such a fool as to borrow money of him," cried Mark,
+savagely.  "I couldn't help being short; he offered it to me, and, of
+course, I took it.  So would you."
+
+"No, I shouldn't," said Richard, quietly.  "He did write to offer me
+money once--when I first came, and I refused it, and haven't been in his
+shop since."
+
+"But then we're not all such good young men as you are, Dick," sneered
+Mark.  "I did take it, and the brute has been running up interest and
+renewing, as he calls it, and gammoning me into ordering fresh clothes.
+He made this beastly jacket, and all sorts of things that don't fit; and
+now, because I'm not ready to pay his swindling bill and the wretched
+paper, he has been threatening, and ended by writing to old Draycott."
+
+"Pay him then, and have done with him."
+
+"Will you help me?"
+
+"Of course, if I can."
+
+"If you can!  Why, you can, if you like."
+
+"I don't know about that," said the other, good-humouredly; "I've been
+spending a good deal of money in music things lately."
+
+"Bosh! you can get me out of the hole, if you like."
+
+"How much do you owe him?"
+
+Mark threw the end of his cigarette with all his force into the
+fireplace, and ground his teeth for a few moments before muttering
+between them--
+
+"Eighty-four pounds, or so!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Eighty-four pounds," snarled Mark.  "Do you want me to shout it for
+everyone to know?"
+
+"But how could you get into his debt to that extent?"
+
+"Didn't I tell you, stupid?  Half of it was lent, and I gave him an
+I.O.U., and he has been piling it up somehow.  I don't know what he has
+done.  He was civil and smooth as butter till he had me tight, and now
+he's showing his teeth."
+
+"But he would not have written to Draycott unless you had been
+disagreeable to him."
+
+"Oh! wouldn't he?  He threatened to a year ago, when it wasn't so much.
+It was when he found out I'd been getting some togs from London.  I
+expect he pumped it out of that idiot Jerry Brigley.  But I'm not going
+to sit here exposing my affairs.  Will you help me to get out of the
+hole?"
+
+Richard Frayne was silent for a time, and then he said quietly--
+
+"I can't, Mark."
+
+"What?  Why, you said you would."
+
+"Yes, but I thought it meant lending you four or five pounds.  I have no
+more till my quarter comes round."
+
+"Till your quarter comes round," sneered Mark; "anyone would think he
+had his wages then.  Here, no nonsense, Dick; you said you would help
+me."
+
+"I did, but I can't."
+
+Mark made an angry gesture, but he mastered himself and turned to his
+cousin.
+
+"Look here, it doesn't mean money.  Simpson knows that you'll have
+Quailmere some day, and he said he wouldn't mind waiting if he had good
+security.  It only means putting your name to a bit of paper."
+
+"Did Simpson suggest that?" said Richard.
+
+"Of course he did, and it means making an end to the trouble.  I shall
+only have to go on paying the interest."
+
+"Till Mr Simpson chooses to come down upon me and make me pay," said
+Richard, with a laugh full of annoyance.
+
+"No, he won't; he said he wouldn't.  It's such a little sum, too--
+nothing to you!  Here, come on with me at once, and let's settle it."
+
+Richard Frayne sat back in his chair, looking straight before him,
+unconscious of the fact that his cousin was watching him narrowly, and
+who now went on with forced gaiety--
+
+"Wish I hadn't been such a fool as to keep it to myself.  Here it has
+been worrying my very life out for months, and made me as irritable as a
+wasp.  You are a good fellow, Dick!  But, honour bright, I didn't like
+to ask you."
+
+Richard remained silent.
+
+"There, don't think about it any more.  Come on."
+
+"But it wants thinking about, Mark."
+
+"What nonsense!  You don't know how easy these things are."
+
+"I've often heard," said Richard, drily.
+
+"Yes, of course you have," said Mark, with a feeble laugh.  "There, put
+me out of my misery, old chap.  Sudden death, you know.  Come on."
+
+"No," said Richard, quietly.  "I promised my poor father that I would
+never put my name to paper in that way, and I never will."
+
+"What?"
+
+"You heard, Mark."
+
+"Do you mean to tell me that, after what you have said, you will not
+help me out of this bit of trouble?"
+
+"No, I do not mean to tell you that.  I want to help you."
+
+"Then, come on."
+
+"Yes, come on to Mr Draycott, and let's ask him what is to be done."
+
+Mark Frayne leaped up from where he had rested in a sitting position
+upon the keyboard of the piano, giving his hands a bang down on either
+side, and producing fresh jangling discords, which seemed to fit with
+the harsh, mocking laugh he uttered.
+
+"Good boy!" he cried.  "What an excellent son!  That old cock-o'-wax,
+the Admirable Crichton, was nowhere.  You'd have beaten him into fits,
+Dick.  Go on, say something else; it does me good; only be gentle.  I
+couldn't bear to be made such a saint as you are all at once."
+
+"Of course, I know it will be very painful for you," continued Richard,
+gravely; "but it is the only thing you can do, and Draycott has over and
+over again said to me, `If ever you find yourself in any trouble,
+Frayne, forget that we are tutor and pupil, and come to me as a
+friend.'"
+
+"You miserable sneak!" growled Mark, in a hard, husky voice.
+
+"No, I'm not; I'm your cousin, and I want to help you, Mark," said
+Richard.  "I spend so much time at the music that I know very little
+about these money matters; but I do know that this fellow Simpson has
+been working to get you under his thumb, and running up an account twice
+as much as you justly owe him."
+
+"Go on," said Mark, "preach away!  I won't quarrel with you; because,
+prig as you are, Dick, I don't believe you will refuse to help me.  Look
+here, it's only signing your name.  Will you do it?"
+
+"I'll give you all I've got, and undertake to let you have
+three-quarters of my next allowance from the lawyers.  I can't do any
+more than that."
+
+"Once more," said Mark, huskily, "will you help me?"
+
+"I have told you," was the reply, "I'll lend you all I can scrape
+together, or go with you straight to Mr Draycott."
+
+"Once more," said Mark, with an ugly, vicious look in his eyes, "will
+you come in to old Simpson's and sign?"
+
+Richard Frayne sat looking firmly at his cousin, but made no reply.
+
+"All right," said Mark, with a laugh; "then the game's up!  I shall make
+a bolt of it, and go to sea.  No: every cad does that.  I'll take my
+dearly beloved, sanctified cousin for a model, and be very good and
+saving.  I won't waste all old Draycott's military teaching; it would be
+a pity!"
+
+"What do you mean?" cried Richard.
+
+"To go over to Ratcham and take the shilling.  Perhaps I shall rise from
+the ranks."
+
+"Go and think about what I've said, and come back when you get cool.  I
+won't go out all day, and--"
+
+_Bang_, _rattle_, and a crash!
+
+Mark Frayne had gone out and closed the door with so much violence that
+the dragoon officer's helmet was shaken from the peg upon which it hung,
+and fell, bringing with it the cavalry sabre.
+
+Richard sprang from his chair to pick them up, a frown gathering upon
+his face as he saw that an ugly dint had been made in the helmet which
+resisted all his efforts to force it out.
+
+Then he stood gazing down at it and the sabre, which he had raised and
+carefully laid upon the table beneath where it had hung.
+
+It was a fancy, he knew.  He told himself that it was a silly piece of
+superstition; but, all the same, a strange feeling troubled him; and it
+seemed as if the fall of these old mementoes of the gallant officer, his
+dead father, was a kind of portent of trouble to come--trouble and
+disaster that would be brought about by his cousin.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+RIGHT FORWARD.
+
+The dreamy sensation of unreality passed away for the moment, and
+Richard Frayne flung himself upon his knees beside his cousin, to raise
+his head, after hurriedly taking out and folding a handkerchief to form
+a bandage; while, after eagerly watching him for a few moments, one of
+the two pupils turned and dashed off as hard as he could run in the
+direction of the town.
+
+But the bandage was too short; and, after looking wildly up at his
+companion, Richard tore off his necktie, made a pad of the handkerchief,
+and bound it firmly to the back of his cousin's head, conscious, as he
+did so, of the fact that the bone was dented in by its contact with the
+stone.
+
+"Go for help!" cried Richard, huskily.
+
+"No, no; I can't leave you now," said the other, who stood there, white
+and trembling.  "Andrews has gone for a doctor.  Somebody else is sure
+to come.  Oh, Frayne! what have you done?"
+
+The lad looked up at him wildly, but he could not speak.  The strange
+sensation of everything being unreal came over him again, and, in a
+dreamy way, he saw the coming of his aunt and uncle to ask him the same
+question; while Mark was lying, pale and cold, lifeless in his room.
+There was the rushing, murmuring sound of the river from close at hand,
+and the deep tones of the great Cathedral bell striking the hour; but to
+Richard's excited imagination it was tolling for his cousin's death, and
+thought succeeded thought now in horrible sequence.
+
+He had in his passion killed Mark Frayne.  It was in fair fight; but
+would people believe all this?  They had quarrelled, and about that
+money trouble.  Would people believe his version, or take the side of
+the dead?
+
+Then a black cloud of misery and despair seemed to close him in, and he
+knelt there as it stunned--unable to think, unable to move.  He could
+only gaze down at the pale, rigid features before him, drawing back
+involuntarily at last as he awoke to the fact that his companion had
+been down to the river to fill his hat with water, with which he began
+to bathe Mark Frayne's face.
+
+Then came a buzz of voices as boys and men approached.  Two or three
+people began at once to ask questions, which Richard Frayne could not
+answer, while his companion's replies were confused and wild.
+
+"Yes, he's dead enough," said someone, coarsely, and the words seemed to
+echo through Richard's brain.
+
+Then there was hurried talk about carrying him back to the town, calls
+for a gate or a shutter, and the little crowd constantly on the
+increase, till the pressure grew suffocating.
+
+At last someone shouted--
+
+"Here he is!" and Richard was conscious of a tall figure in black
+forcing its way through the crowd, scolding and ordering the people to
+keep back.
+
+"How did this happen?" someone said, sharply; and Richard gazed up at
+the speaker, but made no reply, only stared with dilated eyes as a rapid
+examination was made and the rough bandage replaced.
+
+Then, in a dreamy way, Richard Frayne saw that his cousin was lifted on
+to a gate, and a ragged kind of procession was formed, as the men who
+had raised the bars on to their shoulders stepped off together under the
+doctor's direction; while he seemed to be, as the nearest relative,
+playing the part of chief mourner.
+
+That march back appeared endless.  People joined in, others stood in
+front of house and shop; and the buzzing of voices increased till,
+panting and flurried, the great heavy figure of Mr Draycott was seen
+approaching without his hat.
+
+"Much hurt?"
+
+"Can't say yet, for certain," rang ominously in Richard's ears.  "Fear
+the worst!  I want Mr Shrubsole to be fetched!"
+
+"I'll go, sir; I'll go!" came from a couple of boys; and then Richard
+felt Mr Draycott's heavy hand upon his shoulder as they still went on.
+
+"A terrible business, Frayne; a terrible business!" he said; and for the
+rest of the distance to the gate of the carriage drive these words kept
+on repeating themselves to the beat of feet and the buzz and angry
+excitement, as one of the policemen who had hurried up refused to let
+the crowd follow to the hall-door.
+
+Then, still in the dreamy, confused way as of one half-stunned, Richard
+Frayne paced up and down the dining-room, hearing from time to time what
+was going on, for he had been sent out of his cousin's room by the
+doctor.  Here he was conscious of the fact that his fellow-pupils all
+kept aloof, grouping together and talking in low tones.  They were
+discussing the affray, he knew, and a word here and there told him that
+the causes of the encounter were well to the fore.
+
+Twice over he heard something which made him draw near, but his approach
+was followed by a dead silence, and the blood flushed to his temples;
+but that was no time for angry remonstrance, and he shrank away.
+
+"They don't know!" he muttered, as he resumed his weary walk up and down
+till Andrews, who acted the part of scout, entered the room to
+communicate what he had gathered on the stairs.
+
+Richard went to him, but the lad avoided his eyes and turned to his
+companions, to whom he whispered a few words, and then went out again to
+get more news.
+
+This went on over and over again, with the feeling growing on Richard
+that he was to be "sent to Coventry," the two who had witnessed the
+encounter having evidently heard a great deal that passed between the
+cousins and communicated the words that had fallen at the time.
+
+All this was maddening, but it was overborne by the one dread thought--
+Suppose Mark really were dead, what should he do?
+
+The leaden minutes went slowly on, and somehow he gathered that the two
+doctors had been performing a crucial operation and one of them had
+gone; and, unable to bear the suspense longer, Richard turned to go and
+ask for himself, when the door was opened and Jerry appeared, to raise
+his hand and beckon to him to come out.
+
+Richard obeyed the sign, and hurried into the hall in the midst of a
+profound silence.
+
+"How is he?" whispered the lad, excitedly; and the man shook his head.
+
+"Don't ask me, sir," he cried.  "Master wants to see you in the study."
+
+Richard uttered a low, piteous sigh, and everything seemed to swing
+round him, while an intense desire came to rash wildly out of the house
+and hurry away anywhere--to woods, or out on some vast plain, where he
+would be alone to think, if it were possible, and get rid of the violent
+throbbing in his brain.
+
+"Oh, I shall go mad!" he muttered.
+
+At that moment Jerry threw open the study door, and, trying to nerve
+himself for the encounter, Richard entered, to find the great tutor
+standing, with his hands behind him, before the fireless grate.
+
+"How is he, Mr Draycott?  Pray, pray speak!" cried Richard.
+
+"I sent for you to tell you, Frayne," said the tutor, in a low, deep
+voice.  "Sinking fast!"
+
+"Dying?" cried Richard, wildly.  "No, no, sir; don't say that!"
+
+"The doctors have done all they can, Frayne.  He is perfectly
+insensible, and they say he will pass away before many hours are gone."
+
+Richard groaned, and clapped his hands to his head, pressing them there
+as if to clear his brain.
+
+"More help!" he said suddenly.
+
+"I have telegraphed for our greatest specialist."
+
+"Ah!"
+
+"And to the poor fellow's father at Cannes.  A terrible business,
+Frayne--a terrible business!"
+
+"Yes; but he must not die--he must not die!"
+
+Mr Draycott was silent for a few minutes.  There was much he wanted to
+say, but the words seemed loth to come.
+
+"We must be prepared for the worst, Frayne," he said at last.  "This is
+a dreadful shock."
+
+"Yes--yes!" groaned Richard.
+
+"And I have something very hard to say to you."
+
+"You cannot say anything, sir, that will make me feel worse than I do."
+
+Mr Draycott shook his head.
+
+"It must come, Frayne," he said at last; "so we may as well get the
+matter over.  Things look very black against you."
+
+"Black, sir?"
+
+"Yes.  Sinjohn and Andrews both saw how strange you looked when you
+passed them, and they followed, being agreed that something was wrong.
+It was observed too, by others."
+
+"I was angry, sir--in a rage."
+
+"Yes," said the tutor sternly.  "They saw you encounter your cousin, and
+they heard nearly every word he said."
+
+"And what I said, sir?"
+
+"No.  They tell me you spoke to him in a low voice, as if you were
+begging him not to do something, and they gathered that it was about
+keeping a trouble quiet."
+
+"No, no, sir!" cried Richard wildly.
+
+"That is how it impressed them, and they say that, when your cousin
+refused what you wanted, you attacked him."
+
+"No, sir!  We fought; but I acted in self-defence."
+
+"Indeed!" said his tutor, coldly.  "They heard words, too, about debt--a
+heavy sum--and forging--matters that should not be even known amongst
+the gentlemen studying here.  I find, too, Frayne, that you have been
+mixed up with money matters."
+
+"It is not true, sir."
+
+"Your cousin declared you were.  He was heard to say so, and if the
+worst comes to the worst, Frayne, his words will be believed."
+
+"Do you mean if he dies, sir?" gasped Richard.
+
+"I do, Frayne.  I have had a letter from that Mr Simpson, and I find
+that he came to you this morning to be paid, and that sharp words passed
+between you in your room.  This is all very bad, Frayne, and, confused
+though it is, it goes against you.  The police--"
+
+"What?" cried Richard.
+
+"Were for arresting you at once."
+
+"Arresting me?  What for?" cried the young man, indignantly.
+
+"For a murderous assault upon your cousin; but I would not hear of it
+now.  I said that you would be here if it was found necessary to proceed
+against you."
+
+"Oh, but this is madness, sir!" cried Richard, excitedly.  "They could
+not do that!"
+
+The tutor shook his head.
+
+"We must look troubles in the face, Frayne," he said.  "If matters come
+to the worst, there must be an inquest, and, whatever you may say, your
+fellow-pupils' words will have weight."
+
+Richard literally staggered, and gazed wildly at the heavy face of his
+tutor, who went on slowly--
+
+"It is a terrible business, Frayne, and a fearful blow for me.  I cannot
+blame myself.  I always treat those who study with me as gentlemen, and
+if the poor fellow upstairs does sink, the consequences must be crushing
+for you."
+
+"Never mind me, sir; let's think of my cousin.  He must get better!
+There, I can think more clearly now.  It is as if my head does not feel
+so shut up and strange.  I won't try to defend myself, sir; but Andrews
+and Sinjohn are wrong.  I am innocent."
+
+"But you struck your cousin down."
+
+"Yes, sir; I was nearly mad with passion."
+
+"Ah!" sighed the tutor.
+
+"But it was in fair fighting, sir!"
+
+"I am afraid, Frayne, it is manslaughter; and now let us bring this
+painful interview to a close.  You will have the goodness to go up to
+your room, and to stay there until I ask you to come down.  Stop!  I
+think it would be better for you to have legal advice.  This is all so
+new to me!"
+
+"I'm going to my room--to stay there, sir--but don't do anything about
+me till we hear what the great doctor says; it may not be so bad.  Can I
+see my cousin now?"
+
+"No.  The doctor's orders are that no one but the nurse is to enter his
+room.  There, let us end this painful interview."
+
+"I am innocent, sir, indeed!" it was upon Richard's lips to say; but the
+stern, doubting look on the tutor's face checked him, and he went slowly
+up to his room, utterly crushed as he sank into a chair, conscious the
+next moment that the curtain which separated it from his bedchamber was
+pushed aside, and Jerry appeared.
+
+"Been a-waiting, sir.  They're a-saying, sir, that you tried to kill Mr
+Mark Frayne because he was going to tell on you about some money
+troubles.  It ain't true, is it, sir?"
+
+"True!" cried Richard, flushing indignantly.
+
+"I knowed it wasn't!" said Jerry, triumphantly.  "You couldn't ha' done
+such a thing, S'Richard; but I wouldn't ha' believed as you could hit so
+hard."
+
+"Go now, please."
+
+"Yes, sir, just a-going; but don't you take on, sir.  P'raps he'll get
+better; but, if he don't--well, sir, he's your cousin, but--"
+
+"That will do; now go."
+
+Jerry gave his mouth a slap, and hurried from the room.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+DOWN IN THE DEPTHS.
+
+Half-mad with despair and misery, one thought constantly returned with
+terrible persistence to Richard Frayne as he tramped up and down his
+prison--for so it now seemed, though neither locks nor bars stayed his
+way to freedom.  The pleasant, handsomely-furnished room was the same as
+it had been only a few hours before, with musical instruments and
+treasured hobbies that he had collected together; and yet not the same,
+for it was the cell in which he was confined by the order of the man
+whose word had always been to him as a law, and in which he felt as
+firmly shut in as if he had given his parole of honour not to leave it
+until told to descend.
+
+The thirst for news was again rising.  Mark, they had informed him, was
+lying insensible, slowly sinking into eternity, and he could not go to
+his side, fall upon his knees, and tell him that he would sooner have
+suffered death than this should have happened.  And there, crushing him
+down, as his eyes were constantly turned upon that helmet, while he
+tramped the room or sank upon one of the chairs, was the thought, with
+its maddening persistency, that it was better that his parents had not
+lived to see their son's position--the shame and despair which were now
+his lot--always that thought; for he recalled the days of sorrow, a
+couple of years back, when the gallant officer, whose name had been a
+power in India, was snatched away, and the loving wife and mother
+followed him within a month.
+
+Light-hearted, of an affectionate nature, and always on the warmest
+terms of intimacy with his fellow-pupils, his position now seemed to him
+doubly hard in his loneliness, for not one had come near him to take him
+by the hand.  The words raved out in the quarrel had run through them
+and hardened all against him.  They could have sympathised with him in
+the terrible result of the encounter; but the dishonourable, criminal
+act which his cousin's charge had fixed upon him soured all, and they
+readily obeyed the principal's wish that he should be left to himself.
+
+There were times when it seemed impossible to him that the charge he had
+made should so have recoiled and fixed itself upon him; but, by a
+strange perverseness, thus it was, and, saving by the servant, hardly a
+friendly word had been spoken.
+
+"Am I going mad?" he muttered, as he tramped up and down, holding his
+throbbing head.  "It seems more than I can bear!"
+
+It was evening now, a glorious summer evening; with the mellow sunshine
+lighting up the lake-like meadows, for the river was far out of bounds
+and spreading still; but Richard Frayne saw nothing through the black
+cloud which seemed to shut him in.  Then all at once, sending an
+electric thrill through him, there was a sharp tap at the door, and he
+turned to meet the visitor.
+
+Only Jerry, who came in bearing a napkin-covered tray, holding it
+resting upon the edge as he cleared a space upon the table.
+
+"Well?" cried Richard, hoarsely.
+
+"Your dinner, sir, that I was to bring up."
+
+"How is he?  How is he?" panted Richard.
+
+The man looked at him sadly, shook his head, and went on clearing a
+place for the tray.
+
+"Why don't you speak?" cried Richard, fiercely.  "Not--not--?"
+
+He could not finish.
+
+"No, sir; and the big doctor hasn't got here yet.  There you are, sir.
+Now do sit down and eat a bit; you must want something!"
+
+"Take it away!"
+
+"No, no, sir; do, please, try!"
+
+"Take it away, I tell you!"
+
+Jerry stood looking at him piteously, rubbing his hands one over the
+other as if he were washing them.
+
+"I know it goes agin' you, sir, of course; but you ought, sir; indeed,
+you ought!"
+
+"Tell me," cried Richard, "who is with him?"
+
+"The doctor, sir, and the nurse; and master's always going up and down.
+I met him only just now that upset and white it gave me quite a turn.
+He shook his head at me.  `A terrible business, Brigley, very!' he says;
+`a terrible business!  I wouldn't have had it happen for a thousand
+pounds!'"
+
+"There, go away now, Jerry!  Pray, pray, don't stop!  Take all that
+down!"
+
+"No, sir; I can't do that!" said the man.  "It was master's orders, and
+you must really try to eat."
+
+Richard sank into a chair and covered his face with his hands, but only
+sprang up the next minute upon feeling his shoulder touched, and saw the
+man leaning over him.
+
+"Can't I do nothing for you, S'Richard?" whispered Jerry.  "I'd do
+anything for you, sir; indeed, I would."
+
+"Go to my cousin's room and wait till you can get some news.  Jerry, if
+it comes to the worst, I shall go mad."
+
+The man looked at him compassionately, and then went out on tiptoe, to
+return after an interval to thrust in his head, which he gave a mournful
+shake, and then withdrew.
+
+The evening passed and the night was gliding on, with Richard still
+pacing the room from time to time, when Jerry once more came to the
+door, glided in, closed it, and hurriedly whispered--
+
+"The doctor's down from London, sir, and he's still in Mr Mark's room."
+
+"What does he say?" cried Richard, wildly.
+
+"Can't tell yet, sir; but as soon as ever I hear I'll come back."
+
+Jerry crept away, and the prisoner sat down once more to think.  He felt
+that he would soon know now--that he would shortly have to face the
+awful truth--and a chilling feeling of despair came upon him with
+redoubled violence; while, as he sat there, he gave up all hope.  There
+was the future to face, and now a great change seemed to come over him,
+as if it were the energy begotten of despair.
+
+There was the worst to face, with the inquest, the examination, and the
+possibility of the wrong construction still being placed upon his acts.
+Everything had gone against him, everything would continue to go against
+him, and he told himself that it was impossible to face it.  His word
+seemed to go for nothing; and, yielding to the horror of his position,
+he sat there in the darkest part of his room, wishing earnestly that he
+could exchange places with the unhappy lad lying yonder between life and
+death.
+
+Suddenly he started, for, sounding solemn and strange in the midnight
+air, the bell of the Cathedral boomed out the hour, the long-drawn
+strokes of the hammer seeming as if they would never come to an end;
+while, when the last stroke fell, it was succeeded in the silence of the
+night by a dull, quivering vibration that slowly died away.
+
+And there, with overstrained nerves, Richard Frayne sat, waiting still
+for the coming of the news.  He must have that, he told himself, before
+he could act; but still it did not come.
+
+Twice over he went to the door, with the intention of opening it to
+listen, but he shrank away.
+
+No.  He felt that he was a prisoner, and he could not lay a hand upon
+the lock.  He would wait until the man came.
+
+But it was half-past one before the door was opened and Jerry stole in
+on tiptoe.
+
+"Think I wasn't a-coming, sir?" he said, sadly.
+
+"The news!--the news!" gasped Richard.
+
+Jerry was silent, as he stood gazing wistfully at the inquirer.
+
+"Can't you see that I am dying to hear?" cried the lad imploringly.
+
+"Yes, sir," came in a broken voice; "but I've got that to tell you
+that'll break your 'art as well, sir."
+
+"Then it is the worst?" groaned Richard.
+
+"Yes, sir: master told me.  He rang for me to tell me as soon as the
+doctor had gone to the hotel.  I let him out, sir.  Yes, sir, master
+rung for me to tell me; and, of course, he meant it so that I might come
+up and tell you.  `Brigley,' he says, `the doctor gives us no hope at
+all.  There was a piece of bone pressing on the brain, he says, and this
+the doctors removed; but the shock was too much for the poor fellow, and
+he won't last the night.'"
+
+Richard sat back in his chair, rigid, as if cut in stone, and Jerry went
+on--
+
+"Don't look like that, sir; don't, please!  You wanted me to tell you.
+It was my dooty, sir; and now, sir, you know the worst, do take a bit of
+advice, sir.  Even if you don't undress, go and lie down, and have a
+good sleep till morning.  There, sir, I must, too.  I'll bring you a cup
+of tea about six, sir.  Good-night, sir."
+
+"Good-night," said Richard, quietly.
+
+"Ah, that's better," said Jerry to himself.  "Now he knows the worst,
+he's easier like.  What's o'clock?"
+
+He drew a big-faced watch from his pocket by its steel chain.
+
+"Harpus one; not much time for my snooze.  I'll just go and make up
+cook's fire, put the kettle over, and have a nap there.  It's no use to
+go to bed now."
+
+Jerry did as he had promised to himself, and finally sank back in a kind
+of Windsor chair, dropping off to sleep the next instant, and, by force
+of habit, waking just at the time he had arranged in his mind.
+
+"Ten minutes to six," he muttered, smiling.  "I've got a head like a
+'larum.  Just upon the boil, too," he added, addressing the kettle, as
+he changed it from the trivet on to the glowing coals.
+
+The clocks were striking six as he went softly upstairs with a little
+tray, and, turning the handle, entered Richard Frayne's room, where one
+of the windows was open; and all looked bright and cheery in the early
+morning sunshine as he set the tray down upon the table beside the
+larger one, which showed that some bread had been broken off, but the
+rest of the contents were untouched.
+
+"It's a shame to wake him," thought Jerry; "cup o' tea's a fine thing
+when you're tired out, but a good long sleep's a deal better.  Poor
+chap, I won't disturb him, but I'll take the tea in and put it on a
+chair by his bedside.  He shall see as I didn't forget him in trouble.
+On'y to think him a real gent with a handle to his name and lots of
+money to come in for when he's one-and-twenty.  Right as a trivet
+yes'day morning and now in such a hobble as this, just like any common
+chap as goes and kills his mate.  They can't hang him, but I s'pose
+they'll give it to him pretty hot, poor chap!  Juries is such beasts,
+they'd take 'n give it to him hard because he's a real gent, and make as
+though keeping up the glorious constitootion and freedom and liberty of
+the subject to everybody alike.  Well, I s'pose it's right, but I'd let
+him off in a minute if I was the judge.--Come on!"
+
+This was to the tea, whose fragrance he sniffed as he neared the waiter,
+and went softly to the archway where the curtain shut off the bedroom.
+
+"Poor boy!--for he is nothing but a boy--I am sorry for him, and no
+mistake.  Well, ups and downs in life we see, and you can't escape
+troubles, even if you're a Prince o' Wales."
+
+Jerry softly drew the curtain aside and peered through without a sound;
+and as he let the heavy drapery fall, he uttered an ejaculation, put the
+tray on the washstand, and swung the heavy curtains right along the
+brass pole, making the rings give quite a clash, as the morning sun
+shone through, showing that the bed had not been disturbed.
+
+In an instant the man's eyes were searching about the room, and he saw
+that a suit of clothes lay where they had been tossed upon a chair,
+while a wardrobe door was open.
+
+He darted to that, made a hasty examination, and muttered--
+
+"Brown velveteens!  No, it ain't.  Here they are.  It's his dark tweeds,
+and--no--yes: dark stockings."
+
+He continued his examination in the bedroom, but could make out nothing
+else.
+
+"Only gone for a walk before anyone's up, poor chap!  Hadn't the heart
+to go to bed.  More hadn't I at the time.  He ain't taken nothing.  He
+can't have--he wouldn't have--I don't know though--I--oh, he couldn't
+have--Let's see--"
+
+He hurried downstairs and went to the front door, then to the
+dining-room, drawing-room, and study, as well as the room set apart for
+the pupils; but the windows were closed, and he went slowly upstairs
+again to pause by the staircase window.
+
+"A man might step out here on to the balcony and shut it down again, and
+easily drop.  But no: he can't have done that."
+
+With his mind bent upon getting some clue as to the young man's actions,
+Jerry turned back to his room and once more looked round.
+
+"No," he said thoughtfully, "he couldn't do that; it would be cowardly,
+and he's got too much pluck.  He'd have taken some things, too and he
+hasn't done that."
+
+As Jerry spoke his eyes were turning everywhere in search of a clue; but
+he saw nothing till they fell upon the tray, toward which he sprang with
+a cry, for he had now caught sight of a piece of paper folded like a
+note and bearing his name.
+
+He tore it open, and read only these words:--
+
+"Good-bye, Jerry.  You were the only one to stand by me to the last.
+Take my gold fox-head pin for yourself.  I cannot face it all.  I feel
+half-mad."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+JERRY SEES THE WORST.
+
+"Off his nut!" gasped Jerry, excitedly.  "Who wants his fox-pin?  I
+wants him.  Couldn't stand it!--half-dotty!"
+
+He looked wildly round, and then his eyes lit upon the glittering waters
+of the swollen river spreading far and near, and he once more uttered a
+cry.
+
+"The river!" he exclaimed.  "It's that!" and, rushing out of the room,
+he leaped headlong down the stairs, making for the pantry, where he
+caught up his hat.
+
+The next minute he was running along the main road, instinctively
+feeling that this was the way anyone would take who wished to reach the
+river.
+
+He did not meet a soul for the first few hundred yards, and then came
+suddenly, at a turn, upon a farmer's man, in long smock-frock, driving a
+flock of sheep, and looking as if he had come far along the dusty road,
+perhaps travelling since daylight.
+
+"Meet a young gent in dark-grey soot and brown billycock hat?" panted
+Jerry.
+
+"Ay!  Two mile along the road."
+
+"Which way was he going?"
+
+"Simmed to be making for lower lane; but it's all under water, and he'll
+have to go round."
+
+"All under water!" muttered Jerry, as he ran on rapidly.  "Two miles--
+and me sitting sleeping there like a pig.  That's it--that's what he
+meant!  What did he say?--`Couldn't face it?'  If I could only get there
+in time!  He must have been cracked!  He must have been mad!  He's gone
+to drown hisself and get out of his misery, just like the
+high-sperretted gent he is.  I know: gents don't think like we do.  It's
+the Latin and Greek makes 'em classic and honourable, and they'd sooner
+die than get a bad name.  It's all right, I suppose; but it seems
+stoopid to me, when you know you ain't done nothing wrong."
+
+"Now, let me see," thought Jerry.  "I say he's come this road, because
+he wouldn't go and chuck hisself in the river up by the ruins, because
+he'd have had enough o' them; so he's come down here this way, and he's
+found it ain't so easy as he thought; for you can't get to the water for
+far enough, if you want a good deep place.  Chap can't go and drown
+hisself in fields where it's only six inches deep, without he goes and
+lies down in a ditch.  Gent couldn't do that.  Be like dying
+dog-fashion!  I know what he's gone to do: he's made for Brailey Bridge,
+where he could go over into a deep hole at once.  Only wish I was
+alongside of him; I'd say something as would bring him to his senses."
+
+And as Jerry trotted on, he passed turning after turning leading to
+fords or down by the river, for the simple reason that, during the
+night, the waters had come swirling down at such a rate that the whole
+of the river meadows were widely flooded; but it meant his getting more
+rapidly to Brailey Bridge, a couple of miles from the town, for he was
+forced into avoiding the winding low road, which followed the curves and
+doublings back of the river, and making short cuts, which brought him at
+last, breathless and panting, in sight of something which made him stare
+and, for the moment, forget his mission.
+
+For, as he trotted on, he obtained a glimpse of the rushing, foaming
+river tearing away, pretty well now beneath its banks, which were high
+at the spot where the bridge, an antique wooden structure, had spanned
+it with its clumsy piles.  The great double wedge-shaped pier of oak
+timbers, rotten and blackened with age, and which had supported the
+roadway as it divided the river in two, was gone, and the remains of the
+bridge were gradually being torn away.
+
+Jerry drew his breath hard, and his throat felt dry, as he ran nearer,
+descending the slope towards where the road ended suddenly, and thinking
+of how the spot he approached was exactly such an one as would tempt a
+half-maddened person to run right on, make one desperate plunge into the
+muddy flood, and then and there be swept away.
+
+He paused at last, standing in a dangerous place, at the very edge of
+the broken bridge, gazing down into the hurrying waters, which hissed
+and gurgled beneath him, lapping at the slimy piles which remained; and,
+hot and dripping with perspiration as he was, he shivered, and felt as
+if icy hands were touching him as he wiped his brow.
+
+"It's too horrid! too horrid!" he groaned, in the full belief that he
+was standing right on the place from which Richard Frayne had taken a
+desperate plunge.  "Why, a score of his chums had better have died than
+him!  I didn't ought never to ha' left him last night, seeing what a
+state he was in.  You might ha' saved his life, Jerry, and done more
+good than you'll ever do blacking boots and brushing clothes, if yer
+lives to a hundred and ten."
+
+He looked wildly to the right, and saw that the pollard willows were
+rising just out of the water, like heads with the hair standing on end.
+There were great patches of fresh hay floating swiftly down, and, closer
+at hand, something white rolling over and over, and he shuddered; but it
+was only the carcase of a drowned sheep, one of several more which had
+probably been surrounded in some meadow and swept away.  Directly after,
+lowing dismally, and swimming hard to save itself, a bullock came down
+rapidly, with its muzzle and a narrow line of backbone alone showing
+above the surface.
+
+But Jerry knew well enough that no boat could live in the rushing water
+which swirled along; and, unless the poor beast could swim into some
+eddy and manage to get ashore, its fate was sealed.
+
+The man's eyes followed the animal as it passed by the broken bridge and
+was swept on more rapidly downward as soon as it was below.
+
+"I came too late--I came too late!" groaned Jerry, as he still watched
+the bullock, his eyes at the same time noting how the river had passed
+over the bank on the other side and spread along meadows, and how it was
+threatening to lap over the road which ran upon his side away down to
+the mill, where the weir crossed the river and the eel-bucks stood in a
+row between the piles.
+
+"Yes, I've come too late, and I shall see that poor brute sink directly.
+Shall I go on down by the mill?"
+
+He shook his head.  The bullock was going faster than he could have
+walked, and, if anyone had plunged into the river from where he stood,
+he must have been swept miles away in his journey onward to the sea.
+
+"And we shall never find him!" he muttered.  "Gone! gone!"
+
+He was going to say "Gone!" again--for the third time--but a hoarse
+utterance escaped his lips instead, and he made a sudden movement to
+climb over the rail and let himself down into the narrow cross-road
+which ran to the mill.
+
+But, as he grasped the open fence, all power of action left him, and he
+stood, as if paralysed, staring at that which had caught his eye.
+
+There, far away toward the mill, dwarfed by distance, but clearly seen
+in the bright morning air, a figure had started up, run for a few yards
+along the bank, and suddenly plunged in the flooded river.  Jerry saw
+the splashed water glitter in the sunshine and then, indistinctly, a
+head reappear and remain in sight for some few minutes as its owner
+floated or swam.  Then a curve of the river hid it from his sight, and
+he recovered his power of action again.  Climbing the rail, he scrambled
+down the side of the raised roadway, reached the bank, and started
+running.
+
+It was a mile to the mill, and in how many minutes Jerry covered the
+distance he never knew, but he pulled up short in the mill-yard, to find
+that he could go no farther; for the waters were well out beyond, and
+went swinging round a curve at a terrific rate, the river being narrowed
+here by the piers, buttresses, and piles upon which the mill-buildings
+had been reared.  The tops of the pier-piles showed in two places, but
+that was all, and, though he climbed up the ladder leading to a whitened
+door in the side of the building, he could see nothing but the waste of
+hurrying water gleaming in the sunshine, and felt that the building was
+quivering from the pressure of the flood.
+
+Jerry clung to the handle of the door at the top of the steps, and the
+flour came off white upon his Oxford mixture coat as he turned dizzy and
+sick in his hurry and despair, for he knew that the figure he had seen
+must be that of Richard Frayne, and he had come too late!
+
+"He must have seen me," groaned Jerry; "and just as he was a-hesitating
+he thought I'd come to drag him back, and he went in.  Nothing couldn't
+save him, and I seem to have drove him to his end."
+
+In his own mind he wanted no endorsement of the correctness of his idea.
+He had been sure that Richard had taken this route when he started from
+the house; he had seen him; and it was all over.
+
+But the endorsement came, for just then, heard above the rushing of the
+river along the back-water and beneath the mill, where the huge
+revolving wheel worked, came a loud "Ahoy!"
+
+Turning quickly, Jerry saw, from his coign of vantage, the white figure
+of the miller coming quickly down the road, waving his arms as if he had
+once owned a wind-mill instead of a water-mill, and was imitating the
+action of the sails.
+
+"Hoi! come down from there," bawled the big, bluff fellow, as he came
+within hearing.  "'Tain't safe!  I made all my people clear out last
+night, and 'spected to see it gone by mornin'.  Oh, it's you, Mister
+Brigley.  Looking for your young gent?"
+
+"Yes!  Seen him?" cried Jerry wildly.
+
+"Ay, bit ago, when I were down before.  He'd come down to see if the
+mill was safe, I s'pose."
+
+"But--it was--our young gent?"
+
+"I say, don't look so scared," cried the miller, good-humouredly.  "I
+didn't mean to frighten you; but I shouldn't be a bit surprised if the
+old place comes toppling down; and it will, if the water rises much
+more.  You're safe enough here."
+
+"But, tell me," panted Jerry, who did not want telling, "it was our
+young gent?"
+
+"Ay, him as come fishing with the others, and sat out on the weir
+yonder, tootling on that little pipe of his?  Here! what's the matter
+with you, man?"
+
+"A boat! a boat!" gasped Jerry.
+
+"A boat! what for?  Mine's got a plank out of it, and, if it hadn't, you
+couldn't use it now."
+
+"But he's gone down!  I see him jump in!"
+
+"What!" yelled the miller, seizing Jerry excitedly by the collar.
+"Nonsense!  He's gone back by now."
+
+"I--I was on the bridge."
+
+"There ain't no bridge!" growled the miller: "swep' away."
+
+"But I was over yonder--saw him jump in."
+
+"You did?"
+
+"Yes, and came here fast as I could."
+
+The miller turned to look down the rushing river, and took off his white
+felt hat, drew out a red cotton handkerchief, and began to mop his wet
+brow.
+
+"Then Heaven have mercy on him, poor lad! for he'll never get to shore
+alive."
+
+"But he could swim," said Jerry, feebly.
+
+"Swim?  Who's to swim in water like that?  Never!  I saw a whole drove
+of sheep go down this morning, and a half a dozen bullocks.  The river's
+too much for them as can swim."
+
+"But--but--"
+
+"But--but, man.  Ah! what was he doing to jump in?"
+
+"Haven't you heard?" groaned Jerry, speaking to the miller, and staring
+wildly down stream the while.  "He got into dreadful trouble yesterday.
+Killed his cousin!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Come down here to end hisself, I s'pose!"
+
+"Then he's done it, poor lad!" said the miller, solemnly.
+
+"But couldn't we do nothing?  Couldn't we try and help him?" whined
+Jerry, piteously.
+
+"No, my lad, not with the water rooshing down like this; it's beyond
+human work, and--Hi! run--run!"
+
+He caught at Jerry again, and the two men started to run for a few
+yards, then turned to look back, as, after several warning cracks, the
+whole of the great white timber-built mill literally crumbled down over
+its undermined foundations and disappeared in the surging waters.
+
+"I knowed it!" panted the miller.  "Poor old place!  I've spent many a
+happy year there.  Well, I come in time to save your life, squire."
+
+"And I come to try and save his, but not in time," groaned Jerry.  "Oh,
+my poor dear lad!" he continued, as he leaned his arm against a tree and
+bent his head upon it to weep aloud, "you were the master, and I'm only
+a servant, but I'd ha' most give my life to ha' saved yours, that I
+would.  Yes!" he cried, fiercely, now in a wild, hysterical voice; "it
+would ha' been better if you, too, hadn't come in time!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+ANOTHER TURN OF THE WHEEL.
+
+As if heartily ashamed of his weakness, Jerry suddenly straightened
+himself up, and turned angrily upon the miller.
+
+"Don't you never go and say you saw me making such a fool of myself!" he
+cried.
+
+The man shook his head.
+
+"Think it's any good to go up to the town for a boat?"
+
+"If you want to drown yourself," was the reply.  "I wouldn't trust
+myself in no boat till the water goes down.  I shouldn't mind the rowing
+down; but you'd never know where you'd got to, and be capsized on a
+willow stump, or against some hedge, before you had gone a mile."
+
+"But we might find him," said Jerry, looking piteous once more.
+
+"Ay, you might find him, my lad.  There's no knowing."
+
+"But you think we should not?"
+
+"Sure of it!"
+
+Jerry turned away without a word, leaving the miller staring blankly at
+the spot where the old place had stood, and hurried back toward the
+town.
+
+"Past seven!" he muttered, "and all those boots and shoes waiting.
+Breakfast'll have to be late."
+
+It sounded strange, but it was quite natural for him to mix up his daily
+work with this business; and upon reaching the house, as if feeling
+satisfied that there was no more to be done, he hurried about over his
+valeting, beginning with Mr Draycott, but found that he was not in his
+room.
+
+The tutor came, though, five minutes later, and, meeting his man,
+exclaimed with animation:
+
+"Better news, Brigley."
+
+"No, sir," said Jerry, shaking his head.  "Worse--much worse!"
+
+"How dare you, sir?" cried the tutor, irritable from a sleepless night.
+"I tell you the news is better, and we have hopes."
+
+"And I tell you, sir, that the news is worse."
+
+Mr Draycott stared at his man, and began to frown.  Strange suspicions
+attacked him as he saw that Jerry looked rough and unkempt.  His hair
+was not brushed; he had evidently not washed that morning, and his
+Oxford mixture coat was marked by flour.
+
+"By the way, sir," said the tutor, angrily, "where have you been?  I
+rang twice, to send you to the doctor's, but the bell was not answered.
+Were you not up?"
+
+"Not up, sir?  Oh, yes; I was up and out long enough ago!"
+
+"Out?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Jerry, speaking very sturdily and solemnly; and he
+related all that he had seen, with the result that the tutor sank into
+the nearest chair, looking ghastly, and with his lips moving, but not
+uttering a sound.
+
+Jerry stood looking down at him sadly, and at the end of a few minutes
+he filled a glass from a waterbottle and handed the water to his master,
+who swallowed it hurriedly.
+
+"This is too dreadful," said the latter, huskily; "too dreadful!  But
+are you sure, my man--are you sure?"
+
+"Yes, sir, sure enough!" replied Jerry, with a hoarse sob.  "The miller
+saw him just before."
+
+"A terrible business--a terrible business!  I thought we were beginning
+to see daylight again; but--poor weak rash boy!--this is ten times
+worse!"
+
+"Yes, sir--a hundred times!" said Jerry, with a groan; and master and
+man gazed in each other's eyes for some time in silence, till Mr
+Draycott gave a start.
+
+"I am so stunned and helpless with this trouble upon trouble," he cried
+huskily, "that I can hardly think--I can hardly believe it true.  Tell
+me what you have done.  You gave notice to the police, of course?"
+
+"The police, sir?" said Jerry, with a vacant look.  "No; I never thought
+of that!"
+
+"And you have not given the alarm--sent people down the river in boats?"
+
+Jerry shook his head in a weary, helpless way.
+
+"Quick, then; do something, man!" cried Mr Draycott, wildly.  "Run to
+the station and tell the inspector; they will take steps at once."
+
+"I--I thought you would want to hush it up, sir."
+
+"Hush it up, man!" cried the tutor, angrily.  "You are crazy!"
+
+"Yes, sir, pretty nigh," said Jerry, pitifully.  "My head feels as if it
+won't go; and I don't know what I'm saying half my time."
+
+"I beg your pardon, Brigley," cried the tutor.  "I spoke too hastily.  I
+quite understand your feelings; but steps must be taken instantly.  The
+truth must be known--the cruel truth!" he added, with a groan.  "Yes;
+what is it?"
+
+There was a tap at the chamber door, and Jerry went to open it.
+
+"Please tell master that the London doctor has come in from the hotel
+and wants to see him directly."
+
+"Ah, yes," said the tutor, who had heard every word; "I thought he would
+come early.  Go on to the station, Brigley; tell them poor Sir Richard
+must be found.  I'll go down to see the doctor."
+
+Each departed upon his mission, and half an hour after the London
+surgeon took his departure, confirming his colleague's opinion that a
+great change for the better had taken place in Mark Frayne.
+
+"Youth, my dear sir--youth!  He has rallied wonderfully, and I feel that
+we may hope."
+
+"But you will stop for the day?" said Mr Draycott, anxiously.
+
+"There is not the slightest need, my dear sir.  My colleague yonder
+will, unless something very unforeseen happens, pull him through."
+
+"But if anything unforeseen does happen?" said Mr Draycott, nervously.
+
+"Then telegraph to me, and I will come down at once.  But I don't think
+you need fear, Mr Draycott, and I congratulate you upon the happy turn
+things have taken.  Good-morning.  I shall hurry off to catch an early
+train."
+
+"Congratulate me upon the happy turn things have taken!" groaned the
+tutor, wiping his moist face.  "Poor boy! poor boy!  I ought to have
+seen him again.  It was more than the high-spirited lad could bear."
+
+"Yes, sir; that's it."
+
+"You back, Brigley?  Was I thinking aloud?"
+
+"Yes, sir; and I heard every word."
+
+"But the police?"
+
+"They were off at once, sir.  They're going to hire a big boat and try
+and find him; but the inspector shook his head.  He says he thinks it
+means being washed away to sea."
+
+That was a sad day at the tutor's, Richard Frayne's yellow-pupils going
+to and fro in the silent house talking of the cousins, and canvassing
+Richard Frayne's act from different points of view.
+
+The news soon spread, too, in the town; for the setting-off of the
+police with a couple of stout boatmen and the drags was enough to set
+the place in a ferment.
+
+There were plenty there, too, ready to talk of the position, as
+everything leaked out by degrees, and formed an exciting topic to add to
+that of the previous day, during which some hundreds had flocked down to
+the ruins to see the spot where the two pupils had fought and one had
+been killed--so it was firmly believed.  Now the journeys were in the
+other direction--down the flooded river--but here the remains of the
+bridge and the spot where the mill had stood were the only things which
+rewarded their enterprise; for the police-boat had been swept down for
+miles, and it was not till dark that the men returned by rail to report
+that they could do nothing in the fierce, rushing waters till the flood
+was at an end.
+
+That evening, to Jerry's great disgust, a crowd of idlers gathered on
+the opposite side of the road to stare at the tutor's house, where the
+blinds were drawn down, as if they secured great satisfaction in gaping
+and whispering one to the other.
+
+"Oh!" he muttered, "if I could only have my way!"
+
+Mr Shrubsole, the second doctor, undertook to stay at the house that
+night, in case of any relapse on the part of Mark, and to the tutor's
+great satisfaction, for he had fallen into a nervous state, wandering
+about the place and giving the pupils a fresh theme of conversation to
+occupy the dreary, slow-dragging time.
+
+Jerry caught the inspector as he came out of Mr Draycott's study, and
+signalled him into the pantry.
+
+"Then you did nothing?" he said.
+
+"Yes, we did," said the inspector, grimly; "we saved our lives, which
+was about all we could do.  I only went for the name of the thing, Mr
+Brigley--thankye, I'll say port.  Of course, I went--ah! very nice full
+glass or wine.  People's so ready to say, `Where are the police?' that,
+if we hadn't gone, they'd ha' been ready to think the poor young gent
+was hanging on by the branch of a tree and we wouldn't go and save him.
+But I put it to you--well, thankye, Mr Brigley, I won't say no; didn't
+know you kept such a port as that."
+
+"It won't be long before the water goes down?"
+
+"No.  Not it.  Goes down, you know, as quickly as it goes up; but don't
+you expect too much, sir."
+
+"You think you won't find him?"
+
+"Yes; that's it," said the inspector.  "Why, look at the way the water
+was rushing along!  Of course, he may be picked up right away down where
+the tide rises--Limesmouth or Dunkney--or about there; but I say it's
+very doubtful."
+
+"Ah!" sighed Jerry.
+
+"Poor young chap!  The times I've stopped outside listening to him on
+the flute, or blowing that cornet, or scraping away at the fiddle.
+Wonderful power of music in those fingers of his and lips."
+
+"And now all still, and stiff, and cold!" groaned Jerry.
+
+"Hold up, man--hold up!" said the inspector, kindly.  "Life is short,
+you know; but we never expected this--did we?"
+
+Jerry shook his head.
+
+"And so the other young gent's getting better, is he?"
+
+Jerry nodded.
+
+"Yes, the doctor told me.  I thought we'd got a big interesting case on
+there.  Sensible?"
+
+Jerry shook his head.
+
+"Ah!  That's what the doctor said, and that he might not be really
+sensible for weeks.  Narrow squeak for him, eh?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Fancy!  That poor young chap nearly killing him!"
+
+"And serve him right!" shouted out Jerry, angrily.  "Mr Frayne must
+have made him so mad he couldn't bear himself, and he hit out hard.  It
+was only an accident, after all."
+
+"But we should have been in it, Mr Brigley, even if he got off; and
+there would have been the inquest, too.  Things have been a bit quiet
+here lately."
+
+"Well, you'll have your inquest, after all," said Jerry, bitterly.
+
+"Humph!  Not so sure, sir.  But it's a very, very sad business, Mr
+Brigley, and I must be going now.  Thank you.  Quite refreshing, sir!
+Good-night; and wish you well out of the trouble."
+
+"Wish us well out of the trouble!" growled Jerry, bitterly.  "As if
+there ever would be any way out of it.  On'y to think--him upstairs
+getting better, and his people telegraphing to say they'll come over at
+once, and his cousin lying there out in the cold river, who knows how
+deep?  It only wanted this to make me wish--"
+
+Jerry did not finish his sentence, but took a letter out of his pocket,
+read it through, and uttered a derisive laugh.
+
+"Yes; it only wanted this to help make me happy.  Well, it wasn't so
+very much, but it's gone; and serve me right for being such a fool!"
+
+Just then a bell rang, and he went to answer it.
+
+"The doctor says we need not sit up, Brigley," said his master, sadly.
+"You are tired.  I shall want you no more to-night.  The nurse will get
+anything the doctor requires."
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," said Jerry.  "Mr Frayne, sir?--now?"
+
+"Sleeping, I believe, Brigley.  Good-night!"
+
+"No; a bad night!" said Jerry.  "Poor S'Richard!  I'd give anything to
+see him again!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+DEAD--AND BURIED.
+
+By the next morning the flood was subsiding rapidly, and at night the
+muddy meadows began to show that the river was sinking back into its
+bed.
+
+All that evening boats were out, and people watched in expectation of
+that which they felt would soon be found.
+
+Twenty-four hours more elapsed, and sheep, caught in hedgerows by the
+wool, were dragged through the mud and slime.
+
+Lower down the river an ox or two were found, while news came of other
+carcases, miles away, stranded in bends where gravel and mud had
+half-buried them.
+
+But there was a good deal of water still in the river, and a threatening
+of another rise.
+
+At Mr Draycott's Mark Frayne still lay insensible, but he seemed to
+sleep calmly enough, and was beginning to take the food given to him,
+while the doctors both agreed that there was no fear of a relapse; the
+only trouble was--What would the young man's mental state be when he
+recovered from his long stupor?
+
+Day after day glided by.  Mr and Mrs Frayne reached the house, Mark's
+father evidently painfully ill of the complaint which had taken him from
+his bleak Devonshire vicarage to the warmer climate and change of the
+South of France and the Riviera.
+
+The news had been a very great shock, and the doctor looked at him
+anxiously as he went to his son's room, so weak that he had to be
+assisted by Jerry and the weeping mother.
+
+They accepted Mr Draycott's hospitality and stayed, eager to be near
+their son, while longing to hear tidings of the discovery of their
+nephew--tidings that did not come.
+
+Jerry stole away more than once to try and make out the exact place
+where he had seen Richard plunge in, and returned, shaking his head, for
+it was impossible.
+
+Day by day he grew more morose, for fragments of the chatter reached
+him--petty talk, which blackened the young baronet's fame; while, worst
+stab of all, he read in the little local paper, where, in a long article
+concerning the trouble of "our respected townsman, Mr Draycott," it was
+said that the principal in the terrible tragedy had been guilty of that
+rash act to avoid the punishment likely to befall him consequent upon
+the assault he had committed and his connection with a monetary scandal.
+
+"And if I go and punch the head of him as wrote that, they'll have me up
+before the magistrates," said Jerry; "and they call this a free land!"
+
+Three weeks had passed, and Mark Frayne was beginning to show signs of
+returning consciousness, when, towards evening, the police inspector
+came to the house to ask to see Mr Draycott.
+
+"He's in, I s'pose, Mr Brigley?" said the official, looking very
+serious and important.
+
+"Oh, yes; he's in," said Jerry, excitedly; "but--tell me--have you found
+him?"
+
+"Just got a wire, Mr Brigley, from Chedleigh, fifty mile away, sir!"
+
+Jerry caught at one of the hall chairs, and made it scroop on the stone
+floor.
+
+The news was correct enough, and the next day an inquest was held upon
+the cruelly disfigured body which had been discovered, stripped by the
+action of the flood, and buried in sand and stones.
+
+Jerry was there to give his evidence, along with that of others; and,
+looking haggard and suffering from mental anxiety, Mr Draycott was
+there to give his.  The medical man who had been called told of his
+examination, and, as there seemed to be no doubt as to the identity, a
+verdict was readily returned.  Two days later there was a funeral at
+Richard Frayne's native place, and the unfortunate lad was laid to his
+rest--aged eighteen, people read upon his breastplate--just about the
+same time that Mark Frayne was lying upon his back, gazing at the open
+window, through which there came the pleasant odour of new-made hay, and
+wondering why he was there in bed, while a woman in white cap and apron
+was sitting reading.
+
+"I say," he whispered at last; and the nurse started up, smiling.
+
+"Yes?" she said, coming to his bedside.
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"The nurse.  Don't speak, please.  You have been ill."
+
+"Oh!" said Mark, "have I?  Don't go away!"
+
+"Only for a minute, to send word for somebody to come."
+
+She stepped softly out into the corridor, just as the two pupils who had
+witnessed the encounter were coming upstairs.
+
+"Would you mind telling Mrs Frayne that he is quite sensible now?"
+
+"What!  Mark Frayne?" cried Sinjohn.  "Yes; all right."
+
+The two young men turned and went together to deliver the news.
+
+"Then he is really getting well," said Andrews, in a whisper.  "Why,
+Sin, if he does, he'll be Sir Mark Frayne!"
+
+"Not while his father lives," said the other.  "But only think!--poor
+old Dick buried to-day!  I wish we could have gone."
+
+"Yes," said Andrews, bitterly.  "Poor old Dick!"
+
+"We shall never hear his flute agin!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+INTO THE SWIFT WATERS.
+
+"Oh!  I wouldn't have done that!"
+
+Of course you would not.  No sane lad would ever be led away by his
+imagination to be guilty of any folly whatever.  No one with a
+well-balanced brain would, for a moment, ever dream of being guilty of
+an act that would cause him repentance for years.  In other words, we
+are all of us so thoroughly perfect that we go straight on through life,
+laughing at temptations, triumphing over our weakness, and so manly and
+confident in our own strength of mind that we continue our life's
+journey, never slipping, never stumbling, but bounding along to its
+highest point, where we pitch our caps in the air, flap our arms for
+want of wings, stretch out our throats, open our beaks, and cry
+"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" which, being translated from the gallinaceous
+tongue into plain English, means--"Look at me!  Here I am!  Did you ever
+see such a fine fellow in your life?  I don't believe there was ever my
+equal born into the world!"
+
+There was a comic philosopher born in the West, and his name was Artemus
+Ward; and every now and then, after a verbal flourish of this kind, he
+used to conclude by saying--
+
+"This is wrote sarcastic."
+
+So are these remarks concerning Richard Frayne's act, when, agonised by
+the horror of his position, and rankling mentally at being believed
+contemptible enough to have obtained the money, monkey-fashion, by using
+his cousin as catspaw, he had gradually become so out of balance that he
+was ready for any reckless act.
+
+A few words from the proper quarter would have set him right; a kindly
+bit or two of sympathy from his fellow-students would have helped him;
+but everyone but the servant held rigidly aloof, and when the dark,
+blank night-time came, and the long hours of agony culminated in a
+feeling of utter, hopeless despair, he sat alone there in his room,
+ready to dash at anything which would, even if temporarily, relieve him
+from the terrible strain.
+
+At last he forced himself into thinking as calmly as he could, setting
+himself to consider all that he had to face.
+
+Mark was dying fast.  The doctors had said it, and in a few hours he
+would stand in the eyes of the world as, if not his murderer, the cause
+of his death.  Next there must be that terrible public examination and
+the verdict--manslaughter; it could be no other, he told himself.  Then
+there would be a magisterial examination, ending in his being committed
+for trial.  After this, a long, weary waiting--possibly on bail--and
+then the trial.
+
+He arranged all of it in his own mind, perfectly satisfied that his view
+was too correct, and never once stopping to think that people would
+calmly investigate every circumstance of the trouble, and, while making
+every allowance, sift out the pearl truth from the sand and bitter ashes
+in which it was hidden.  In his then frame of mind, he could only think
+the very worst of everything; for always before him was that terrible
+scene in which he was bound to take part.  He felt that he could nerve
+himself to stand before coroner, magistrate, even judge, if matters went
+so far; but he could not face the sweet-faced, sorrowing mother and the
+weak invalid father, who must be now hastening back to their dying son
+as fast as trains could bear them.
+
+Condemn, pity, ridicule, which you will; but the fact remains.  A kind
+of panic had attacked Richard Frayne, and he prepared for the folly he
+was about to commit.  There were the two courses open--a frank, manly
+meeting of the consequences, whatever they might be, or the act of a
+coward.
+
+The hours passed, and his mind was fully made up.  And now everything he
+did was in a quiet, decisive fashion, with as much method in his madness
+as ever the great poet endowed his Danish hero.
+
+He changed his clothes, putting on the quiet dark tweed suit Jerry
+missed, and went back into his room, to stand there in the gloom,
+looking round and vainly trying to make out the various objects there,
+every one being loved like some old friend.
+
+But he could not look the farewell, and began slowly to go round the
+room, laying his hand upon each in turn--his favourite books and
+pictures, his piano, the violin, the cornet, and the big 'cello in its
+case where it stood in the corner--all such dear old friends, and it was
+good-bye for ever!
+
+And as he went on, his hand at last touched the little, long morocco
+case lying upon the side-table.
+
+He clutched it hard, and something like a sob struggled to his lips; for
+that case contained, in company with the little piccolo, the flute that
+was once the property of the brave old soldier whose helmet hung dented
+there with its drooping black horse-hair plume.
+
+Richard's thoughts went back into the past, and he recalled the evenings
+when he as a little child was enraptured listening to some operatic
+selection brilliantly played, while his mother sat accompanying upon the
+piano.  Then he recollected the first lessons given him by his father
+upon that very flute, and years after the plaudits he listened to with
+burning cheeks after he had played one of his father's favourite pieces
+with such skill and execution that these words followed:
+
+"Keep the flute, Dick, my boy, for my sake; it is yours."
+
+And now he was bidding it farewell for ever--there in the darkness of
+that lonely night, whose silence was broken from time to time by the
+chiming and booming of the great Cathedral clock, which once more, to
+his disordered imagination, seemed associated with a solemn procession
+to the tomb.
+
+Richard Frayne's breast swelled and his hands trembled as his fingers
+clung round that little morocco case.  Then, as a weak sob once more
+struggled for utterance, his breast swelled suddenly more and more, till
+there was a long, hard lump down the left side beneath the
+closely-buttoned jacket.
+
+For, quick as lightning, the little case had been transferred to his
+breast-pocket.  It was his father's.  He could not part from that.
+
+The rest of the favourite objects lying around were quickly touched; and
+then, there, in the middle of the room, the lad stood, feeling old and
+careworn, opposite two relics which he felt would be honourably removed
+from where they hung and sent away.
+
+He could not see them--and yet he could, inwardly, in his mind's eye--
+the gilded metal helmet and the sabre.
+
+Then, as if performing some solemn act, the lad took a couple of steps
+towards the wall, gently and reverently lifted down the helmet, pressed
+his lips to the front, and put it back, to take down the sword and hold
+the blade and scabbard to his breast as he kissed the hilt.
+
+Saddened visions came trooping before his closed eyes in that darkness--
+of himself: a man, a soldier, as his father had been, an officer leading
+men against the enemies of his country; and at that, in his despair, he
+uttered a low, piteous sigh, and hung the sword in its place.
+
+He drew back then, uttering a sound like a moan, and opened his eyes
+with a start; for a pale, bluish light was slowly filling the room--a
+light that seemed ghastly to him and unreal.
+
+But it was the dawn of another day, the most eventful of his life, and
+he knew it was time to act.
+
+There was one more thing to be done, and his action in this was
+accompanied by a shudder.
+
+But he was quite firm and determined now, for his mind was fully made
+up.  He had that to do first, and he would do it.
+
+He was already at the door, hat in hand, when he recalled another little
+thing, and, turning quickly back to the table, he sat down and wrote the
+few lines to Jerry, folded them, and laid them near the loaf, from which
+earlier in the night he had broken off a few fragments to allay the
+gnawing hunger he had felt.
+
+Now that was all, and, turning to the door once more, he paused for a
+final look round at the shadowy room, where the only thing which stood
+out clearly was the helmet, and this, seen in profile, seemed to assume
+a stern and threatening aspect.
+
+The next minute he was outside in the dark passage, listening; and then,
+as all was still, he walked, firmly and quietly, to the other end of the
+mansion, to stop by his cousin's door.
+
+Here the chill of death seemed to strike upon him.  No light stole
+through crack or keyhole--all was darkness and silence--and he sank upon
+his knees, to remain motionless for a few minutes, and then rise firmer
+of purpose than ever.
+
+It was later than he thought, for his various preparations had taken
+time; and the soft glow of morning lit up the east staircase window as
+he slowly raised it, stepped out on to the leads, closed it again, and
+then, climbing over the balcony rails, lowered himself down till he
+could hang for a moment or two from the bottom of one of the iron bars,
+swing himself to and fro by his wrists, and then, with a backward
+spring, drop lightly on to the turf beneath.
+
+In another minute--unseen, unheard--he had passed out of the gate and
+was walking through the town, making for the lower road and the swollen
+river.
+
+Here he rapidly awoke to the fact that the waters were out far more
+widely than he had ever seen them before; and again and again, as he
+made for the path that ran along by the river toward the bridge, he was
+driven back, the flood turning the different lanes he tried into huge
+ditches or canals.
+
+He tried every turning so as to reach the bridge as soon as possible,
+but it was always the same; and finally, after consuming a good deal of
+time, he made his way round by the road, following it on till it bore
+away to his right, crossing the river by the old two-spanned wooden
+bridge and then winding onward among the sunny vales and hills of Kent.
+
+As he walked on swiftly, now in the bright sunshine, it was with his
+head lowered and a curious feeling of guilt troubling him.  He told
+himself that he ought to have left the place sooner, and he shivered at
+the thought of being seen by someone who, knowing all the circumstances,
+would catch him by the arm and insist upon his going back.
+
+But, at heart, he knew that the words would be in vain.  Back he would
+never go, and, strong and active, he felt that he could easily free
+himself from the detaining clutch, and then--there was the river.
+
+Richard had some recollection of passing or being passed by a man with
+sheep; but he was coming in the opposite direction, and this did not
+seem an enemy to fear, as he shouted from beyond the flock, and above
+the patter of their hoofs, a cheery "Good-morning."
+
+Richard smiled bitterly to himself as he hurried on.  Good-morning!  If
+that happy, careless fellow had known!
+
+At last, with his heart beating fast, and with the rushing sound of the
+river ever on the increase, he turned the curve which led to the wooden
+bridge, and, with his eyes fixed upon the dusty road, increased his
+pace, till he was suddenly brought up short, just as he was about to
+step down into the foaming, roaring flood.
+
+Richard Frayne stood there aghast, staring at the gulf before him, and
+then at the ragged piles on the other side, from which the hard
+light-coloured road ran on and on between hedges, rising higher and
+higher above unflooded meadows--the road leading to safety and rest,
+away from the terrible troubles which had driven him to this wildly
+reckless act.
+
+For Jerry Brigley was as wrong as he was right--right in his surmise
+that Richard would seek the bridge, which crossed the river at its
+deepest part, but wrong in imagining that it was for so horrible a deed.
+
+No: it was the way to safety--to places where he was unknown.  There was
+an idea fixed in his mind, and it was to carry out this idea that he had
+sought the bridge--to find it gone, and escape in that direction gone as
+well!
+
+Still, he could swim vigorously as a young seal; but he shrank from so
+desperate a venture, for the swirling flood told him too plainly that it
+would be extremely doubtful whether the strongest swimmer who ventured
+there would ever reach the other side.  If he did, it would be miles
+below.  And as he looked, it was to see the carcase of a horse, a great
+willow-tree (torn out by the roots), and a broken gate float by.
+
+What should he do?
+
+There was a ferry two miles beyond the mill, but he felt that no boat
+would take him across.
+
+There was the old stone bridge, too, at Raynes Corner, six miles down
+the road.  Well, he must cross there, for it was not likely that the
+sturdy piers could have suffered even from such a flood as this.
+
+That would do.  He would get over the river there; but he must avoid the
+road, where he might meet the police or people going into the town, who
+knew him by sight as one of Mr Draycott's pupils.
+
+Fortunately he knew the country well, and he could go along the high
+bank below the bridge as far as the mill, get into the field path at the
+back, and pass through the woods, and on and on as near the river as he
+could wherever the waters were not out.
+
+Climbing over the rails by the side of the raised road, he dropped down
+and hurried down to the mill, to find to his dismay that beyond it the
+fields were covered and that a great deal of the woodland was under
+water, too.  As for the path at the side of the mill, it was only dry
+for some twenty yards, and then ended in a dark-looking lake.
+
+It was impossible to go by there, and he turned back toward the bridge,
+glancing up at the back of the mill as he reached it to see if he was
+observed.
+
+But not a soul was stirring, for the simple reason that it had been
+closed just before; and he sighed as he thought of the pleasant days he
+had spent there, seated upon the weir, gazing down at the bar-sided
+perch playing about and shrimp-seeking in the weeds of the piles, and at
+the great fat barbel wallowing in the gravelly holes where the stream
+ran swiftest.
+
+Happy days gone for ever, he thought, as he stepped out once more on the
+bank path, towards whose surface the tide was rapidly climbing up.  He
+was making for the bridge once more, when his ears were thrilled by a
+faint, hoarse cry; and, as he looked in its direction, it was to see a
+white face, level with the muddy water, gliding rapidly down behind the
+saturated fleecy coat of a drowned sheep, which was evidently keeping
+the unfortunate up.
+
+It was a boy, by the smooth face--probably a shepherd lad, swept in
+while endeavouring to preserve his charge--only Richard did not think of
+that.  His own troubles were forgotten, his best instincts aroused, in
+the desire to save the drowning lad.
+
+He saw at a glance how short a distance the helpless boy was from the
+bank, and that an eddy was setting him in so near that, if he went close
+down to the rushing water, he might be able to reach out and seize the
+fleece of the sheep as they passed.
+
+In a few seconds Richard was down, knee-deep in water, holding on with
+his left hand to the reedy growth of the bank and reaching out to snatch
+at the sheep.
+
+Vain attempt.
+
+The dead animal did not come within five yards, but, after curving in,
+literally shot out again towards the middle of the river and was borne
+down, the boy uttering a despairing wail as he saw his help fade away.
+
+At the same moment Richard Frayne felt the mud giving beneath his feet,
+and he had hard work to struggle out on to firm land.  And then there
+was another despairing cry for help, so faint and yet so penetrating to
+the cowardly fugitive's heart that he turned, forgot everything but the
+fact that a brother was dying before his eyes, and took one brave plunge
+into the swollen river, to pass under into the thunderous darkness,
+feeling as if he had suddenly been grasped by a giant who was bearing
+him down.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+A GOOD SERVANT AND BAD MASTER.
+
+It was a good thirty yards from where Richard Frayne dived in, and when
+a strange bewildering sense of suffocation was beginning to make itself
+his master.  He had tried again and again to rise, but the water pressed
+him down and forced him to the bottom.  At last, with one desperate
+kick, he drove himself upward and saw the daylight once again as he
+struck out vigorously, following the natural instinct to reach the bank.
+
+But as the water cleared from his eyes, his mental vision cleared as
+well, and, looking sharply over his shoulder, he caught sight of the
+white face once more, glistening on a level with the water not five
+yards away, and a hand rose above the surface and fell with a splash.
+
+Recollecting now why he had plunged in, Richard made a quick stroke or
+two, turned on his side, and swam with all his strength after the
+drowning boy, about whom the water was swirling round in giddy
+whirlpools, each of which seemed to be animated by the desire to drag
+him beneath.
+
+The mill was already far behind, and they were gliding rapidly downward
+and round one of the curves of the winding river, the stream bearing
+them so closely in towards the left that Richard had but to raise a hand
+to snatch at the boughs of a submerged tree and drag himself out to
+temporary safety; and as in a misty way he realised this, but made no
+effort to catch the bough, he saw the sheep whirled round and then shot
+off almost at right angles from the tree towards the opposite bank,
+while the boy's face had disappeared.
+
+The next moment the fierce current caused by the flood striking upon the
+clump of trees firmly rooted in the bank caught Richard Frayne in turn,
+and he felt himself swept right off in the same direction, and so
+swiftly that it was as if in a few minutes he would be swept high and
+dry up among the bushes visible on the other side.
+
+Nerved by this, he swam on vigorously in pursuit of the carcase of the
+sheep, in the faint hope that the boy might be still retaining his hold;
+but though he kept himself in the right direction and was gliding
+rapidly on, he did not lessen the distance between him and the patch of
+wool in the slightest degree.  Once he fancied that he saw the surface
+stir between them, as if a struggle was going on; but he could not be
+sure, and then the distance increased, but only for a few moments.
+Then, to his surprise, that distance was lessened; for the fierce stream
+swirled round again as if rebounding from the riverside, and the current
+set back to that from which he had come.
+
+Not four yards between them now; and, making a few frantic efforts, the
+lad forced himself through the water in his effort to lessen the
+distance and grasp the sheep, when suddenly the surface was parted; a
+bare arm and hand appeared clutching at the air, then another just level
+with the surface, and before he could avoid it, he was clutched in the
+death-grip of the drowning boy and borne under, the current seeming to
+roll them over, down into the darkness of the thick water which roared
+and thundered in his ears.
+
+Richard's first impulse was to struggle free, his next to force himself
+to the surface; but both efforts were in vain.  He was as firmly bound
+as if he had been chained, and a horrible feeling of despair attacked
+him as he felt that he was losing consciousness fast, that all was over,
+and the end at hand.  Then, as his senses were leaving him, there was a
+gleam of daylight for an instant as he and his companion were rolled
+over by the current.  The darkness deepened, and there was a violent
+shock, the tearing and rending of boughs, and light once more.
+
+For a few minutes Richard could do nothing but cling instinctively to
+the twiggy bough up which he had struggled till his face was a little
+above the surface, his hands a few inches higher still, and his body
+dragged out level with the water; while it seemed to him that the
+unfortunate boy he had tried to save was tugging violently at his waist
+to drag him from his hold, bending and shaking the bough till it swayed
+to and fro like a spring.
+
+For some little time his clinging was instinctive, every fibre in his
+body naturally resisting the savage jerks to tear him from his hold; but
+by degrees he recovered sufficiently to realise his position, and his
+heart gave a great leap as he found for certain that, though something
+which felt like a ragged garment was wound about his legs, he was once
+more free, and that his drowning companion's grasp had been torn away
+when the furious current swept them into the tree.
+
+Of its force he kept on gaining fresh consciousness as the tugging
+continued and the tree yielded and sprung back, and with this
+consciousness something of the horror of his position passed away.  It
+was the strong current he had to deal with alone.
+
+And now, as he drew his breath freely, but one thought filled him--the
+natural desire of self-preservation.  What could he do? for it would be
+impossible to hang on long like that.
+
+He looked up stream, but he could see naught but water, and the flood
+was out widely on both sides.  But the regular bank of the river must be
+beneath him, and the only chance seemed to be to climb up into the
+ragged top of the willow to whose pendent boughs he clung: a poor kind
+of refuge, but safety till the water sank.
+
+The bough was of no great size, but about a couple of yards away there
+was one far larger, and, waiting for a few minutes longer, till the
+heavy beating of his heart subsided and he could breathe more easily, he
+gradually lowered himself toward the greater bough by relinquishing his
+hold upon its fellow to which he clung.
+
+It was a horrible sensation, though, for it seemed to give the water
+greater power to drag and snatch at him, and for some little time he
+dared not quit his hold.  But at last he ventured with one hand, got a
+firm grip of a moderate bough, and before he could loosen his grasp with
+the other he felt a violent shock: it was torn away, and he was swept
+over the submerged twigs, having hard work to get a fresh hold.
+
+Then the water passed over him, for quite a wave had descended the river
+at that moment, whose impetus, and the jerk given to the tree, was too
+much for its stability.  Already undermined by the furious rush of the
+flood, that new leverage at the end of the longest bough was enough, and
+its top came slowly down overhead, while the bough to which the lad
+clung slowly sank.
+
+Once more the instinct of self-preservation helped, and, quitting his
+hold, he allowed himself to be carried downward by the current as the
+top boughs splashed up the water not a yard behind.
+
+How long his new struggle lasted he could not tell; all he knew was that
+he was being borne along the furious river at racing speed, having hard
+work to keep his head above water and avoid the various objects which
+cumbered the stream.  But he swam bravely from time to time, gazing
+wildly at the trees he passed standing deeply in the tide as he was
+borne from side to side, till at last, with his senses beginning to
+fail, and the water rising higher and higher above his chin, a dim
+sensation of its being time to relax his efforts dawned upon him, in
+company with a strange drowsiness, just as he felt a heavy, sickening
+shock, which had the effect of making coruscations of light flash before
+his eyes; then he flung out his arms wildly, roused to renewed action
+for a few moments by the blow, and lastly all was blank.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+A HARD FIGHT.
+
+Richard Frayne opened his eyes, to gaze about him dreamily for some
+little time before he could grasp what had happened and where he was.
+Then a throbbing in his head and a sensation of smarting assailed him,
+but he did not stir, for his legs were cramped; and _wash, wash, wash_,
+the waters were sweeping along nearly to his chest.
+
+At last, with a bound, full consciousness returned, and he realised that
+he was lying wedged in amongst a pile of broken woodwork, evidently a
+great shed or barn which had been swept down the river till its progress
+had been checked by a clump of elm-trees, and the force of the water had
+rent it up and piled the broken posts and rafters, driving them, and
+pressing them by its weight into a chaotic mass, over and through which
+the torrent rushed.
+
+The drowning lad had been driven heavily by the force of the stream
+right upon this wreck, head and shoulders above the surface, and, though
+the water had torn and dragged at him afterwards, it was only to wedge
+him in more firmly, so that it was some time before he could free his
+legs from where they were, fast between two beams, the heavy pressure of
+the water forcing them ever down toward where it rushed furiously
+through the timbers.  But at last he managed to climb higher and rest,
+panting, upon the sloping mass of woodwork, with the water streaming
+from him and the hot sunshine beginning to send a glow into his benumbed
+limbs.
+
+He was so far down the river now that the country round beyond the
+flooded meadows looked strange; but he soon grasped the fact that he was
+on the far side of the river at the edge of a wood, among whose trees
+the stream was hissing as it ran, and that about a hundred yards away
+the land rose in a sunny coppice, edged by tall timber trees, whose
+continuity was suggestive of a road.
+
+It was pleasant and warm there, and he lay for some time without feeling
+the slightest disposition to stir, till a creaking and cracking sound
+startled him into action, suggestive as it was of the breaking up of the
+pile of timber.  And now, in an agony of fear, Richard rose to his knees
+and looked wildly round for a way of escape.
+
+On three sides there was the rushing flood; on the fourth the water,
+broken into hundreds of little torrents, tearing among the trees.
+
+What should he do?
+
+His brain was active enough now, and, to a great extent, his strength
+had returned; but he hesitated to move, till another sharp crack told
+him that the wreck was really breaking up; and, with the wood quivering
+beneath his feet, he sprang from rafter to beam till he reached one of
+the trees which held the barn anchored, and was beginning to climb up,
+when the wood before him tempted him to try if he could not pass from
+tree to tree, clinging to them in turn till he could reach the slope,
+where he would be safe.
+
+The risk was terrible, for, as he held on to a tree-trunk and lowered
+himself down into the water, it bore him off his feet; and, had he not
+clung with all his might, he would have been whirled away and dashed
+against the one beyond.
+
+But, working himself round, he stood, with his breath catching, pressed
+hard against the tree, and tried to think of what to do next and whether
+he had not better climb back upon the pile of wood.
+
+That question was soon decided, for a loud crackling sound came from the
+place he had so lately left, and, to his horror, he saw the wreck
+crumble away and begin to sink steadily beneath the surface, long
+rafters raising their ends in the air and then diving down out of sight,
+while several shot by him, one of which he seized and held on to, in
+spite of the heavy drag of the water seeming to try and snatch it away.
+
+The brain acts rapidly sometimes in moments of emergency, and Richard
+Frayne had seen in that rafter which he seized the life-rail which would
+help him to safety; for to have attempted to wade from place to place he
+found would be madness, and his only chance would have been to let
+himself go with the current--driven from tree to tree--while he strove
+to move diagonally, getting farther towards dry land and safety at each
+attempt.  But he had no faith in this; and, feeling that a third battle
+with the river must be fatal, he clung to the great rafter which was to
+be his narrow road to safety.
+
+He glanced once at the spot where the pile of wood had been, and
+shuddered; then, calling up all the energy which remained--feeling, as
+he did, that at any time the tree against which he was held might give
+way--he wound his legs round it, gripping hard, and tried to pass the
+rafter along till its end rested against the next stem, about nine feet
+away.
+
+But every time he tried the piece was dragged down by the rushing water
+foaming between the trunks, and twice over he nearly lost it, while once
+he was within an ace of going with it through the wood.
+
+He saved it, though, and held on, panting, beaten as he was by the
+enormous power of the water, which acted on the end as if it were the
+lever with which the poor puny human being was to be dislodged.
+
+For a few minutes he was in despair, for he felt that it was impossible
+to get the square piece of quartering resting from tree to tree, and
+that he might as well give it up and try to climb.
+
+Then the way to succeed came like a flash, and he wondered that he had
+not thought of it before.  It was to hold the rafter as firmly as he
+could, and, instead of thrusting it sideways across the stream, to push
+it straight upwards, guiding it so that the water only pressed upon its
+end.
+
+This he tried, and passed it backwards--holding it tightly beneath his
+arm--farther and farther, till there was only another yard.  Then, he
+felt the long end begin to move: the stream had caught it, and in a few
+seconds it was swept down, he forcing it outward the while and feeling
+it checked by the tree he wished to reach.  Then there was a short
+struggle, and he had fixed his end between his chest and the tree to
+which his legs clung, and there was a rail for him to cling to as he
+tried to pass on.
+
+He did not pause now.  The rafter was pressed tightly against the trees,
+but it looked terribly unsafe, bending ominously in the middle.  But it
+seemed to be his only chance, and, seizing it firmly, he began to work
+himself along, his legs being swept away directly, and the force of the
+current so great that he could hardly stir.
+
+He succeeded, though, for the distance was short, and in a couple of
+minutes was pressed against the second tree, holding on again with his
+legs, and working the other end of the rafter free for it to be swept
+downward, and once more nearly snatched from his grasp.
+
+This time he managed better, working it under his left arm, end to the
+current, keeping it as straight as possible, and guiding it so that he
+had less difficulty when the point began to sway round and, in turn, was
+swept against the next tree, while he passed the near end over his head
+and dropped it between him and the trunk.
+
+The passing along it, too, he managed more easily, though he shuddered
+as he felt how it bent when he reached the middle, and hurried so as to
+get to the next tree to rest.
+
+The third stage was easier still, and he crept on in this way from tree
+to tree, six, eight, and ten feet at a time, till, to his great delight,
+he found the water waist instead of breast-high.  Ten minutes later it
+was not more than half-way up this height, and in another five he left
+the rafter still pressed against two trunks, and waded through the
+rushing stream, holding on by bough after bough, till he stood
+triumphantly upon dry land.  Then after walking a few yards to an open
+patch by a pit where the sun shone warmly, he dropped upon his knees in
+hot, loose, yellow sand, and crouched there till his breath came
+regularly and he could look more calmly round.
+
+The place was in the wood, shut in by a few trees and great patches of
+golden-blossomed furze.  The sun came down warmly, birds twittered in
+the boughs, and a couple of rabbits showed their white cottony tails for
+a moment or two as they plunged down into their burrows, while above
+all, in a low, deep, roaring bass, there was the heavy thunder of the
+river as it swept sand, gravel, trees, and everything it could tear from
+its flooded banks, toward the sea.
+
+Richard Frayne felt that he must be miles away from Primchilsea, and
+that he was in as lonely a country place as he could have selected; and
+now for the first time the discomforts of his personal condition began
+to make themselves felt, as there was no more serious call upon his
+brain.
+
+His hat had gone when he first plunged into the river, but he did not
+seem to have lost anything else, for his jacket was buttoned tightly
+over the little case; but the hot sunshine now, paradoxical as it may
+sound, began to make him feel chilly--of course, from the great
+evaporation going on.
+
+Taking off his garments, then, one by one, he wrung and spread them on
+the hot sand, emptying his boots and serving them the same, when, after
+wringing out his socks and placing them to dry, a good idea occurred to
+him, and he filled his boots with the hottest, dryest sand he could
+find.
+
+His next course was to roll in the same, which felt grateful indeed to
+his benumbed and chilled limbs, the skin being blue with the cold; and
+the next minute he was lying down in a sunny hollow and dragging the
+sand over him till he was covered to the neck, a little loosening of the
+dry fluent stuff making it trickle down over his free arm.  There he
+was, luxuriating in the sunny warmth, with a feeling of drowsiness
+gradually creeping over him, till all was blank once more, exhausted
+nature bearing him into a pleasant, restful oblivion, from which he did
+not awaken till all overhead was starlight.  The consequence was that he
+dropped asleep again--a heavy, dreamless rest of so reposeful a nature
+that the troubles of the last forty-eight hours died away, and he did
+nothing but sleep--sleep on with all his might.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+THE GOAL.
+
+"_Chare! chare! chare_!"
+
+A harsh, ear-piercing note, sounding as if a scythe-blade were being
+held against a rapidly-revolving grindstone, and then the sound died
+away.
+
+Then, again, from a distance, then from farther off, and once more from
+close at hand.
+
+The next minute there was a fluttering amongst the dense clumps of
+hazel, a glint of velvety black, and another of pure white, and directly
+after a goodsized bird hopped into sight, showing a big,
+closely-feathered warm grey, speckly head, a pair of keen, inquiring
+blue eyes, below which were two boldly-marked jetty moustaches.
+
+There was a repetition of the harsh cries, as if the bird-scout were
+shouting to companions what he had found.  These cries were answered
+from different directions, and another bird flew out of the wood and
+clung to a stout, upright hazel: one leg full-stretch, the other doubled
+close, and the claws hidden in the warm grey fluffy breast feathers; and
+as it closed its pinions and hung peering about there, it revealed, in
+addition to its beautiful patches of white and black, the turquoise
+barred blue markings upon its wings.
+
+Then another came, and another; all noisy, and eager to investigate the
+novel phenomenon newly discovered by the sand-pit in the wood.
+
+The sun shone brightly upon millions of glittering gems, most of which
+adorned the leaves of the hazels, the ferns, and the spines and blossoms
+of the gold and tawny furze; but others had formed upon certain peculiar
+patches of cloth, a singularly-shaped piece of checked flannel, and a
+square of something white.  But these passed as nothing to the lively
+party of jays, seeing that there were two wonderful objects standing
+alone, side by side, full of sand, while an oval whitish something lay
+half-buried close by.
+
+Then one of the jays uttered a shriek of terror, for the oval whitish
+something was suddenly lit up by the opening of a couple of lids which
+lay bare a pair of dazzled eyes, and these winked, and the lids quivered
+before they were closed again.
+
+"_Chare! chare! chare_!" in a wild chorus of scare dying rapidly away
+made Richard Frayne spring up, realise his position, and, after shaking
+off the sand, rapidly scramble on his things, which--save a little dewy
+moisture still left unimbibed by the sun--were dry and warm.
+
+As he dressed he felt his pockets, where everything was right, even to
+his pocket comb, and in a few minutes he was dressed all but his boots,
+which, after they had been emptied of the sand, were as dry as the rest;
+and there he stood, all but his hat, ready for a fresh start.
+
+Not quite; for he thought of the absent bath, and then shuddered and
+listened for the roar of the river, now softened down into a murmur.
+
+The idea of going to some muddy pool to wash was too repellent, and,
+making his way, rested and refreshed, out of the sand-pit, he stood
+thinking, not hesitating, for his mind had been made up before he left
+Mr Draycott's.
+
+And as he stood there in the glorious morning sunshine, anyone who knew
+him would have noted that a change had come during these last days.  His
+face looked old and thin, and there was an air of determination about
+his compressed lips which had not been there before.
+
+The next minute, after marking the direction of the sun, he was tramping
+through the wood in search of the first lane.  This would, sooner or
+later, lead him into others, and they, perhaps, into the main road, the
+one which he could follow east to the goal he sought.
+
+How far he was from Primchilsea he could not tell, and he did not feel
+as if he wished to know.  All that belonged to the past: his life now
+was in the future--a future which he meant to carve out for himself,
+forgetful of Burns's aphorism about the best-laid plans of mice and men.
+He forced himself now, with more or less success, as he tramped on, to
+forget the past and think only of the present; but another shudder ran
+through him as there rose before him the face of the drowning lad, with
+its wild, appealing stare, and his brow wrinkled as he asked himself
+whether he had really done everything possible to save another's life.
+
+There could be only one answer to this, and he walked on, feeling
+saddened, as he knew only too well that the poor fellow, in his helpless
+state, must have sunk to rise no more.
+
+Then, in spite of his efforts, the thoughts of the past would obtrude
+themselves--of his cousin, of the scene at Mr Draycott's when it was
+found that he was missing.  Lastly he thought of Jerry, and a faint,
+saddened kind of smile crossed his face as he knew how troubled the man
+would be; for he felt that Jerry liked him, and he was sad as he told
+himself that he would never see him more.
+
+By this time he had tramped a couple of miles, having reached a shady
+lane, and now a gleam of sunshine on ahead showed him that for which he
+was looking--a little stream.
+
+This crossed the road, but the water was muddy and foul, for it
+communicated with the river, and the flood had ascended it like a tide;
+but a quarter of a mile farther on he came across the stream again,
+trickling now among watercress by the side of the road, and here it was
+bright, pure, and sparkling, offering him, in one spot, a splendid basin
+in which to bathe face and hands, from which task he rose up refreshed,
+and trudged on, thinking of trying at the first village he reached for a
+hat or cap.
+
+An hour had passed before the opportunity offered, and then, next door
+to a little inn, he found a regular village shop, where pretty well
+everything could be purchased.
+
+A woman served him, and looked at him curiously; for it did not happen
+every morning for a good-looking, quiet youth in tweeds to enter, as
+soon as she was down, to buy himself a flannel cricketing cap, because
+he had lost his own, and then, upon paying for it and reaching the
+doorway, turn round and buy a small yesterday's cottage loaf and a piece
+of cheese, which he tied up in his handkerchief, said "Good-morning,"
+and walked off, well watched by the inquisitive shopkeeper till he was
+out of sight.
+
+"Now I never made a bet in my life," she said, as she turned away to
+prepare her breakfast, "and I don't know how it's done; but I'd lay a
+penny that that young man met robbers on the road who stole his hat, and
+that he is going to seek his fortune just as we read about in books."
+
+She never knew how nearly she was right, and Richard did not give her a
+second thought as he walked steadily on till well out of sight of the
+village, when he began to relieve the painful gnawing sensation of
+hunger, from which he suffered, by breaking off pieces of his loaf.
+
+Then came a little bit of satisfaction; for, passing a farmhouse in a
+lonely spot, he saw a big heavy-looking woman carrying a couple of pails
+full of frothy new milk to the door, and, following her, he soon had his
+desire for a pint of the warm sweet fluid satisfied.
+
+Nerved now for his task, he started off afresh, walking vigorously and
+well, keeping as near as he could due east, and passing village after
+village, and then a town, and at last seating himself among the ferns
+upon a shady bank to dine on bread and cheese and a draught of water
+from a trickling spring.
+
+There was no pleasure in the eating; it was from stern necessity, and he
+ate with a determination to carry out the plan he had in view--to give
+himself support for the task which lay ahead and kept him with rugged
+brow, dreamy and thoughtful, as he tramped along till night, when he
+entered a large village, and, after a search, found a tiny inn, where he
+was accommodated with supper and a bed.
+
+The next day passed in much the same way, with the past seeming to
+belong to a far-off time, and the future looming up cold and cheerless,
+but more and more real as the hours went by.  He had calculated that he
+would reach his destination that evening; but, journeying as he did,
+asking guidance of none, he missed his way, and walked back many miles
+along a lower lane which ran parallel to the one by which he had come.
+Consequently, he had to sleep another night upon the road.
+
+"It does not matter," he said to himself in a stern, hopeless way; and,
+with the past farther back than ever, he started early the next morning,
+tramping through the chalky dust slowly now, for he did not want to get
+to his destination yet; and, as he walked, he noted the farms and cherry
+orchards he passed upon the road, but in a dull, uninterested manner,
+and, bending his head low, he tramped on again.
+
+The fear of being followed and taken back had quite gone.  No one knew
+him, and his aspect was not one which would take the notice of the
+police whom he met from time to time.
+
+"They don't know that I killed my cousin," he said bitterly; but he
+pulled himself up short--That belonged to the past!
+
+It was early in the afternoon that he crossed the stone bridge and went
+steadily on through the streets of the dingy town, with signs here and
+there of the maritime character of the place, and others which
+interested him more, though in a saddened way.  From time to time he
+caught sight of specks of the Queen's scarlet, which resolved themselves
+into military jackets, cut across by pipe-clayed belts.  Then there was
+the blue of an artilleryman, with its yellow braid; more scarlet, that
+of an engineer; and soon after the blackish-green of a rifleman.
+
+For Richard Frayne, son of a distinguished officer, was tramping through
+a garrison town towards the great dingy barracks, and his future was
+rapidly taking form and shape.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+THE LADS IN RED.
+
+If Richard Frayne had stopped to look back, his career would have been
+very different; but he had fully and stubbornly made up his mind, and he
+looked forward as he walked on and on through the apparently endless
+streets of what he found to be a trio of towns; and as he approached the
+great barracks he was conscious of the shrieking of fifes and the roll
+of drums, which suddenly ceased as a crowd of rough-looking boys and
+people came along a side-lane, down which, and rapidly approaching, was
+the shining and glittering of a long line of bayonets, while in front
+came the gleam of brass instruments.
+
+As the head of the regiment marching into the town reached the main
+street, _boom_--_boom_--_boom_--came the heavy thunder of the big drum;
+and then, in full burst of the brass instruments, the first bars of the
+grand March from _Tannhauser_, sending the first thrill of pleasure he
+had felt for days through Richard's breast, as he naturally fell into
+step and marched along side by side with the men.
+
+But the thrill soon passed off, and as he tramped on he could not help
+thinking, in a low-spirited way, that the men looked dusty and fagged.
+The chalky white powder clung to their blue trousers and scarlet
+coatees; their shakoes, too, were whitened, and their hot faces were
+grimed and coated with perspiration and dust.
+
+In spite of the music, there was something wanting; and in a few minutes
+Richard Frayne slackened his pace, so that the regiment went on past
+him, and he followed more slowly, for there was nothing attractive about
+the men.
+
+But he had not come down there spurred on by any boyish admiration for
+the army.  His was a set purpose, and, after letting the marching
+regiment disappear, with a peculiar sensation of sadness affecting him
+as he stole a glance--he could hardly bear to look--at the officers, he
+turned off along one of the side-streets and passed through the great
+gates of one of the barracks.  Here he could see a round-faced, fat man,
+whose clothes looked ridiculously tight, hurrying to and fro before a
+double line of men in flannel jackets, and at whom he seemed to be
+barking loudly.
+
+He was a peculiar-looking man for a soldier, suggesting, as he did at a
+distance, an animated pincushion, one huge pin being apparently stuck
+right through his chest, though a second glance revealed the fact that
+it was only a cane with a gilt head passed, skewer fashion, in front of
+his elbows and behind his back.
+
+Then a few evolutions were gone through, and Richard Frayne thought the
+men looked a melancholy set of dummies, more like plasterers than
+soldiers, till at the loudly-shouted word "Dis--miss!" they trotted off
+readily enough.
+
+Just then a couple of sergeants marched a squad of twelve or fourteen
+shabby-looking young fellows into the barrack yard, the whole party
+wearing the ribbons of the recruit, and toward this group, as it they
+were an attraction, the fat drill-sergeant and some half-dozen more from
+different parts of the yard walked slowly up.
+
+Richard's pulses beat fast as he stood looking on, conscious the while
+that a tall, keen-looking non-commissioned officer who passed him was
+watching him curiously.
+
+Then followed a little loud talking and laughing, and the party of
+recruits were marched across the yard and disappeared, leaving the group
+of sergeants chatting together, till one of them seemed to have said
+something to his companions, who, as if by one consent, turned to stare
+at Richard Frayne.
+
+"Now for it," muttered the lad, and, drawing a deep breath, he pulled
+himself together, feeling as if he were going to execution, and walked
+straight toward them, feeling the blood come and go from his cheeks.
+
+The men stood fast, looking at him in a half-amused, good-tempered way,
+as if he was not the first by many a one who had approached them in that
+fashion, and the keen-faced man said in quick, decisive tones the words
+which ended one of the boy's difficulties--
+
+"Well, my lad, want to 'list?"
+
+Only those few hours ago and people touched their hats to him and said,
+"Sir Richard;" now it was, "Well, my lad, want to 'list?"  But he
+answered promptly--
+
+"Yes; I want to enlist."
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated the sergeant, looking him over keenly, and grasping
+him by the arm as if he were a horse for sale.  "How old are you?"
+
+"Turned seventeen."
+
+"Hah!  Yes," said the sergeant, with a keen look; "old story, eh?  Run
+away from home?"
+
+Richard's face turned scarlet.
+
+"That'll do, my lad; don't tell any crackers about it.  See these chaps
+just brought in?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, there isn't one who doesn't stand two or three inches higher than
+you, and is as many more round the chest.  Men are plentiful now of the
+right sort.  Why, you'd look as thin as a rake in our clothes."
+
+"But I'm young, and I shall grow," said Richard, hurriedly.
+
+"Then go home and grow bigger and wiser, my lad; and if you still want
+to join the service, come and ask for me, Sergeant Price, 205th
+Fusiliers, and I'll talk to you."
+
+"Only he might be at the Cape," said another of the sergeants, smiling.
+
+"Or in India," said another; and there was a general laugh, which
+irritated the would-be recruit, and, feeling completely stunned by his
+reception, after taking it for granted that all he had to do was to hold
+out his hand when a shilling would be placed therein: after that he was
+a soldier.
+
+Giving a sharp, comprehensive glance round, he turned upon his heels and
+walked away towards the entrance, feeling ready to go back indignantly,
+for there was a roar of laughter apparently at his expense.
+
+"Am I such a contemptible-looking boy?" he thought; and then he felt
+better: for there was evidently someone following him, and the laughter
+was not at his expense, but at that of the man coming in his direction,
+for someone cried--
+
+"Wait a bit, Lambert!"
+
+"Yes; steady there, Dan'l!"
+
+"Hi! you sir, don't you stand anything.  He eats and drinks more than is
+good for him already."
+
+"I say, Brummy, take him to the King's Head, and we'll join you."
+
+"Dan'l and Lambert," thought Richard.  "Why, it's the fat sergeant
+coming after me; they're laughing at him!"
+
+But he did not turn his head to see, only went steadily on towards the
+gate, with his pulses beating rapidly once more, for the hope rose now
+that this man had repented and was, perhaps, going to enlist him, after
+all.  Telling himself that it would be better to seem careless and
+independent, he kept on to the gate, passed out, and heard the steps
+still behind him, but so close now that he noticed a rather thick
+breathing.  Then he started as if thrilled by an electric touch, for
+there came in sharp tones--
+
+"Hold hard, my lad!" and then, in military fashion, "Halt!  Right about
+face!"
+
+Richard obeyed the order on the instant, and in such thorough soldierly
+style that the fat sergeant stared.
+
+"Humph!  Volunteers!" he muttered: and then, coming close up, he looked
+pleasantly in the lad's face, and clapped him on the shoulder.  "So you
+wanted to 'list, did you?" he said.
+
+"Yes.  Will you have me?"
+
+"No, my lad," said the sergeant, smiling.  "I only wanted a word with
+you before you go into the town.  I don't want to pump you.  We can see
+plain enough.  We often get young customers like you."
+
+"I didn't know I was too young," said Richard, hoarsely.
+
+"Nobody said you were, my lad; but you're not our sort.  We want a
+rougher breed than you."
+
+"Very well," said Richard.
+
+"No, it isn't, my lad.  You take a bit of good advice: be off back
+home--sharp!  Don't stop in the town here, or you'll get picked up.
+There's a lot outside ready to be down upon you, and they'll humbug and
+promise everything till they've sucked every shilling you've got out of
+you and made you sell your watch."
+
+Richard's hand went sharply to his chain, and the sergeant laughed.
+
+"I know what it is: bit of a row at home, and you've cut off to 'list;
+and, if you could have had your way, you'd have done what you'd have
+given anything to undo in a month."
+
+There was something so frank and honest in the plump, good-humoured face
+before him that Richard's hand went out directly.
+
+"Shake hands?  Of course," said the sergeant, grasping the lad's.
+"White hand!--Ring on it!" he cried, laughing, "There! go back home."
+
+Richard snatched his hand back, colouring deeply, like a girl.
+
+"Thank you!" he said.  "You mean well, sergeant; but you don't know
+all."
+
+"And don't want to.  There, don't stop in the town; get off at once."
+
+"I'm going to have some dinner," said Richard.  "Come and have something
+with me."
+
+"Had mine, my lad," said the sergeant, laughing.  "What's the use of me
+giving you good advice if you don't take it.  There, good-bye, my lad.
+Banks was quite right."
+
+He nodded, faced round, and marched away, leaving Richard Frayne gazing
+at the black future before him as he muttered--
+
+"Beaten!  Why did I fight my way out of the flood?"
+
+His next thought made him shudder: for a river was below there in the
+town, and he had crossed a bridge, beneath which the deep water flowed
+fast to where there was oblivion and rest.
+
+He spoke mentally once more:
+
+"Why not?"
+
+As Richard Frayne gazed after the fat sergeant he failed to see the
+ridiculously fat back in the tight jacket for somehow he was looking
+inside at the man's heart.
+
+"But he does not know--he does not know," muttered the lad, as he turned
+now and walked back toward the town street, down which he hurried with
+the intention of finding a quiet place where he could have a meal, and
+turned at last into a coffee-house, where he ordered tea and
+bread-and-butter, drinking the former with avidity, for he was
+feverishly thirsty, but the first mouthful of food seemed as if it would
+choke him, and he took no more.
+
+Half an hour later he had another cup of tea, for his thirst seemed
+greater, and after that he went and wandered about the town, finding
+most rest in the shade of the great ruined Castle Keep, where the
+jackdaws sailed round, and cawed at him as if they were old friends from
+Primchilsea who recognised him and called out to their companions that
+he was below.
+
+"What should he do," he thought; "what should he do?"  For his plan had
+been completely checked, and in the most unexpected way.
+
+He was sick at heart and faint in body, but his spirit was not crushed.
+He had laid his hand to the plough, and if a hundred good-tempered
+well-meaning fat sergeants came or gave their advice he could not look
+back.  No; he must sleep at Ratcham that night, and make for Quitnesbury
+in the morning.  There was a cavalry depot there; and if he failed
+again, he could go on to Ranstone.
+
+"There must be regiments where they would take me," he muttered, as he
+walked back toward the town in the pleasant sunny evening; and, as if
+attracted by the place, he made his way again towards the barracks,
+thinking of the fat sergeant, and in his utter loneliness feeling a
+yearning to meet him again for a friendly chat, if it were possible.
+
+"What did they call him--Lambert?" thought Richard.  "Absurd!  That was
+only banter on the part of his companions.  I wonder whether I shall
+ever see him again!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+IN PIPE-CLAYDOM.
+
+There was still none of the pageant and display of a military life
+visible to Richard as he re-entered the great gateway, before which a
+sentry in white flannel jacket and forage cap was marching to and fro
+with a bayonet in his hand, ready to give a glance at the lad and then
+turn upon his heels and march away.
+
+The lad walked forward as if he had business there, and went on,
+wondering what the stout sergeant's name was, but not liking to stop and
+ask.  Then on straight across the great dreary barrack yard, surrounded
+on all sides by bare-looking buildings, full of open windows, at one of
+which he saw a pair of folded arms and the top of a closely-cropped
+head, the owner thereof being evidently asleep.  At another window there
+was a pair of boot-soles, and at another a man, in shirt and trousers,
+seated sidewise upon the sill, with his knees drawn up so as to form a
+reading-desk, upon which a paper was spread, which the man, with his
+hands behind his head, was perusing.
+
+A little farther on there was a cat asleep, and just above it a canary
+in a cage twittering away as if in friendly discourse with the animal
+below.  But for the most part the windows of the great barracks were
+unoccupied, and the place looked deserted and desolate in the extreme.
+
+Richard walked on, thinking of what he was not long before, and of his
+present position through one turn of fortune's wheel.  What was to
+happen next, now that he had been disappointed and his project had come
+to naught?
+
+Right on before him there was another gateway, across which, in the soft
+summer evening light, a second sentry in white flannel jacket passed,
+with the light gleaming upon his triangular bayonet.
+
+One moment he thought of turning back; the next he had rejected this,
+and advanced.  He had taken his course, and he must go on.
+
+The second sentry looked harder at him as he passed an open doorway from
+out of which came a puff of hot bad tobacco smoke; but the man seemed to
+pay no further heed as he went on and now found himself at what was
+evidently the front of the barracks, and directly afterward a burst of
+music fell upon his ears.
+
+It sounded very welcome, and, walking in the direction, he passed a
+couple of large open windows, from whence came the clatter of silver
+upon china and the buzz of voices accompanied by sundry odours of an
+agreeable nature, which reminded him of the fact that he had eaten
+nothing since his hurried breakfast.
+
+"The mess-room," he said to himself.
+
+The officers were dining; and the band was playing selections during
+that function.
+
+Richard passed on, thinking, and with his spirits going down like the
+mercury in a weather-glass before a storm.
+
+In a short time he, in all probability, would have been an officer
+attached to some regiment, while now he was a fugitive and a vagabond on
+the face of the earth.
+
+"Not even fit to be a private," he said to himself; and then, attracted
+by the music, he turned and walked back, to stop between the two
+windows, listening, and with the smell of the dinner making him forget
+his troubles in baser thoughts as his mouth began to water.
+
+Then the chink of glasses began to mingle with the buzz of voices.
+
+"Taking wine," muttered the listener; and he wondered whether it was
+Hock.
+
+_Pop_!
+
+"Champagne or Moselle," he muttered; and the report of a second cork
+taking flight from the bottle followed, and then a third, while the
+music went on.
+
+There was a row of iron railings in front of the windows, and Richard
+turned his back and rested it against them; for he was tired, and it was
+pleasant to listen to the music and feel himself close to a party of
+gentlemen just for a few minutes before he went back into the town to
+find out some place where he could get a meal and bed.
+
+All at once, after a loud passage, the band wound up with a series of
+chords, leaving the principal flute-player sustaining one long note and
+then dropping to the octave below, from which he started upon a series
+of runs, paused, and commenced a solo full of florid passages
+introductory to a delicious melody--one of those plaintive airs which,
+once heard, cling evermore to the memory.
+
+Dick was weary, faint, and in low spirits.  The events of the past days
+seemed to fit themselves to the strain, till his brow wrinkled up, then
+grew full of knots, and he angrily muttered the word "Muff!"  A few
+moments later he ejaculated "Duffer!" and then twisted himself suddenly
+round to look up at the open window from which, mingled with the loud
+conversation and rattle of plates, the music came.
+
+"Oh, it's murder!" muttered the lad.  "The fellow ought to be kicked!"
+and, as he listened, his hand went involuntarily into his breast-pocket,
+pressed the button in the side of the morocco flute-case, and extracted
+the little silver-keyed piccolo from where it reposed in purple velvet
+beside the two pieces of his flute.
+
+And all the while the solo was continued, the player slurring over
+passages, omitting a whole bar, and seeming to be increasing his pace so
+as to take the final roulades at a break-neck gallop, and get through,
+somehow, without further accident.
+
+But he did not; for, as he reached the beginning of a brilliant
+arpeggio, at the top of which there was a trill and a leap down of an
+octave and a half, the wind in the bellows of this human organ suddenly
+gave out, a few wildly chaotic notes elicited a roar of laughter from
+the table accompanied by derisive applause.  This stopped as if by
+magic; for, suddenly, from out there by the railing, a few long
+thrilling shakes were heard, deliciously sweet and pure, followed by the
+arpeggio.  The effect was as if liquid music was falling from the summer
+sky; and then the player ran back to the earlier part of the air, and,
+amidst perfect silence from within, on and on it ran, thrilling its
+hearers with appealing, impassioned tones, breathed by one who had
+forgotten where he was--everything but the fact that the glorious theme
+he loved had been cruelly murdered, and that he was bringing it back to
+life; for it was one of his favourite airs.
+
+In the utter silence a window was softly opened somewhere higher up,
+then another and another, towards which the liquid, bird-like notes rose
+in plaintive, long-drawn appeals, to come trickling down again in runs--
+rising, falling, rising, falling, with a purity and strength which
+seemed impossible as coming from that tiny instrument.  Finally this
+softened, grew lower and lower, till the last notes regularly died away
+in the distance.  And then, and then only, in the midst of a roar of
+applause, Dick stood, piccolo in hand, as if he had been just woke up
+from a musical dream by a flannel-jacketed private, bearing a drawn
+bayonet, who said, savagely--
+
+"Come out!  You've no business here!"
+
+"No, no, sentry; leave him alone!" said a loud voice; and Richard looked
+up, to see that the windows were full of officers, whose scarlet
+mess-vests, with their rows of tiny buttons, shone in the evening light.
+Higher up there were ladies looking down; and then the musician glanced
+sharply round and began to thrust his piccolo back into his
+breast-pocket.
+
+"Hold hard, there!" cried the same voice, and Richard looked quickly up,
+to meet the dark eyes of a big, handsome, youngish man, who, napkin in
+hand, towered above the others, but turned sharply round, and Richard
+heard him say--
+
+"May we have him in, sir?"
+
+"Oh, yes!" came back in a quick, commanding voice, and the officer
+looked out again.
+
+"Here!" he cried, "we want you to come in and play."
+
+"I--I beg your pardon--I--I--"
+
+Dick got no further, for an officer's servant was at his elbow, looking
+at him rather superciliously as he said--
+
+"This way!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+"YOU MEANT IT, THEN?"
+
+For one moment Richard flinched, and thought of making a run for it; the
+next he was following the man.
+
+"Why not?" he muttered.  "I may as well, if they want me to.  Why not
+play for my living now?"
+
+The next minute, with the feeling of shrinking gone, he was standing in
+the mess-room, in one corner of which, partially hidden by a screen and
+some palms, was the band, while close to him, leaning back in his chair,
+was a fine, florid-looking, grey officer, evidently the colonel or major
+of the regiment, while the rest of the officers had resumed their
+places, and the dinner was going on.
+
+"Well, sir," said the elderly, florid officer, with assumed sternness,
+as he fixed the lad with his keen grey eyes, "what have you to say for
+yourself?  How are you come here and interrupt the most brilliant player
+in my band?"
+
+There was a roar of laughter from all present, and Richard was conscious
+of a sharp face belonging to a bandsman peering between the palm-leaves.
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir," said the lad, frankly, "but I stopped to hear
+the music; the air was very familiar, and I had my instrument in my
+pocket, and--well, sir, that's all."
+
+"Oh!" said the old officer, scanning him sharply; "then you are not a
+street musician?"
+
+"I, sir?  Oh, no," cried Richard--"that is, I don't know; I suppose I
+shall be."
+
+"Humph!  Well, you played that piece from the _Trovatore_ capitally.
+The gentlemen here would like to hear something else--er--I should, too.
+Know any other airs?"
+
+"A few, sir."
+
+"Mind playing?"
+
+"Not to so appreciative an audience," came to the lad's lips; but he
+only said, "Oh, no, sir."
+
+"Go on, then.  Here, Johnson, give the musician a glass of wine.  By the
+way, Lacey, you were going to tell us a story about something."
+
+The big, good-looking officer smiled, shook his head, and wrinkled up
+his forehead in a perplexed way as he looked up at the ceiling.
+
+"The flute-player blew it all out of his head, sir," said a rather
+fierce-looking man who took the foot of the table, and there was another
+laugh.
+
+At that moment the band at the end of the great mess-room recommenced
+playing, but there were cries of "No! no!" headed by the officer at the
+head.
+
+But the band heard nothing but their own instruments, and Richard stood
+looking on, feeling faint and more weary than ever, and paying no heed
+to the glass of champagne the servant had placed upon a side-table near
+him, for he had been busy fitting together his flute.
+
+"Go and tell them to leave off," said the old officer, and one of the
+servants hurried to the corner and checked the players, who could now be
+seen whispering together.
+
+"Now, Mr Wandering Minstrel," said the officer at the foot, "we are all
+attention."
+
+Dick's brow knit a little.  "Mr Wandering Minstrel," in such a tone,
+jarred upon him, and a peculiar trembling came over him as he felt that
+he had forgotten everything.  The table, with its plate and glass,
+looked misty, too, and there was a singing in his ears as his fingers
+played nervously with the keys of the instrument.
+
+"Now, sir, if you please," said the old officer, and Richard gave a
+start, raised the flute to his lips, and blew a few feeble notes as he
+vainly tried to collect himself--conscious, too, now that the bandsmen
+were craning forward to listen.
+
+Then he dimly saw that bent heads were being turned at the table, and
+that he was being eyed curiously, till, in a fit of desperation, he
+pressed the flute to his lips and blew again, if anything, more feebly;
+but the sound of the notes seemed to send a thrill through his nerves,
+and the next came deep, rich-toned, and pure, as he ran through a
+prelude, from which he imperceptibly glided into a sweet old Irish
+melody.  He played it with such earnestness and feeling that his hearers
+were electrified, and the applause came again loudly, amidst which he
+dashed off into a series of variations, bright, sad, martial, and
+wailing, till, as he played, the room swam round him, the terrible scene
+in the river rose, followed by that with his cousin, and then he seemed
+to be hearing the thundering of the water once more in his ears--
+
+He was on the floor, gazing up in the face of a stranger, who was upon
+his knee, while other faces kept on appearing, as it were, out of a
+mist.
+
+"Faintness, I should say," said the officer who knelt by him.  "Give me
+that glass of wine.  Here, my lad, try and drink some of this."
+
+As if in a dream, the lad involuntarily swallowed the wine, and then, in
+a sharp, snatchy way, cried--
+
+"What is it?  What is the matter?  What are you doing?"
+
+"Have you been ill?" said the gentleman by him.
+
+"Ill?  No!" said Richard, huskily.  "I don't understand."
+
+"What have you eaten to-day?"
+
+"Nothing--yes: a bit of bread."
+
+"And yesterday?"
+
+Richard was silent for a few moments, trying to collect himself.  Then
+he recalled the past.  "I don't know," he said.
+
+"Well, Doctor?"
+
+"Faint from excitement and want of food, sir," said the doctor.  "Shall
+I prescribe here?"
+
+"Do I ever fight against your wishes?" said the old officer.
+
+"Then come and sit down over here, my lad," said the doctor, quietly;
+and he helped his wondering patient to a table close to where the
+bandsmen were seated.
+
+"Here, one of you," he said, sharply, "fetch a plate of that soup, and
+some bread;" and, as the dinner went on, the doctor stayed and saw that
+the patient took the medicine, which he followed with half a glass more
+wine.
+
+"You will not feel it now," he said, kindly.  "Here, Wilkins, keep an
+eye upon him, will you, while I go back to the table?  He is not to
+leave until I have seen him again."
+
+"Very good, sir," said a pale little man in spectacles, who was
+evidently the leader of the band; and when the doctor went to his place,
+leaving his patient seated at the side-table, feeling as if he were in a
+dream, Wilkins carried out his orders with military precision; for,
+every time a piece was played, he conducted in regular musical fashion,
+flourishing a little ebony baton, and turning over the leaves of the
+book before him on the stand, but never once glancing at the notes, his
+eyes, glimmering through his glasses, being fixed upon the lad, to whom
+the scene appeared more dreamlike than ever, and his head grew confused,
+with familiar airs buzzing in one ear and the loud conversation in the
+other.
+
+And this went on till the last piece upon the band programme of the
+evening had been finished amid thin clouds of smoke.  Then the men began
+to place their instruments in their cases and green baize bags, after
+the different brass crooks had been drained and blown through, while a
+boy gathered together the music; and Richard started out of his dream,
+feeling better, and knowing that he must go.
+
+At that moment he became conscious that the bandmaster was standing
+stiffly close by, still keeping an eye upon him, and removing his
+military cap, revealing a shiny billiard-ball-like head, which he began
+to polish softly with a silk handkerchief.
+
+Richard, in his nervous state, felt worried and annoyed by this
+persistent gaze; but he bore it till he could bear it no longer, for the
+man stared as if he were some street beggar he had to watch for fear of
+his meddling with the plate.
+
+"I beg your pardon--" began the lad; but he was interrupted by steps
+behind him, and the doctor cried--
+
+"Well, sir--better?"
+
+Richard started up and faced round, to find that the keen eyes of the
+colonel were also fixed upon him, looking as if their owner was waiting
+to hear what he said.
+
+"Yes, sir; I'm better now," said the lad, hurriedly.  "I am sorry to
+have been so much trouble."
+
+"Who are you?--what's your name?" said the colonel, sharply.
+
+"Smithson--Dick Smithson, sir," said the lad, feeling the blood come
+hotly into his cheeks as he spoke; and his face grew hotter, for he
+could see at a glance that he was not believed.
+
+"What brought you here?" continued the colonel.
+
+"I came to enlist, sir," said Dick, quickly.
+
+"And the sergeant would not have you because you were too boyish, eh?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Quite right, too!  Where do you come from?"
+
+There was no reply, and the colonel frowned.
+
+"Where are you going to-night?"
+
+Dick shook his head, and the colonel frowned again.
+
+"Well, I have no right to inquire, I suppose, but you are not fit to go
+on tramp again to-night, my lad," continued the colonel, kindly; "and
+you had better mind where you go to sleep.  Those instruments of yours
+are good, are they not?"
+
+"Oh, yes," said Dick, eagerly; "they are both of the best make."
+
+"And you have practised a great deal?"
+
+"Oh, yes, sir--a great deal."
+
+"Doesn't it seem strange to you, then, that a decentish-looking young
+fellow, who can play well, should be regularly on tramp and coming to
+enlist?"
+
+"Yes, sir, very."
+
+"Well, he had better stay here to-night--eh, Doctor?"
+
+"Most advisable," said the keen-looking surgeon.
+
+"Wilkins, you had better take charge of your fellow-musician," said the
+colonel.
+
+"Yes, sir," came in rather an offended tone, which the colonel noticed.
+
+"He had better go with the bandsmen, perhaps; he would be more
+comfortable.--Look here, sir, I shall make inquiries about you.  Come to
+enlist, eh?  Wouldn't care to join our band, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, sir!" cried Dick, eagerly.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir, we are quite full," said the bandmaster, importantly.
+
+"Of what, Mr Wilkins?" said the colonel, sternly.  "Incompetents?  I am
+not much of a judge, sir, but I know enough music to be able to say that
+ours is one of the worst bands in the army.  I shall have inquiries made
+about this Richard or Dick Smithson, and, if the results are favourable,
+he had better stay.  See that he is looked after for the night!"
+
+The colonel sauntered off; followed by the doctor, and Dick stood gazing
+after him, wondering whether they would find out who he was and whence
+he came, when the bandmaster said in an ill-used tone of voice--
+
+"Here, you had better come with me!" and he led the way to the portion
+of the barracks which formed the bandsmen's quarters, where Dick passed
+the night.
+
+"Eh?  No!  Why, it is!  Well, I'm blessed!"
+
+The fat sergeant's ejaculations when, one morning, Dick Smithson, the
+new recruit to the band, hurried up to take his place with the awkward
+squad and learn a sufficiency of the drill to carry himself correctly
+and march with the men.
+
+"How in the world did you manage it, my lad?  Here, I know: you were the
+chap who played in the mess.  Well, how are you?  There, fall in!" cried
+the sergeant, suddenly altering his tone and manner.  "We'll have a talk
+by-and-by."
+
+For the next hour or two Dick was going through the customary
+instruction, and being barked at with the rest, ordered here and there,
+made to perform the balance-step, and put through his facings generally.
+The sergeant bullied him in the time-worn style, and stared at him as
+if he had never seen him before, till the recruits were drawn up in
+line, hot, weary and worried; for, though the stout sergeant was not
+very active, he did not spare himself, much less the fresh, raw lads he
+was drilling into shape.
+
+Then, after some exceedingly severe strictures, he turned suddenly to
+Dick.
+
+"Here you, Number Fourteen; you've been through all this?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Hah!  Taught by some clumsy worn-out duffer who belonged to the old
+school!  You've a lot to learn, my lad, but you needn't stop with this
+rough lot; you can drill with one of the regular squads."
+
+Some of the men turned to look sourly at the new recruit, and were
+yelled at by the sergeant.
+
+"Eyes front!" he roared.  "Keep your heads up there!  I'm speaking to
+Number Four from the left, not to you!  Steady there!  Right face!
+Dis--miss!"
+
+The rank was broken, and, as the tired squad hurried off to the
+barrack-room, the sergeant drew his cane from under his arm, and called
+to Dick, the stern, rigid look giving place to a pleasant, cheery smile
+as he shook hands.
+
+"You meant it, then?" he said.
+
+"Yes, I meant it," replied Dick, smiling back.
+
+"Well, I'm glad to see you, my lad.  Don't you take no notice of what I
+said before those louts.  You're all right; you'll have to go through
+the course, but I can soon report you as being pretty perfect.  You
+could hold your own now with most of the fellows in the band."
+
+"I think I can soon get on," said Dick, who felt glad of a friendly
+word.
+
+"Of course you can.  You well-educated chaps know your right leg from
+your left; lots of these fellows never seem to.  You'll be all right
+there in the band."
+
+He nodded and walked away, while Dick was soon after obeying the dinner
+call, and forcing himself to bear his grievance, as he sat down to
+partake of the roughly-cooked coarse beef and potatoes which formed the
+day's rations, and wondered how long it would be before he grew hardened
+to his new life and able to forget the many little refinements and
+luxuries to which he had been accustomed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+QUAVERING AMONG CROTCHETS.
+
+"It is very horrid in some things," thought Dick Smithson as he would
+think of his position at night in the comparative silence of his narrow
+bed--comparative silence, for each of his brother bandsmen had a habit
+of performing nocturnes on nasal instruments in a way not pleasing to a
+weary, sleepless person--"very horrid."
+
+For so many things jarred: the want of privacy, the common ways of his
+companions, the roughness of the food, and the annoyances--petty
+annoyances--he had to submit to from the little bandmaster.
+
+But Dick did not repent.  He was Dick now--Dick Smithson--even to
+himself; and after the first few days, far from repenting the wild step
+he had taken, he rejoiced in the calm rest which seemed to have come
+over him.  There was no one to accuse him of dishonourableness, to
+remind him of the death of his cousin, no relations to meet who would
+reproach him for all that he had done.
+
+There was ease at night, so little time for thought.  The military
+routine kept him busy; and as he had embraced this life, he worked like
+a slave to master his duties, and the time rapidly glided by.
+
+There was always a smile for him whenever he met the big sergeant, while
+the others he had encountered that first day were ready with a friendly
+nod.
+
+There was a band practice one afternoon, and Dick took his place with
+the rest, listening to the men, who, whatever their instrument, began to
+run through difficult bits regardless of their neighbours; but there was
+only one person present whom this chaos of wild sounds affected--to wit,
+the recruit, who listened with an intense longing to ram his fingers in
+his ears, as one man began to cut and slash out notes from the trombone
+in the key of G; while another practised difficult runs in E flat upon
+the clarionet, another ran through a strain in F upon the cornet, and
+the hautbois-performer, the bassoon, the contra-bass, and the
+keyed-trumpet toiled away in major, minor, flat, sharp, or in whatever
+key his music might be set.
+
+The bewildering, maddening row--it deserved no other term--went on till
+the bandmaster, looking mildly important in his spectacles, entered the
+room, walked up to his stand--across which a baton had been laid--gave a
+sharp tap, and there was instant silence, broken, however, by sundry
+dull pops, as men drew the crooks out of their brass instruments, and
+drained away the condensed breath.
+
+"We'll try that march from _Forst_ again," said the bandmaster; and the
+men began to turn over the leaves of their music, while others adjusted
+the cards ready upon their brass instruments.
+
+Dick stood by the regular flute-player, who, rather grudgingly, made
+room at his tall stand; and then, as the bandmaster called attention
+with a fresh tap of the baton and opened the score, the flautist said:
+
+"Beg pardon, Mr Wilkins, sir; here's the recruit.  Is he to stand with
+me?"
+
+Dick waited, curious to hear what followed, and incensed at what did;
+for, when the bandmaster entered, he had glanced sharply at the now
+bandsman, and then passed on.
+
+"Eh! what recruit?" said the little leader, looking up and giving a
+start as he made believe to see Dick for the first time.  "Oh, that
+young man?  Well, perhaps he had better stand by you, and then he may
+pick up what he can.  This is a difficult piece."
+
+"I know Gounod's work pretty well, sir," said Dick, quietly.
+
+"Oh, do you!" said the bandmaster, with a little jerky laugh, like that
+of a spiteful woman.  "Now, then; what's your name, sir?"
+
+"Smithson," said Dick, feeling as if he would like to kick the
+mean-spirited little cad.
+
+"Oh, Smithson, eh?--son of the great Smith!"
+
+He looked round, twinkling, for a laugh to follow what he meant for a
+joke; and the obsequious bandsmen uttered a sniggering kind of concreted
+grin, followed instantly by a loud-toned sonorous _Phoomp_! from the
+huge bell-mouth of the contra-bass.
+
+"What do you mean by that, Banks?" cried the bandmaster, as soon as
+there was silence, for the men had burst into a loud and general roar.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir; I was listening, sir," said the offender.  "It was
+only one of those deep notes I was doubtful about."
+
+"Then don't you let it occur again, sir!  It was an excuse for a marked
+show of disrespect, and I won't have it!  Here is the colonel
+complaining about the inefficiency of our band, and people are saying
+that the 310th is far better--which is a lie, a ridiculous lie--but I
+want to know how our band is to become efficient if there is not more
+discipline maintained?"
+
+"Beg pardon, sir?"
+
+"Silence, sir!  Attend to what I say!  I have long noted a want of
+attention among the men--a mutinous spirit--and I won't allow it!  While
+I'm bandmaster, I'll be treated with proper respect; and, mark this, our
+band shall be efficient, and the members shall practise till they are!"
+
+He tapped the music-stand sharply, raised his baton, and then went on
+talking.
+
+"Here, you!" he cried.  "Smithson, didn't you say?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"What did you say?"
+
+"Smithson, sir."
+
+"How dare you!" yelled the bandmaster, scarlet now with passion, for the
+men burst out laughing again.  "Don't you try to crack your miserable,
+contemptible jokes on me, sir!"
+
+"That was no joke, sir," said Dick.
+
+"No, sir, it was not!" said the bandmaster, sharply.  "You'll find jokes
+dangerous things to crack here, sir!"
+
+There was a murmur of acquiescence, and the little man smiled approval.
+
+"Thought you were alluding to my name, sir," said Dick, apologetically.
+
+"Indeed, sir?" said the bandmaster, sarcastically.  "Not such an
+attractive name that I would care to allude to it."
+
+"Oh, you meant about the music of _Faust_, sir?" said Dick, pronouncing
+the name of the opera as a German would--something like _Fowst_.
+
+"The music of what?" said the bandmaster, screwing up his face as if the
+sound were unpleasant to his ears.
+
+"Gounod's opera, sir, I said.  I know it pretty well."
+
+"Dear me! you seem to know everything `pretty well;' perhaps you know
+how to conduct `pretty well,' and would like to take my stick and lead?"
+
+Dick looked down at the music, but made no reply, though the bandmaster
+waited for a few moments.
+
+"Then I suppose I may go on.  Of course, the colonel has a right to
+interfere, though I was not aware that he was a musician; and I think I
+have had some little experience in musical matters, and if I had proper
+material I could produce as good results as any man in the service; but,
+hampered as I am by incompetents, and interfered with in matters of
+which I ought to be the best judge, I don't know what can be expected,
+I'm sure.--The March from _Forst_."
+
+There was a sharp tapping of the baton, and Dick drew back to go and sit
+down, when the spectacles glistened in his direction again.
+
+"Keep your place, sir," shouted the little tyrant.  "You can, as you are
+here, try the flute part.  Be careful!"
+
+Dick felt a singing in his ears, and his fellow-flautist scowled.
+
+Then there was a flourish of the leader's stick in the air, and the
+brass instruments set off in the familiar march, every man blowing his
+loudest, and keeping very fair, well-marked time, to the end of the
+strain, to be followed by the _piano_ movement, in which the flutes took
+the lead, with hautbois and clarionet, of course properly supported by
+the bass.
+
+There was a peculiar jarring in Dick's ears before the second bar was
+played; and, before they were half-way through eight, the conductor's
+stick was tapping the music-stand fiercely.
+
+"Stop! stop! stop!" he yelled.  "My good fellow, this won't do; you're
+flat--horribly flat!"
+
+Richard stood with his eyes fixed upon his music, expecting to see his
+companion alter the tuning-slide of his flute; but the man waited, with
+a supercilious smile upon his face, and the leader went on--
+
+"Do you hear, you Smithson?  That's horribly flat.  Now, then, blow A."
+
+Dick raised his instrument and blew a pure, clear note in perfect tune.
+
+"Not that one; harder; your upper A."
+
+A note an octave higher rang out pure and clear.
+
+"That's better!  Now begin again: the soft movement, please."
+
+Mr Wilkins waved his wand, and a fresh start was made, but it was more
+melancholy than the first.  It sounded as if the women gathered in the
+marketplace to welcome the return of the German warriors had set up a
+howl of misery, which was ended by the crack of the conductor's stick.
+
+"Stop! stop! stop!" he yelled.  "You are blowing out of tune, sir!  This
+is horrible! we cannot have a row like cats in the band!"
+
+This was a legitimate occasion for mirth, so the men laughed, and Mr
+Wilkins looked pleased and the spectacles twinkled.
+
+"Now, again; and be careful, sir, if you are to play with us.  Now,
+then!"
+
+Down came the baton, two bars were played, and the result was so much
+worse that the bandmaster banged his music-stand frantically.
+
+"Stand back, sir!" he yelled.  "This is ridiculous!  What does the
+colonel mean?  What do you mean, sir, by pretending you know the music?
+What?  What's that you say?"
+
+"I said `I beg pardon,' sir," began Dick.
+
+"Beg pardon!  Why, you are an impostor, sir; and if you are to stop
+here, I shall resign!--What?"
+
+"I only wanted to say, sir," continued Dick, quietly, "that this last
+time I didn't blow a note."
+
+"Well, of all the impudence!  Then, pray, sir, what was the meaning of
+that hideous discord?"
+
+"I don't know, sir.  I presume that someone's instrument is not in
+tune."
+
+"Someone's instrument not in tune!" cried the bandmaster.  "Here, Jones,
+Morris, Bigham, run through half a dozen bars."
+
+He waved his wand, and the three musicians blew together without the
+bass and tenor instruments, with a worse effect than ever, and the
+listening brasses burst out into a fresh roar of laughter; while Dick
+had hard work, in his triumph, to suppress a smile.
+
+"Then it's you, Jones!"
+
+"No, sir," said the flute-player.  "I'm all right!"
+
+"You can't be!" cried the other two men, indignantly.
+
+"He's playing in the wrong key," said the first.
+
+"That I ain't!" cried the flute-player.  "I'm all right, I tell you!  It
+was the new chap."
+
+"How could it be the new chap when he was _not_ blowing, idiot?" cried
+the bandmaster, angrily, trying hard to hedge and preserve his character
+for consistency.  "Here, you Smithson, run through those few bars with
+the others.  No; not you, Jones."
+
+The flautist sulkily lowered his flute, while the theme was now played
+as a trio with admirable effect.
+
+"Humph! not bad--not bad at all," said Wilkins, as a murmur of
+satisfaction arose from the men.
+
+Meanwhile, the flautist was turning over his flute and glancing from it
+to the beautiful instrument Dick held.
+
+"Now," cried the leader, "run through that again, Jones--or, no, with
+the clarionet."
+
+He beat time and the two instruments sounded; but, at the end of the
+first bar, the clarionet-player took the reed from his lips.
+
+"'Tain't good enough, sir!" he said.
+
+"Good enough!" cried Wilkins, angrily; "it's disgraceful!"
+
+"Yer never thought it disgraceful till this new chap come," cried the
+discomfited flute-player.  "Who's to play proper on a thing like this?
+Look at his!"
+
+"Hold your tongue, stoopid!" whispered the nearest man.  "You'll be
+getting yourself in a row."
+
+"Look at his flute!" cried Wilkins.  "Why, he'd get more music out of a
+tin whistle than you would out of his.  Here, you Smithson, see what you
+can do with that flute.  Now, my lads, once again."
+
+Dick took Jones's flute unwillingly for more than one reason.  He felt
+that he was making an enemy of the man; but there was no time for
+hesitation, and, as they struck up, he played his part admirably upon
+the strange instrument, and then stood waiting.
+
+"Give him his flute," said Wilkins, shortly.  "Don't you go abusing our
+band instruments again, young man, or you'll be finding yourself sent
+back to the ranks.  Now, please, we're losing time."
+
+And so the practice went on Dick, feeling that he was making enemies all
+round till, about an hour after, when he was in the long-room, and half
+a dozen of the bandsmen came in together, looked at him, then at one
+another, and one of them said--
+
+"I'm glad you've joined."
+
+"We've been thinking it over, and we're going to see if we can't work up
+some better music now.  Never you mind about Wilkins; his bark's worse
+than his bite."
+
+"And he likes to show off," said another.  "Wants people to think what a
+clever one he is.  We'll have some quiet practices together, if you
+like."
+
+"I shall be very glad," said Dick eagerly.
+
+"That's right, and you can give us a few hints.  Wilkins turned nasty
+through that snubbing he got over yonder, at the mess-room, but he'll
+soon come round.  I'm sorry, though, about old Jones."
+
+"So am I," cried Dick; "I quite felt for him this afternoon."
+
+"Yes, he never ought to have been put to music.  I hope he won't turn
+nasty," said the first speaker, "for he's got a temper of his own.  But,
+there, you needn't mind him."
+
+"No," thought Dick, "I need not mind him; but I don't like making
+enemies, all the same."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+DICK FINDS A PUPIL.
+
+"No one would know me now," said the recruit to himself one morning as
+he glanced at his face in a piece of looking-glass, for the military
+barber had been operating upon his head, and had--as the _Punch_ man
+said in the hot weather in allusion to his hair--"cut it to the bone."
+
+For the first time Richard Frayne dressed in his tightly-fitting, stiff
+uniform.
+
+"Hallo, Flutey!" said one of the men; "I was looking for you.  Got 'em
+on, then?"
+
+"Yes," said Dick, smiling.  "Do they fit?"
+
+"Oh, yes, pretty tidy.  Feel all right?"
+
+"No; I don't think I can get my hand up level with my mouth, and the
+tunic feels as if it would split up the back, and the buttons go flying,
+the first time I move."
+
+"Oh, that'll be all right.  Sure to feel a bit stiff at first.  I say,
+he has padded you out well in the chest and over the shoulders."
+
+"Yes, far too much."
+
+"Not a bit of it.  Makes you look broader-chested and
+square-shouldered--more of the man.  But, here, Lieutenant Lacey wants
+you up at his quarters.  Sent that chuckle-headed Joe Todd, his servant,
+to fetch you directly."
+
+"What does he want?" cried Dick, aghast with the idea that something had
+been found out.
+
+"Go and ask him."
+
+"But I must change first."
+
+"Nonsense!  Go as you are.  You've got to wear the red now," added the
+man, with a grin.
+
+Dick went down into the barrack yard, to find the lieutenant's servant
+waiting, and followed him, with the peculiar tremor increasing, and a
+cold, dank perspiration breaking out about his temples and in the palms
+of his hands.
+
+A few minutes after he was ushered into the handsomely-furnished rooms
+which formed the lieutenant's quarters; and he felt a pang shoot through
+him for the moment as the piano in one corner, and some music and a
+flute upon the table, recalled his own rooms at Draycott's.
+
+But his thoughts were back directly to his troubles, and he felt a kind
+of momentary relief on finding that there was no one in the
+sitting-room.
+
+"I'll go and tell him you're here," said the man who had fetched him,
+and he lifted a curtain, caught his foot against a fold, stumbled, and
+drove his head with a crash against the panel of the door beyond.  Then,
+as the curtain fell behind him, Dick heard, in smothered tones:--
+
+"I had you out of the ranks, Joe Todd, for my servant; I don't want a
+battering-ram."
+
+"Beg pardon, sir.  Haxident."
+
+"Accident!  That's the third time you have done it within a week.  Torn
+the curtain?"
+
+"No, sir; don't think so.  Hurt my head."
+
+"I don't believe it, Joe.  A wooden door could not hurt your head!  You
+may have cracked the panel!"
+
+"No, sir; all right, sir."
+
+"Then take those clothes and brush them again.  The trousers have
+mud-splashes as high as the knees.  And take those boots, too; I can't
+wear them like that."
+
+The man came out of the inner room with a portion of his master's
+uniform under his arm and a pair of boots, swinging by the tags, one of
+which badly-cleaned articles he dropped in trying to open the outer
+door, the handle of which Dick turned for him, so that he could pass
+out.
+
+As Dick closed the door he was conscious of a rustling behind him, and
+he turned smartly, to find himself face to face with the great
+lieutenant, gorgeous now in shawl-pattern smoking-trousers and purple
+velvet lounging-coat.
+
+"Now for it!" he thought.
+
+"And you might have been an officer," said the lieutenant, shaking his
+head at Dick sadly, while all the blood in the lad's body seemed to run
+to his heart.
+
+"I--I beg your pardon, sir," faltered Dick, as he began to think that he
+would have to get away again, and then recalled the fact that he could
+not without being looked upon as a deserter.
+
+"I said `And you might have been an officer.'"
+
+"Yes," said Dick bitterly, and turning and speaking as he felt that he
+was driven to bay.
+
+"I'm glad you feel it," said the lieutenant, letting himself sink down
+into a lounge.
+
+"I do, sir--bitterly," replied Dick.
+
+"If I were not as patient as a lamb, I should have kicked him out of the
+place a year ago.  Of course, it didn't matter before you, but it might
+have been the colonel or the major; and, though there is a way out
+through my bedroom, that blundering ass must bring my boots and clothes
+through my sitting-room!"
+
+Dick felt as if he had been respited after condemnation, and began to
+breathe freely.
+
+"You heard him run his head against the door, of course?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"But it wouldn't break; everything else does.  He'll ruin me before he
+has done.--I have sent for you, Smithson," said the lieutenant, "because
+I want you to give me some lessons on the flute."
+
+"Oh, with pleasure, sir," began Dick.  "I--I beg your pardon, sir.  Of
+course, if you wish it."
+
+"I hope it will be with pleasure, Smithson," said the lieutenant,
+smiling; "but I'm afraid it will not be; for, between ourselves, I am
+very dull over music."
+
+"I used to think I was, sir," said Dick; "but I worked hard till I could
+play a bit."
+
+"A bit!" said the lieutenant, smiling.  "Ah, well, I won't flatter you.
+I should like you to come often and play with me--duets and pieces.  The
+fact is, Smithson, I want to perform something in--in--in public one
+evening--a duet.  I have been thinking that I might play the first part
+and you the second.  What do you think?"
+
+"I think the same as you do, sir," said Dick.  "When would you like to
+begin?"
+
+"Well, the fact is, Smithson, I am rather pressed for time."
+
+"I will come in at any hour you appoint, sir--that is, if there is no
+band practice."
+
+"Oh, the colonel will speak to Wilkins about that, Smithson; but you do
+not understand me.  I have plenty of time, but I am pressed--anxious to
+play a duet or two as soon as possible."
+
+"I understand, sir," said Dick, scanning the handsome face and athletic
+mould of the young officer, as the feeling grew upon him that the former
+was what some people would call rather mild; "but I am no teacher, would
+you like Mr Wilkins to give you some lessons?"
+
+"No, Smithson," said the lieutenant; "that I really should not.  I want
+you, and I want you to treat all this as confidential."
+
+"But it is sure to be known, sir."
+
+"That you are giving me lessons, yes; but not the style of lesson.  When
+could you begin?"
+
+Dick glanced at the flute.
+
+"Would you like a lesson now, sir?"
+
+"Yes, exactly; but you have no instrument."
+
+"But you have, sir; and I could help you better without."
+
+"I'm afraid not, Smithson.  You see, I should want to hear the air
+played at the same time."
+
+"I could run that through as an accompaniment on the piano."
+
+"You could?" cried the lieutenant, staring.
+
+"Well enough, perhaps, for that, sir."
+
+"Then, let's begin at once."
+
+"Have you selected an air, sir?"
+
+"Well--er--yes," faltered the great fellow.  "I have--er--chosen two--
+duets.  Here they are."
+
+He handed the music, and Dick took it up, glancing at each piece in
+turn; while the young officer looked warm and uncomfortable, watching
+his visitor uneasily.
+
+"`Flow on, thou Shining River;' `Oh, Happy, Happy Fair!'" read Dick.
+"Both beautiful melodies;" and, taking the former, he crossed to the
+piano and ran through the melody, and then the accompaniment, with
+plenty of expression; while the lieutenant sat upon his chair with his
+eyes glistening from excitement.
+
+"Now this piece," he cried; and Dick ran through the second.
+
+"Why, Smithson," cried the lieutenant, "you are a wonderful musician!
+I--I'm afraid that you will be ready to laugh at me."
+
+"Oh, no, sir.  Now, then--I suppose your flute is of the right pitch?"
+
+"I--er--think so."
+
+"Try, sir."
+
+Dick struck the chord of the key in which the piece was set, and the
+young officer blew a note of a most uncertain sound.
+
+"Fully a quarter of a tone out, sir," said Dick, thoroughly in earnest
+now over his task.  "Shall I alter the slide, sir?"
+
+"If you please."
+
+Dick altered the slide again and again till his pupil blew the note in
+perfect accord, and then they began, with the air played slowly out of
+time--a most feeble performance--right to the end of the strain, when
+the lieutenant lowered his flute, and looked at his master with a rather
+pitiful, but comically perplexed, expression.
+
+"Horribly bad, isn't it?" he said.
+
+"Well, it might be a good deal better, sir."
+
+"Yes, of course.  Will you be good enough to run through it?"
+
+"No, sir; I think it would be better not.  I want to encourage you--not
+discourage; of course, I could play it more perfectly, but then I have
+practised for years."
+
+"Yes; I suppose so."
+
+"But I can make you play that twice as well in a week."
+
+"Do you think so?" cried the lieutenant, eagerly.
+
+"I'm sure of it, sir.  Now, again, please.  I'll play each note on the
+piano, and I want you to blow that note firmly and with a full breath.
+Never mind about time, blow each note as if it were a minim, giving a
+breath to each."
+
+It was a complete change of position, the officer diligently obeying his
+subordinate, and working hard, if with no brilliant effect, till quite a
+couple of hours had passed, when he laid down his flute.
+
+"I shall never do it."
+
+Dick smiled.
+
+"You shall do it, sir," he cried.  "I'll make you."
+
+"You will, Smithson?  Ah! if you only can!  When will you come again?  I
+want to play it so very badly."
+
+"To-morrow, sir," said Dick; and he went back toward his quarters,
+wondering why the lieutenant wanted to play those two old-fashioned
+airs.
+
+"Surely he does not want to serenade someone."
+
+Dick laughed quite cheerily as he thought of the lieutenant's handsome
+face, and the idea tickled him for the moment; but the next moment he
+sighed and felt angry with himself for his mirthful display, and forgot
+the lieutenant's lessons till the next day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+THE NIGHT OF THE SERENADE.
+
+Those lessons given to the lieutenant were the plus to the minus of Dick
+Smithson's existence, for the young officer grew daily more friendly and
+confidential.  He chatted about his brother-officers and the dinner
+parties to which he was invited, rapidly forgetting the gap between them
+in their military status so long as they were alone, and insisted upon
+paying liberally for each lesson as it was given.
+
+This Dick felt at first disposed to resent, but the lieutenant looked at
+him with so much surprise that he ended by taking his professional fee,
+and no more was ever said upon that point.
+
+One day there was a scented note upon the table; another day, in a
+bashful, girlish way, which accorded strangely with the young officer's
+great, manly aspect, there was a hint let fall; and before long Dick
+smiled to himself as he felt certain that he had been right in his guess
+as to the purpose for which the lessons were being taken.
+
+Then came a morning when Dick walked across the barrack yard, thinking
+of how thoroughly he had obliterated himself from the memory of all who
+knew him, and the past from his own.  But, as he approached the
+lieutenant's quarters, he drove these thoughts away and ascended the
+stairs, to stop on the landing, for he could hear a voice talking
+loudly.
+
+"Company!" thought Dick, and he was about to turn back, but the voice
+rose higher, and he became aware of the fact that there was what an
+Irishman would call "a one-sided quarrel" going on.  As he came close to
+the door this became more evident, for he could hear the lieutenant,
+striding about the room, storming angrily.
+
+"Joe Todd seems to have fetched himself hot water this morning," said
+Dick to himself, for Lacey was calling his servant by every name
+suggestive of stupidity that he could think of, but all in the most
+calmly, dignified manner.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Smithson," he said, as the man left the room.  "I
+ought not to go on like that, but the fellow really is beyond bearing.
+I can't trust him to do a single thing.  He either forgets or does it
+wrong.  He burns my wet boots; he folds my clothes so that they are
+always in creases; he leaves the stopper out of my scent; upsets the
+scented bear's grease over my dress-clothes; and--and--Oh, I can't think
+of half the mischief he has done!  Oh, dear me! there never was a man
+worried as I am.--Now, about this duet, Smithson.  Do you think we can
+manage?--the fact is, I want it for a serenade on Friday night."
+
+"If you will only play it as well, sir, as you did at the last lesson,
+it will be all right," said Dick, smiling to himself.
+
+"Think so?  I'm afraid I must seem very stupid to you, Smithson--such a
+musician as you are.  Really, you are a mystery to me."
+
+Dick made no reply.
+
+"There, I beg your pardon, Smithson; it's just as if I were trying to
+pump you about your past, and I assure you I did not mean to.  It would
+be so ungentlemanly."
+
+"Lieutenant Lacey is always gentlemanly to me," said Dick, quietly.
+
+"Well, so are you to me, Smithson.  Really, I begin to look upon you as
+quite a friend."
+
+"It is very kind of you, sir."
+
+"Well, it's your way, Smithson.  Never had lessons in music before
+without the fellow I took them of trying to make all the money he could
+out of me, bothering me to buy pieces of music, or instruments, or
+something.  Well, let's begin.  But one moment, Smithson; you really are
+keeping this a profound secret--I mean about the serenade?"
+
+"I wish you would have a better opinion of me, sir," said Dick.
+
+"I couldn't--I couldn't, really, Smithson," cried the lieutenant; "but
+the fact is, I am so nervous about it.  If it were known in the
+regiment, I should never hear the last of it."
+
+"It will not be known through me, sir," said Dick, quietly, as he
+arranged a couple of pieces of music on the stands.
+
+"Of course, it will not, Smithson," cried the lieutenant, rather warmly.
+"You see, I'm afraid I'm rather weak, and the fellows like to chaff me.
+I don't mind much; but I can't help wishing Nature had made me less
+good-looking and given me some more brains."
+
+Dick glanced at the fine, handsome fellow, and the lieutenant caught his
+eye.
+
+"Ah! now you're going to laugh at me because I talked about being
+good-looking."
+
+"Why should I?" said Dick, honestly.  "You are the best-looking fellow--
+I beg pardon, sir, the best-looking officer--in the regiment."
+
+"I am," said the lieutenant, frankly, "and the biggest and strongest, as
+I've often proved; but what's the good of that, Smithson, when you're
+the greatest duffer?  The colonel and the major both like me."
+
+"And there isn't a man in the regiment who wouldn't do anything for you,
+sir."
+
+"I suppose not, Smithson; but, as I was going to say, if the colonel and
+the major didn't like me, I should always be in hot water, for I'm
+horribly stupid over the movements.--Ready?"
+
+"Quite, sir."
+
+"Then let's begin.  There!  I've forgotten it all, and I get so nervous
+my fingers grow quite damp.  Now, then, to begin."
+
+Dick beat a bar, raised his flute, and blew a note.
+
+"I beg your pardon," said the lieutenant; "I was not quite ready.
+Again, please."
+
+A fresh start was made, and in his nervousness the officer was too soon.
+
+Then a couple more starts were made, and the lieutenant laid down his
+flute.
+
+"It's no good!" he cried, pitifully.  "I always seem to make a fool of
+myself in everything I attempt."
+
+"You only want confidence, sir," said Dick.  "Try again."
+
+The flute was taken up, and, after a good many stumbles, the duet was
+run through very badly.
+
+"I think you had better play the first part, and I'll take the second,
+Smithson."
+
+"But you have studied the first part, sir, and you don't know anything
+about the second."
+
+"No," said the lieutenant, plaintively; "but if the second broke down,
+it wouldn't be of so much consequence.  Look here, Smithson, you are so
+strong at all this sort of thing; couldn't you give me a lift with a
+note or two?--I shall only break down."
+
+"You will not break down, sir," cried Smithson.  "You said Friday night,
+didn't you?"
+
+"Yes, Friday; but that's an unlucky day, isn't it?"
+
+"Old women say so, sir; and I've been as unfortunate on other days.  You
+shall do it somehow.  I'll make you."
+
+"Thank you, Smithson.  But I'm afraid she will not think much of it."
+
+"Why not, sir?  The duet is sweetly pretty, and music sounds very soft
+and attractive in the silence of the night."
+
+"To be sure--so it does!"
+
+"And if the lady cares for you, she is certain to be pleased."
+
+"Yes, Smithson; but I don't know that she does.  Now let's rest for a
+few minutes.  It's so awkward for that fellow to have upset me just
+before I had my music lesson.  I wish I knew of a good man; I'd give
+anything for him."
+
+The Friday night came, and at a time appointed Dick crossed the barrack
+yard, to find it soft, delicious, and summer-like, starry but dark, and
+with a feeling in the air which accorded well with the mission they were
+on.
+
+On reaching the lieutenant's room, he found him impatiently walking up
+and down, smoking a cigarette--the ends of half a dozen more lying on
+the fire-grate ornament.
+
+"Come--come, Smithson! you are late," cried the young officer
+impatiently.  "It will be so vexatious to find nobody stirring.  People
+do go to sleep when they are in bed."
+
+"Generally, sir.  But you said half-past ten, to be the time."
+
+"Yes; and for you to be here by ten."
+
+"Exactly, sir; but I thought I would get here half an hour sooner, in
+case you liked to try through the piece before we started."
+
+"Eh?  What time is it, then?"
+
+"Just about to chime half-past nine, sir."
+
+Dick had hardly uttered the words before the barrack clock chimed twice.
+
+"Surely that's not half-past ten," cried the lieutenant excitedly, as he
+snatched out his watch.  "Dear me, no!  I'm an hour out in my
+calculations.  Yes; let's try over the piece."
+
+The flutes were produced, and the duet was whispered through, as it
+were; and at the end Dick applauded softly.
+
+"Yes, that's very kind of you," said Lacey; "but I don't feel satisfied.
+By the way, Smithson, you must not go like that.  Your red jacket will
+be so conspicuous."
+
+"What can I do, sir?"
+
+"Would you mind wearing one of my light overcoats, Smithson?  It will be
+rather large for you, but so effectual in hiding your military
+character."
+
+"I shall not mind it," said Dick, though he could not help wincing a
+little at the idea; and soon after, with his scarlet jacket hidden by
+the lieutenant's long, loose garment, which also well concealed the
+musical instruments, they walked together through the gates.
+
+Fifty yards farther on, Dick felt his shoulder suddenly seized, and he
+was thrust through a swing-door into the gas-lit glare of a public-house
+bar.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+BENEATH THE LADY'S LATTICE-PANE.
+
+Dick Smithson turned round in astonishment to gaze in the face of his
+companion, whose act had at once taken the attention of a couple of
+soldiers, out beyond their time, and of some men with whom they were
+drinking.
+
+"Call for something, Smithson," whispered the lieutenant, glancing back
+anxiously at the door.
+
+"But I don't want anything, sir," said Dick, angrily.
+
+"Never mind; treat me, then."
+
+Dick stared, wondering whether his companion was going out of his mind.
+
+"Don't stop," whispered the lieutenant.  "Order some beer."
+
+With the reason beginning to dawn upon him now, Dick ordered and paid
+for two pots of ale, which he handed to the two half-tipsy soldiers, who
+began proposing their health just as steps and voices were heard
+passing.
+
+The next minute they were outside.
+
+"A false alarm, Smithson," said the lieutenant, with a forced laugh, as
+he dabbed his forehead.  "I caught a glimpse of them lower down; I
+thought it was the major and the doctor.  How absurd it all seemed.  You
+don't think those two fellows will talk about it?"
+
+"Well, sir, I can't help thinking they will," replied Dick.
+
+"That will be awkward," said the lieutenant in dismay.  "They ought to
+have been in barracks; and they may excuse themselves by saying that I
+was treating them at a public-house."
+
+"Yes, sir, it will be awkward," said Dick, who felt annoyed and yet
+amused.
+
+"It will look so ungentlemanly.  You see, they were both men belonging
+to my company.  Whatever shall I do?"
+
+"Nothing, I should say, sir.  I don't see what you can do."
+
+"No," said the lieutenant, shaking his head sadly.  "What a pity it is
+that things will go so crookedly!"  And he walked on in silence down
+into the main street, looking sharply from side to side.
+
+"Anyone would think that we were going to commit a burglary," muttered
+Dick.  As they went on for some time, "Is it here, sir?" he ventured to
+say at last.
+
+"Only about five hundred yards more, Smithson; but, really, that
+_contretemps_ has so upset me that I think you had better play a solo.
+I shall never get through a duet."
+
+"But that would be of no use, sir," cried Dick.  "It would be only my
+music then.  It ought to be your serenade."
+
+"Yes, Smithson--it ought," sighed the lieutenant in a husky whisper;
+"but, if I broke down, it would be absurd."
+
+"But you wouldn't break down, sir.  See how correctly you played it this
+evening."
+
+"Yes, I did--didn't I?  You think I could do it, don't you?"
+
+"I'm sure you could, sir, if you would only forget about being nervous."
+
+"I must try," said the lieutenant.  "We are very near now."
+
+They were now where the lamps had grown fewer, and consequently the road
+between was much darker; but there was light enough for Dick to see that
+they were passing a series of detached houses, built upon the same plan,
+standing back some forty yards from the road, and approached by
+semicircular carriage drives from gate to gate.  Trees were plentiful in
+the grounds, and overhung and darkened the footpath; so that, as they
+passed the second gateway, the lieutenant gave a violent start, for from
+close up to the wall there came a gruff voice--
+
+"Night, gentlemen!"
+
+"Eh!  You quite startled me," said the lieutenant.  "I didn't see you."
+
+"No, sir.  Don't want to be seen," replied the man.  "Get some queer
+customers down here sometimes, and obliged to keep a sharp look-out."
+
+"Yes; quite right," said the lieutenant, feebly; and he walked straight
+on for about a hundred yards before speaking.
+
+"It's all over, Smithson!" he whispered at last.
+
+"All over, sir?"
+
+"Yes; that's the house, and there's the policeman on the watch."
+
+"That's awkward," said Dick; "but he'll soon go, sir."
+
+"Soon go, man!  Who's to go and play a duet with a policeman keeping his
+eye upon you all the time?  I couldn't do it, Smithson."
+
+"Let's walk on a little farther, sir, and then turn back."
+
+"No; we must give it up for to-night.  How terribly strange things are
+turning up!  And, besides, it's getting so late."
+
+They walked on a quarter of a mile and then turned back, hardly a word
+being said, the lieutenant filling up the time by uttering the peculiar
+sound expressed by the word _tut_ repeated rapidly.
+
+"Shall I go on first, sir, and see if the policeman is there?" said Dick
+at last.
+
+"No, no; it would look so suspicious.  He might take us for bad
+characters.  We must walk by together."
+
+"Very well, sir," replied Dick; and they strolled slowly along the now
+deserted road, with the lights in the upper windows of the houses
+gradually dying out one by one, as if to prove that the lieutenant's
+words about being late were correct.
+
+To their great satisfaction, though, the lights were still plainly to be
+seen in the last house but one of those standing back, and as they
+passed the swing gates no policeman was visible.
+
+But they walked on back towards the town for another hundred yards, and
+then stopped.
+
+"Coast quite clear, sir," said Dick.
+
+"Think so, Smithson?  Is it safe?"
+
+"The constable has evidently gone on his round."
+
+"But he said something about watching."
+
+"Yes, sir; but he would not stop in one place.  I'd venture, if I were
+you."
+
+"Then we will, Smithson.  Come along back at once, and let's get it
+over.  The plan of attack is to go quickly through the gate, pass on to
+the grass, and then right up to the house--on the lawn, of course.  Then
+one, two, three, four, and start at once."
+
+"Yes, sir; I understand.  I'll count four in a whisper, and away we go."
+
+"There, then, not a word till I tap your arm with my flute, which you
+can give me as soon as we have got on to the lawn."
+
+The entrance was reached again, but there was no policeman in the dark
+nook, and, raising the latch, the lieutenant swung open the gate, and
+they passed through, the latch falling back into its place with a faint
+click which sounded terribly loud, and made them pause for a moment or
+two.
+
+"Come along," whispered the lieutenant; "on to the grass."
+
+"What's your little game?"
+
+It was a gruff whisper from out of a clump of laurustinus, and, as the
+stalwart figure of the policeman moved up in the darkness, the
+lieutenant turned to flee, but stopped short on Dick grasping his arm.
+
+"There's nothing wrong, constable!" said Dick, quickly.
+
+"No; and I don't mean for there to be!  Just consider yourselves
+ketched!  No gammon, or I whistles, and there'll be dozens of our chaps
+here in no time; and, if they comes and finds you're nasty, there won't
+be no mercy--and so I tell yer!"
+
+"Don't be absurd," said Dick, thinking it better to out with the truth;
+"we've only come to play a tune or two in front of the house."
+
+"Yes, yes!" said the lieutenant, feebly.
+
+"Yes, yes!" cried the constable, mockingly.  "I know--one on yer's going
+to play a toon on the centre-bit while t'other sings the pop'lar and
+original air o' `Gentle Jemmy in the 'ouse.'  Now, then, no gammon!
+Come on!"
+
+"Hadn't we better walk to the station with him, and explain to his
+officer?" said the lieutenant, mildly.
+
+"No!" cried Dick, angrily; "we'll make him understand here!  Don't be
+absurd, constable; this is a gentleman--"
+
+"From London.  I know!"
+
+"Nonsense! he lives in Ratcham.  It is only meant for a pleasant little
+surprise."
+
+"To find the plate gone, eh!"
+
+"I tell you we were going to play a tune or two!"
+
+"Then where's your organ?"
+
+"Absurd!"
+
+"Fiddles, then?"
+
+"Fiddles--nonsense!  Here are our instruments."
+
+Dick unbuttoned the loose overcoat and brought out the two flutes.
+
+As Dick unfastened the coat there was a faint, gleam of light from the
+constable's belt, which shone on Dick's chest.
+
+"From the barracks, eh?" said the constable, surlily.  "Humph!  Well,
+I'm sure I don't know what to say.  You may be London burglars, and
+putting a clever flam on me."
+
+"Do people go burgling with flutes?" said Dick, angrily.  "Now, look
+here, go back to the gate, and mind we are not interrupted!  This
+gentleman is going to slip two half-crowns in your hand."
+
+"Well, if it's all right, and only a bit of music, I don't want to be
+disagreeable, gentlemen.  Sarah-naying, don't you call it?  Only look
+out: I have heered tell o' blunderbusses and revolvers about here!
+Thankye, sir; but, of course, that wasn't ness'ry.  I've got to go 'bout
+half-mile! down the road, so you'd better get it over before I come
+back."
+
+The man went off, and the lieutenant stood panting.
+
+"I'd rather have faced the enemy's shot, Smithson!" he whispered.
+
+"But it's all right now, sir," said Dick.  "Catch hold of your flute.
+I'd not interfere with the tuning-slide: it's quite correct."
+
+"It's impossible, Smithson; my hands are trembling terribly."
+
+"You'll forget it as soon as we begin, sir.  Come along!"
+
+Dick led the way in and out among the clumps of shrubs that dotted the
+soft lawn till the house was reached, and the lieutenant yielded to the
+stronger will, following with his flute in his hand.
+
+"Which is her window, sir?" whispered Dick.
+
+"That one," replied the lieutenant, feebly, as they stood there in the
+darkness, with the stars glimmering overhead and the sweet fragrance of
+the dewy flowers rising all around.
+
+"Then one--two--three--_four_" whispered Dick.  "Off!"
+
+"He regularly makes me," muttered the lieutenant, raising the flute to
+his lips, and the sweet, soft sounds floated out upon the night breeze,
+the pupil playing far better than Dick had anticipated, and keeping well
+up through the first verse, evidently encouraged by the successful issue
+of his lessons, and also by the fact that there came a sharp snap
+overhead, followed by the peculiar squeaking, grating sound of a
+window-sash being raised, while, dimly seen above, there was a figure in
+white.
+
+That second verse rang out with its message of flowers committed to the
+flowing river more and more sweetly than before, though it was not
+really the lieutenant's fault, for Dick kept on throwing out a few clear
+notes--additional to his part--when some of his companion's threatened
+to die away, and these grace notes came in with such delicious, florid
+eccentricity that a hearer would have taken them for intentional
+variations cleverly composed by a good musician.
+
+On the whole, then, the performance was as creditable as it was
+charming; and the second verse ended.
+
+"A bar's rest, and then once more," whispered Dick.  "One--two--three--
+four."
+
+_Pat_! _scatter_, and a feeble groan!
+
+Then a voice from the open window--a peculiarly clarionetty harsh voice,
+such as could only come from a very elderly lady's throat--
+
+"Thank you!  Very nicely played.  Good-night."
+
+The window squeaked, was then closed loudly, and whispering "Come
+along!" the lieutenant was in full retreat towards the gate, while Dick
+was choking in his endeavour to smother his laughter.
+
+"Coppers!" groaned the lieutenant; "that must have been quite a
+shilling's worth of halfpence wrapped up in paper.  They hit me on the
+top of the head."
+
+"And burst and scattered over the grass," whispered Dick, trying to be
+serious.
+
+"Yes, Smithson; and if I had had no cap the consequences might have been
+serious."
+
+"Were you hurt, sir?"
+
+"More mentally than bodily, Smithson," sighed the lieutenant.
+
+"But how could the lady make such a mistake as to think we--you were a
+travelling musician?"
+
+"The lady?" cried the lieutenant angrily.  "How can you be so absurd,
+Smithson! it was her prim old aunt!"
+
+There was no more said on the way back to the barracks, much to Dick's
+satisfaction, for he felt that if the lieutenant spoke he would be
+compelled to burst out with a roar of laughter in his face.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+DICK SMITHSON'S ANTI-FAT.
+
+Busy days in barracks, youth, and the high spirits consequent upon
+living an active, healthy life, had their effect on Dick.  The past
+naturally grew farther off, and, unnaturally, seemed farther still; so
+that, before six months had passed, the young bandsman had thoroughly
+settled down to his music and military life, and began to find it
+enjoyable, in spite of the petty annoyances such as fall to the lot of
+all.
+
+For there was always something in the way.  The band had its regular
+military duties, and played at the mess, where, to Wilkins' great
+disgust, Dick's flute and piccolo solos grew in favour with the
+officers, and often had to be repeated.
+
+Then there were fetes in the neighbourhood, balls given, and twice over
+the band was required at a public dinner.
+
+The lessons given to Lieutenant Lacey were continued, and that officer
+certainly improved; but he did not evince the slightest desire to repeat
+the serenade, not even alluding to it when Dick visited his rooms.
+
+There were times, of course, when a fit of low spirits would set Dick
+dreaming a little about what might have been, but he soon dismissed
+thoughts of the past; and in all the months since he had left Mr
+Draycott's no single scrap of news reached his ears, neither was it
+sought.
+
+"I have no past," he would say to himself, as he forced himself
+energetically into every duty and every sport encouraged by the colonel.
+
+Before long it was a settled thing that he must be one of the best
+eleven when cricket was in the way, and when the season came round he
+played as good a part at football.
+
+The officers always had a friendly nod for him, and on one occasion the
+colonel spoke to him after a solo, praising him highly.
+
+"But, do you know, Smithson," he said, "I am half-sorry that you are not
+in the ranks.  Music is a delightful thing; but for a young man, like
+you, a bandsman in a line regiment is only a bandsman, after all.  I
+think you might do better, though I should be sorry for you to leave the
+band.  Think it over, my lad; I should like to see you get on."
+
+Dick did think it over, for he was aware, by his clothes, that he had
+altered greatly since that afternoon when the sergeant looked at him and
+laughed.
+
+"I can't be too short and slight now."
+
+But he hesitated.  There had never been any need for him to be
+disenchanted with regard to imaginative pictures of a soldier's life;
+but, all the same, he could not help, after his months of experience,
+shrinking from taking to a life in the ranks, with its many monotonous
+drills.
+
+Still, he thought it over, and wondered how long it would be before he
+rose to corporal, and was then promoted to sergeant and colour-sergeant.
+
+Lastly, was there the slightest possibility for a young man like himself
+to gain a commission?  He always came to the same conclusion.  He might:
+but he was far more likely to fail; and he did not know that he wished
+to be an officer now.  In fact, he shuddered at the thoughts which
+followed.
+
+Meanwhile the time went on, with the feeling always upon him that the
+colonel might ask him whether he had come to any decision.  But that
+officer never spoke; for the simple reason that the words, uttered after
+dinner, when he was in a good humour, were entirely forgotten, and as if
+they had never been uttered.
+
+One day upon parade, and away upon the Common, when the band was drawn
+up on one side after playing, during a march past, there was a little
+scene with one of Dick's friends--the man whose acquaintance he had
+first made and whose good feeling he still retained.
+
+"Here, sergeant," shouted the colonel; and Brumpton doubled up to him,
+halted, and stood fast, conscious that officers and men were on the
+grin.  "Look here, Brumpton, this really will not do.  Confound you,
+sir! you're making the regiment a laughing-stock."
+
+"Very sorry, sir--try to do my duty."
+
+"Yes, yes," cried the colonel.  "You are a capital sergeant; but look at
+you this morning!"
+
+Brumpton rolled his eyes about, but stood still.
+
+"I would not do that, man; you can't see behind you.  Are you aware that
+the back seams of your jacket are opening out?"
+
+"No, sir, but they will do it."
+
+"Then why the dickens don't you train and get rid of some of that
+superfluous fat?  There, you can't stop on parade.  Go and get your
+jacket mended."
+
+Poor Brumpton's face changed as he turned to go, but before he had gone
+far the colonel cried:
+
+"Stop!  There, go on with your duty, sir.--Poor fellow," he muttered, "I
+can't be hard upon him.  But he is so disgustingly fat; eh, Lacey?"
+
+"Yes, he is fat," said the lieutenant, thoughtfully.  "Poor beggar! it
+would be rough upon him on service if we had to run.  I mean retreat,
+sir!"
+
+"The 205th will never be in such a position, sir," said the colonel
+stiffly.  "Run, indeed!  The 205th run!"
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir," said the lieutenant, whose face was now almost
+as red as his uniform.
+
+"Granted, Mr Lacey; but, for goodness' sake, don't you ever let me hear
+you say a word again about running."
+
+"Not forward, sir?"
+
+"Oh, yes; that, of course."
+
+The long morning's evolutions were gone through, the band went to the
+front, and the regiment was marched back to barracks; and that same
+afternoon, as Dick sat alone in the reading-room, copying a band-part
+for Wilkins, there was a panting noise close behind him, and Brumpton's
+thick, rich voice exclaimed:
+
+"Oh, there you are!  I've been looking for you everywhere.  How are you,
+Smithson?"
+
+"Quite well," said Dick, smiling in the non-commissioned officer's face.
+
+"Don't--don't do that," said Brumpton, sharply.
+
+"Don't do what, Mr Brumpton?"
+
+"Laugh at a man."
+
+"You don't think I was laughing at you?" said Dick, gravely.
+
+"No, no--of course not.  You wouldn't, my lad.  But, my word! how you
+are growing, Smithson!  It's the drilling.  You have altered since you
+came."
+
+"Have I?"
+
+"Wonderfully, my lad--wonderfully!  Men showed up well this morning," he
+continued, seating himself.
+
+"Capitally," said Dick.
+
+"Couldn't hear what the colonel said, could you?"
+
+"Every word."
+
+"But you couldn't see, could you?" said the sergeant, appealingly.
+
+"Oh, yes; two great slits, with the stuffing coming out."
+
+Brumpton groaned.
+
+"I say, why don't you make the tailor take all the padding away?" cried
+Dick.
+
+"I did beg and pray of him to, but he wouldn't.  He said it would spoil
+my figure, and I should look fuller and fatter.  Oh, dear!  I never
+thought, after working as I have in the regiment, that I should live to
+be laughed at like this!"
+
+"Oh, don't mind that.  I couldn't help laughing, too, Mr Brumpton.  It
+did look rather comic."
+
+"To you, my lad--to you; but it's death to me!  I shall be turned out of
+the regiment on a pension.  Me going out on a pension at my time of
+life!  But it must come."
+
+"Don't let it," said Dick.  "You're a young man yet."
+
+"Yes; six-and-thirty, Smithson--that's all."
+
+"Well, will you let me speak plainly, Mr Brumpton?"
+
+"Of course, I will, my dear boy; I always liked you from the day when
+you came up to me and wanted the shilling.  I said to myself then, `This
+chap's a gentleman--'"
+
+"Oh, nonsense--nonsense," cried Dick.
+
+"Ah! you needn't tell me.  I know.  But I'm not going to pump you.  If
+you want to keep it dark why you've run away from home, you've a right
+to.  What were you going to say, Smithson?"
+
+Dick was growing nervous and excited, and jumped at the change in the
+conversation.
+
+"I was going to say that, as it is such a pity for you to grow so stout,
+why don't you eat less?"
+
+"Eat!  My dear boy, I almost starve myself."
+
+"Drink less, then.  If I were you, I wouldn't take so much beer."
+
+"But I don't, Smithson; I don't--I give it up ever so long ago--only
+ginger, and that can't make me fat.  It don't make no difference whether
+I eat and drink hearty or starve myself: it all goes to fat.  I really
+believe sometimes that the very wind agrees with me and runs to it."
+
+"Then do as the colonel said--train, run, use the clubs."
+
+"I have," cried Brumpton, "for months; but I only get worse."
+
+"Don't sleep quite so much, then."
+
+"Oh, dear!" groaned the sergeant; "I've cut myself down to five hours,
+and surely that oughtn't to be too much.  It's no good, Smithson--not a
+bit!  If I was to be shut up in a lump of coal, like a toad, I should go
+on getting fat till the coal split up the back, like one of my jackets."
+
+"Well, it does seem hard," said Dick.
+
+"No, sir; soft--horridly soft," said the sergeant, and he rose with a
+sigh.  "I've felt sometimes that if I get my discharge I shall make an
+end of myself."
+
+"Nonsense."
+
+"Oh, I shall.  I've often thought of drowning myself, after being
+laughed at, but I couldn't do that."
+
+"I should think not."
+
+"Fat would be against me there, Smithson; I should only float."
+
+The idea of the plump sergeant bobbing about, half out of the water,
+like a cork-float, excited Dick's laughing muscles; but he saw how
+genuine was the distress of the poor fellow standing before him, and he
+forbore, knowing as he did that a good warm heart beat beneath that
+coating of fat and that Brumpton was a clever officer and devoted to his
+work.
+
+"I wish I could help you, sergeant," said Dick, at last.
+
+"So do I, my lad; but you can't."
+
+"Have you tried the doctor?"
+
+"Yes--yes," said Brumpton, dolefully.
+
+"What did he advise?"
+
+"Nothing!  Laughed at me."
+
+Dick sat, tapping the table with his penholder.
+
+"I know how it will be," continued the sergeant.  "I shall be pitched
+out of the regiment, and then I shall begin to get thin from misery and
+despair."
+
+"Going?" said Dick.
+
+"Yes; I'll just walk round to the canteen and get in the scales again.
+I try 'em every day, hoping to find 'em moving the wrong way, but I
+never can.  I was seventeen stone thirteen yesterday; next week I shall
+be eighteen stone, and they can't keep a man like that in the army."
+
+"Stop!  Look here!" cried Dick, so earnestly that the sergeant plumped
+down again into his seat, gazing wildly into the young man's face, ready
+to grasp at any straw to save himself from being drowned in his misery.
+
+"Yes, yes," he panted; and he began to wipe his big, smooth face.  "Got
+an idea?"
+
+"I think I could cure you, Mr Brumpton."
+
+"Could you?  How?  I'll take anything.  I don't mind how nasty."
+
+"I've got an idea that I think will work, and, if it doesn't take down
+your fat, it would keep you from having to leave the regiment."
+
+The sergeant made a grab at Dick's hand.
+
+"What is it?  What is it?" he panted.
+
+"Learn the bombardon!"
+
+The sergeant loosened his grasp, and sank back again.
+
+"You're laughing at me," he said, reproachfully; "and it comes hard from
+you, Dick Smithson."
+
+"I'm not laughing at you, sergeant," cried Dick, earnestly.  "Look here!
+it's a thing I have often noticed; but I never thought of applying it to
+you.  Who are the two thinnest men in the band?"
+
+"Those two young chaps who play the trombones."
+
+"Exactly, and nearly all the fellows are thin.  You learn to play the
+bombardon, and I'll be bound to say that it will pull you down."
+
+"Think so?" said the sergeant, with a sigh.
+
+"I feel sure!"
+
+"But how can I?"
+
+"Oh, you could manage that.  Tell Mr Wilkins you've taken a fancy to
+learn the instrument.  I'll help you."
+
+The sergeant looked doubtful.
+
+"Then, if it doesn't get your fat down, you could come in the band.
+You'd look splendid, marching along with that great brass instrument!"
+
+"Not chaffing me, are you?" said the sergeant, suspiciously.
+
+"Chaffing?  No, man.  There, I'll speak out frankly to show you how
+sincere I am.  It does look absurd to see you puffing and panting along
+at the double with your company.  Don't be offended."
+
+"No, my lad--no.  It does look very stupid.  Nobody knows it better than
+I do."
+
+"But, marching with the band, your size would not be noticed, especially
+as you would be carrying that great brass bass instrument with its huge
+bell-mouth."
+
+"Well, do you know, I'm beginning to like that idea, Smithson.  But I'm
+not very clever over music.  Big drum seems more in my way."
+
+"Oh, no.  You could soon get on with a bass instrument.  Have you ever
+learnt anything?"
+
+"Tin whistle, when I was a boy."
+
+"Oh, that would not help you much.  You say you'll try, and I'll help
+you."
+
+"Try," cried the sergeant.  "I'd try bugling;" and he soon after left
+the room with the understanding that, Mr Wilkins being willing, he was
+to begin his practice the very next day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+DICK SMITHSON SEES A GHOST.
+
+A bright, brisk, early spring morning, with bugles sounding, the tramp
+of feet, an occasional hoarse shout, and, out in the sunshine, gleams of
+light flashing in all directions from well-burnished brass ornament or
+rifle-stock; while the generally dismal-looking barrack yard was gay as
+a garden-bed newly planted with scarlet geraniums in full bloom.
+
+But there was this difference: the floral effects in front of the dingy
+buildings surrounding the yard were all in motion, for the men were
+collecting fast, and in obedience to the sharp "Fall in!" roughly formed
+line after line, each man making for his company.
+
+The bandsmen, too, were collecting, like the men of the regiment, in
+full review order; for that day there was to be a march out to meet the
+310th, now on its way to take up quarters in the High Barracks, and the
+band of the 205th were to play them in through the town to their new
+quarters.
+
+Quite an unnecessary proceeding, but one of those forms which, provided
+the weather is good, proves satisfactory to the British soldier; for it
+means show, excitement, a pleasant tramp, and something to relieve the
+deadly monotony of barrack-life, with its eternal drill and routine.
+
+No morning could have been more genial for the purpose, and the prospect
+of a few miles' march, with the people of town and village _en fete_,
+was a welcome one to all but the men in the infirmary, who were looking
+gloomily from the windows at their comrades, all spick and span, eager
+for the change.
+
+Then, with the sun flashing from the brass instruments, the band formed
+up, all the officers began to drop down from their quarters, best
+uniforms being the order of the day, as there were no signs of rain;
+and, at last, after a few sharp orders from the sergeants, the companies
+were formed, the preliminary examinations made, and the usual
+adjurations delivered respecting buttons, belts, and suspicious spots.
+But there was not much cause for complaint, and the men were well in
+place when the trampling of horses was heard.  The men stood to their
+arms, and the mounted colonel and major came slowly up to the front;
+while a group of officers passed to and fro along the line of
+well-drilled young fellows, who made up one of the smartest corps in the
+service.
+
+A few movements, performed with wonderful accuracy, giving the regiment
+the aspect of some peculiar piece of mechanism, and then the order was
+given, "Band to the front!"  A brief pause, a sharp command or two, and
+then _boom_--_boom_--_boom_--_boom_, so many beats of the big drum, a
+crash from the brass instruments, which came echoing strangely back from
+the barrack walls, and away they went toward the gates, where half the
+boys and idlers of the neighbourhood were waiting, ready to give a cheer
+as the drum-and-fife band passed out first in solemn silence, followed
+by little Wilkins, looking very important at the head of the brass
+instruments, but in dangerous proximity to the trombone-players, cutting
+and slashing with their long tubes, behind him.
+
+Some people are hard to impress, but they are few who do not feel a
+thrill of excitement on the passing-by of a well-drilled regiment whose
+band is playing some lively march, to which, and the heavy beat of the
+drum, the tramp, tramp of six or eight hundred men is heard, like the
+pulsation of Old England's warlike heart.  The thrill is felt by the
+bystanders and the men themselves; and the sight of the eager,
+interested faces the soldiers pass has given renewed spirit to many a
+man, hot, weary, and faint from some long march, and seemed to tighten
+muscle and nerve for the work yet to come.
+
+That special morning Dick Smithson felt that, after all, his was a very
+bright and happy life.  The past was dead; he had friends about him, and
+there was a delirious feeling of satisfaction to be there, at the head
+of the long line of men, whose glittering bayonets flashed and undulated
+in the sun as they passed down the main street, at the end of which,
+where the people formed a crowd, hurrying along on either side, the
+brass band ended its strains, and after a preliminary flourish on the
+kettle-drums these and the fifes rattled and shrilled in their
+well-marked music.
+
+Turn and turn, with an occasional change, when the kettle-drums had it
+all to themselves--_trr_--_trr_--_trr_--_trr_--a light, sharp tap, to
+mark the step as the towns were left behind, and the course led between
+the Kentish hedgerows and the bare fields, which seemed to be growing
+crops of poles, for the young hops themselves were only just showing
+their bronze-hued points above the ground.
+
+Then, on and on, in open order, till, far away on the slope of a hill,
+where the white chalky road could be traced for miles, a cloud of dust
+could be seen.  Soon after there was a flicker, as if the cloud were not
+dust, but smoke, and the flickering light was that of the fire within.
+Then there was another flicker, and more and more, till it was plain
+enough that the sun was being reflected from burnished brass or steel,
+and the sinuous cloud was hovering over the regiment they had come to
+meet.
+
+Half an hour later the two regiments had met, there had been a halt
+called, and at its end the march back to town was commenced, the men
+going over the hard road with a light, springy step.
+
+It was all very simple and unadventurous, but everyone seemed to enjoy
+it--the men whose march had only been from Ratcham and those whose dusty
+clothes told of the many long miles they had tramped since early morn.
+
+The crowd was greater than ever when the town was reached again, the
+205th's band leading them and making the streets echo to the strains of
+"The British Grenadiers."  There were loud bursts of cheering, too, now,
+and the traffic was stopped as the band was halted near the gates of the
+High Barracks to play the 310th in.
+
+As everyone does not know, perhaps, so as to keep up a sustained
+military march, the brass band is divided into two parts, one of which
+will play through certain portions of the melody, which is then taken up
+by the second part, while the first regains breath, ready to take its
+turn again and to join in unison with the other in some _forte_ passage.
+
+Close up to the High Barrack gates, then, the bandsmen stood upon the
+pavement, while the companies of the 310th marched up the road.  Dick
+Smithson was resting with the men of his side, while the others were
+concluding their part.  The next minute Dick was in the act of raising
+his piccolo to his lips to shower out a burst of its bright bird-like
+music, while _tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp_, the men marched by, when his
+nerves suddenly seemed to be paralysed, his muscles refused to act, and
+he stood holding the tiny bright-keyed flute level with his chin,
+staring hard at a young officer, weary, covered with chalky dust, and
+with a set supercilious smile upon his lips, as he turned his eyes left
+to stare contemptuously at the young bandsman he passed.
+
+It was almost momentary, just taking as long as a man walking at a
+steady pace would occupy.  Then he was by, leaving Dick staring after
+him as if in a cataleptic fit, his face full of terror and despair.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+HAUNTED.
+
+For nearly a minute Dick did not stir, but stood staring, with eyes wide
+open, lips apart, and the piccolo held still on a level with his chin.
+
+Then, as the figure of the officer was hidden by the marching men, the
+young musician uttered a low, hoarse sound--the pent-up breath escaping
+from his lungs.  The while the buildings opposite, the crowd of people
+in doorways and at windows, even the marching men steadily tramping by,
+seemed to undulate, rise, and then slowly glide round and round, till he
+gave a violent start; for a hand had grasped his arm, and he turned to
+gaze at the clarionet-player who was supporting him.
+
+"What is it?  A bit faint?"
+
+"I--I don't know," faltered Dick.
+
+"I do.  That's it.  You've been blowing a bit too hard.  Don't play any
+more.  We've just done."
+
+A minute or two gave the lad time to try and recover himself.
+
+"Yes, that's it," said the clarionet-player; "you got excited, and
+played too hard.  I remember being once like that; I shivered just as
+you are shivering now.  Doctor said it was only nerves."
+
+"Only nerves!" said Dick, in a low tone, involuntarily repeating the
+man's words.
+
+"Yes, that's it.  Keep cool, and you'll soon come right.  Feel faint
+now?"
+
+"No, the giddiness has gone off."
+
+"That's right."
+
+The bandsman ceased speaking, for he had to take his part again, as the
+rear of the new regiment marched past with the mounted officers.  Then
+followed an ambulance waggon, the water-tub, two or three baggage
+waggons, and half a dozen men who had fallen out on the march, all of
+whom Dick saw as if it were part of a dream, which lasted, in a confused
+way, as he and his companion joined their own regiment, took their place
+at the head, and returned to their own quarters.
+
+"Getting all right, again?" said the clarionet-player, as they stood
+together in the barrack yard waiting to be dismissed.
+
+"What is it?  What's the matter?" asked Wilkins, sourly.
+
+"Smithson sick, sir," was the reply.
+
+The bandmaster looked at his principal flute curiously, but said
+nothing.
+
+The next minute they were dismissed, and Dick longed in vain for a place
+where he could be alone, the only approach to it being the open window,
+where, after the customary change of uniform and wash and clean, he sat
+gazing out at the sky, but seeing no bright silvery clouds--nothing but
+the face of that young officer and the old ruins down by the flooded
+river; for it seemed to Dick Smithson that--in spite of what had been
+written about midnight and the witching hour--he had seen a ghost, and
+in the broad daylight, too.
+
+He tried to cast the idea from him again and again, but that face would
+return, wonderful in its resemblance, and at last a painful, feverish
+fit came on; for the countenance he had that day gazed upon, and which
+had impressed him so painfully, brought up all the old life which he had
+tried so hard and successfully to forget.
+
+"It's like a punishment to me, for trying to forget that which I ought
+always to bear in mind," he said at last, with a sigh.  "How horrible!
+and how strange that two people could be so much alike!"
+
+Dick played with the band in the mess-room that evening, and one or two
+of his comrades told him he looked ill; but he laughed it off, and tried
+to make them believe that the little fit of weariness was a mere
+nothing.  But his face told a different tale, and that night, when he
+went to his bed, sleep refused to come; and to the accompaniment of his
+comrades' heavy breathing--that being the most charitable term that can
+be applied to it--he once more went over his old life at Mr Draycott's,
+from his first entering the great coach's establishment up to the
+morning he had left.
+
+At last sleep came--a miserable, feverish slumber, from which he was
+aroused by the _reveille_.
+
+"There," he said to himself.  "I shall be all right now," as he took his
+dripping head out of the bowl of cold water, and felt refreshed by the
+scrub he gave himself; but somehow he did not feel right.  His head
+burned, and he was glad to get out in the open air, in the hope that a
+little exercise would clear his brain and drive away the cobweb-like
+fancies which seemed to interfere with its working.
+
+Vain hope!  The thoughts only came the faster, and at last he began to
+ask himself whether he was going to be ill.
+
+"Mark's dead!" he found himself saying mentally; "and there are no such
+things as ghosts--education killed the last of them years ago.  But it
+does seem horrible to come suddenly face to face with a fellow so like
+poor Mark that I should have felt ready to declare it was he.  Nature
+does make people different; and yet that officer is as like him as can
+be.  Of course, he would have grown set and more manly.  And--oh! but
+it's impossible!  He's dead! he's dead!"
+
+He had gone back into the band-room, where, as of old, some twenty men
+were blowing hard, each working up the parts of new pieces, and utterly
+regardless, as well as unconscious, of his neighbour--use having given
+the bandsmen the ability to practice away deaf to the noise produced by
+others.  Here he sat down in his own corner, and began to look over his
+music, expecting that before long Wilkins would be there to try over a
+few pieces in proper harmony instead of discord.  But the crotchets and
+quavers became people, and the staves the roads along which they passed;
+and, the more he tried, the more excited he grew.
+
+For a few minutes he enjoyed a rest, for his eyes suddenly rested upon
+Brumpton, who, looking wonderfully fat, shiny, and happy, sat back, with
+his jacket unbuttoned, pumping away at the huge brass instrument, whose
+coils he nursed at his breast while he boomed and burred and brought
+forth bass notes of the deepest and richest quality.
+
+Then Brumpton's smooth, round face grew dim, and in its place there was
+the haughty, self-satisfied young officer, proud of his regimentals and
+scornfully gazing at the young bandsman as he passed.
+
+Dick could bear it no longer; he felt that he must get back into the
+open air, and to some place where he could be in peace while he made up
+his mind what to do.
+
+The next minute his mind did not want making up.  He had come to a
+determination; for, feeling that he would never be able to rest until he
+had got rid of the idea of the officer he had met being his cousin Mark,
+he set off with the intention of questioning some of the men of the
+incoming regiment about their officers.
+
+He started, and had just got outside the door of the band-room, when he
+ran against Wilkins, who turned upon him sharply--
+
+"Now, sir! don't run away; I am going to try over that grand march."
+
+"Back directly, sir!" cried Dick; and, to the bandmaster's indignation,
+he was off as hard as he could go towards the barrack gates.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+THE STRANGE COMPLICATION.
+
+"I shall be in trouble again," thought Dick; "but I can't help it!  I
+feel as if that old bit of excitement was coming over me."
+
+The next minute he was out in the street, and making his way toward the
+High Barracks, trying to calm down his excitement and come to some
+decision as to how he would find out.  It seemed simple enough, for what
+would Mark be?  A lieutenant; and any corporal or sergeant would tell
+him whether there was a Lieutenant Frayne in the regiment.
+
+But long before Dick reached the barracks he had another shock; for, all
+at once, in turning a corner, he saw a well-built private sauntering
+along on the other side whose face was unmistakable, though how he had
+become a soldier was more than Dick could grasp.
+
+The man did not see him, and Dick passed on for a few yards, feeling his
+forehead, then his pulse, to find the latter a little accelerated, the
+former perfectly cool.
+
+"I'm not going mad!" he muttered, excitedly.  "I may be dreaming, but--"
+
+He said no more, but turned sharply and followed the private, who was
+evidently taking his first walk through the town, and had become a
+little interested in the place.
+
+Dick did not hesitate, but followed the private till he was close behind
+him, and then uttered one word sharply, which brought him round on the
+instant, to stare hard at the speaker, but without any change of
+countenance.
+
+"Yes; what is it?  I've got my pass."
+
+Dick could not speak again for the peculiar feeling of emotion which
+troubled him, and the man began to frown.
+
+"Was it me you meant when you called `Jerry'?" he said.
+
+"Yes; you are Jerry Brigley."
+
+"I'm Jeremiah Brigley," was the snappish reply, "and I tell you I've got
+my pass.  There you are."
+
+But Dick did not even glance at it, for this was a new shock.  Some day
+he meant to go back and claim his position--some day--but here was a man
+with whom he had been on most intimate terms staring at him blankly
+without a sign of recognition!
+
+"Mornin'!" said Jerry, shortly; and he faced round and walked on.  But
+Dick was after him directly, recovering somewhat from the shock he had
+sustained, and ready to treat the position with something like forced
+mirth in his delight at meeting one old link with the past.
+
+"Jerry!" he cried, and the man faced round sharply.
+
+"Well, what do you want with him?"
+
+"Don't you know me, Jerry?" cried Dick.
+
+"No, and don't want to; and, if this is a try-on to get me to stand
+beer, it's a dead failure!"
+
+"Not quite!" said Dick, smiling, though his heart ached.
+
+"Look here, do you want a tanner?" cried Jerry, snappishly.
+
+"Well, I am short of money," said Dick, as a sudden thought came to
+mind; "but not a tanner.  Pay me the sovereign you borrowed of me!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"I did not mean ever to ask you for it, but it would be useful now."
+
+"Well, I'm blest!" cried Jerry.  "Talk about cheek!  When did I borrow a
+sovereign of you, my whippersnapper?"
+
+"Two years ago, when you wanted to bet on some horse for the Derby."
+
+Jerry's jaw dropped.
+
+"Who--who--who--who--says?" he stuttered.  "How did--?  When did--?
+Here--who are you?--How did--?  I say: who are you?"
+
+"Dick Smithson, 205th Band," replied the young man, unable to keep from
+enjoying the state of puzzledom in which his ex-servant was plunged.
+
+"But I don't know no Dick Smithson; and how you--you--you!  Oh, lor'!"
+
+Jerry had suddenly turned ghastly, reeled, and caught at the lamp-post
+close at hand.
+
+"Hush!  Quiet!" cried Dick, in an excited whisper.  "Don't make a
+scene!"
+
+"S'Richard!" gasped Jerry.
+
+"Silence, man!  Here, come down the next street," whispered Dick,
+thrusting his arm beneath the other's to lead him into a less crowded
+thoroughfare; but Jerry started from him violently.
+
+"Don't--don't touch me!" he gasped.
+
+"Quiet, man!" said Dick, gripping him tightly.  "That doesn't feel like
+a ghost?"
+
+"Oh, lor'!" groaned Jerry, with the great drops of cold perspiration
+crowding upon his brow.  "But--but I see you drownd yourself before my
+very eyes!"
+
+"No, you did not, or I shouldn't be standing here now!"
+
+"But--but--oh, lor'!" groaned Jerry, with his voice growing faint and
+piteous, "is--is it really you S'Rich--?"
+
+"Silence!  I'm Dick Smithson, now!" cried the young man fiercely.
+
+"But you was S'Richard," groaned Jerry, "before you come to life again!"
+
+"What nonsense are you talking now?"
+
+"Only the truth, sir.  Why--why--oh, dear! can we get a drop o' brandy?"
+
+"Come in here," said Dick, seeing how bad the man looked, and he led him
+into a tavern which, oddly enough, it being a garrison town, stood near.
+
+The next minute they were seated alone in the parlour, and Jerry
+guardedly stretched out his hand to touch Dick's knee.
+
+"Well!" said the young man, "does it feel real?"
+
+"Yes; but I see you drownd yourself before my very eyes, S'Rich--"
+
+"Silence, man!"
+
+"But I did," said Jerry, plaintively; "and we sat upon you at the
+inquest."
+
+"What!"
+
+"Didn't I see you, my poor, dear lad, all stripped and torn by beating
+about in the river-bed with stones and old trees; and didn't I go and
+drop a tear or two on your coffin?"
+
+"Jerry!"
+
+"I did the day as you was buried, though things was that bad I had to
+sell my watch to pay my fare."
+
+"Here, quick!  Tell me," cried Dick, whose turn it was to be staggered
+now, "you--you--they--they did all this?"
+
+"To be sure they did; and you're as dead as a door-nail, sir.  I see it
+all myself.  Oh, my lad! how could you--how could you go and drownd
+yourself like that?"
+
+"I--go to drown myself!  Nonsense!" cried Dick.  Then, as the truth
+flashed upon him: "Why, Jerry, it was that poor boy with the sheep--the
+boy I tried to save."
+
+"No; it was you, sir--I followed you, and got there just too late."
+
+"You did!"
+
+"Yes, sir, I did."
+
+"But you don't understand, Jerry."
+
+"No.  I don't; and that's the worst of it, sir," cried Jerry, piteously.
+"You was buried, for I followed yer; so how can you be here now
+a-talking to me?"
+
+"But don't you see?"
+
+"Yes, I do now.  You got to know all about it, and you're an impostor;
+that's what you are!"
+
+"Oh, Jerry, you always were a fool!" cried Dick, angrily.  "Don't you
+see that it was the poor fellow they found--the drowning boy I tried to
+save?"
+
+"Then you didn't try to drown yourself, sir?"
+
+"Drown myself!  Was I likely to do such a thing?  Wasn't it enough that
+I ran away, like the cowardly fool I was?"
+
+"Then you ain't never been dead at all, then, sir?"
+
+"Absurd!"
+
+"And they buried the wrong man?"
+
+"Good Heavens! what a position, Jerry!  Yes," cried Dick, startled now
+by the complications rising before his eyes.
+
+"And you really are alive and hearty, and--how you've growed, and--and--
+why, of course, it is!  Pay you back the money--S'Richard, why I'd--oh,
+my lad, my lad--I--I--I--oh, what a fool I am!"
+
+Fool or no, Jerry Brigley broke down, and sat holding on by his
+companion's hands sobbing for some moments before he uttered a loud
+gulp, and then seemed relieved.
+
+Meanwhile Dick sat staring straight before him, almost unconscious of
+poor Jerry's acts.  The revelation he had heard was paralysing.  It was
+horrible to think of; and, moment by moment, he began to realise how
+difficult it would be to convince people of his identity when he went
+back to claim his own.
+
+He had just come to the conclusion that there must be an end to his
+masquerading now, when Jerry recovered himself sufficiently to demand a
+full account of how he had escaped from the flood.
+
+This had to be given, and then Dick cried bitterly--
+
+"Then my cousin did not die, after all?"
+
+"Him?  Die?  Not, he, sir.  He wouldn't, die a bit.  He allus was a base
+deceiver of a fellow--beggin' your pardon, sir."
+
+"And I frightened myself into that folly for nothing!"
+
+"Well, he was bad, sir, certainly; and the doctors thought so, too.  But
+he allus falls on his feet, sir.  I don't.  Nice mess I made of it,
+sir!"
+
+"Ah!  How came you to enlist, Jerry?" said Dick, forcing himself to take
+some interest in his old servant.
+
+"How came I to 'list, sir?  Why, all along o' him.  I got in such a mess
+I had to leave Mr Draycott's."
+
+"How, Jerry?  Why?"
+
+"Got wild, sir.  I'd been idgit enough to think as I could make a lot o'
+money with my savings by putting 'em on hosses, and so soon as I did,
+sir, they wouldn't win a bit; and, from going to the hosses, I went next
+to the dogs; and then I was in such a state that there was no chance for
+me at all; and I wrote to him at last, for I see his name in the paper
+as being gazetted to the 310th.  And what d'yer think he said?"
+
+"I don't know, Jerry," said Dick, dreamily, for he was again thinking of
+his own troubles.
+
+"He said I'd better enlist, and then he could have me as his servant
+again."
+
+"Yes, exactly."
+
+"Well, sir, it's 'bout the last thing I should ever ha' thought o'
+doing, but it seemed all right.  Officer's servant wouldn't be bad, and
+there'd sure to be some perks."
+
+"Some what?"
+
+"Perks, sir--perkisites: old boots and shoes and things.  So I 'listed
+six months ago, and here have I, Jeremiah Brigley, been barked at and
+drilled till I could stand on my head stiff and go through it all."
+
+"Yes, you would have to be drilled," said Dick, thoughtfully; "and how
+do you get on as his servant?"
+
+"Get on, sir?  As his servant, sir?  Why, he on'y laughed at me, and
+told me he'd got somebody else; and when I turned rusty, and told him he
+was no gent, he reported me and had me punished.  But I wasn't done,
+then; for, as soon as I was out, I waits my chance, and then I says to
+him, `You look out,' I says, `and mind I don't make it warm for you.'"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Why, go and tell his colonel, sir, all about his borrowing of old
+Simpson, the tailor, and throwing the credit about that there cheque on
+to you.  For it was a reg'lar swindle, sir; you didn't get none of that
+money, as I know.  Ah, you should have seen how small he was then!  Why,
+he was quite humble to me, and said it was all a mistake, and, as soon
+as he could, he'd get me for his servant.  But he won't, and a good job
+for him and me, too, S'Richard, sir."
+
+"Silence, man!"
+
+"I beg pardon, sir.  O' course, that's wrong now; but I tell you this,
+sir: he's made me that wild again with myself, and now about you, sir,
+that, if I had to cut his hair or strop a razor to shave him, I should
+chuck the tools out o' window.  I daren't go nigh him with such a weppun
+in my hand."
+
+"Rubbish, Jerry!  You're absurd!" cried Dick, shaking off the thoughts
+which troubled him as he determined to go to the colonel or Mr Lacey
+and explain all.
+
+"No, sir, it ain't absurd.  Flesh and blood 'll stand a deal, but there
+comes a time when it won't stand no more.  Sir Mark Frayne's one o'
+they--Here! hold up, sir; it's your turn now."
+
+For Dick had started to his feet.
+
+"What?" he cried, huskily.  "Say that again."
+
+"What--about Sir Mark, sir?"
+
+"Sir Mark?"
+
+"Oh, yes, sir; you was dead and buried, his father died, and he became
+Sir Mark.  Yes, sir, he's a barrownet now, and got all your tin; and, my
+word, he does make it fly!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
+
+JERRY TO THE FRONT.
+
+Dick Smithson found himself face to face with a problem that grew harder
+to solve the more he tried, and, as he lay awake at night, the words of
+the old, old ballad used to come to him:--
+
+  "And for as you have made your bed, so on it you must lie."
+
+A barrack bed, too--a very hard, thin, single Glo'ster-cheese sort of
+bed!  And yet it seemed at the first sight so easy to jump out of it, go
+and see the colonel--no; he could talk to Lieutenant Lacey, who was
+always so friendly, and that gentleman would tell the colonel.
+
+Oh, it would be simple enough!  So long as it meant his voluntary exile,
+it was not of so much consequence; and he had always kept in reserve the
+time when he could go back to his old position in society.  But now he
+found that when he leaped down it was from a high perpendicular rock,
+and the base of that rock stood in.  Around, too, it was smooth; and,
+now jumping back was out of the question, climbing appeared impossible.
+
+What was to be done?  He could not sit still and let Mark hold his title
+and position without a struggle; but how to begin?
+
+Naturally enough, the old state of calm passed away, and Dick's brain
+was in a state of effervescence as he waited three days for an
+opportunity to meet and consult with Jerry Brigley.  For this had been
+planned at parting, after Jerry had sworn to be silent until some plan
+of action had been decided upon.
+
+At last Jerry and he met again, and this time went off for a walk
+towards the country, accidentally taking the road which Dick had
+followed when he first entered the town.
+
+For some time the great subject they had met to discuss was avoided, and
+they talked about the country round, with its hills and hop-gardens,
+till Jerry drifted from a remark on the beauty of a sheep-cropped,
+velvet-green field, with its lawn-like grass, into a lesson on one of
+the follies of the day.
+
+"Yes, sir," he said; "feel how soft it is under your feet!  Turf's a
+lovely thing when it's lawns; but when it's horse-racing, and gets hold
+on yer tight, it's a sort o' Bedlam-Hanwelly business.  Don't you never
+bet, sir.  If I hadn't never betted, I should ha' been a rich man now,
+with two hundred pound in the savings bank, instead of being a private
+soldier--me, too, as knows more about valetting a gent than half the
+chaps as goes into service."
+
+"Ah, well, Jerry, don't fret about it; things may get better."
+
+"Ay, sir, they may; but then, you see, they might get wuss."
+
+"Or half-way between.  Let's sit down under this tree; I want to talk."
+
+"Not a bad place, sir--fine view o' the Kentish hills.  What money a man
+might make out of chalk, if he had it in some place ready to sell, and
+people would buy it!  Mind my lighting a pipe, sir?"
+
+"Mind?  No; I've got pretty well hardened to people smoking about me
+now.  Sorry I can't offer you a cigar, Jerry."
+
+"Pipe's good enough for such as me, sir.  There," continued the man, as
+he filled his briar-root, "aren't I keeping my tongue well in hand?
+Haven't called you S'Richard once."
+
+"And you must not, whatever you do."
+
+"Well, sir," said Jerry, lighting up, and half-shutting his eyes as he
+leaned back meditatively, "sometimes I don't see why not; sometimes it's
+all t'other.  One day I says to myself, `What's he got to mind?  He's
+livin', and it's all nonsense about his being dead and buried; and, as
+to that business over the bill and the signature, why, he could fight
+that down like a gentleman.'"
+
+"Yes, Jerry," said Dick, dismally; "but I ran away like a coward, and
+that was like a tacit confession of guilt."
+
+"Like a what confession o' guilt?"
+
+"Silent."
+
+"No, sir: you said something else."
+
+"Tacit, man--tacit."
+
+"Oh, was it, sir.  Well, if you say it was tacit, I 'spose it was.
+Never heered o' that sort o' confession before; it was always open
+confession.  But, as I was a-saying, one day I thinks as I just said;
+next day it's all the other way.  I don't want to put you out o' heart,
+sir; but, as you very well know, being quite a scholar, and having read
+o' these things lots o' times, there's an old saying about possession
+being nine points of the law.  He's got possession tight, and, if you go
+and tell him he must give it up now, he'll say--"
+
+"Well, what, Jerry?"
+
+"Don't like to tell you, sir, for fear of giving offence."
+
+"Speak out, man; speak out, and don't say `sir' to me again while we are
+equals here in the army."
+
+"Ekals, sir?  Bein' both in the ranks don't make us ekal."
+
+"But it must not be known at present, and if you keep calling me `sir'
+you may ruin my prospects."
+
+"All right, then; I won't say it--I'll think it, and that'll make it
+easier, because I can think the other the same time."
+
+"What other?"
+
+"The Richard.  I shall allus say `S'Richard' to myself."
+
+"Very well, do.  But, mind--I trust you."
+
+"And you may, sir.  It seems to me--as I was going to say--if you won't
+be offended--"
+
+"Go on, man," cried Richard; "nothing will offend me now."
+
+"Oh! won't it?  You're as big a honourable gent now as ever you was;
+but, if you was to go to your cousin, sir, he'd call you a impostor."
+
+"I'm afraid so, Jerry."
+
+"And, if you turn nasty with him, he'll tell you to go down in the
+country there, and look at your grave."
+
+Dick was silent.
+
+"But don't you be downhearted, sir.  You shall have your rights.  What
+d'ye say to sending a petition to the Queen?  I'm told that she's a very
+nice old lady, when you know her."
+
+Dick laughed.
+
+"Why should she believe me?"
+
+"Because you're a gent, sir.  Anybody could see that with half a heye.
+But, look here, sir, there--"
+
+"Will you leave off saying `sir'?  I am Dick Smithson."
+
+"Oh, very well, Dick Smithson.  There must be a way out of the wood.
+What do you say to me killing him--by accident?"
+
+"I say, talk sense, man!"
+
+"Right; I will.  I wish I was in your regiment, though.  One could see
+you oft'ner like, and settle things with you.  I s'pose if I was to
+desert and 'list in yours, they'd make a row about it?"
+
+"No doubt about that, Jerry."
+
+"There wouldn't be no harm.  I should only have changed from one
+regiment to another."
+
+"You know enough about a soldier's duties to the colours, man.  But I
+wish you were in the 205th with all my heart."
+
+"And in your company?  I could valet you just as I used to."
+
+"Nonsense!  I'm not in any company; and for me to have a servant would
+be impossible as well as absurd."
+
+"Well, I can't see as it would be absurd, because you, being a gent,
+ought to have your servant.  But, to come back to my being in your
+regiment--ain't there no way of managing it?"
+
+"I don't know, Jerry.  Officers exchange."
+
+"There you are: allus a way out of a difficulty, if you can find it.
+Officers exchange; why shouldn't privates?  I could be no end o' use to
+you, Dick Smithson.  S'pose we try?"
+
+Dick laughed, and shook his head.
+
+"Impossible, Jerry!  We must be content as we are for the present, and
+meet now and then, and talk matters over till I see my way to get out of
+this position."
+
+And it was in this way that they parted.
+
+About a week later Dick was summoned to the lieutenant's rooms; and,
+upon reaching them, it was quite plain that something was wrong.  For
+Lacey looked black as thunder as he walked up and down.
+
+"What have I done to offend him?" thought Dick, as he waited for the
+young officer to speak.
+
+"Sit down!" growled Lacey; and Dick obeyed.
+
+"It's beyond bearing!" exclaimed the lieutenant.  "I'll clean my own
+boots, and brush my own clothes.  I'm sick of it!"
+
+"Nothing to do with me," thought Dick; and he ventured a remark.
+
+"Can I help you in any way, sir?"
+
+"No--yes; play something soothing to me.  I'm put out.  No, don't.  It's
+like making a fool of myself."
+
+Dick thought so, too, but he did not say anything; while the lieutenant
+went on pacing the room for a few minutes, and then faced round.
+
+"What do you think he has done now?"
+
+"Who, sir--the colonel?"
+
+"Bah! no: that idiot servant of mine?"
+
+"Broke something, sir?"
+
+"No!" roared the lieutenant; "I wish he had--his neck!  Can I trust you,
+Smithson?"
+
+Dick bowed.
+
+"Yes; one can confide in you, Smithson.  You remember--er--er--a little
+adventure of ours--the serenade?"
+
+"Oh, yes, sir!"
+
+"I hardly care to refer to it, Smithson; but, as I think I said before,
+I always feel as if I can trust you."
+
+Dick bowed again, and felt disposed to laugh; but his face was
+extra-serious as the lieutenant went on--
+
+"The fact is, we made a great mistake, Smithson, and that duet was
+played under the wrong window.  There is an aunt there--and--and--she is
+not young."
+
+"I presumed so, sir, from the voice," said Dick, for the young officer
+waited.
+
+"There is no presumption about it, Smithson; you were quite right.  She
+is still single.  Miss--well--er--since then--er--we have met."
+
+"You and the aunt, sir?"
+
+"Smithson, this is no matter for ribald jest," said the lieutenant,
+sharply.
+
+"I beg pardon, sir; I meant to be quite serious."
+
+"I thank you, Smithson.  You will grasp what I mean when you grow older.
+You may come to feel as I have felt for months past."
+
+"I hope not!" thought Dick.
+
+"I will continue, Smithson.  We have met since, more than once; and
+yesterday I sent that idiot with a note."
+
+"And he gave it to the wrong person, sir?"
+
+"What!  You have heard?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir; but it is what I should have expected him to do."
+
+"You are quite right; and I ought to have known better.  He took the
+letter, and delivered it to the aunt.  Smithson, I am in agony!  She has
+responded to me, thinking my words were meant for her.  I walked by
+there an hour ago and saw her, and--oh, Smithson!--she smiled.  What is
+to be done?"
+
+Dick was silent for a minute, not knowing how to answer the question;
+then a way out of the difficulty came.
+
+"I'll tell you, sir!  You must discharge that fellow."
+
+"I did, Smithson--at once.  I was in such a rage that I kicked him; and
+I fear that there will be some trouble about that, if he reports it to
+his superior officer."
+
+"Pooh!  Give him half a sovereign, sir, and you'll hear no more about
+it."
+
+"That's very good advice, Smithson.  I wish I had your head."
+
+"You want a good, clever, smart servant, sir," said Dick, who was
+breathless with excitement consequent upon his new idea.
+
+"Yes, Smithson; but such a treasure seems to be unobtainable."
+
+"I don't know--I think I could find you such a man, sir."
+
+"You could!  Oh, no; I want a regular valet, Smithson.  I have grown
+sadly indolent, and I often wish a war would break out to rouse me up."
+
+"This is a regular valet, sir."
+
+"But--really, Smithson, I'm afraid I'm very lazy--can he shave?"
+
+"Oh, yes, sir, and cut hair admirably."
+
+"Indeed?  A friend of yours?"
+
+"Well, sir, not exactly; I used to know him."
+
+"Whose company is he in?"
+
+"Unfortunately, sir, he is not in this regiment."
+
+"Smithson! how can you?" cried the lieutenant in lachrymose tones.
+"What is the use of raising my hopes to dash them down?  Is he a man of
+bad character who wants to join?"
+
+"No, sir; he is a soldier already; but he is in the 310th, sir--the
+regiment we `played in' the other day."
+
+"In the 310th?" said the lieutenant, thoughtfully.
+
+"And, of course, not available, sir."
+
+"Is he anyone else's servant?"
+
+"He is simply a private, sir."
+
+"Then--I don't know, though.  Perhaps I might--or I could--I--how
+tiresome!"
+
+For at that moment Dick sprang from his seat, as he heard steps outside.
+
+"You at home, Lacey?" cried a voice.
+
+"Yes: come in."
+
+As the door opened, the lieutenant said excitedly--
+
+"What is this man's name?"
+
+"Jeremiah Brigley, sir;" and the young officer carefully put down the
+name before Dick retreated and took his leave, the new arrival saying:
+
+"Here, Smithson, I shall want you to give me some lessons, too."
+
+The next minute Dick was crossing the barrack yard to reach his
+quarters, wondering whether it would be possible for Jerry to be
+exchanged, and meeting the bandmaster, who said rather gruffly--
+
+"Where have you been, sir?"
+
+"To Mr Lacey's, sir."
+
+"Ha!  I hope I shall find out that this is the truth."
+
+Dick flushed.
+
+"There is too much lesson-giving, and the band practice is neglected.
+Be good enough to recollect, sir, that I have reported your conduct."
+
+"I don't understand you, sir," replied Dick.
+
+"I allude to that episode, sir, when you absented yourself from the
+practice without leave.  Your conduct is not what it should be, sir.
+And recollect this: that a man picked up, as you were, in the street
+ought to be doubly careful when he has got a lift in life; so have a
+care, sir--have a care."
+
+"I am sorry I absented myself, sir," began Dick, but Wilkins raised
+himself on tiptoe, and interrupted him.
+
+"Say `stopped away,' sir.  Leave `absented' to your officers.  There's
+too much favouritism in this regiment; but I warn you, sir: have a
+care--have a care."
+
+He strutted away, arranging the few thin bits of hair about his ears,
+leaving Dick looking after him.
+
+"Oh, you stupid little man!" muttered Dick, who then went to his
+quarters to think out what he had better do.  But, try hard as he would,
+he could not think it out; for the more he thought, the more it seemed
+to him that he had completely obliterated himself by his foolish act--
+that Sir Richard Frayne was dead to the world and Dick Smithson reigned
+in his stead.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
+
+FINDING A LEECH.
+
+Dick Smithson was busy, a few mornings later, working with his hands as
+well as his brain.  The latter could not succeed in its task; for, the
+more he thought, the more desperate grew the confusion in his mind; and,
+by way of relief, he tried hard to dismiss the whole business, but only
+to find that it would not go.
+
+His hands were more successful; for he had polished his sword,
+pipe-clayed his belt, gloves, and the little leather pouch which held
+his music-cards, and now, with a brush ready, he was performing a task
+which looked like a puzzle, for he was passing the gilt buttons of his
+uniform through a hole in a flat stick, and then running them one after
+another along a slit.
+
+He had heard someone enter the room; but he was too intent upon his work
+to look up, and he had just picked up the brush to begin polishing the
+buttons, now in a neat row, when a couple of hands were passed round
+him--one taking his jacket and button-stick, the other the brush, which
+was briskly applied, accompanied by a loud, hissing noise, such as an
+ostler makes, to blow away the dust, when grooming a horse.
+
+"Jerry!" exclaimed Dick, wonderingly.
+
+"Me it is, S'Rich--Dick Smithson," cried the man, cheerily.
+
+"For goodness' sake, mind what you are saying."
+
+"I will, sir--I will, Dick--but it is so hard to break off your old
+habits."
+
+"And give me that brush.  You must not go on like this."
+
+"Why not?" cried Jerry; "I often do jobs for my mates.  There's no rules
+again' that.  Why, I could clean up, polish, and pipe-clay twice as fast
+as some of 'em."
+
+"But what brings you here, Jerry?"
+
+"Ah! that's it, S'Dick Smithson!" cried the man, with a smile of
+triumph.  "It's all right; I'm taken in exchange."
+
+"What!"
+
+"They've swopped me, somehow.  I don't know; but I don't belong to the
+Three-tenth no longer.  I'm a Two-fifth, and, what's more, I'm
+Lieutenant Lacey's servant.  I've been with him two days."
+
+"And are you satisfied?  Can you get on?"
+
+"Satisfied ain't the word for it.  I was never meant to go shouldering
+arms and making two legs of a long centipede, and crawling about.  It's
+like getting back into real happiness.  Waited table last night for the
+fust time.  Didn't you see me?"
+
+"I?  No."
+
+"I see you tootling away there on your floot, 'eavenly, but I couldn't
+catch your eye.  'Sides, I was strange there, and had to mind what I was
+about, 'tending to my master.  It was a real treat!"
+
+"And so you think you'll get on with him?"
+
+"Get on with him!  Why, I can do anything I like with him already!  My
+word! they call red herrings sogers, and sogers red herrings, and he is
+a soft-roed un, and no mistake."
+
+"Lieutenant Lacey is a thorough gentleman, Jerry," cried Dick, warmly.
+
+"Every inch of him, Dick Smithson--mind, I'm a calling you that, Dick,
+but it's meant respectful--a thorough gent, every inch of him, and
+there's a good lot on him, too; but he is a bit slack-baked, you know.
+Why, if I liked, I could a'most gammon him into anything."
+
+"I trust you will prove as good a servant to him as you were to--"
+
+"Me," Dick was going to say, but he checked himself.
+
+"You trust me for that, Dick Smithson, I will.  But, really, it's
+shameful the way he's been neglected.  He come and ketched me last night
+sitting on the floor cross-legged, fine-drawing a hole in his
+dress-vest, and he burst out a-laughing, good-humoured like.
+
+"`Why, Brigley,' he says, `I didn't know you were a tailor.'
+
+"`More I am, sir,' I says; `but a man as pretends to valet a gent, and
+can't draw up a tear, or put on a button, ain't worth calling a servant,
+sir,' I says.
+
+"`I'm afraid my things have been very much neglected,' he says, and then
+he asked, `What boots are those in a row?'
+
+"`Some as I found in the closet, sir, all over mould.'
+
+"`But they're not fit to wear, are they?'
+
+"`Why not, sir?'  I says.  `Look here, sir, that chap as you've had here
+ought to be flogged; I never see a gent's fit-out and accoutrements in
+such a state.'
+
+"`They have been terribly neglected, my man,' he says, `and I hope
+you'll put 'em right.'
+
+"`You trust me, sir,' I says, `and they shall be done proper, but it'll
+take me weeks yet.  Your linen's shameful.'
+
+"`Then I must get some new things.'
+
+"`What for, sir?'  I says.  `They're right enough.  Leastwise, they will
+be.  You leave 'em to me, sir.'
+
+"`I will, my man,' he says.
+
+"And then he sits down and sighs.  Ever heard him sigh, sir?"
+
+"Yes, often, Jerry."
+
+"An' he can sigh!  `Tired, sir?'  I says.
+
+"`Yes, and low-spirited,' he says.
+
+"I didn't say no more, but puts away the vest as I'd finished, all but
+pressing it.  Then I takes out my cloth, gets his pair of ivory-back
+brushes, just takes off his dress-jacket, and puts the cloth round his
+neck, sets him up a bit, and then I brushed his head for about ten
+minutes--you know my way, sir?"
+
+"Yes, Jerry; I recollect."
+
+"And there he sat, with the wrinkles going out of his forrid, and a sort
+o' baby-like smile coming all over his face.
+
+"`Find it fresh'ning, sir?'  I says.
+
+"`Heavenly,' he says.
+
+"`You want a good shampoo, sir,' I says.  `There's a deal o' dandruff in
+your head.'
+
+"`That's what the hairdresser said,' says he, an' he sighs again.
+
+"`Oh, yes; I know,' says I; `they allus do, and wants you to buy bottles
+o' their tintry-cum-fuldicus.  You leave it to me, sir.  Little white o'
+egg and borax, and a finish off with some good scented soap; and then if
+anyone sees some o' that stuff in your head, sir, just you tell me.'
+
+"He's a very nice gent, sir--I mean Dick; but the way he's been
+neglected and preyed on by barbers and sich is shameful.  Why, he's got
+stuff enough in his quarters to stock a shop."
+
+"Then you think you'll get on with him, Jerry?"
+
+"Think?  Not me!  You ask him if he'll let me go, and you'll see.  I
+sent him out this morning pretty tidy to parade, quite early--and don't
+he like you to dress him--and when he come back, looking done-up, I was
+ready for him with a pick-me-up.  You see there's a lot of him, and he
+want nootriment."
+
+"`What's this?' he says.
+
+"`Your lotion, sir,' I says, and he tasted it, and tasted it again,
+sipping, then mouthfulling, and sets the glass down, with a sigh.
+
+"`What is it, Brigley?' he says.
+
+"`Noo-lade egg, sir, noo milk, lump o' sugar, and half a glass o'
+sherry, well lathered up with a swizzle-stick.'
+
+"`Hah!' he says, `is there any more?'
+
+"`No, sir,' I says; `not this morning.  Now then, sir,' I says; `if you
+please?'  And then I takes off his belts and his regimentals, gets him
+on the couch, and I rubs him and cracks him."
+
+"You did what?" cried Dick.
+
+"Massages him, sir; and him a-staring at me all the time.  After that I
+shampoos and washes him, trims the pyntes off his hair, waxes his
+starshers, gives him a cigarette, and then I rejoices his heart."
+
+"How?" said Dick, laughing.
+
+"By telling on him the truth, sir."
+
+"What truth?"
+
+"I stood back and looked at him, and I says to him: `There, sir; don't
+you feel like a new man?'
+
+"Ah, yes! he says, with one o' those big mellingcholly sighs of his'n,
+which makes me think he's got something on his mind.
+
+"`And now, sir,' I says, `you look puffect.'
+
+"`Oh, nonsense, man!' he says, sharply.
+
+"`Begging your pardon, sir!'  I says, `you do!' and he says, sadly--
+
+"`Well, Brigley, have it your own way; 'tis no fault of mine.'
+
+"I see then as I oughtn't to say no more, for fear of his thinking I
+flattered him.  But, really, he is as handsome and big a chap as ever I
+did see."
+
+"Yes, he is good-looking, Jerry; but if you talk much like that you'll
+disgust him."
+
+"An' I shan't talk to him like that again, Dick Smithson; and I
+shouldn't, then, only it was the honest truth.  It's a pleasure to do up
+a gent like that!  Why, I could win a prize with him at a show!  But he
+is a soft one, really!--milk's nothing to him!"
+
+"Never mind that, Jerry.  You'll find him an excellent master."
+
+"I know I shall, and thankful I am; for it's been a rough time with me
+lately, and it's refreshing to have to do for such a gent.  He really
+is, though, the handsomest chap I ever see out of a picture, though he
+do make me laugh to find him such a hinfant.  Think he could fight?"
+
+"I think he's brave as a lion, Jerry; and that it would be awkward for
+anyone who roused him up."
+
+"That's yer sort for me, sir.  I call that real English."
+
+"And he'd be clever enough, if put to the test.  But he's well-off, and
+takes life easily.  You've got a good master, Jerry; and you know it."
+
+"I do, Dick Smithson; and I want him to know he's got a good servant."
+
+"Oh, he'll find that out, Jerry.  Yes! you were going to say something?"
+
+"I were, sir--I mean Dick Smithson.  Did you know as he was friends with
+your cousin?"
+
+"No, surely not!"
+
+"Fact, sir.  He come to Mr Lacey's quarters this morning.  I was sewing
+on buttons in the next room, and couldn't help hearing something about
+odds; and that set me up sharp, for I knows what odds mean--no one
+better."
+
+"But you shouldn't have listened."
+
+"I didn't, Dick Smithson; but I heered enough to show as S'Mark--I--I
+beg your pardon."
+
+Dick started; but he said nothing, and Jerry went on.
+
+"As your cousin's feeling his way with Mr Lacey--and, if he is, it
+means betting and play, and bleeding of him orful.  Couldn't you give
+him a hint, as someone we knows ain't to be trusted?"
+
+Dick was silent for a few moments, and then said between his teeth--
+
+"No, Jerry.  Mr Lacey--if my cousin is a scoundrel--must find it out
+for himself."
+
+"But that seems hard," said Jerry.
+
+"It will be hard for Mark Frayne if there's anything wrong.  Mr Lacey
+is not such a--"
+
+"Fool as he looks? that was what you was going to say.  Well, I'm glad
+o' that."
+
+And Jerry soon after took his leave, telling Dick not to be downhearted,
+for things would come right.
+
+"Yes," muttered Jerry, "and the guv'nor jolly soon will find out about
+Mr Mark.  If I was him, I'd lock up my money--and my young lady, too."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
+
+DICK PIPES--HIS COUSIN DANCES.
+
+A loud cough, the twinkling of Mr Wilkins' spectacles, and a peculiar
+clearing of the voice, which made Sergeant Brumpton, who had been hard
+at work making ominous sounds on the bombardon, turn his head and smile
+at Dick--then standing in his place waiting to begin--and making him
+lower his head to examine the music; for, if he had smiled there, just
+in front of the bandmaster, it must have been seen, and taken as an
+insult.
+
+"I have just received a communication from the colonel," said Mr
+Wilkins.  "We are to have a ball at the mess-room, and the 310th are
+coming.  I shall have a few picked men from their band to make up, but,
+of course, ours will take the lead.  Let me see: Granger, you'll get out
+your double-bass; Robson and Dean, violins; Boston, cornet--you lead
+clarionet and hautboy; Brown, bassoon.  I suppose we must have you,
+Smithson--one flute will be enough.  The 310th will furnish two violins
+and a 'cello.  That ought to make a strong band."
+
+The men who did not play stringed instruments, or such as were suitable
+for a ball-room, looked disappointed; and Sergeant Brumpton, as he sat
+with his huge instrument between his legs, looked down into its great
+brass bell-mouth and sighed.
+
+That was news which set Dick's heart beating.  The officers of the 310th
+would be there; he would be in the orchestra, and his cousin would be
+constantly coming close by where he was playing.
+
+And Dick thought about their last meeting and the contemptuous, haughty
+way in which Mark had gazed in his eyes.
+
+"Could he have recognised me," thought Dick; "or was it his manner
+only?"
+
+There was a strange fascination in the idea of meeting Mark that was
+almost magnetic; but, at the same time, it was accompanied by a feeling
+akin to shrinking, which for the moment Dick cast aside as best he
+could.
+
+He had no occasion to fear the encounter, he told himself; and from that
+moment he waited patiently for the evening.
+
+There was plenty to do previously, for Wilkins insisted upon several
+band practices of the dance-music, greatly to the disgust of the better
+musicians, who were ready to play the pieces at sight.
+
+Then the evening came.  The mess-man had done his best; a tent-maker had
+come down from town to build a canvas hall, draped red and white; and a
+local man had fitted the marquee with gas and floor complete for a
+supper-room.  Tempting refreshments were provided, and a nurseryman had
+contrived a natural garden here and there, not forgetting to make a cosy
+nest for the band.  The officers of the two regiments meant to do the
+thing well, cost what it might, and the invitations had been looked upon
+as prizes for miles round.
+
+There was an hour to wait before the first guests were likely to arrive,
+and Dick sat in the band-room low-spirited and dreamy; for the festivity
+seemed a trouble now, and he would have given anything to have been able
+to keep away.
+
+Naturally, his principal thought was his cousin, but he more than once
+asked himself why he should trouble about Mark; for, possibly, he might
+not come, and, even if he did, they were not in the least likely to come
+face to face.
+
+Still, the idea would return; and he was at his moodiest when the door
+opened and a familiar voice said:
+
+"Ah! there you are."
+
+"Jerry!"
+
+"Jerry it is, Dick Smithson.  I say, do go and have a look at him."
+
+"At him?"
+
+"Yes, the lieutenant; I've made a picture of him.  New uniform fresh
+from the tailor's; I've shampooed him and brushed him, and scented him
+till he smells like a bed of flowers, and he's all in a nervous flutter
+as he sits there, afraid to smoke or do anything before the company
+come.  Can't you go up and have a look?"
+
+"No, Jerry; I should be disposed to laugh."
+
+"That you would.  I had hard work to keep from it myself; but he isn't
+to be laughed at either, for, without any gammon, he's the finest fellow
+I ever saw, and a real gentleman as well."
+
+"Yes; I like him," said Dick, quietly.
+
+"Three pairs of white kid gloves in his pockets and three scented
+handkerchiefs.  He's got a buttonhole on; and I've got three more in
+water, to have ready for him during the evening.  I'm to be waiting for
+him when he wants a fresh one.  I say, Dick Smithson, there's going to
+be a special lady here to-night, I know."
+
+"Very likely, Jerry.  Such a man as he is will, of course, have someone
+he admires."
+
+"Then you won't go and see him?"
+
+Dick shook his head.
+
+"He'd like it.  He didn't say so; but he told me to be sure that you had
+plenty of refreshment.  I'm to look after you.  He said you'd have lots
+of work; so that you ought to be looked after."
+
+"It's very kind of him," said Dick, with his eyes brightening at the
+idea of his having made a friend.
+
+"And I shan't forget to attend to his orders.  I say, go over to his
+quarters."
+
+"What for?  I've no excuse for going."
+
+"Oh, yes; you have.  He's on the committee.  Go and ask him if he has
+any orders to give about the music."
+
+"I am not the bandmaster, Jerry; but I will go.  There's just time
+before going to the ball-room."
+
+"That's right; I like pleasing anyone who behaves well to you."
+
+There was none too much time, but Dick had only to walk into the
+orchestra with his flute-case under his arm; so, hurrying away, he ran
+across the barrack yard, entered the officers' quarters unquestioned,
+and made his way to the first floor.
+
+"Come in!" came, in a gruff voice, in answer to a modest tap.  "That
+you, Brigley?"
+
+"No, sir; I came to see if you wished to send any message to Mr Wilkins
+about the music."
+
+"Bother Wilkins!" growled the lieutenant.  "I believe he'll make a
+muddle of it all.  Can't you conduct, Smithson?"
+
+"I, sir?  Oh, no.  I think it will go all right."
+
+"I'm doubtful; but, look here--I want the music to be well-marked, and,
+if it's going wrong, you get the other fellows to help you.  Keep it all
+well going."
+
+"I will, sir."
+
+"I've told Brigley to see that you chaps have plenty of supper and what
+you want to drink.  I say, Smithson--"
+
+"Yes, sir.  Thank you for your thought of us."
+
+"Thought of you; why, of course, thought of you.  You fellows have to
+keep the thing going.  But I say--"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Do I--er--do I look all right?"
+
+The lieutenant rose, and took a turn up and down the room.
+
+"Splendid, sir!"
+
+"No, no; don't humbug, Smithson.  Tell me the truth.  It's a new
+uniform; does it fit all right?"
+
+"I tell you it's splendid, sir!  You couldn't look better.  There will
+be no one in the room who can touch you."
+
+"Think not?" said Lacey, dubiously.
+
+"I'm sure of it, sir."
+
+"Well, I'm glad you think so, Smithson.  The colonel was here just now
+smoking one of those strong cigars of his.  Do I smell of it?"
+
+"I can smell scent, sir--nothing else."
+
+"That's right.  Well, he said something like you did; but I always get
+so nervous, and feel as if he was chaffing me.  You see, I want to look
+well to-night.  You know why, Smithson."
+
+"Yes, sir; I can guess."
+
+"Of course.  She's coming."
+
+"I guessed that, too, sir."
+
+"I don't care much how I look, for dressing yourself up takes a lot of
+trouble, let alone the expense.  I say, you do mean it, Smithson?"
+
+"You may always believe me, sir," said Dick, quietly.
+
+"Of course--I know that.  I say, Smithson: I wish you were in the mess
+instead of the band."
+
+Dick laughed feebly.
+
+"Perhaps I'm best where I am, sir.  But I must go now, and get in my
+place.  It's close upon the time."
+
+"By George, yes!  I say, want a pair of white kids, Smithson?  You'll
+find some in that box."
+
+"Thanks; no, sir.  I hope you'll have a pleasant evening."
+
+"Thank you, Smithson.  Keep them up to it with the waltzes."
+
+Dick gave a hasty promise, and then hurried down and into the
+flower-decked vestibule, which was entered by a covered passage
+festooned with lamps.  Then he crossed the temporary ball-room, with its
+well-waxed floor, took a glance at the great marquee laid out for
+supper, at another arranged for tea, coffee, and ices, with various cups
+for the gentlemen, and beyond that at another prepared for those who
+chose to smoke, the whole being lit up by a blaze of light, and draped
+here and there with military and naval flags and cleverly-designed
+trophies of arms.
+
+It was but a passing glance, which filled Dick with a tingling of
+pleasure and disappointment, for he recalled the lieutenant's words
+about the mess.  Then he hurried to his place, being the last to arrive,
+and found Wilkins glaring at him through his glasses.
+
+"Late again, Smithson!" he said, harshly; and, as he spoke, the brazen
+voice of the clock told him he spoke falsely; for Dick was in his place
+to the moment, and joined in the rustling made by his comrades, as they
+arranged their music in accordance with the programme, and then waited
+patiently.
+
+A few minutes later, the colonel and a group of officers came round to
+see that all was perfect, headed by the major and one of the captains,
+who had undertaken to see that the decorations were effective.
+
+"Capital!" cried the colonel.  "The band, with their scarlet and gold,
+amongst the flowers and palms, give the best bit of effect I have seen.
+Yes, and those colours hang well over them."
+
+"Glad you're satisfied," said the major.
+
+"More," said the colonel.  "By the way, Wilkins, let your men keep on
+their caps for the first hour--it looks more effective.  When the
+dancing is in full swing, you can do as you like."
+
+"Yes, sir.  What I had planned," said the bandmaster, obsequiously.
+
+They moved on, and a quarter of an hour passed; then, according to
+arrangement, the brass band of the regiment struck up outside and played
+a selection, as the first carriages began to arrive, but only one set
+for fear of their strains interfering with those in the ball-room.
+
+The first half-hour was devoted to a kind of reception, by which time
+the guests had grown thick enough to well fill the room, and then,
+punctual to the moment--dancing at nine--the band struck up, and the
+floor was covered with couples, the uniforms of the military and naval
+officers blending with the ladies' charming toilettes and flowers, and
+the few orthodox black dress-coats adding to, rather than detracting
+from, the general effect.
+
+Dick's position at one end in the front gave him plenty of opportunity
+for seeing the dancers, and the simple music caused but little necessity
+for watching his notes, so that he was able to gaze to his heart's
+content at the kaleidoscopic throng, and before long had watched with
+some interest the tall figure of Lieutenant Lacey, wondering which of
+the ladies he danced with was the one they had serenaded that night.
+
+He had settled upon one after the other, and credited the lieutenant
+with excellent taste; then believed he must be wrong, for, after dancing
+with his fourth partner--a tall, sweet-faced, graceful girl--he saw him
+lead her up to a thin, washed-out lady, of--well, middle age; and the
+next moment a sweet, silvery voice said--
+
+"Pray, take aunt to have an ice, Lieutenant Lacey!"
+
+The lieutenant bowed and smiled, offered his arm, and, as his partner
+took the elderly lady's place, the latter was led off.
+
+"The lady of the serenade!" thought Dick, without hearing her voice.
+
+Almost directly after, as Dick was arranging a fresh sheet of music on
+his desk, but watching the fair-haired, graceful girl at the same time,
+his heart suddenly gave a bound, for he saw the major approaching, with
+a handsome, manly-looking young officer, who, with a half-contemptuous
+smile, was listening to his companion's remarks.
+
+They came on to where the young lady was seated not five yards away, and
+the next instant, as he stood there as if turned to stone, Dick heard
+every word spoken, and the major introducing Sir Mark Frayne to Miss
+Deane.  Then they were left together, and Mark Frayne busily entered his
+name in three places upon the lady's programme, her name upon his own;
+after which he began creating the customary small talk, but at the same
+time seemed to be a good deal impressed by his new partner's personal
+appearance.
+
+It might have been Dick's jealous anger which caused his thoughts to
+take this direction as he stood there, feeling his breath come short,
+and as if he must go out at once, clap his cousin on the shoulder, and
+say, "Here!  I want to speak to you at once."
+
+And all the while Mark was so close that nearly all his remarks and the
+lady's replies were perfectly audible.
+
+As Dick still gazed, stern and forbidding-looking, Lacey came slowly
+back with the thin, elderly lady, and as Mark Frayne saw by his
+partner's look that someone was approaching, he turned sharply.
+
+"Ah, Lacey, old fellow," he said, "I have just been securing Miss Deane
+for the next dance."
+
+"Take off your cap!"
+
+Lacey said something, but Dick did not hear what, and the niece rose to
+give up her place, and then accepted Mark Frayne's arm.
+
+"Take off your cap, sir!"
+
+"Don't forget I come next but one, Miss Deane," said Lacey.
+
+"Oh, no; I will not forget," she replied, with a pleasant smile.
+
+"Will you attend to me, and take--off--your--cap, sir?" came sharply
+from behind Dick, who started, coloured, and snatched off his cap,
+conscious now that the bandmaster was speaking to him, and the words had
+been heard by Mark Frayne and his partner, to whom Mark made some
+playful remark, at which she smiled, as they both gazed at the young
+bandsman.
+
+Then, as Dick's eyes met his cousin's with an angry stare, the latter's
+countenance changed, and he gave an involuntary start, but tossed his
+head in a contemptuous manner the next moment as he passed on, bending
+down to say something to the lady.
+
+Then _tap_--_tap_--_tap_ went Wilkins' baton, the band played a short
+introduction, and then glided off into one of Waldteuffel's waltzes;
+and, as Dick played, the cold perspiration stood out upon his forehead,
+while his eyes followed the couple as they went on down one side of the
+long mess-room, passed across, and then easily and gracefully swung
+round and round as they approached.  Once they were quite close, and
+then passed him so near that he could have stretched out his hand,
+leaned forward, and touched Mark Frayne, who, however, never once lifted
+his eyes all through the dance, evidently forgetful, in his efforts to
+make himself agreeable, of the countenance which had given him so sudden
+a shock.
+
+For, after he had started on the waltz, he had dismissed the idea with
+one word--
+
+"Absurd!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
+
+THE ALARM.
+
+Dance succeeded dance; the refreshment-room was visited in the
+intervals; and, as the various couples passed the musicians, scraps of
+their conversation told, from time to time, how great a success the ball
+was considered to be; while, among the faces, all looked bright and
+animated except two--those of Dick and Lieutenant Lacey--who, between
+the dances, came by the orchestra several times to attend to the two
+ladies seated near, but more often to the elderly lady alone.
+
+For the big, handsome Adonis of the regiment was by no means happy.  He
+told himself that he was not in the least jealous; but he had
+anticipated taking the lady of his choice in to supper and been thwarted
+by that lady's aunt, who had said, sweetly:
+
+"I shall expect you to take me in to supper, Lieutenant Lacey.  Sir Mark
+Frayne has kindly said that he will see to my niece."
+
+As for Dick, he worked hard at his task, and tried to think of nothing
+else but the waltzes, polkas, and quadrilles; and, consequently, thought
+of them hardly at all, but of the handsome young officer in scarlet, who
+came again and again to where the Deanes were seated--the last time just
+as supper was announced, at the break between the two divisions of the
+music.
+
+"Almost a pity to stop the dances," said Mark, as he offered his arm to
+Miss Deane.  And Dick saw that the lady darted a deprecating look at
+Lacey, who offered his arm to the aunt, and joined in the long line of
+dancers trooping out to the great marquee, now opened for the first time
+by the drawing back of the heavy drapery which had hidden the interior
+from the guests.
+
+For the officers had determined that there should be no scrambled-for,
+stand-up supper, but a comfortably-arranged meal, with seats for every
+guest; while now a hurried movement was made by the band to a fresh
+orchestra inside the marquee, which was reached by a ladder from the
+back, and a selection of operatic airs was commenced at once to the
+rattle of knife, fork, and plate, and jingle of glass.
+
+The marquee was soon crowded; and from high up where he stood Dick had a
+good view of the prettiest part of the scene; while, as he played, his
+eyes wandered round and round in search of Mark, to find, after a time,
+that he had overlooked him: for he was seated with Miss Deane, almost
+below and to the right, while Lacey was with the aunt on the other side
+of the table--one of the four which reached from end to end.
+
+Once he had made out where they were, Dick could hardly keep his eyes
+off his cousin, who was evidently, to the lady's annoyance, making
+himself far too attentive; while, more than once, it was plain to see
+from Lacey's lowering countenance that a storm was brewing.
+
+But Lacey was a steward for the occasion, and more than once servants
+came up to him for orders and instructions; while Jerry, who was busily
+seeing to the wants of those at that end of the table, was also going
+about, apparently with messages to the colonel and major.
+
+"What an abominable smell of gas!" said Wilkins, after a piece or two
+had been played.
+
+"Yes, sir; I noticed it as we came up here first."
+
+"Humph! the pipes not properly joined, I suppose," said Wilkins.  "Play
+the next."
+
+Then a selection from Sullivan's operas was played, but half-drowned by
+the noise from the tables.
+
+"This gas is suffocating up here," said the bandmaster, calling
+attention to it again.
+
+"Yes, sir; I wonder they don't grumble down below."
+
+"Humph! all up here, and along the upper part of the tent," grumbled the
+bandmaster; and then his attention was taken off by the appearance of
+Jerry through the curtain of canvas opening upon the orchestra.
+
+"Lieutenant Lacey, sir, says the band needn't play no more during
+supper; and there's refreshments all ready in the little tent outside."
+
+"Oh, thanks!" cried Wilkins.  "Bring your instruments and music, and
+then we needn't come up here again before we go to the ball-room.
+Halloa! you smell it?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Jerry, who had been sniffing loudly.  "Someone's been
+turning on the gas here, and no mistake!  Temp'ry pipes, I suppose."
+
+"Doesn't it smell down below?"
+
+"Yes, I did notice it a bit, sir, all along the tables; but nothing like
+this."
+
+"Never mind; let's get out of it.  Soon blow away."
+
+Wilkins set the example, and hurried out and down the step-ladder, which
+took them outside, and, followed by the bandsmen, he made for the little
+tent where their supper was laid.
+
+They had to pass the end of the great marquee, and Dick and Jerry, who
+were last, paused, while the latter drew the drapery a little on one
+side, holding it back before letting it fall after him.
+
+"I must get back to my table, sir," he said.  "Like a peep from here?"
+
+Dick nodded and stood at the opening, gazing along the marquee toward
+the opening into the mess-room at the other end, the effect being very
+beautiful, with the long row of gaseliers and the vista of flags and red
+and white striped drapery running up to the narrow ridge of the roof.
+
+But Dick saw nothing of this; his eyes sought the group right at the
+other end beneath the little elevated orchestra he had just left, and he
+was just making out where his cousin sat when there was a flash like
+sheet-lightning running along the upper part of the canvas, reaching
+from end to end.  He felt himself thrust violently back, as he seemed to
+be struck with something heavy and soft; then there was a deep, dull
+report, as of thunder, and all was dark, while from where the marquee
+had stood there came wild shrieks, cries for help, and a strange babel
+of sounds, which, issuing from beneath what in the darkness looked like
+a chaotic sea, were for the most part smothered and strange.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
+
+A FIERY TRIAL.
+
+It needed no explanation.  Dick grasped in an instant, as he sprang to
+his feet, that the whole roof of the marquee had become filled with
+escaped gas, and that at last this had exploded, bursting up the canvas,
+which had fallen back with the chandeliers, drapery, flags, decorations,
+and broken poles on the gaily-dressed crowd within, burying them
+helplessly.
+
+The shrieks and cries increased as Dick tore off back along the side of
+the fallen tent, heedless of the heaving and sinking of the canvas and
+the figures struggling out beneath the edges.  For he had but one
+thought: to get in by the way he had come and try and help those he
+knew--Lacey and the tall, fair girl who had been seated there a few
+minutes before.
+
+As he reached the mess-room end the smothered cries and shrieks were
+horrible; but people were struggling out fast now, and officers in
+uniform could be seen dragging ladies from beneath the canvas.  In other
+places, knives were being plunged through and slits made from within,
+out of which hands appeared, and, the holes being enlarged, people were
+rapidly dragged out by the servants and soldiers who came hurrying up
+from the barrack yard and by those who had been outside listening.
+
+And all the time, amidst the hubbub of cries, appeals, and groans, the
+canvas kept on heaving where the frightened, suffocating people beneath
+were struggling together now and fighting vainly to escape.
+
+Suddenly one of the bandsmen put his cornet to his lips and blew a
+familiar call, with the result that a number of the soldiers fell into
+line.  One of the escaped officers began to give short, sharp, decisive
+orders, and then, leading and directing the men, an attack was made upon
+the canvas ropes.  Stakes were torn up, and great openings made, out of
+which numbers escaped--the ladies with their gay ball habiliments torn,
+their hair dishevelled, many of them to fall fainting and be borne into
+the ball-room by the side entrance.
+
+These efforts were soon being continued on all sides, the military
+discipline displaying itself more and more as the officers got free and
+then kept back the gathering crowd and those who made frantic efforts to
+help, but only hindered, the workers.  The doctors were established in
+the tea-room, which was turned into a hospital, and the insensible and
+injured were rapidly borne in to them, while the cooler people who kept
+their heads, assisted.
+
+It was quite time that the aid was effectual, for now a fresh horror was
+making itself evident.  The explosion had resulted in darkness; but in
+two places smoke was arising, and one of these spots was where the
+canvas and poles lay thickest, and from whence Dick, who worked
+frantically, had dragged over a dozen people out, and helped to bear
+others who lay insensible, suffocated by those who had fallen and
+crushed them down.
+
+Again and again he had plunged in under the canvas, feeling in the
+darkness amidst entangled chairs, portions of the table, with the chaos
+of broken china, glass, and cutlery, hoping that he was exactly in the
+place where Miss Deane must be, but always disappointed and helping to
+carry out someone else.
+
+At last, when the fire began to burn, and the suffocating smoke to roll
+out, people hung back, and cries were raised for the engine and for
+buckets of water.  But the barrack engine was already there, at the far
+end of the wreck, and the soldiers who manned it were striving hard to
+get out the hose and fit it together.
+
+"My niece! my niece!" shrieked a voice close by; and, recognising the
+frantic woman who strove to escape from those who held her and to aid in
+the search, Dick made a fresh plunge in beneath the canvas, working
+round, cutting himself badly, and still in vain, till, half-suffocated,
+he was forced to try and creep back, but only to find that there in the
+darkness, where he was crawling, he had lost his way.
+
+For a few minutes his senses reeled, and he felt as if all were over;
+but he recovered directly, for, in groping along, his hands touched
+something soft--a warm, bare arm, and the next minute he realised its
+owner's position.  She was held tightly by someone, and there were
+pieces of the frame of the marquee and a portion of a pole forcing them
+down; while over all the folds of the canvas and drapery lay thick.
+
+Left to himself Dick, and those whom he had found, must have perished;
+but as he struggled up, and beat at the tent overhead, there arose
+assuring shouts from without.  Orders were given; as many men as could
+get a grip of the canvas seized it, and, just as Dick's senses were
+going, a strip of the marquee was dragged from over them, and then
+willing hands extricated the lady and the officer, who had evidently
+fallen with her while trying to bear her forth.
+
+A few moments in the free air revived Dick, and he gasped out, as the
+men around began to talk--
+
+"Who--who was it?"
+
+"Mr Lacey--a lady," were the words that came back.  That was enough.
+He felt sure of whom it would be, and turned once more towards the ridge
+of wood and canvas, from which flames were now beginning to leap.
+
+"Keep back, my lad!  Are you mad?" shouted an officer.--"Here--quick
+now--pass buckets!"
+
+Dick's answer was to give his hand a wave and dash right in among the
+smoke, two soldiers who tried to stop him just missing his arm as he
+plunged in.
+
+"Here, who was that?" cried the colonel, who now came up, panting.
+
+"One of the bandsmen, sir--the lad must have gone mad!"
+
+"No," cried the colonel; "he must have known that someone was still
+there.  The orchestra was there at that end; he has gone to save one of
+his comrades.  Pass the buckets, my lads.--A dozen, here: take this
+piece of canvas and haul!"
+
+The men seized the piece pointed out and dragged at it, when a volume of
+smoke rolled forth; and as they got it farther away, and let in the air,
+there was a flash of light and then a report, as a jet of flame shot up
+into the air, followed by a steady, fluttering spurt of light, for a
+huge jet from a broken gas-pipe burned furiously.
+
+"No matter--no good!" cried the colonel.  "Keep back with those buckets!
+Who knows where they fitted the valve to turn this off?"
+
+There was no answer, and the place now grew light; the woodwork began to
+blaze, the canvas to emit huge clouds of smoke, and the men around kept
+on making dashes in to try and find the lad who had entered the burning
+wreck.
+
+It was all plain enough to see; the broken gas-pipe was flaring on the
+shattered woodwork of the orchestra, and this and the tables and chairs
+upon which it had fallen were burning fiercely, and lighting up the
+crowd of soldiers, officers, guests, and ladies who, less hurt than
+their companions, were fascinated by the scene.
+
+"There's a man in there burning," shouted the colonel--"perhaps two.
+Volunteers, follow me!"
+
+He led the brave fellows, who sprang forward right into the fire and
+smoke; but they were beaten back, scorched and blinded, and an awful
+silence fell upon the crowd, while the woodwork crackled and sputtered
+and the gas-main sent forth its great waving pillar of flame, roaring
+with a sonorous note; and all felt that the scarlet-coated figure they
+had seen leap in had gone to his death.
+
+Just then up came, running, several men dragging the fire-engine hose,
+led by one bearing the bright copper branch.
+
+"Now pump!" shouted an officer; but the order was checked by a yell of
+"No!" as the back of a figure was suddenly seen leaning toward them;
+then a couple of steps were taken, and it was seen that whoever it was
+had hold of another's arm, and was dragging him out.
+
+With a cheer, half a dozen men--one of whom was Jerry--sprang in through
+the burning woodwork, and dragged both out into safety, to be borne
+directly after--just recognisable as a bandsman and an officer--through
+the mess-room to where the doctors were hard at work, but so far without
+having had one serious case.
+
+Dick was the first to come to, just as the colonel hurried in for a few
+moments to inquire how the two injured men were, and came up to where
+the doctor was kneeling by the young fellow, applying cottonwool and oil
+to his burned hands.
+
+"How is he?" said the colonel, anxiously.
+
+"Ask him," said the doctor, shortly; "he can speak for himself--can't
+you, my lad?"
+
+"Oh, yes, sir.  My hands smart a good deal; but how is that man I ran
+back to get out?"
+
+"You ran back to get him out, my lad?" said the colonel.
+
+"Yes; I kicked against him.  He was pinned down by some trestles and a
+tent-pole," said Dick, speaking in a feverish, excited way.  "Do tell me
+how he is."
+
+"Rather bad yet, so one of my colleagues says," replied the doctor.
+
+The colonel hurried across the room to where two doctors were attending
+the officer, who was giving them great cause for anxiety, for he had
+been burned a good deal about one side of the head, and had been so
+nearly suffocated that a long course of the treatment used for the
+apparently drowned had been necessary before he began to breathe
+regularly again.
+
+The colonel stood by the improvised couch for some minutes before some
+words uttered by the doctor in attendance relieved him sufficiently to
+enable him to return to help the members of his mess and allay the
+sufferings and anxieties of the guests.
+
+"He's better," he said, pausing for a few moments beside the regimental
+surgeon, who was still tending Dick.  "By the way, come and see to some
+of the ladies now."
+
+"While I am bandaging this poor fellow, and while I am expecting fresh
+cases every moment?"
+
+"No--no, there are no more; the canvas has all been drawn away, and the
+place carefully explored."
+
+"Very well; I'll come as soon as I can.  You'll have plenty of civilian
+doctors to see to them."
+
+"Colonel!" cried Dick, sharply.
+
+"Will you be quiet, sir?" cried the surgeon.--"Don't take any notice;
+he's a little light-headed!"
+
+"No, I'm not!" said Dick, angrily.  "I know what I'm saying.--Colonel!"
+
+"What is it, my lad?"
+
+"Is Lieutenant Lacey much hurt?"
+
+"No, scarcely at all."
+
+"And the lady?"
+
+"Do you want to be very bad, sir?" cried the doctor.  "Hold your
+tongue!"
+
+"Yes, doctor, directly; but I want to know, colonel!"
+
+"Yes, yes, my lad," said the old officer, laying his hand upon the
+youth's arm.
+
+"Tell me about the lady."
+
+"She has come to her senses; not burned, only terribly alarmed.  She
+will be able to thank you for your bravery!"
+
+"Oh, nonsense!" said Dick, hurriedly, and with a singular abstention in
+his semi-delirium from the use of the title of respect--_sir_; "anyone
+would have done the same.  Now tell me about the poor fellow over
+yonder."
+
+"I forbid you to ask another question!" cried the doctor, angrily.
+
+"Let him hear what he wants, and then I'll go," said the colonel,
+quietly.  "What do you want to know, my lad?"
+
+"Who is it?  Which of the gentlemen of the mess?"
+
+"Neither," said the colonel, quietly.  "It is one of our guests--
+Lieutenant Sir Mark Frayne."
+
+Dick's jaw dropped, and his eyes dilated widely, as the colonel now
+walked sharply away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY.
+
+THE ECHO OF THE BALL.
+
+The barrack yard was thronged as the colonel hurried out, thankful that
+the terrible disaster had not been made awful by any loss of life; and
+for the next hour he was one of the most active in trying to allay the
+alarm, and soothing the frightened girls and their chaperones, who were
+now the occupants of the quarters where the various officers' wives were
+doing their best to play hostess to the torn and dishevelled beings who
+had sought shelter beneath their roof.
+
+As for the square in which the marquee had been erected, that remained a
+perfect chaos till the morning, the colonel having given orders that
+nothing should be touched as soon as the fire had been extinguished and
+the escaping gas securely stopped where the great pipe--not the original
+cause of the mischief, but that which had been broken by the explosion--
+stood amongst a heap of charred relics of the supper; while, to insure
+that such articles of jewellery as had been lost in the terrible
+struggle should be in safety, sentries were posted, and soon after the
+barrack yard was cleared of all save those who had special business
+there.
+
+Hours elapsed before the last carriage rolled away with its scared
+occupants; for in the cases of those who had come from a distance the
+servants had not been ordered to attend till two and three o'clock.
+
+At last, though, there was peace, and the officers of the 205th gathered
+in the mess-room to partake of a cup of coffee and a cigar before
+seeking their beds, as, utterly fagged out, they sat for some time
+talking over the events of the evening.
+
+"Well, gentlemen," said the colonel, at last, "I hope you are satisfied
+with our ball."
+
+"Satisfied!" cried the major.  "Sir, I should like to court-martial the
+scoundrel who left that gas escaping!"
+
+"Humph!  Yes; but not a military offence," said the colonel.  "Well,
+doctor, you've been growing horribly rusty lately; this ought to make
+you work easily and well!"
+
+"Not my style," said the doctor.  "Hysterical, frightened women and
+singed dandies not my class of work!  A good respectable gunshot wound,
+a leg off, or a bayonet probe, if you like; but this sort of thing--bah!
+Why, if it had not been for our flute-player and Sir Mark Frayne, I
+should have been nowhere!"
+
+"But where's Lacey?" said one of the officers.
+
+"Ah, where's Adonis?" cried another.
+
+"Poor old chap, he looked more like a chimney-sweep when he was pulled
+out!"
+
+"Yes, it was a narrow squeak for him; but I have not seen him since he
+came to."
+
+"Had a bath and gone to bed," said one of the subalterns; "and I feel as
+if it would do me good."
+
+"He was a bit scorched, one of the town doctors said."
+
+"Here, who is waiting?" cried the colonel.
+
+One of the servants appeared, with half-washed face, but clean hands,
+and a moustache burned to a stubble.
+
+"Go and see if Lieutenant Lacey's man is there, and send him up to his
+master's quarters.  Let him say that I shall be glad to know how he is;
+but he is not to be disturbed if he is asleep."
+
+"Beg pardon, sir; not asleep."
+
+"How do you know?" said the colonel, sharply.
+
+"I am Mr Lacey's servant, sir.  He went home with two ladies, sir,
+about two o'clock, sir, and hasn't come back."
+
+"Then he can't be very bad!"
+
+"Yes, he can!" said a deep voice, and the gentleman in question marched
+up the room--blackened, with his hair scorched from the side of his
+head, and one arm in a sling formed of a lady's silk scarf.  "I'm
+horribly bad!  For goodness' sake, give me a drink!"
+
+Almost as he uttered the words, Jerry handed him a frothing glass of
+brandy and soda, which he had hurried out to prepare as soon as he saw
+his master's exhausted state.
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated Lacey, as he set down the glass and then sank into an
+easy-chair.
+
+"Your arm bad?" said the colonel, anxiously.  Then to the doctor--"Will
+you see to him?"
+
+"Yes, of course," said that gentleman, who was on the alert directly.
+"Come with me to your room, Lacey, my boy, and let's have a look at
+you."
+
+"Not if I know it!" said the young officer, with an energy that startled
+his hearers.  "I'll prescribe for myself--Rest!  Here, who's got a good
+cigar?"
+
+Half a dozen were outstretched directly.
+
+"I said _a_ cigar!" growled Lacey.  "I haven't got six mouths!  Hi,
+Brigley, a light!"
+
+But Jerry had left the room, and matches were offered by the nearest
+neighbour.
+
+"That fellow's always out of the way when I want him!" snarled Lacey,
+savagely, as he struck a match, which went off with a loud crack, and
+lit his cigar, at which he began to puff furiously.
+
+"Your injuries are paining you, my dear Lacey."
+
+"So would yours, if you had them!" cried the young man with a snap; and
+the colonel smiled.  "I don't see where the fun comes in, sir!" growled
+Lacey, angrily.
+
+"I beg your pardon, my dear fellow," cried his chief.  "I really
+sympathise with you, though."
+
+"Try another way, sir," said Lacey, looking round with his eyes rolling,
+and then he sat, smoked, and sipped in silence.
+
+"See your ladies home safely?" said the colonel at last.
+
+"Oh, yes, sir; I saw them home safely," cried the lieutenant, snatching
+his cigar from his lips and dashing it into the empty grate.  "Colonel,
+did you ever have an old woman in hysterics on your hands?"
+
+"Well, I have had ladies in hysterics on my hands."
+
+"But not for an hour and a half!  Oh, it was awful, and all the time
+someone else so ill she could hardly stir.  By George, what a scene!  I
+don't care.  You fellows sneer at me, and say I don't know anything
+about women: but I do.  Old maids who have hysterics are the most
+selfish wretches that ever breathed.  I couldn't get away."
+
+"Of course not," said one of the officers.  "That's your fault."
+
+"My fault!  Why?"
+
+"Being so good-looking!"
+
+"Good-looking!  Ha! ha! ha!  Look at me!" cried Lacey, leaping up and
+surveying his scorched face, and then his blackened uniform and general
+aspect of having been badly in the wars.  "Yes, I look handsome, don't
+I?  I say, though, I thought it was all over with me.  I couldn't get
+free.  Who helped me out?"
+
+"That plucky little bandsman!"
+
+"Not Smithson?" cried the lieutenant.
+
+"Yes, Smithson," said the colonel.
+
+"God bless him!" cried the lieutenant in a low voice full of emotion.
+
+"Amen!" said the colonel.  "He saved the lives of that sweet girl--Miss
+Deane, yours, and then Sir Mark Frayne's."
+
+Lacey began to move towards the door; and the doctor rose, gave the
+colonel a significant nod, and followed.
+
+"Going, Lacey?" said the colonel kindly.
+
+"Yes, sir.  I'm going to see and thank that brave lad."
+
+"No, no; not to-night--I mean this morning," said the doctor.  For the
+grey light was stealing in, and making the tall, blackened figure of the
+lieutenant look ghastly.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because," said the doctor, "the poor fellow is in such a state that I
+cannot answer for his life."
+
+"Then I'll go and sit by him till he's better!" said the lieutenant,
+resolutely.
+
+The colonel followed him to the door, and laid his hand on the young
+man's shoulder.
+
+"Lacey, my boy," he half-whispered, "take the doctor's advice and mine--
+you are not yourself now."
+
+"He saved our lives, sir," said the young officer.  "One can't do too
+much for a man like that."
+
+"No, my dear boy, one cannot; but you heard you are better away."
+
+Lacey looked at him inquiringly.
+
+"You'll oblige me by not going," said the colonel quickly, "and as much
+by going to your room and letting Lester see to you a bit."
+
+"You wish it, colonel?"
+
+"I do, Lacey."
+
+"Will you come up with me to my quarters, Lester?" said the young man,
+quietly.
+
+"Of course, my dear boy--of course," said the doctor, and they went out
+together, to be closely followed by Jerry, who reached the staircase
+first, and sprung up to light candles, though they were hardly necessary
+then.
+
+"Why, colonel, he was like a lamb with you," said the major.  "Who'd
+have thought it of Adonis!"
+
+"Yes, he was like a lamb with me, and I always thought it of him," said
+the colonel, quietly.  "We all laugh at and chaff him, but I should not
+like to be the man who had done him a wrong."
+
+"Nor the fellow who had tried to bayonet him when his blood was up?"
+
+"No," said the colonel quickly.  "Now, gentlemen, bed for me.  I don't
+think this old town will ever forget our ball."
+
+He nodded, and left the mess-room, to go across the yard.
+
+"Why, that's not the way to his quarters," said one of the officers, as
+he followed his chief with his eyes toward the shadowy building in which
+a faint light or two could be seen burning.
+
+"No," said another.  "I know: he's gone across to the infirmary."
+
+"Is Frayne there?"
+
+"No," said the major, "he's at Lindon's quarters.  Chief's gone to see
+how little Smithson is.  Let's--no, we'll drink his health after dinner
+this evening.  Gentlemen, I'm for bed, or the sun will be up first."
+
+Ten minutes later the mess-room looked grey and dismal--a pitiful
+contrast to its appearance a few hours before, but the sun rose before
+long as bright and glorious as ever, to come in at the infirmary window
+upon Dick Smithson's scorched brow, while, in company with the hospital
+attendant, the fat sergeant sat watching with a careworn expression upon
+his broad, good-humoured face.
+
+"What did he say?" whispered the attendant, after Dick had hurriedly
+babbled a few words.
+
+"Marks," said the sergeant; "Marks--he's thinking about the scars that
+there'll be upon his face."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
+
+DOWN IN THE DUMPS.
+
+It was in the hospital by the invalid's side.
+
+"Don't you look like that!" said Jerry.  "I know how it is!  You're
+getting better, and are able to think more.  When you were ten times as
+bad, you never used to look so down and say you would never get right
+again!"
+
+Jerry looked at Brumpton as he delivered himself of this oracular
+speech, and the fat sergeant declared that he was right; but Dick did
+not believe either of them.
+
+"I've got some news for you, too."
+
+"Look here," said Brumpton.  "I must be off.  Stop with him as long as
+you can, Jerry Brigley.--I say, why don't you have your flute, and
+practise a bit?"
+
+Dick looked up from the easy-chair in which he lay back, and his eyes
+brightened; but they turned dull again, and he shook his head.
+
+As soon as the sergeant had gone, Dick spoke.
+
+"What is your news?" he said, feebly.
+
+"Shan't tell you, if you don't pluck up a bit!  You ought to be well by
+now.  Why, it is a whole blessed month since that unlucky night, and
+here have you been bad ever since with burning and fever; and it's been
+a wonder to me as nobody understood what you were talking about.  You
+let the cat out of the bag lots of times, but I was the only one as
+understood the connundydrum."
+
+"Tell me your news," said Dick, wearily.
+
+Jerry picked up a bouquet standing in water, sniffed it, and set it down
+again, watching the patient furtively as he went on ignoring the
+question.
+
+"Here was Mr Lacey knocked up for a few days after his singeing, and
+gets right again, though his head of 'air is still orful to be'old; and
+it's on'y by cutting the other side so short as to make something like a
+match to the singed-off side where he was burnt that I made him able to
+go out when he got better.  Soldiers do wear their hair pretty close,
+but his head looked quite indecent; and, as for his starshers, they're
+like a bit o' black toothbrush worn stumpy."
+
+"You said that you had some news," said Dick, angrily.
+
+"And then there's him as ought to ha' been the worst of all you three.
+He got burnt a deal, but it was mostly about the clothes.  The padding
+in his uniform seemed to save him.  I say--what are you going to do with
+yourself to-day?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"Let me give you a shampoo and a touch up."
+
+Dick shook his head impatiently, and lay back, a shadow of his former
+self.
+
+"You'd better!"
+
+"Don't worry me, Jerry!  You said you had some news."
+
+"It's a letter," said the man, looking at him curiously.
+
+"A letter?" cried Dick, starting; but the interest he took was only
+momentary, and his eyes half-closed again.
+
+"Yes, a letter.  I've had it two days, and didn't like to give it to you
+before."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+Jerry took a note from his breast, and held it so that the invalid could
+see first that it was not addressed, the envelope being blank; and then,
+slowly turning it round, so that Dick could see a crest stamped in
+colours upon the back.
+
+That had its effect, for a flush came into the invalid's hollow cheeks,
+and he glared at Jerry.
+
+"Where did you get that?" he cried.
+
+"He give it me."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"To give to you.  I see him the day before yesterday, and he told me to
+come to his rooms, and asked me about the bandsman whom the fellows said
+saved three people, and what your name might be.  Then he asked if it
+was you who pulled him out, and I said it was, feeling quite queer the
+while; for it seemed so strange that you should have saved his life
+after all as took place.  Then he set down at his table, looking not a
+bit the worse, asked how you spell your name, and I told him Richard
+Smithson, and he wrote this and sent it by me."
+
+"Do you know what's in it?"
+
+Jerry nodded.
+
+"Then he recognised me?"
+
+"No--he don't even know that he ever see you."
+
+"But he seemed to know me at the ball."
+
+"Oh, no! he didn't know you.  He thinks you're dead as dead."
+
+"But you say you know what is in that note?"
+
+"Oh, yes!"
+
+"You've read it?"
+
+"Not that."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+Jerry took a closely-folded newspaper from his pocket.
+
+"_Ratcham, Dolchester, and Froude Magnet_, sir--Richard Smithson," he
+read, and then doubling it closely, held it out, pointing to a
+paragraph.
+
+"My eyes swim.  I don't understand what you mean, Jerry."
+
+"Shall I read it, sir?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Jerry coughed and then began:--
+
+"The Late Fire at the Barracks.--We understand that Lieutenant Sir Mark
+Frayne, of the 310th, has presented Smithson, the gallant young bandsman
+of the 205th Fusiliers, with a handsome cheque as a memento of his
+prowess daring the catastrophe after the military ball was nearly over.
+Smithson, we are glad to say, is convalescent."
+
+Dick's eyes contracted, and he stared hard at Jerry.
+
+"That's the way some folks do it.  That's what they call advertising.
+Proper way.  Never give anything till people's looking on, and if they
+won't see, put it in the paper, and then they'll read."
+
+"Open that envelope," said Dick, sharply, and Jerry obeyed, taking out
+slowly a sheet of paper, from which fell a cheque.
+
+"Shall I read, sir?" asked Jerry.
+
+"Yes," said Dick, in a more decisive way than he had displayed since the
+night of the ball.
+
+"`With Sir Mark Frayne's best wishes to the brave soldier who saved his
+life.'  Sounds handsome, don't it?  `Messrs. Roots and Company, pay
+Richard Smithson, or order, Five Pounds.'"
+
+Jerry glanced at Dick, who lay back now, with his eyes closed, looking
+very stern.
+
+"It's too much," said Jerry.  "Five pound!  Fippence is about all his
+life's worth?"
+
+"Have you a box of matches?"
+
+"Yes; want a smoke, sir?"
+
+"Light a match."
+
+Jerry obeyed, struck a light, and held the cheque in one hand, the wax
+taper in the other.
+
+"Burn it," said Dick, shortly.
+
+"It's fi' pounds, sir; and you may want it."
+
+"Burn it!" cried Dick, sternly.
+
+"Well, it's your own, and you've a right to do as you like with it,"
+said Jerry; and the thin scrap of paper was held to the flame, burned
+till the man's fingers were in danger, and then fell slowly to the floor
+as so much tinder.
+
+"That was your news, then?"
+
+"Not all of it."
+
+"What is it, then?"
+
+Jerry picked up the bunch of flowers, sniffed at it, and set it down
+again in the water.
+
+"She's a-coming."
+
+"What?"
+
+"That Miss Deane as sent these is coming in with Mr Lacey this
+afternoon."
+
+Dick rose up in his chair, staring excitedly.
+
+"She wanted to come ever so long ago, Mr Lacey said, and now he is
+going to bring her.  Hadn't you better let me give you a shampoo, sir?"
+
+"Miss Deane coming here with the lieutenant--to this wretched place?"
+
+"Well, she ain't coming to see the place; she's a-coming to see you."
+
+"No, no, Jerry!  Go and tell Mr Lacey she mustn't come."
+
+"Likely!  Now just look here.  You want to keep all about yourself
+quiet, and sits upon me when I says go to the colonel and out with it
+all, like a man--now don't you?"
+
+"Yes, yes.  I'll wait my time," said Dick; and he added, softly, "If I
+live."
+
+"And then, as soon as things are a bit different to what you like, back
+you goes to the old style, and begins giving your orders.  Now just
+fancy me going to the guvnor's quarters and saying to him, `Hi! you,
+sir, you're not to bring Miss Deane to the horspittle to-day.'
+
+"`Who says so?' says he.
+
+"`Dick Smithson, Esquire.'
+
+"And then he says, `You go and tell Dick Smithson he's a common soldier,
+and if he ever dares to send me such a message as that again, I'll
+report him to the colonel for insubordination'--that's the word, sir,
+`insubordination.'  I've picked up a deal since I've been in the army;
+and, as we used to learn at school--and precious little it
+was!--`positive insolence; comparytive, insubordination: s'perlative
+mutiny.'"
+
+"Yes, Jerry, you're right; I forget myself sometimes," sighed Dick.
+
+"Sometimes!  Why, you've forgot yourself altogether.  Come now, let me
+give you a spick up, and make you look a little more like old times.
+Now then, just a little shampoo."
+
+"No, no."
+
+"And the scissors put round your 'air a bit.  Shave wouldn't hurt you
+neither."
+
+"I wish you wouldn't worry me, Jerry."
+
+"I won't worry you; only you can't see a lady as you are, you know--
+Don't want to--keep your eyes shut, please--to see you a bit o' dandy,
+like Mr Lacey.  Feel nice and cool, eh?"
+
+Dick nodded, and suffered Jerry to place his hands on each side of the
+basin of water planted upon his knees, so as to keep it steady.
+
+"Nothing like a soft sponge, cold water, and a bit o' scented soap--
+those are Mr Lacey's--to comfort you up.  Of course, it depends on the
+oppyrator.  I've seen women soaping little kids and making 'em squirm
+and yell, when I've felt as I could ha' washed the poor little things
+and made 'em laugh all the time.--This is one of Mr Lacey's towels,
+too--he wouldn't mind me bringing 'em.  I say, though, you are a deal
+better.  Fortni't ago you'd have shrunk like if I'd touched you even as
+tender as that."
+
+"What's that--pomatum?"
+
+"Pomatum!  As if I'd use pomatum to a gent's 'air or a private's either.
+No, that's a cream made from a prescription I gave a 'airdresser half a
+soverin' for.  Violets is nothing to it in the way o' smell.  I won't
+quite shampoo you to-day, but give you just an extra brush.  You want
+freshening--that's all--and I don't want you to be tired.  Have a
+shave?"
+
+"No, no; there's nothing to shave."
+
+"Nothing! call that nothing?  Why, I've known gents to go and be shaved
+reg'lar with not half your beard.  Well, I'll let you off for another
+day or two but I must touch up those finger-nails."
+
+Dick made a gesture, but it was all in vain.  Almost before he knew it,
+Jerry had laid aside towel, brushes, and basin, and begun upon the
+nails, which he trimmed with wonderful dexterity, commenting the while
+on things in general.
+
+"Look here," he said: "if you want to keep things quiet, you'd better
+wear your hands in your pockets.  Nobody as knows anything would believe
+your name's Smithson, if he sees your hands."
+
+"Why?" said Dick, who felt half-amused.
+
+"'Cause there's so much breed about your nails.  `Gift on the finger's
+sure to linger; gift on the thumb is sure to come.'  Do you know he
+calls and sees Miss Deane and her aunt?"
+
+"Mr Lacey?--of course."
+
+"I didn't mean him.  Lookers-on see most of the game.  Wonder what Mr
+Lacey would say if I was to tell him all I know."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Oh, nothing, sir.  I dunno what he'd say; but I think I know what he'd
+do--scrunch Mr Mark like a walnut in a door-hinge!"
+
+"Look here, I don't want to hear any scandal, Jerry.  There, that will
+do!  I'll give you a shilling as soon as I have one."
+
+"Thank ye; but don't.  Keep it saved up for me, till I can say _sir_ to
+you proper.  When are you going to begin?"
+
+The coming of the hospital attendant with Dick's dinner interrupted the
+conversation; and that afternoon, as he sat by the open window, with the
+bouquet of flowers before him and a book, there was a rustling of silk
+on the stairs--loud, heavy steps, quiet and light steps as well--and
+directly after the door was opened, and Lacey, looking proud and happy,
+ushered Miss Deane into the room.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
+
+A STARTLING FACT.
+
+That event was the turning-point in Dick Smithson's long illness; and
+the words said to him by Anna Deane at her visit convinced him that
+there was something worth living for, even if it was only to have won
+the respect and friendship of the lady whom he judged now to be the
+lieutenant's betrothed.
+
+"I knew it," Jerry said, with a good, open smile, as he was finishing
+Dick's toilet.  "Nobody knows till they try it what virtue there is in a
+shampoo."
+
+That was some few days later, when the lieutenant's servant had gone to
+the hospital, as usual, to see how the patient was getting on, and if
+anything could be done.
+
+"Rubbish!" cried Dick, who was still very weak; but there was a
+different look in his eyes now that was cheering, and it made Jerry rub
+his hands.
+
+"All right; you call it rubbish.  That's the way of the world.  Chap's
+dying; doctor gives him the right stuff, and pulls him round; and he
+says: `Physic?  Rubbish!  I should have got right by myself.'"
+
+"I wasn't talking about doctors," said Dick, "but of you and your
+shampooing."
+
+"All right, have it your own way; but you began to get better the
+morning after the guv'nor brought Miss Deane, and since I shampooed
+you."
+
+"Absurd!" cried Dick.
+
+"That's right, stick to it; but I say that when a man's weak and upset,
+if he has a good shampoo--I mean a real shampoo, given by anyone who
+understands it--he begins to feel better directly.  There, it stands to
+reason.  Even a watch won't go without it's properly cleaned now and
+then; so how can you expect it of a human being?  But never mind, sir,
+you are better, and that's everything.  Mind my coming up?"
+
+"Mind?  No; I'm glad to see you, Jerry.  How is Mr Lacey?"
+
+"Well, I wanted to talk to you about him, sir."
+
+"Not going back, surely?" said Dick, eagerly.
+
+"Well, he is and he isn't, if you can understand that."
+
+"But has the doctor seen him?"
+
+"Wouldn't do no good, if he did, sir.  Sort of complaint no doctor
+couldn't cure."
+
+"Now, look here, Jerry; do you see that glass of lemonade?"
+
+"See it?  Of course."
+
+"Then take warning: if you begin telling me that nothing will do Mr
+Lacey any good but a shampoo, I'll throw it at you."
+
+Jerry grinned.
+
+"You are getting better, Dick Smithson, and no mistake," he said; "but
+you can drink the stuff, for you won't have to throw it at me, because
+shampooing ain't no good for a bit o' gambling--whether it's
+horse-racing or cards."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Well, this, S'Rich--"
+
+"Hush!"
+
+_Slap_!
+
+Jerry gave himself a heavy pat on the mouth.
+
+"Forgot," he muttered.  "Look here, sir--I mean Dick Smithson--has Mr
+Lacey got plenty of money?"
+
+"I don't know.  He must be pretty well-off or he couldn't live as he
+does."
+
+"Oh, I don't see that.  Lots o' gentry lives in good style and no money
+per rannum, as we calls it, at all.  But you think he is pretty
+well-off?"
+
+"Yes; why are you talking like this?"
+
+"Because he ought to be stopped, or somebody else ought."
+
+"I don't understand you, Jerry.  Speak out openly, please."
+
+"Oh, very well, then, I will, even if it costs me my place.  You see,
+I've burnt my fingers, so that I know," and these words came fast.  "I
+can't help seeing when anyone's getting into the fire."
+
+"Do you mean, in plain English, Jerry, that Mr Lacey is betting and
+gambling?"
+
+"That's just what I do mean, in plain English."
+
+"But it seems impossible, situated as he is."
+
+"With a hangel to take care of him?  It do."
+
+"He never seemed to me to be a man who would care for such things."
+
+"More he would if he wasn't led on to it.  It is his doing--him, I
+mean!"
+
+"My cousin?"
+
+"That's him; and I'm beginning to think you ought to do something as
+soon as you're well enough.  Speak up, and say who you are and why
+you're here."
+
+"They'd call me an impostor, Jerry."
+
+"What, when you've got me for a witness?  Not they, sir; I can prove
+anything.  You ought to do something.  You ought indeed."
+
+"Must get well first, Jerry."
+
+"Of course, no one can't be expected to do much when he's weak as you
+are.  But as soon as you feel strong enough, do pray make a start; and,
+just look here, it's your dooty--it is, indeed.  If you don't, him as
+has shown himself your friend 'll be suffering for it, and if he does,
+so will somebody else."
+
+"Let me get well," said Dick, knitting his brows.
+
+"Well, I will; but, look here, if you don't, my conscience won't let me
+hold my tongue no longer; I shall speak out myself."
+
+"You wouldn't dare, Jerry, after your promise."
+
+The doctor's visit brought Jerry's to an end, and at last Dick was left
+alone to think out his position and what he ought to do.
+
+But he could not plan just then; he was too weak, and his head grew
+confused.
+
+"It will have to wait," he said with a sigh.  "Everything in the past
+seems now like part of a dream, and I'm beginning to feel as if I really
+am Dick Smithson, and that I have no right to think anything about Mark.
+Yes, my head feels all wrong, and as if that weary time was coming
+back.  What did the doctor say--that I must sleep all I can?  I will."
+
+His eyelids were already drooping from sheer weariness, and a few
+minutes later he was lying back fast asleep, with nature working
+steadily and well to build up his strength.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
+
+THE MISSING MAN.
+
+Jerry Brigley was operating upon his master's head, a few days later,
+with a couple of hair-brushes, and these he used in the most dexterous
+manner; and the results were wonderfully different from those produced
+by the people who brushed one's boyish hair in the good old times.
+
+"Oh! for the days when I was young!" people cry, and they may well make
+use of that interjection; but it ought to be in something else than
+regret.
+
+I, for one, would prefer not to be young again, to go through all that
+suffering connected with my head.
+
+Pray, do not imagine that I refer to learning the three "R's" or to
+working out those angular puzzles invented by Euclid, whose problems
+would only stop in my brain one at a time--that is to say, when I had
+mastered one perfectly, and could repeat and illustrate it throughout
+upon slate with pencil, upon paper with pen, upon blackboard with chalk,
+the process of acquiring another made a clean sweep of the first, which
+was utterly demolished and had to be relearned, only in its turn to
+destroy "Proposition Two."
+
+I meant nothing of that sort, but rather the external suffering that my
+unfortunate little head received at the hands of nurses, who
+half-suffocated me with the soap that produced temporary blindness in my
+eyes, and deafness in my ears, before the best family yellow or mottled
+was "slooshed" away, leaving me panting and hot.  Then came the
+tremendous rubbing, followed by the jigging out of knots of hair with a
+cruel comb and the brushing which seemed to make numberless little holes
+in my tender scalp; while my head was knocked to this side and to that,
+and then tapped with the back of the brush, because I was a naughty boy
+and would not hold still.
+
+Lieutenant Lacey's treatment at the hands of Jerry Brigley was of a very
+different type.  When he was shampooing, Jerry could have given
+Cinquevalli, the great juggler, long odds and beaten him.  This man
+performs wonderful feats with cannon-balls, but they are nothing to
+Jerry's graceful acts with the human head, which he would take in hand
+and keep in a perfect state of equilibrium, balancing the pressure of
+one set of fingers by the resistance of the other; the same when
+towelling, and, above all, when finishing with a pair of the
+lieutenant's ivory-backed brushes.  His master's head was kept floating,
+as it were, on the points of the bristles, while a pleasant stimulation
+was kept up on what Jerry termed "the scallup."
+
+"By the way, Brigley," said the lieutenant, who sat back in his chair,
+with his eyes half-shut, "I shall have three or four friends here
+to-night."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"See that the refreshments are on a side-table."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And go down into the town and buy three or four packs of cards."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+Silence for a few moments, and then the lieutenant began again, just as
+Jerry had come to the conclusion that he could name the guests expected,
+one of whom was certain to be Mark Frayne.
+
+"And he won't be very glad to see me here," thought Jerry, who started
+at his master's next words.
+
+"What have you done with your tongue?"
+
+"Beg pardon, sir?  Nothing, sir."
+
+"Because you don't talk.  Aren't you well?"
+
+"Well, sir?  No, sir; not quite, sir."
+
+"Take some pills!" growled Lacey.
+
+"Pills, sir?  I 'ate pills!"
+
+"More stupid you.  Swallow them at once!"
+
+"Beg pardon, sir?"
+
+"I say, swallow them at once.  Best way is to wrap them in
+cigarette-paper."
+
+"Beg pardon, sir!  A mistake, sir.  I said I 'ate pills."
+
+"I heard you."
+
+Jerry peered round a little into the lieutenant's face, to see if he
+were trying to make a joke; but Lacey looked serious enough, and the man
+went on, confidentially--
+
+"Fact is, sir, I'm a bit upset."
+
+"Look sharp and get right again.  Don't you say you're too poorly to
+wait on us to-night!"
+
+"Oh, dear, no, sir!  I shall attend upon you; but, the fact is, I'm in
+trouble."
+
+"Humph!  And you want an advance upon your wages.  How much?"
+
+"No, sir," said Jerry, irritably, as he drove the bristles of one brush
+among the bristles of the other; "it's not that sort of trouble.  It's
+about someone."
+
+"Lady!  Why, Brigley, you're not thinking of getting married?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir! it's about--about a gent--I mean a man, sir.  It's him as
+you know, sir--Smithson."
+
+"Dick Smithson!" cried the lieutenant.  "What's the matter with him?"
+
+"He ain't been the same, sir, since the night of the ball.  He has
+worried me a deal."
+
+"Yes, he seems a good deal pulled down, poor fellow!  But is he ill
+again?"
+
+"No, sir; he went out yesterday--had a pass--and--"
+
+"And what?  Don't hesitate like that, man!"
+
+"He did not come back last night."
+
+"Sorry to hear it," said the lieutenant.  "Means trouble--punishment.  I
+liked Smithson."
+
+"Yes, sir; everyone did."
+
+"Perhaps he's taken ill, and had to stay somewhere."
+
+Jerry was silent.
+
+"You don't think he has bolted?"
+
+Jerry made no answer, and the lieutenant swung round in his chair.
+
+"Why, you do," he cried, excitedly.  "Do you know that bolting means
+desertion, sir?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Jerry, humbly.
+
+"Then you're a fool, Brigley."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"If Smithson had been a common sort of pothouse-haunting fellow, it
+might have been so; but Smithson was a clever musician, and too much of
+a gentleman to do such a thing."
+
+"Thank ye, sir."
+
+"`Thank ye!'" cried the lieutenant, irritably; "what do you mean by
+that?"
+
+"I mean, sir, that's what he is."
+
+"Oh, pooh! he has not deserted."
+
+"I don't know, sir," said Jerry, dubiously.
+
+"Look here, Brigley: I don't often use bad language, but if you talk
+like that, confound you!  I shall swear at you."
+
+"I wish you would, sir," said Jerry.
+
+"What?"
+
+"I say I wish you would, sir.  It would seem to do me good like, for I'm
+reg'larly upset about Smithson, sir."
+
+"There, I beg your pardon, Brigley.  I'm sorry I spoke so roughly."
+
+"Oh, don't do that, sir.  It don't matter.  I don't want to think he's
+gone, sir, because it's 'ard--because he seemed to trust me a bit, and I
+don't like for him to have gone off without saying a word."
+
+"Look here: you knew him before he joined?"
+
+"Oh, yes, sir; I knew him."
+
+"You were friends?"
+
+"No, sir--not exactly friends, but I knew him."
+
+"And--There!  I don't want to pump you, Brigley, but I suppose he was in
+quite a different station of life, and got into some trouble, which made
+him leave home?"
+
+"Beg pardon, sir; Dick Smithson made me swear as I'd keep my mouth shut
+about him, and I give him my word; and, all respeck to you, sir, I'm
+going to keep it; but I can't contradict what you said, sir, all the
+same."
+
+"Well, it would be confoundedly ungentlemanly of me to be prying into
+anyone's affairs, Brigley, and I won't ask questions about him.  I hope,
+though, he hasn't done anything so foolish as to desert, because, even
+if he is in the band, he is a soldier, and--I have heard nothing.  Has
+it been reported?"
+
+"Yes, sir; and Mr Wilkins is making a big stir about it.  Never had a
+civil word for him, and used to sneer at his playing; but, now Dick's
+gone, he's going on as if he couldn't spare him at no price."
+
+"How do you know--who told you?"
+
+"The bombardon, sir."
+
+"The what?  Why don't you say the big drum?"
+
+"Beg pardon, sir, I meant Sergeant Brumpton, the fa--stout musician,
+sir, as is practising for the band."
+
+"Then they must be sending out notices to the police all over the place.
+Tut--tut--tut!  This is a great pity.  I must ask you one thing,
+Brigley: has there anything happened that would make him likely to go?"
+
+Jerry nodded his head over and over again.
+
+"I'm sorry--very sorry; but perhaps we are making a stir about nothing,
+and he'll be back soon."
+
+"Yes, sir, perhaps he will."
+
+"But you don't expect to see him, eh?"
+
+Jerry shook his head--this time violently--and no more was said, for the
+lieutenant had to finish dressing and go on parade.
+
+A couple of hours later the young bandsman's disappearance was the talk
+of the barracks, and numerous were the reasons assigned for it; while
+the customary notification was given, to the annoyance of Dick's friends
+and the gratification of his enemies, these consisting of the men who
+wished to be on good terms with the bandmaster.
+
+But Jerry had his business to attend to; for, though Lieutenant Lacey
+was annoyed, he had invited friends for that evening, and the orders
+given had to be attended to.  So the man went off into the town and
+bought the playing-cards, shaking his head as he walked back.  "Don't
+seem much now for a pack of cards," he muttered, "but I'll be bound to
+say they'll cost the guv'nor a pretty penny.  Wonder what he'd say to me
+if I told him the best thing he could do would be never to make another
+bet and never to touch a card again.  I know--he'd kick me."
+
+"Who would?" said someone at his elbow.
+
+"Hallo!  You!  Mr Brumpton?  Was I talking aloud?"
+
+"Yes, quite aloud."
+
+"Then it's a bad habit, sir.  I say, has young Smithson come back?"
+
+"No; I'm afraid he's gone, Brigley.  There always was a bit of mystery
+about that young fellow.  You had no idea that he was going off?"
+
+"Not I, or I should have let out at him.  I say, they won't call it
+desertion, will they, Mr Brumpton?"
+
+"That's what they do call it; and, the worst of it is, he'll be
+punished."
+
+"Won't the colonel let him off easy as--as he's a musician?"
+
+"How can they let him off easy?  Why, if they did, half the roughs of
+the regiment would be off at once."
+
+"Ah!  I didn't think of that," said Jerry, sadly.  "But s'pose he comes
+back of himself?"
+
+"He'll be punished, but not so severely."
+
+"And s'pose he don't come back?"
+
+"Don't suppose any confounded nonsense," said the fat sergeant, wiping
+his moist forehead.  "I'd have given anything--sooner than it should
+have happened.  There's that twopenny-fife of a man, Wilkins, squeaking
+about it all over the place.  Hang him!  I should like to punch his
+miserable little head, only my hands are so fat they'd feel like
+boxing-gloves to him.  What do you think he said just now?"
+
+"As he was glad Smithson had gone?"
+
+"No; I'd have believed him for that.  He never liked the lad, and it
+would only have been the honest truth.  He said that it was a painful
+thing; but, under the circumstances, he should advise every man to
+examine his kit, and see that his instruments were all right."
+
+"What did he mean by that?" cried Jerry.
+
+"Mean!  Why, for the men to see that the poor lad hadn't carried off
+anything that didn't belong to him."
+
+"Well!" cried Jerry, fiercely, "of all!  Here!  I can't stand that!"
+
+"Hold hard!" cried the fat sergeant, catching his arm.  "Where are you
+going?"
+
+"To the bandmaster," cried Jerry, "to have it out with him.  My hands
+won't feel like gloves!"
+
+"Stop where you are!" growled the sergeant.  "Never mind Wilkins.  You
+don't want to get in a row.  Do you want to strike your officer?"
+
+"Officer!" cried Jerry, excitedly; "officer!  I don't call that
+combination of a thing an officer!"
+
+"You be quiet," said Brumpton.  "We've said enough as it is."
+
+"No, sir, we ain't! and, soldier or no soldier, I'm a man, and not going
+to have things like that spoken about my comrade--and such a comrade as
+him!"
+
+"Be quiet, I tell you!" said Brumpton; and the man's tone and manner
+made Jerry forget that he was so pincushion-like in appearance.  "I
+don't want you to get in trouble, too!"
+
+"And I don't want to get in trouble," said Jerry; "but I don't call it
+manly for a lot of fellows who knew Dick Smithson to be a reg'lar gent
+to the backbone to stand there and hear that mean little wax-match of a
+man, without saying a word or sticking up for him!"
+
+"Who said nobody stuck up for him?" said Brumpton.
+
+"You never said anyone did!"
+
+"Well, they did!" said Brumpton.
+
+"Oh, that's better!  What did they say?"
+
+"As soon as he spoke like that, a lot of the men began to hiss."
+
+"Hiss!" cried Jerry, contemptuously; "why, a goose on Clapham Common
+could do that!"
+
+"And then," continued Brumpton, "Wilkins began to blink over his
+music-stand, looking as red in the face as his uniform.  `Who was that?'
+he says--`who was it that dared to make that noise?'"
+
+"And then no one spoke," sneered Jerry.  "Hissed!  I'd ha' punched his
+head.  Bandmaster, indeed!--I'd ha' been the bandmaster's master that
+time!"
+
+"Wrong, Jerry Brigley!" cried Brumpton.  "Someone did speak, others did
+not; but I'll answer for everyone, I spoke out."
+
+"Bravo!" cried Jerry.  "What did you say, sergeant?"
+
+"I said it was a blackguardly, cowardly thing to say behind a man's
+back."
+
+"Yes; and what then?" cried Jerry, breathlessly.
+
+"Then?  Oh, he turned upon me and let me have it, while I took no
+notice, feeling as I did that I ought to have known better; and the
+quieter I was the more he went on giving it me, and threatening and
+getting more and more savage, till he roused me at last."
+
+"How?  What did he say?"
+
+"Well, there is one thing that makes me wild, and he did it.  I stood
+there holding the bombardon, letting him go on, till all at once he told
+me that I was no more good in my company and I had come sneaking to the
+band to try and get taken on there, but that I was of no use at all, and
+he'd soon put a stop to my practising with the men; and that I was--"
+
+Brumpton stopped, and wiped his face again.
+
+"Well, let's have it!" cried Jerry, excitedly.
+
+"He said that I was a fat, idiotic porpoise; and that did it."
+
+"Did what?" cried Jerry.
+
+"I'd got that big bombardon upside down in my hands, and, before I knew
+it, I'd brought it down on his bald head, just as if it was an
+extinguisher."
+
+"And put him out!" said Jerry.
+
+"Well, he put me out then, anyhow."
+
+"And what did he say, then."
+
+"Oh, he didn't say any more," replied Brumpton.  "But I'm sorry I did
+it, and there'll be a big row."
+
+"Mind shaking hands with me, sergeant?"
+
+"No, my lad--not a bit."
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated Jerry after the operation.  "That was a real honest
+English grip, and I wish Dick Smithson had been there to hear you take
+his part.  He'll never come back now!"
+
+"He will," said the sergeant, drily.
+
+"Not he.  Never show his face here again."
+
+"No!  We will show it for him, poor lad.  Ah! it was a very mad thing to
+do; and, if the truth was known, not the first mad thing Smithson's
+done."
+
+"Right," said Jerry.
+
+"Look here, Jerry Brigley, you haven't been a soldier long enough to
+know how sharp the police are in tracking deserters.  It don't take very
+long to send word all over the country that a man--described--has left
+his regiment."
+
+"I dunno so much about that," said Jerry.
+
+"Well, I do!" replied Brumpton.  "Say the police here telegraph to
+twenty stations round, and each of those twenty stations wire to twenty,
+and each of those to another twenty, it don't take long, at that rate,
+to send all over the country.  You mark my words: the bobbies won't be
+long before they put their hands on his shoulder and bring him back."
+
+"Just as if he had stole something!" groaned Jerry.
+
+"So he has," said the sergeant; "a smart, clever young man; and his
+clothes and all belonging to the Queen."
+
+"But maybe he'll send the toggery back," pleaded Jerry.
+
+"They don't want the clothes; they want the man!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.
+
+"TOO LATE!  TOO LATE!"
+
+It was about ten o'clock that evening, after the officers had left the
+mess-room, that one of the subalterns sauntered up to Lacey's quarters,
+where he found the latter waiting for his guests.
+
+"Cigarette?" said Lacey.
+
+"Thanks!" replied the young officer.
+
+"Light?" continued Lacey.
+
+"Thanks!" said the guest; and they two sat smoking in silence, for
+Lacey's thoughts were upon Dick Smithson, and upon the night of the ball
+and the gallantry which had saved the lives of both him and his
+betrothed.
+
+They did not wait long, for, before their cigarettes were finished, Mark
+Frayne knocked at the door, and was admitted by Jerry, who stood back
+for him to enter, looking very quiet, and then noting that Mark gave a
+start, but took no further notice of Draycott's old servant, entering
+the room, to be frankly welcomed.
+
+Five minutes later a brother-officer of Mark arrived, and before long,
+at the latter's suggestion, the card-table was sought, and the game went
+on for a couple of hours in a very quiet, natural way.
+
+Then came an interval for refreshments, and a little chat that was far
+from lively.  After this the play was resumed, with Jerry seated in the
+outer lobby, thinking over the state of affairs.
+
+"She ought to be told of it, and try to stop him," he said to himself.
+"He's a baby at cards, and that Mark Frayne fleeces him as hard as ever
+he can.  I wish something would happen."
+
+Then he thought of Richard's disappearance, and of how glad Mark would
+be when he found that his cousin had gone, unless Dick had gone up to
+town to consult with some lawyer, who might perhaps put him in the way
+of regaining his rights.
+
+"How could he have been such a young donkey to do as he did?" muttered
+Jerry; and then, feeling exceedingly drowsy, he refreshed himself with a
+cup of strong coffee to make him wakeful.
+
+After about another hour he took in some of the hot coffee, and saw that
+the last new pack of cards had been opened and the wrapper tossed upon
+the floor; while the players looked hollow-cheeked and pale, too intent
+upon their game to care for the refreshment, and impatiently bidding him
+be off.
+
+"It's a bad complaint that men ketches--that gambling," said Jerry; "and
+when they've got it, they gives it to others, who have it worse.  I've
+no call to talk, for I've been bad enough.  How precious white and seedy
+young Mark looks!  Anyone would think he had been up to some game of his
+own.  Every time I opened the door he give quite a jump in his chair,
+and, though he laughed it off, he's as nervous as nerves.  Wants to win,
+I s'pose."
+
+Jerry had a good long walk up and down the lobby--that is to say, he
+walked up and down for a long time--and, feeling that he must rest
+himself for a while, he slowly subsided into a chair, let his head sink
+back, turned it sideways so as to arrange it comfortably, and then he
+opened his eyes directly after--as it seemed to him--to find it was
+daylight.  The candles had burned down very low, and two of his master's
+guests were standing at his side.
+
+"Let us out, my lad," said the elder of the two; and as soon as he had
+handed them their hats and coats, and closed the door, he gave his eyes
+a rub.
+
+"I wonder where S'Richard is?" he thought.  "Why, I must have been
+asleep a good two hours.  Has young Mark gone?"
+
+He went softly through the outer room, to find the door of the inner one
+just ajar, and there, at a table, he could see his master writing.
+
+"Young Mark must have let himself out," muttered Jerry.  But he altered
+his opinion directly, for Lacey turned the paper he had written, folded
+it, and held it up to someone on the other side of the table and
+invisible from where the man stood.
+
+"There you are!" said Lacey.
+
+"Really, dear boy, I'm almost ashamed to take it.  But, there, I'm only
+acting as your steward.  You'll have to come to my quarters and win it
+all back.  The wheel of fortune goes round, eh?"
+
+"Yes," said Lacey, laconically.  "Take anything else?"
+
+"No, really--no thanks!" said Mark.  "Good-night--morning, or whatever
+it is.  Can I let myself out?"
+
+"The man is there," said Lacey, coldly.
+
+But Jerry did not remain there, to wait just outside, but made his way
+quickly back into the lobby, where he stood, ready to hand Mark his
+large Inverness cloak and hat, and then open the door.
+
+"Looks as if he were going to be hanged," muttered Jerry very sourly, as
+he stood watching the young officer descend in the grey morning light.
+"Wonder how much he has won, and whether it makes him feel better?  I
+know one thing: it makes me feel a deal worse, and as if I should like
+to pitch him over the banisters.  I 'ate that chap--that's what's the
+matter with me--and I'd tell him so to his face as soon as look at him,
+that I would!"
+
+Jerry closed the door and went across the lobby, hearing the heavy pace
+of his master as he walked restlessly up and down the room.
+
+"The scoundrel!"  Lacey muttered.  "He is a scoundrel, and I'm a fool--a
+pigeon, and he has plucked me.  I swear he cheated.  He played that very
+trick I was once warned about.  Serve me right!  But it's the last
+time."
+
+He continued his hurried pace, growing sterner and more decisive as he
+walked.
+
+"A lesson to me!" he muttered.  "A dishonourable scoundrel!  At Miss
+Deane's, too!  I swear he has been trying to oust me, and the old lady
+has encouraged him.  Anna told me of his words to her.  One can't call a
+man out now; and if I spread it abroad about the cards there'll be no
+end of a row, and he'd be indignant.  No, I won't speak.  It's a lesson
+to me for being such an easy-going fool."
+
+He turned thoughtful now, but was ready to look up sharply as Jerry
+entered.
+
+"Want me any more 'smornin', sir?"
+
+"No, Brigley, no.  You have heard no more news of poor Smithson?"
+
+"No, sir, not a word."
+
+"Strange how I have been thinking of him all the night."
+
+"So have I, sir.  I went to sleep, too, out in the lobby, and I've just
+recollected, sir, I was dreaming all about him and wondering where he'd
+gone."
+
+"Ah, it's a bad business, Brigley.  He ought to have known better.  But
+we all do things we are sorry for sometimes and repent of them
+afterwards.  There, be off to bed."
+
+"Shan't I clear up a bit, sir, first?"
+
+"No: that will do."
+
+Jerry went out of the room and shut the door after him--to stand looking
+back, as if he expected to be able to see through the panels everything
+that was going on.  His brow was wrinkled up, his nostrils twitched, and
+his ears moved slightly, for he was listening intently; and a looker-on
+would have seen that he was intensely excited.
+
+For Jerry was thinking about cases he had read of in the papers, and,
+being somehow naturally prone to fancy people in trouble likely to make
+away with themselves by jumping into flooded rivers, he now took up the
+idea that the lieutenant, after a disastrous night of play, had some
+reason for desiring to get rid of him.
+
+"There's two double centre-fire breech-loaders in the case," he said to
+himself, "and there's his revolver and his sword, besides that old
+hunting-knife in the shark's-skin case--there's every temptation for a
+young man to do it.  Oh, what a world this is!  Why, that there Mark
+Frayne's been the cause of all the trouble, and driven S'Richard away--
+blow him!--Dick Smithson.  I won't think of him by that name.  But if I
+went and did good to everybody by knocking Master Mark on the head, or
+holding him under water till he was full and wouldn't go any more,
+they'd try me for it, and then--Never mind: I won't think what.  I
+haven't patience with such laws."
+
+Jerry stood listening, but all was very silent inside, and he grew more
+uneasy.
+
+"I won't go," he said to himself.  "He means something, or he wouldn't
+have been in such a jolly hurry to get rid of me.  Phew! how hot it is
+turned, and my hands and feet are like ice."
+
+He wiped his damp forehead, and stood gazing at the door, shaking his
+head mournfully, and with the dread of something wrong on the increase.
+But all was still, and even that Jerry looked upon as a bad omen.
+
+"I know," he muttered.  "He has been and lost all his tin, and he's
+making his will; and I don't want him to, even if he's going to leave me
+that horse-shoe pin with diamonds in for nails.  Here!  I can't stand
+this--I'll go in!"
+
+Jerry hesitated for a few minutes, and then, unable to control the
+intense desire to see what was going on, he was about to take hold of
+the handle of the door, but he paused in doubt, for he had no excuse.
+
+The next minute the excuse had come, and he entered quickly, to find
+Lacey writing, and ready to look up inquiringly.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir, thought you might be in your bedroom.  Didn't happen
+to see a little pig-skin purse, did you?"
+
+"No!" said the lieutenant, gruffly.
+
+"Sorry to have interrupted you, sir.  Don't see it lying about, sir.
+Thank ye, sir!"
+
+Jerry had a sharp look round, and then he backed out again to close the
+door after him, and stand hesitating and shaking his head.
+
+"I don't like it," he muttered.  "He ought to be tired out and glad to
+jump into his bed; and here he is writing!  He isn't a writing sort of
+chap!  Never hardly puts pen to paper!  What's he writing for at a time
+like this?"
+
+Jerry shook his head very solemnly, and sat down to wait, with all
+drowsiness gone and a nervous state of irritation steadily on the
+increase as he sat on for a time that seemed to be interminable, always
+on the _qui vive_, and expecting moment by moment to hear something
+which would give him ample excuse for rushing in.
+
+"And what good will that do?" he argued, as his spirits grew lower and
+lower.  "It'll be too late then, for I ought to be there to stop him.
+He's half-mad, and if I was there I might prevent it; but he would not
+have it.  He'd tell me I was mad to think of such a thing, and kick me
+out!"
+
+"Well," he said to himself, after waiting for an interminable time, all
+worry and indecision, "I've a good mind to risk his being angry; for I'm
+sure he wants something to eat.  I will, before it's too late."
+
+He rose from his seat once more, and was in the act of crossing the
+lobby, when a piteous cry escaped his lips, for there was a sharp
+concussion, the windows of the place he was in rattled, and he heard the
+sound of a heavy fall!
+
+Crying out "Too late! too late!" he dashed at the door, flung it open,
+and entered.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.
+
+DEAD OR ALIVE?
+
+As Jerry rushed into Lacey's room, it was with the full expectation of
+seeing the master for whom he had begun to feel a warm respect
+stretched, face downward, upon the carpet; but the place was vacant,
+and, panting and trembling, he ran on to where the heavy curtain draped
+the bedroom door, swung it aside, and rushed in--there to see that the
+lieutenant, in shirt and trousers, had fallen upon the bed, from which
+he was now evidently writhing and struggling to the floor.
+
+Jerry was a man of resource.  He had not been servant and valet to
+gentlemen for years without picking up a great deal--nursing being one
+of his accomplishments.
+
+"Badly, perhaps fatally, wounded," he thought, "and immediate aid might
+be invaluable;" so, with this idea uppermost, he flung himself upon the
+young officer just as his feet touched the carpet, stooped down, and, by
+a clever quick motion, seized him round the knees, lifted his legs, and
+threw him on his back.
+
+"Oh, how could you--how could you?" he cried, as he leant over him,
+pressing him down with his head on the pillow, and searched him wildly
+with his eyes, and then with one hand, for the wound.
+
+"Do you hear?" he half-whimpered.  "How could you?  Oh, Mr Lacey, sir,
+how could you?"
+
+The young officer's eyes looked fixed and staring, his face was white
+and drawn, and his mind was evidently confused and wandering.  For the
+first few moments he struggled violently; then he lay back panting with
+his lips apart, while Jerry went on excitedly searching for the wound,
+but without success.
+
+Then he turned his eyes to the floor, looking about in all directions
+for the pistol, then about the bed, which had not been turned down, but
+without avail; and his eyes sought those of the young man again as he
+held him, and with one hand felt for the pulsation at the heart.
+
+"What's matter?" said Lacey, thickly.
+
+At that moment Jerry caught sight of a glass on the dressing-table, and
+he uttered a cry, but felt confused and puzzled directly after; for his
+common sense told him that, if the lieutenant had tried to poison
+himself, whatever he had taken would not have gone off with a tremendous
+bang inside and made the windows rattle.
+
+"What's matter?" said the lieutenant again, in a confused way; "did I--
+did I--tumble out of bed?"
+
+"No, no.  I saved you, sir!" whimpered Jerry, hysterically.  "Oh, sir,
+where is it?  What have you done?"
+
+"I d' know," said Lacey, confusedly.  Then, with the power to think
+returning, he seized Jerry's hands, and tried to remove them from his
+chest.  "Here! what are you doing?"
+
+"Doing! doing!" cried Jerry.  "Oh, why don't you speak!  Can you hold
+out while I fetch the doctor?"
+
+"Doctor?  I d' know?" cried Lacey, staring in a stupefied way at his
+servant, and then growing angry at being held down.  "Here! what's the
+matter?  Have I been taken ill?"
+
+"Ill?  It's ten times worse than that, sir.  Hold still.  Where are you
+hurt?  Where's the pistol?"
+
+"Confound you!  Will you leave go?" cried the lieutenant, who grew angry
+as his senses returned; and, gripping Jerry firmly, he wrenched himself
+round, made a violent effort, forced his man back, and rose to a sitting
+position on the edge of the bed.
+
+"Mr Lacey, sir, don't!" cried Jerry.
+
+"Oh, won't I!" cried the lieutenant.  "What do you mean by it?  How dare
+you, sir?  Couldn't you sit up late without getting at my spirit-stand?
+What is it--brandy?"
+
+"That it ain't, sir!  I never touched a drop!" cried Jerry, indignantly.
+"Don't, sir!  You hurt me!"
+
+"Hurt you?  Yes, you dog, I mean to!  You hurt me pretty well!  Why,
+you're as drunk as a piper!"
+
+"Tell you I ain't, sir!" cried Jerry.  "I took four cups o' coffee to
+keep me awake.  That's all.  But--but, Mr Lacey, sir, didn't you do it?
+Didn't you hurt yourself?--didn't--didn't--"
+
+"`Didn't--didn't'--don't stammer and stutter like that!  Confound you!
+What do you mean by dragging me out of bed in this way?  You must have
+been at the spirits!"
+
+"Tell you I haven't!" roared Jerry, indignantly.  "It's taking a man's
+character away, sir!"
+
+"Then what do you mean by seizing me like this?"
+
+"I heard a noise, sir--I thought you'd been losing money all night to
+Mr Frayne, sir, and that you'd shot yourself, sir--with your pistol,
+sir.  Ain't yer, sir?"
+
+"I shot myself?  Pistol?  Why, Brigley, you must be tipsy!"
+
+"Which I ain't, sir; indeed, I ain't!" protested Jerry.  "But are you
+really all right, sir?  I heered a horful bang."
+
+"I'm so stupidly confused and sleepy, I hardly know," said Lacey.  "I
+suppose I must have rolled off the bed."
+
+"Then you ain't hurt, sir?"
+
+"Not that I know of."
+
+"But something went off, sir."
+
+"Soda-water."
+
+"Oh, no, sir; hundred times as loud as that."
+
+"Never mind.  I'm thirsty.  Bring me some."
+
+"Yes, sir; directly, sir," cried Jerry, and he hurried out into the
+lobby, to come back in a minute with a glass of the sparkling
+anti-feverish water, to find the lieutenant bathing his face.
+
+"Hah, that's refreshing!" said Lacey, returning the glass to the waiter
+Jerry held in his trembling hands.  "Why, you look as if you had seen a
+ghost, Brigley!"
+
+"I thought I was going to see one, sir--yours!  And you ain't hurt a
+bit?"
+
+"It's quite bad enough to have to be shot by other people, Brigley,
+without trying to hurt oneself.  But how came you to think such a
+thing?"
+
+"Well, sir--I--"
+
+"Well, you what?"
+
+"--Have heered of such things, sir, with gents--as has been in great
+trouble, sir--as lost a deal o' money, sir."
+
+Lacey frowned.
+
+"Ever been with a gentleman who did such a thing?"
+
+"Well, yes, sir--almost, sir--not exactly, sir; but I thought he had,
+sir."
+
+"That's a nice clear way of expressing yourself.  Well, don't run away
+with that idea, again.  I don't like to be snatched out of my sleep in
+that fashion.  What time is it?  Morning gun fired?"
+
+Jerry's jaw dropped, and he stood staring over the empty soda-water
+glass.
+
+"I said had the morning gun been fired!" remarked Lacey, sharply.
+
+Jerry's face began to wrinkle all over, and there was a peculiar twinkle
+in his eyes as they met his master's.
+
+"Yes, sir, the gun's gone off a quarter of a hour ago."
+
+"There, be off!  Call me in time to dress for parade."
+
+"Yes, sir; of course, sir.  Very sorry, sir.  My mistake, sir.  But
+don't you see how it was?"
+
+"No; I'm too sleepy to see anything; but don't make any more such
+mistakes."
+
+"No, sir--cert'nly not, sir; but don't you see, sir, how it was,
+really?"
+
+"No; unless you'd had too much coffee!"
+
+"Well, sir, then, as you will keep on thinking it was coffee or
+something else, I must, for my character's sake, sir, explain."
+
+"Not this morning, Brigley, thank you; some other time."
+
+"Won't take a moment, sir," persisted Jerry.  "You see, I'd got
+thinking, sir, through having had a hawkward experience of the sort,
+that you might do something of the kind; and I was actually meaning to
+walk in and stop you, when there was that tremenjus noise, and I thought
+you'd made it."
+
+"And I did not!" said the lieutenant, angrily.  "Now be off!"
+
+"No, sir, it wasn't you," said Jerry, grinning; "and it only shows how
+easy we can make mistakes.  You see now, sir?  It was the morning gun."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.
+
+A SECRET'S LIMIT.
+
+"He might have told me," Jerry said to himself.  "I've done all I could
+for him, and kep' his secret when I've felt at times as if I must shout
+out `Sir Richard' all over the barracks.  I call it mean: that's what I
+call it--mean!  It ain't as if I hadn't shown him as he might trust me.
+I should have said a deal to him in a fatherly sort o' way to show him
+that it wasn't the kind o' thing for a gen'leman to do.  I should have
+pointed out to him as he did wrong last time in going off, and what a
+lot of injury it did him; and he knew it, or else he wouldn't have kep'
+it so close, and gone without letting me know.  But once bit twice shy,
+and I'm not going to be bit again.  I'm not going to break my heart
+fancying he's made a hole in the water.  That's what set me thinking
+about the lieutenant as I did.  If he wasn't one of the easiest-going
+bits o' human machinery as ever lived, he'd have been awfully nasty with
+me for serving him as I did.  No, I'm not going to humbug after
+S'Richard; and I'm not going to worry.  I was ready to be friends if he
+liked to trust me; but he didn't, and there it ends."
+
+Jerry sat sunning himself outside the officers' quarters as he mused in
+this way, and felt a bit resentful against Dick as he went on.
+
+"I know where he's off to.  He's gone to see some lawyer fellow up in
+town to get advice, and he'll have to pay for it.  I could have given
+him just as good, and he could have had it free, gratus, for nothing;
+but stuff as people don't have to pay for they think ain't worth having.
+Hullo! here comes Dan'l Lambert.  Mornin'!"
+
+"Morning," said Brumpton, rather gruffly, as he halted in front of
+Jerry, with his battered bombardon in his hand, evidently on his way
+from the band-room to the sergeants' quarters.
+
+"Any news?  Ain't come back, I s'pose?" said Jerry.
+
+"No; he won't come back till he's brought," said Brumpton rather
+sternly.  Then, suddenly, "I told you about my bit of a row with
+Wilkins?"
+
+Jerry nodded.
+
+"There's a fine upset about that.  Can't tell yet what's to be the end
+of it.  I don't want to lose my stripes."
+
+"Oh, they ought to let you off," said Jerry.
+
+Sergeant Brumpton shook his head.
+
+"Discipline," he said, "discipline.  I oughtn't to have let my temper
+get the better of me."
+
+"But the officers won't be able to help laughing.  He must have looked
+like a periwinkle stuck in his shell.  Go and tell him you're very
+sorry, and shake hands."
+
+"Ah! you don't understand our ways here, Brigley.  He wouldn't take the
+apology.  He don't like me going there to practice, because it was all
+through young Smithson, for he hates him like poison."
+
+"Yes, or he wouldn't have said what he did," cried Jerry.  "It was too
+bad."
+
+"Yes, too bad," said the sergeant, "when the poor lad didn't even take
+his own instruments away with him."
+
+"Didn't he?" cried Jerry, rather excitedly.  "What, not them big and
+little silver-keyed flutes?"
+
+"No; they've got them up in his quarters, keeping them for him.  Some of
+the men are precious wild about what Wilkins said."
+
+Jerry made no reply, but stood rubbing one side of his nose with his
+finger.
+
+"Well, why don't you speak?" said the sergeant.
+
+"Because I was thinking," said Jerry; "and a man can't think of one
+thing and talk of another at the same time."
+
+"What were you thinking, then?"
+
+"I was thinking it seemed strange for him to leave those flutes behind.
+They was his own, and he set a deal of store by them."
+
+"Well, what do you make of it, now you have thought it?"
+
+"What do you?" replied Jerry.
+
+"That it looks as if he meant to come back."
+
+"Yes," said Jerry, mysteriously; "it do look like that.  Are they trying
+to find him?"
+
+"Of course, they are trying their best.  They won't stop till they
+have."
+
+"But ain't it making a deal o' fuss about one chap, and him not a
+reg'lar fighting man?"
+
+"'Tisn't that," said the sergeant; "it's the principle of the thing.
+They wouldn't care about losing one man or a dozen; it's keeping up the
+discipline.  Young Smithson 'll be caught, and he'll be pretty severely
+punished, poor lad.  I rather liked Smithson."
+
+"Liked him!" said Jerry, acidly; "why, of course, you did.  Why, I like
+him--even me, who don't make many friends--I can tell you.  You think,
+then, they might ketch him?"
+
+"I do," said the sergeant, "sooner or later.  They're sure to.  Well, I
+must be off.  I've got my own troubles to think about without his."
+
+"Good-bye, sergeant," said Jerry, with a friendly nod, and Brumpton went
+on, while Jerry's whole expression changed.  His eyes glittered, the
+colour came in his face, and he thrust his hands in his pockets as far
+down as he could get them.
+
+"He wouldn't have gone off without telling me, pore chap!  I'm sure of
+it.  It was master and man between us, and full confidence, as you may
+say.  He wouldn't desert--he's too much the gentleman--and he wouldn't
+go to see lawyers without speaking first.  As to his going away, that
+settles it.  He wouldn't leave them flutes if he were making a bolt.
+Why, he didn't when he ran away before.  That settles it, and no
+mistake.  Jerry Brigley, my lad, there's something wrong."
+
+What was to be done?
+
+That was a question Jerry could not answer, and he went about the
+barracks talking with the men, asking who had seen Dick last, and
+gleaning all about his leave, and that one of the band had seen him
+going down the High Street that same afternoon.
+
+Waiting till Wilkins was away, Jerry made his way to the band-room,
+where he obtained confirmation of the sergeant's remarks about the
+flute-case, and here he began to drop dark hints of the vaguest nature.
+These, however, fell upon fertile soil, and struck root, and shot up
+into plants at a very rapid rate.  In other words, Jerry's hints became
+solid, and from the band-room went forth the rumour that Dick Smithson
+had gone down the town, been persuaded to enter one of the low-class
+public-houses, and had there been robbed and ill-used.
+
+Then a private in Lacey's company announced that he had had a similar
+experience down by the docks, and said that if he had not fought like a
+savage he would have lost his life.
+
+News flies fast in a regiment where the men have so little out of the
+routine to attract their attention, and, consequently, it was soon the
+common talk of the barracks that Dick Smithson, of the band, had been
+"done to death" somewhere in the lower part of the city.
+
+That night the rumour reached the mess-room.  One of the officers had
+heard it, and in a few minutes it was the sole topic of conversation.
+
+Men talked of the first time they had seen Dick Smithson, and reminded
+one another of his playing and the strange way in which he had joined
+the regiment.
+
+At last, as the band finished one of the pieces in the evening's
+programme, the colonel, after a few words with the doctor, sent his
+servant to tell Wilkins to come to the table; and, upon the bandmaster
+appearing, the doctor addressed him in a serious tone, but with a
+humorous twinkle of the eye.
+
+"Is this true, Wilkins?" he said.
+
+"I beg pardon, sir, is what true?"
+
+"That in a fit of jealousy you have tried to pitch young Smithson into
+the river, to be carried out to sea or to one of Her Majesty's ships, to
+form the nucleus of a new band?"
+
+"Not a word of truth in it, sir, I assure you.  Really I--"
+
+"Stop a moment, man!  You were exceedingly jealous of him."
+
+"Really no, sir.  I only did what I thought was right to keep the boy
+from growing too conceited."
+
+"Well, of course, pitching him into the river would have that effect;
+but it strikes me that it will get you into difficulties."
+
+"Really, sir--I assure you, sir, if it was the last word I had to utter,
+sir--I didn't do anything of the kind."
+
+"Of course not, Wilkins," said the colonel, quietly; "the doctor is only
+quizzing you.  I cannot believe that you would be guilty of such a
+dastardly act.  But do you think anything of the kind has happened?"
+
+"No, sir; I don't think such a thing could have taken place."
+
+"I hope not; but you have heard the rumour?"
+
+"Yes, sir; the men are talking about nothing else."
+
+"One moment," cried the colonel; "you have seen a great deal of the
+young man.  Do you think he was likely to get into bad company?"
+
+"That he wasn't, sir!" cried someone excitedly; and Jerry advanced from
+where he had been waiting upon his master, and now stood close to the
+colonel, gesticulating with an empty claret bottle in his hand.
+
+"Silence, sir!" cried the colonel; "how dare you speak!"
+
+"Beg pardon, sir; I felt abound to speak because I know Dick Smithson
+isn't at all likely to go to any low places."
+
+The colonel frowned; but he said no more, and Jerry was allowed to go
+back to his place.
+
+That night the superintendent of police was summoned to the barracks,
+and had a long talk with the colonel and major.
+
+"No, gentlemen, I don't think it is at all likely.  They get down to the
+rougher houses, and drink and stay a day or two; but the landlords get
+rid of them as soon as they have spent all their money.  But, as you've
+sent for me, I'll set a couple of our sharpest men to go from house to
+house, and then report to you."
+
+The superintendent left to perform his mission, and orders were given to
+the military provosts; but another day passed away, and neither civil
+nor military police had anything to report.  No one had seen the young
+bandsman on his way to some distant railway station, and men began to
+shake their heads, while Jerry's face looked hollow from anxiety.  At
+the same time, though, he felt a kind of pride in the fact that he was
+constantly being questioned by those who knew that he and Dick had been
+on friendly terms, this culminating in his being stopped one day in the
+street by a couple of ladies.
+
+"You are Mr Lacey's servant, are you not?" said the younger.
+
+"Yes, ma'am--oh, I beg your pardon, miss.  I didn't know you behind your
+veil."
+
+"Has anything been heard of Smithson?"
+
+"No, ma'am.  I'm sorry to say that--"
+
+There was a sigh, and the lady turned away, followed by her companion.
+
+"Well," said Jerry, "she might have stopped to hear all I had to say.
+My word, now people have got to like him!  Even her.  Well, he saved her
+life.  What can have come to him?  I daren't go and say all I think,
+for, after all, it mayn't be true.  I know: I'll wait a week, and then,
+right or wrong, I'll speak; for I can't keep his secret longer than
+that."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.
+
+THE COWARD'S BLOW.
+
+Fully determined that there must be no scandal, Dick resolved to await
+his opportunity, and then confront his cousin, to demand of him that he
+should quickly vacate his position; and, to this end, he watched for a
+chance to meet him somewhere quite alone.  But he very soon became aware
+of the fact that not only had Mark recognised, but avoided, him, till
+one day, when idling along about a couple of miles from the town, there
+was Mark ahead, going on in front, as if inviting him to follow, and
+leading him on right away.
+
+What Mark's object was in following his devious course along the lanes
+more and more into the country Richard Frayne did not pause to consider;
+all he thought was that at last, after many efforts, he was going to run
+his cousin down, and bring him to bay right away from the possibility of
+interruption, and where, out in the open fields, they would, for the
+time being, occupy the position not of officer and private--with the
+tremendous barrier of rank between them, which was like some large
+breastwork protecting Mark from assault--but as man to man.
+
+And there, a few hundred yards in advance, Mark walked rapidly on, never
+once, as far as his cousin could see, looking back, though Richard felt
+sure that he was aware of being followed, and was awaiting his
+opportunity to get out of sight and then make for the town.
+
+Richard knew that by running he might now overtake the young officer,
+but he left this for a last resource, meaning to walk steadily on until
+he caught up to Mark or forced him to turn back and meet him face to
+face.
+
+The way grew more rural and secluded, and the chalk hills, with their
+sides broken up by frost and weathering, stood out white, and dotted
+with patches of heath and bracken.  Here and there a dense copse could
+be seen, while in sheltered hollows--forming in the distance what looked
+like squares worked in tapestry patterns--was a huge fabric of green,
+looped and flowered, where the hops hung in luxuriant grape-like
+clusters.
+
+Every now and then Mark was lost to sight, as he plunged into some
+copse, following a devious footpath, but Richard caught sight of him
+again soon after.  Then the quarry was missed once more, as he crossed
+one of the hop-gardens; yet, always the same, Richard dogged him with
+unerring patience for hours.
+
+"What does he mean?" thought Richard at last.  "He can't know I am
+following him.  He is simply having a long walk to keep himself in
+training, and will soon turn back."
+
+At last, about half an hour after passing a long village lying low down
+in a hollow among the hills, and where there was no sign of farmhouse or
+cottage anywhere in the broken, wooded landscape, Mark plunged into a
+great patch of coppice, which had been cut down for hop-poles a few
+years before, and had sprung up again, forming a dense wilderness of
+ash, hazel, and sweet chestnut, running right up a steep, bank-like
+hill, away below which, well sheltered from the north and westerly
+gales, lay another of the many hop-fields, heavy with its green and
+golden bines.
+
+Here all at once Richard found himself at fault, and he stood gazing
+onward, with a feeling of annoyance rapidly growing as the thought came
+insistent that, after all, he was to have his long, exciting walk for
+nothing.
+
+Only a few minutes before he had seen the erect figure pass in among the
+trees, and it must, he felt, be exactly where he stood; but there was no
+sight of it going onward, and, as far as he could make out, there was no
+lane near, unless one passed over by the red-brick building which topped
+an eminence to the right--a building with a couple of the great cowls of
+the hop-kilns rising from its roof.
+
+"He must have made for these," thought Richard.  And feeling pretty
+certain that if he took a short cut down through the hop-garden he would
+strike the track, and find his cousin coming up the lane deep down in
+the coppice, or passing onward on his return, he passed rapidly on.
+Down he went along the steep slope, threading the tall, thin
+growing-poles to right and left, till he came suddenly upon the edge of
+the hop-garden, with its little hills, each squared by its four poles,
+running in direct lines, and forming shady alleys, completely embowered
+in many places by the vines which festooned the poles and leaped over
+from side to side.
+
+Keeping to the edge of the garden for a few yards, and passing alley
+after alley, till he came upon the end of one which looked fairly open,
+and which ran in the direction of the oast-house on the hill, Richard
+was about to plunge down this, when, all at once, there was a sharp,
+thin sound, followed by the loud whirr of wings, as an early covey of
+strongly-pinioned partridges, alarmed by the crack, sprang up, and flew
+over the tops of the poles, completely hidden by the vines.
+
+Eager and excited now, Richard passed into the next alley and the next,
+gazing sharply down them for him who had struck that match to light a
+cigar.
+
+"At last!" he said to himself; for not a dozen yards down the next--a
+particularly dark, thickly-embowered lane of verdure--there stood Mark,
+with his back to him, holding a second match to his cigar, from which
+the grey smoke rose up, to disappear amid the vine-like leaves.
+
+Drawing a long breath, Richard walked down this alley.  But Mark did not
+move, standing, coolly smoking there, till his cousin was within a
+couple of yards, when he started round as if surprised, and the two
+young men stood in the greenish twilight of that solitude, utterly
+hidden, while in all probability there was not a human being within a
+couple of miles.
+
+"Ah, my lad," said Mark, quietly, "having a walk?  Rather hot."
+
+He turned as if to go, but was arrested by Richard's imperious order--
+
+"Stop!"
+
+Mark turned round, frowning and scowling.
+
+"You don't belong to my regiment, my lad, but you know that this is not
+the way to address an officer."
+
+"That will do, Mark Frayne," cried Richard, sternly.  "It is time we
+understood one another."
+
+"Mark Frayne!" cried the officer, angrily.  Then, with a half-laugh,
+"Oh!  I see--205th, from the Town Barracks.  You have got hold of my
+name, my lad."
+
+"Got hold of your name!" exclaimed Richard, angrily.  "There, no more of
+that.  I tell you I can bear this no longer.  It is time we came to an
+understanding."
+
+"My good fellow, have you been drinking?" said Mark, with a forced
+laugh; "or is it a touch of sunstroke?  Here, you had better make for
+the nearest stream, have a good draught of water, and then get back to
+barracks."
+
+"So that's how Mr Mark Frayne would prescribe for sunstroke!" said
+Richard, sarcastically.
+
+"My good fellow, we are not in garrison now, and I like to be kind and
+friendly to men in the ranks; but there are bounds.  Recollect that you
+are addressing your officer, and do not be insolent!"
+
+"Insolent?" cried Richard.
+
+"Yes, sir, insolent!" said Mark, speaking in a low voice.  "You have got
+hold of my name; but I am Sir Mark Frayne."
+
+"Mark Frayne," cried Richard, fiercely, "and my cousin!  Once more I
+tell you that this can go on no longer!"
+
+"Are you mad, fellow?" said Mark, speaking beneath his breath.
+
+"Almost, at being face to face with you alone after all I have suffered
+at your hands!  There, set aside this miserable show of not knowing me!
+You recognised me that night of the ball.  You knew me directly, though
+you tried hard to assume ignorance.  Now, then, I don't want to be hard
+upon you.  I have held back from going to lawyers, for I have felt that
+it would be better if we settled the matter ourselves.  Do you dare to
+tell me that you do not know me?"
+
+Mark gazed at him searchingly, and then his face seemed to light up.
+
+"Why, yes; of course, I know you now--the bandsman Smithson.  Of course.
+You are the man who helped me out of the burning tent."
+
+"Yes; I saved the life of one who had sent me into this miserable
+exile!"
+
+"Of course, I see now.  You had a serious illness after, Smithson, and
+it affected your head.  The doctor told me all about it."
+
+"It was needless," said Richard, gazing full in the eyes which were
+half-closed, and which kept on glancing from their corners up and down
+the long dim alley where they stood.
+
+"No; I am glad he told me, my lad.  That explains a good deal.  Now,
+take my advice, and get back to barracks.  You were not fit to come so
+far."
+
+This assumption of ignorance staggered Richard for the moment.  Then,
+with his voice sounding very deep and stern--
+
+"Look here, Mark," he said; "your poor father is dead, but I presume
+that my aunt is living, and for her sake I am unwilling to take steps
+that may give her pain.  You proved yourself an unprincipled scoundrel
+over that bill transaction, and now, even as an officer, you cannot act
+like a gentleman."
+
+Mark was very pale now as he stood facing his cousin; but he showed no
+sign of resentment, and Richard went on--
+
+"Your conduct towards Miss Deane has been that of a dishonourable
+blackguard; towards Mr Lacey, that of a sharper and a cheat.  You see,
+I know; but I am willing to spare you, for your mother's sake.  You will
+at once communicate with your lawyers, and tell them your assumption of
+the property and title has been a mistake, and that you are willing to
+surrender all claims at once."
+
+"Poor fellow!" said Mark, softly, as he stood with his hands in his
+jacket pockets and with a peculiar thin smile upon his tightened lips;
+"the result of the fever.  What a fancy to get into his head!"
+
+"Do you mean to take that line?" said Richard.  "Think better of it, and
+give it up.  It will save you trouble, your mother pain, and I promise
+you that I will not be ungenerous toward you."
+
+"How singular these crazes are!" said Mark, softly, as if speaking to
+himself.
+
+"Then you mean to fight me?" said Richard.
+
+"My poor fellow, what nonsense you have got into your bewildered head!
+I had a cousin, Sir Richard Frayne, who once, in a mad fit, attacked me,
+and afterwards threw himself into a river, and was drowned."
+
+"And was not drowned," said Richard, quietly.
+
+"Yes, he was drowned.  They found the body, and he was buried close to
+his estate, and in the church there is a handsome monument to his
+memory, saying kindly things that he did not deserve, for he committed
+suicide in remorse for having obtained money by false pretences."
+
+"You are an unmitigated scoundrel, Mark!" said Richard, with his brow
+now knit angrily.  "Once more, will you accept my terms?"
+
+"He is dead and buried," said Mark, with his eyes more than half-shut
+now; "and if Richard Frayne rose from the dead no one would believe his
+tale."
+
+"Will you accept my terms, or must I denounce you as one who has proved
+treacherous to his friend, acted like a blackleg at cards, and who
+obtained a hundred pounds by forging his cousin's name, and whose title
+and estate he now holds?"
+
+Mark stood there, white as a sheet, glaring at the speaker.
+
+"How will you stand then, Mark, with officers and men of honour.  Take
+my offer before you fall."
+
+"I tell you," whispered Mark huskily, "that Richard Frayne is dead, and
+that you are an impostor."
+
+"And I tell you that I will have no mercy now," cried Richard,
+excitedly.  "I tried to spare you, but this life is intolerable since
+you came here.  Once more, will you accept my terms?"
+
+"Impostor!"
+
+"Then take your chance!"
+
+"Take yours!" cried Mark, in the same low whisper, as he snatched a
+revolver from his pocket and fired quickly at his cousin, who sprang
+back, dragged a hop-pole from the side of the alley, snapping it in two,
+and, wild with agony and excitement, made a rush at Mark, who met it by
+standing firm, now taking aim at his cousin's head.
+
+But he did not fire; for all at once Richard's knees gave way, the stout
+pole fell from his grasp, and, flinging up his hands, he swayed over
+backward with a crash, bearing down a portion of the hop-bine as he
+fell.
+
+Mark stood there with his arm still rigidly extended, but altering his
+position now.  Then, taking a step or two forward, he bent over, gazing
+fixedly at his cousin's distorted face, and taking aim once more as he
+stooped.  He was about to draw the trigger, when the sharp barking of a
+dog arose from two or three hundred yards away.
+
+The barking ceased, and Mark hurriedly thrust the pistol back in his
+pocket, but a sudden thought struck him, and, quickly stooping down, he
+seized his cousin's clenched right hand, dragged the fingers apart, and
+placed the weapon in his grasp; then laying the broken piece of hop-pole
+back, as if it had been broken in the fall, he rose and looked sharply
+up and down the alley, and stepped into the next, after peering through
+and looking up and down that.
+
+The next moment his white and alarmed face reappeared, avoiding the body
+lying prone, as his eyes peered here and there till they fell upon the
+freshly-lit cigar he had dropped from his lips; for a faint streak of
+smoke rose from where it lay, and betrayed its presence.
+
+Reaching forward, he caught it up, drew back and disappeared through the
+drooping hops, passing from one alley to another, till he elected to
+walk straight on to a coppice on the other side; here lighting his cigar
+afresh, he began to walk back toward Ratcham at a slow steady pace, and
+without meeting a soul; neither did he hear the barking of the dog
+again.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.
+
+SOMETHING IN THE HOPS.
+
+The hops that year had been looking magnificent, and some of the growers
+were chuckling as they thought of the number of hundredweight that would
+go to the acre, while others took a prejudiced view of the case from a
+dread of the plentifulness of the crop bringing them down to a state of
+cheapness that would, when the cost of growing, picking, kilning, and
+packing had been deducted, leave nothing to pay the rent.
+
+Then a change had come--a rapid change.  There had been a fortnight's
+dry weather, and, as if by magic, the beautiful growths began to look
+foul, black, and yellow.
+
+It was very simple--a few tiny flies came and laid eggs: the eggs
+hatched into little insects, and before many hours had elapsed these
+little insects, without waiting to become flies, had children, and these
+had children, and these had children as hard as ever they could, while
+the mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers kept on increasing
+until the vine-leaves became covered.  These grew into hundreds,
+hundreds into thousands and tens and hundreds of thousands, then
+millions, and then into hundreds and thousands of millions, and then on
+and on till billions and trillions, and all the other brain-devouring
+lions covered the hop-grower's crops, threatening destruction to his
+hopes.
+
+Then out came the engine to attack the plague.
+
+It was an old parish fire-engine that used to live beneath the bells in
+the square tower of a church not many miles away.  It had once been red;
+and upon rare occasions, when a cottage or wheat-rick caught or was set
+on fire and a glow gave warning, there would be a great deal of
+shouting, the clerk's house was raced to for the keys, and then the old
+engine was dragged out by its cross-handle, and a cheering crowd would
+trundle it for miles to the scene of the fire, which was generally
+expiring by the time it was reached.  If the fire was not out, boys and
+men dragged down the coils of hose and the suction-pipe, which was run
+into a pond.  Buckets were dipped, and water was poured down the
+cylinders to moisten the suckers, and ran through, because the leathers
+were all dried-up.  Then the handles were seized and worked up and down,
+making a good deal of noise, but no water began to squirt, which did not
+matter (for the hose was all cracked, and would not have conveyed it);
+and at last everything was packed up again, and, the fire being out for
+want of more food, the engine was dragged back to its dwelling-place in
+the belfry, to go on growing older and more mildewy and useless.
+
+It took a great many years to teach people that, but for the show of the
+thing, a great deal more good would have resulted if everybody had
+carried a tin mug of water and thrown it upon the fire.  Still, they did
+learn this truth at last, and the result was that one day the old
+fire-engine was sold by auction in the marketplace of the nearest town
+and bought for a trifle by one of the hop-growers.
+
+From that day the engine began to lead a new life, for it was cleaned
+up, newly leathered and suckered, and kept in a barn, from which it was
+dragged year after year to put out a plague as bad as fire.
+
+Upon the morning in question there was a little procession from the
+oast-houses down to the gardens in the hollow, where, in a sheltered
+bower, a fire was lit under a huge copper, which had led the way; a
+great water-tub brought fluid from the muddy pond, and a kind of hot
+soup was made, bucketfuls of which were mixed with tubs of water; the
+suction-pipe of the engine was inserted in these, the hose and branch
+attached, and the slaughter of the insects began down between the rows
+of hop-poles, where the blackened, blight-covered hops clustered,
+twined, and hung.
+
+_Fizz-fuzz_, _spitter-sputter_!  Away flew the medicated water in a
+poisonous spray, and row after row of the blighted hops was relieved of
+the insect enemies, while the farmer's men kept the fire going, the
+water boiling, and the poison brewing to save the crop.
+
+There was just enough room for the little engine to be dragged down
+between the hills--as they term them--of the hops without much crushing;
+but the labourers took good care to empty it first, and even then the
+wheels made deep ruts in the well-dug soil.  After some hours' work the
+men had drawn it well into the middle of the garden; and while two
+pumped and another directed a fine spray under the leaves and among the
+tendrils, others plodded steadily along from the copper and tubs, each
+bearing a couple of buckets, and carefully picking a fresh way from time
+to time so as to avoid the shower of fine rain dripping from the verdant
+arches overhead.
+
+"Hope nobody won't taste none o' this stuff in his yale, Joey," said one
+of the bucket-bearers, as he tossed the medicated water into the big tub
+from which the suction-pipe of the engine drew its supply, and as he
+spoke he widened the perennial grin which dwelt upon his puckered face.
+
+"Do un good," growled Joey, who was directing the spray from the branch
+so as to spread it over as many leaves as possible.  "Make un teetotal,
+Smiler."
+
+"Ha, ha!" chuckled the man with the buckets; "deal o' teetotal about
+you, Joey.  Make yale taste, though, won't it?"
+
+"Na-a-a-ay!  Rain'll wash it all off in no time, Smiler.  There, fetch
+some more."
+
+"All very fine, Joey; but its wa-arm down here.  Wind don't come."
+
+"Well, who wants wind to knock the poles down?--best lewed garden, this,
+on the fa-arm.  Fatch some more!"
+
+Smiler, as he was called, went off with his empty buckets, trudged back
+to the copper and water-barrel, justifying his name at every step; for
+he smiled at the clods of earth, the weeds which had sprung up, at the
+poles, and then at the horse in the shafts of the water-barrel cart,
+before refilling his buckets and starting back down a fresh row of hops,
+between which the sun came glinting and sending shafts of silver arrows
+to the rich soil, out of which peeped wool clippings, shoddy, greasy
+rags, and other indescribable rubbish used by the farmer to fertilise
+his field.
+
+When abreast of the engine, hidden from him by three or four rows of
+poles, Smiler set down his pails with a clank, smiled round him, and
+wiped his wet brow with one bare arm, then the other side in the same
+way, the operation being so satisfactory that he continued it all over
+his face.  Then, smiling more than ever, he stooped, picked up his
+buckets, went on a few yards to where there was an opening into the next
+row, turned himself edgewise, and passed through with his buckets swung
+round, and was about to pass through into another green arcade, but
+stopped, smiling still, and put down his load once more with a louder
+rattle of the handles, while _clank clank_ went the engine and _whish
+whish_ and _sputter_ the cloud of spray among the leaves.
+
+"Now then, Smiler, come on!" shouted one of the men with the engine,
+still hidden, but close at hand.
+
+"Hi!  Joey," shouted Smiler.
+
+"What's the matter?--found a hop-dog?"
+
+"Nay!  Here's a tipsy swaddy lying dead asleep; shall I gi'e him a
+bucket o' hop-wash?"
+
+"Gahn!  Bring that stuff."
+
+"But I tell ye he's tipsy, boy.  Come, all on yer, and see!"
+
+The clanking of the engine stopped at once, for it was very hot there,
+and the diversion was acceptable; so, leaving the fine rain dripping
+from the hop-bine, three men came, dragging their legs after them,
+threading their way through the poles till they all stood together,
+wiping their streaming faces with their bare arms, and gazing down at
+the recumbent figure, at which the bucket-bearer smiled, the others
+following his example, and ending in a hearty chuckle, in which Smiler
+joined.
+
+"Shall I gi'e him a bucket, Joey?" he said again.
+
+"Nay," said the man addressed.  "Nobody never give you a bucket, Smiler,
+when you lay down in a ditch."
+
+The others laughed, and Smiler winced a little.
+
+"Make him wet outside as well as in!"
+
+"Yah!  We don't want to spoil his red coat," said Joey; "he's got it
+pratty will syled without.  Why, he must ha' been here all night!  Here,
+soger, wake up!"
+
+There was no movement.
+
+"D'yer hear?  Right about face!  'Tention!"
+
+"Well, he must have had a good wet!  How did un come here?"
+
+"I d'know," said one of the men.  "Take two shillin' worth o' yale to
+make a man like that."
+
+"Ay," said Smiler.  "Know how they do it?"
+
+"Saves up," said Joey.
+
+"Yah!  They don't get no money to save.  I'll tell 'ee.  My cousin,
+Billy Weekes, 'listed--you all knew Billy?"
+
+"Ay!" chorussed the others, as they stood gazing down at the
+scarlet-coated figure lying with its face hidden by a drooping tangle of
+hops caused by the breaking of a pole.
+
+"Billy tode me," continued Smiler, "as, when one on 'em gets leave, he
+goes round among his mates, and they all gi'es him a penny or twopence
+apiece--hundred on 'em, p'r'aps--and that sets him up!"
+
+"Ay?" said Joey.  "And when their turn comes he gi'es them all a penny?"
+
+"Yes; that's it--all round.  So they chaps as goos out allus has some'at
+to spend."
+
+"And a very good way, too," said Joey, chuckling.  "Well, I could drink
+a quaart now, and I've got a penny; s'pose you three chaps all gi'es me
+one apiece, for my throat's as dry as a lime-basket."
+
+The men looked at one another and chuckled.
+
+"Hadn't us better wake un up?" said Smiler, at last.
+
+"Ay, 'fore he gets a drenching with the hop-wash," said Joey.  "Here!
+hi! soger!  Why, he's got a bottle in his fist here still.  It's--"
+
+The man, who had bent down low and drawn aside the verdant veil of
+hop-bine, started back in alarm; for, as the sunshine was let in, a
+couple of large vipers, which had been nestling close up to the figure,
+raised their heads and began to crawl away.
+
+"Look at the nedders!" cried Smiler.  "Aren't stung him, have they?"
+
+"Nay," cried Joey, hanging back, "that arn't all.  'Tarn't a bottle he's
+got; it's a pistol!"
+
+Two of the men turned as if to run away, but at that moment another
+bucket-bearer came up, and there was a shout from up by the fire to know
+why the spraying had stopped.
+
+"Hi!--all on yer!  Coome here!" yelled Smiler.
+
+"What's he been shootin'?" cried one of the men who had turned to go.
+
+"Hissen," growled Joey, with a horrified look.  "He's a dead un, lads,
+and been here for days."
+
+Mastering the feeling of shrinking which had come over him, Joey went
+down upon one knee, amidst the awful silence which prevailed, and
+stretched forth a hand to draw the figure out into a patch of sunlight,
+but a shout in chorus from his companions made him snatch back his hand
+with a violent start.
+
+"Yah!--don't touch him," they all cried.
+
+"Why?--poor lad," protested Joey.  "We can't leave him here!"
+
+"Mustn't touch 'im till there's been a inkwess," said Smiler, excitedly.
+
+"I don't keer for no inkwesses," grumbled Joey; "I shall want to come
+here directly to wash my hops."
+
+"What's the matter?" cried the first of several men who came down the
+narrow alley.  "Ingin busted?"
+
+"Nay; look ye here," cried Smiler, excitedly, and there was a low,
+suppressed exclamation from the group that crowded up.
+
+"Better get a gate and carry him out," said one.
+
+"Couldn't get a gate down here," said another.
+
+"And yer mustn't touch 'im till there's been a inkwess," cried Smiler.
+
+"Is he dead?" said one of the new-comers.
+
+"Ay," said one of the first four.  "We sin the nedders come away from
+him.  Stinged to death."
+
+"Nay, he's not bitten," cried Joey.  "Here's his little pistol.  Why,
+he's one o' they chaps as blows brass things in the band."
+
+As he spoke, the man took the rusty pistol from the tight fingers which
+clutched it, and then uttered a cry.
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+"His hand arn't cold," cried Joey, and, quickly turning the figure right
+over into the sunshine, he gazed down excitedly, and pointed at a great
+red stain on the breast and side of the scarlet tunic, hidden until
+then, and dry now and dark.
+
+"But he's quite dead, arn't he?" said Smiler.
+
+"Nay, he's not dead.  You can feel his heart beat right up into his
+throat.  Come and take hold of his legs, two on you, and Smiler and me
+'ll carry this end."
+
+"Where to?" asked one of the men, who seized a leg.
+
+"Tak' un up to the oast-house.  Here! one o' you go and fatch a
+policemun and 'nother on you goo right on and tell doctor what we found.
+How soon can you get there?"
+
+"'N 'our, cross the fields."
+
+"Cut, then.  He'll gi'e you a ride back in his chay."
+
+The two men started, and, the figure being raised, it was carefully
+borne along the dark green alley out into the open sunshine, and then
+along to the shelter of a huge espalier, kept there to shelter the
+hop-garden from the western gales.
+
+Not a word was spoken, the men keeping still and walking as if
+awestricken along by the great green bank, startling the velvet-coated
+blackbirds, which flew out on either side and skimmed along near the
+great flowery ditch, and passed over the top a hundred yards ahead.
+
+Twice over a cotton-tailed rabbit darted out of the hops and plunged
+into the ditch, to reach its burrow in the sandy bank, while on and on
+the men tramped with their burden, whose bright scarlet coat, laced with
+gold, stood out vividly against the green of the hops on one side and
+that of the tall hedge on the other.
+
+"Nay, he's only quite a boy," said Smiler, who, as soon as his
+remonstrance had been conscientiously disregarded, lent himself to the
+task with far more energy than he had directed toward carrying the
+pails.
+
+"Say, one of you," cried Joey, "go and lay that old bed out in the
+oast--one I had last year for kiln-watching."
+
+"What that there in the hop-pocket?"
+
+"That's it, lad;" and another man ran forward up the hillside.
+
+A few minutes later the burden was borne in through the wide entrance of
+the building to where the man who preceded them had dragged out the
+rough mattress used by the watcher through the night of the clear coal
+fires.  And here in the cool shade the burden was gently laid; and the
+men stood round in silence, looking at the pale face before them and
+then at each other as if asking what to do next.
+
+"He's gone!" whispered Smiler, whose grotesque face gave him the aspect
+of enjoying it all as some horrible jest.
+
+For they had hardly decently composed the stiffened figure upon its soft
+elastic couch before it uttered a low, deep groan.
+
+"Nay," said Joey, in a whisper, "he's with us yet, lads; men don't die
+when you can see that."
+
+A shudder ran through the group as they leaned forward to gaze at that
+to which the man pointed, and there plainly to be seen in the great
+windowless place by the light which came in through the broad, high
+doorway, they gazed at a slowly-increasing stain which came out upon the
+scarlet tunic hard by the blackened dried-up patch there at the side.
+
+For the movement had started the wound bleeding afresh, and a bit of
+experience when a fellow-labourer had his arm crushed in a
+threshing-machine years before had taught the speaker that where
+bleeding continues there must be life still left in the sufferer's
+veins.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY NINE.
+
+A GOOD GENIUS.
+
+They were a very ignorant rustic lot these poor farm labourers, but they
+knew that certain things were now necessary, and Joey, taking the lead
+as they waited for the help of the surgeon, gave the orders, which were
+executed at once.
+
+One man seized a clean bucket, and trotted off down the hill to where in
+the bottom there was a dark dipping place in the lonely narrow stream,
+and while he was fetching the clear cold water the leader carefully
+unfastened the tunic.
+
+"Sharpest knife, one o' you," said Joey, and after a little comparison
+of blades, most of which were ground more or less on their owner's
+clumsy boots, he selected one, and carefully slit open the shirt and,
+cutting away enough to form a pad, he pressed it down upon the wound and
+checked the bleeding.
+
+"Ought to be tied up," he muttered; "but 'tain't like a cut finger: you
+can't turn him about.  We'll wait till doctor comes."
+
+"Won't yer wash it?" said Smiler, with a grin.
+
+"Nay, doctor 'll do that if it's right; we'll try and give him a drink
+when the water comes, and bathe his face.  What did he go and do that
+for?"
+
+"Think he did?" said Smiler.
+
+"Why, o' course," said another.  "Hadn't he got the pistol lying in his
+fist?"
+
+"Ay," said Joey.  "I s'pose some on 'em ain't very comf'able with them
+drill-sergeants--shoots theirselves in barracks sometimes.  Yer see,
+when a man 'lists, he can't pitch it up again and say `I've had enough
+of this.'"
+
+"No, they're 'bliged to stick to it," said Smiler, "'less someun buys
+'em out.  I dunno, though, but what I'd ha' liked to be a sojer; it's
+better than spendin' all yer life in a hop-garden, spuddin' and poling
+and hoeing."
+
+"You!" said Joey, "you a sojer, Smiler?"
+
+"Well, why not?  Course, I know my back's a bit twisted, but it would
+ha' been right enough if I'd been drilled."
+
+"They'd ha' had to drill something else beside your legs and wings,
+Smiler," said Joey, giving his companions a queer look.
+
+"Eh?  What?"
+
+"That mug o' your'n, else you'd ha' been in the Black Hole half your
+time for laughin' at your officers."
+
+"Yah!  Just as if I can help bein' a good-tempered lookin' chap.  Dessay
+as I should make as good a sojer as most on 'em as you see over yonder
+at those towns.  Better be allus on the smile than lookin' savage at
+everyone."
+
+"Ay, to be sure, Smiler.  Wonder, though, what did make this poor chap
+do it?  He's a young un, too, for a sojer.  I say, any on you hear his
+pistol go off last night?"
+
+No one answered; but the man who held the revolver began to examine it.
+
+"Here, just you mind what you're about with that thing," said Smiler.
+"I've heard as they'll go off six times o' running.  Say, would it hurt
+un, if I lit my pipe?"
+
+"Nay," said Joey, "and I'd thank one o' you kindly if he'd take mine out
+o' my pocket and fill and light it for me.  Can't be very long now
+before doctor comes, and I must hold him here downright to stop the
+bleeding.  Ah!  I can feel his heart beating just gentle like."
+
+"You can?"
+
+"Ay; and it's a wonder, too.  Poor lad! he's been bleeding like a pig."
+
+The lighting of pipes was preceded by the careful putting away of the
+pistol, and just as the men were all puffing contentedly away, Smiler
+said--
+
+"Master won't find they ten acres of hops washed if he comes 'ome
+to-night."
+
+"No," said Joey; "but you can't wash hops when you're finding sojers
+nearly dead in the alleys.--An' here's the water.  Ain't hurried yerself
+much, lad."
+
+"Who's to run up hill with a pail o' water?" grumbled the man as Smiler
+began bathing the edge of the wound, after pouring a little water
+between the lips, but apparently without any effect.
+
+Then the smoking went on in silence for a while, till Smiler asked
+whether the heart was still beating.
+
+"Ay, I keep feeling it," said Joe.  "S'pose one o' you goes up in one o'
+the cowls and looks out: you'll see if the pleeceman's coming.  I'm
+getting a bit tired o' holding my hand to his heart."
+
+"Let me do it now," said Smiler.
+
+"Nay, I begun it, and I'm going on till the pleeceman comes."
+
+One of the men had climbed up the steps at once, and they heard his
+heavy feet as he crossed the great loft where the hops were pressed
+heavily into the pockets.  Five minutes after he was down again to
+announce that the constable was on his way, and a few minutes after the
+one man stationed at the tiny hamlet a short distance away came in,
+red-faced and eager, for, saving over a little egg-stealing and mild
+poaching, it was rare for his services to be called for.
+
+Hence he bustled in, looking very important, and drew out a note-book
+and pencil, examined the sufferer, asked a few questions, made a show of
+putting down the answers, with a sad hieroglyphical result, and then
+turned to Joey.
+
+"Now, then," he said, "I'll take charge of him; and one of you must go
+for the doctor."
+
+"Doctor!" cried Joe indignantly.  "Why, we sent for him goin' on for
+hour ago."
+
+"Ho! well: stand aside!"
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Don't you stand arguin', or you may get yourself into trouble," said
+the constable importantly.  "Stand aside!"
+
+"Shan't!"
+
+"What!" cried the constable, gripping the labourer by the arm.
+
+"Can't you see what I'm doing?  Want the poor young chap to bleed to
+death?"
+
+"How was I to know?" cried the constable.  "Why didn't you say you were
+doing it?  Why don't you tie him up?"
+
+"'Cause I wasn't born a doctor," grumbled Joey.  "Hops is my line--I can
+tie them up.  Thought you pleecemen did that sort of thing."
+
+The constable coughed.
+
+"How long will the doctor be?" he said.
+
+"All depen's whether he's at home or not.  P'raps he's gone on a twenty
+mile round."
+
+"Then we'd better get a door and carry him somewhere," suggested the
+policeman.
+
+"Nay, it's in and out bad enough moving him at all, Joey," cried Smiler.
+"I won't help move him, for it'll finish him off if we do."
+
+The constable frowned, hesitated, and finally said:
+
+"Well, as you have sent for the doctor, we'll wait."
+
+And they waited for quite two hours before the man who had been again
+and again sent up to play Sister Anne in the great cowl came down at
+last to say that he had seen the doctor's chaise coming along the lane,
+and five minutes after a keen-looking youngish man entered the great
+barn-like place, examined his patient at once, asking questions the
+while, and then with clever hands put a stop to further bleeding,
+bandaged the wound, and contrived that a little water should trickle
+between the sufferer's lips.
+
+"Now then," said the doctor, "the poor fellow ought to be taken over to
+Ratcham to the military hospital; but you had better get a door, and
+we'll lay him on that and you will carry him to the Seven Steers.  It
+isn't above a mile, is it?"
+
+"Mile an harf, sir," said Joe.
+
+"Well, he must be carried there.  To-morrow the people at Ratcham will
+send an ambulance to fetch him.  Now, then, a light door."
+
+"Don't see as we can get a door off without tools, sir," said Smiler.
+"What d'yer say to a huddle?"
+
+"The very thing.  We can lift this mattress right on to it, and it will
+be lighter and easier to carry."
+
+The light hurdle was soon brought, and the rough bed lifted carefully
+on.  Volunteers were plentiful enough, and one of the men was sent on in
+advance to the little roadside inn, to give warning of the approach of
+the wounded man, while the four bearers--possibly from the load being
+what it was--stepped out in regular slow military fashion, and went on
+along the dusty lane.
+
+"Will he die, sir?" whispered Joey, as they reached the road.
+
+The doctor shook his head.
+
+But fate had destined that the patient should find a different
+resting-place that night, for before half a mile had been traversed the
+sound of wheels was heard behind, and the doctor called to the party to
+step on one side of the lane and to let the waggonette which approached
+pass by.
+
+This necessitated a halt, which was taken advantage of for a change to
+be made in the bearers; and, while this was going on, the waggonette was
+stopped, and the younger of two ladies within the vehicle addressed the
+doctor.
+
+"What is the matter?" she asked.  "An accident?"
+
+"Rather worse than an accident, I'm afraid," said the doctor, raising
+his hat in a combination of respect and admiration for the speaker.  "A
+young soldier has been found injured by a bullet."
+
+"And you are taking him to Ratcham?"
+
+"No; to the neighbouring public-house.  But, may I ask, are you going
+into Ratcham?"
+
+"Yes, yes," said the lady excitedly, as she rose, held on by the rail of
+the driver's seat, and peered over the heads of the bearers, adding
+wildly--"Oh, aunt, aunt! it must be poor Smithson they have found."
+
+"Anna, my dear, what are you going to do?" cried the elder lady from
+behind her veil.
+
+"Nothing--I--oh, aunt, I--"
+
+The words were faltered out, but the girl's movements were quick and
+decisive as she unfastened the door at the back of the waggonette and
+sprang down, the labouring men drawing right and left as she turned to
+the side of the hurdle.
+
+"It is--it is!" she cried, as she bent over the pallid face and laid her
+hand upon Dick's forehead.
+
+"You know him, then?" said the doctor eagerly, for his patient began to
+be of much greater importance in his eyes.
+
+"Oh, yes--a little.  Yes--very well," cried Miss Deane, contradicting
+herself.
+
+"Anna, my dear, pray come here!"
+
+"Yes, aunt, directly.--But, tell me quickly, is he very much hurt?"
+
+"Very gravely, as far as I can tell after so slight an examination."
+
+"He will not die?" she cried, with the tears streaming down her cheeks.
+
+"I hope not.  I will do my best to save him."
+
+"Yes, yes; of course.  But we must not waste time.  Sir, he once saved
+my life.  Oh, pray, pray make haste!"
+
+"Yes.  Forward, my lads!"
+
+"But where are you taking him?"
+
+"To the nearest inn."
+
+"Oh, no--no--no!" she cried.  "He ought to be taken to where he will be
+properly attended."
+
+"Yes; but it is impossible for the men to carry him all the way to
+Ratcham.  If you would drive on and give notice at the barracks, they
+would send their ambulance and take him at once to the hospital."
+
+"The hospital?" said the girl piteously.
+
+"What a fool I am!" thought the young doctor, whose sympathies were
+aroused by this great display of interest; "I am throwing away an
+interesting patient."
+
+"Anna, my dear, this is very dreadful!" cried Miss Deane, senior.  "Let
+us drive on at once!"
+
+"Yes, aunt dear--no, aunt dear!  I know!" she cried excitedly.  "The men
+could lay that wooden thing upon the seats of the carriage, and he could
+be driven gently right into the town."
+
+"Anna!"
+
+"Hush, aunt, pray!" cried the girl decisively.  "Do you not see it is a
+case of life and death?  Now, doctor, move him at once!  Aunt, come down
+out of the carriage!"
+
+Miss Deane, senior, uttered an indignant sob, and descended into the
+dusty road.  Then she not only made a virtue of necessity, but felt her
+own sympathies aroused.
+
+"I wish I were a soldier and had shot myself," thought the doctor, as he
+directed the men, and had the hurdle carefully lifted into the
+waggonette, where, with a little management, it rode securely enough,
+while the girl watched every step of the proceedings, with her fingers
+twitching as if she longed to help.
+
+"But you?" said the doctor now.
+
+"Oh, never mind us; we can walk," said Miss Deane; and her aunt
+suppressed a groan.
+
+"But it is a long distance," said the doctor.
+
+"Don't talk of us when that poor lad may be dying," she cried.  "You
+must ride with him and watch him."
+
+"Yes, and send my chaise back," said the doctor eagerly.  "Or--one
+moment; this would be better, if you would not mind riding on the box."
+
+"Oh, pray, pray think of him!"
+
+"I am thinking of him--and of you," said the doctor firmly.  "We will
+not waste time.  Let me help you up, and then I can drive this lady in
+my chaise and keep close by and have an eye to my patient as we go."
+
+Anna Deane needed no assistance.  She sprang up beside the driver, while
+her aunt was helped into the chaise.  Then a thought struck her, and,
+taking out her purse, she emptied it into her hand, and beckoned to
+Joey, who came up, followed by Smiler, whose face had never looked so
+pleasantly full of admiration before.
+
+"Will you pay all the men?  Share it, please," she whispered.  "Thank
+you, thank you so very much for what you've all done!"
+
+The party of labourers followed till they had passed the little roadside
+inn, where they stopped and stood watching till chaise and waggonette
+had passed a corner of the road.
+
+Then Joey turned to his companions, and opened his hand to count over
+the coins.
+
+"There's four-and-twenty, Smiler," he said.
+
+"And there's eight on us," said Smiler.
+
+"And eight into twenty-four goes three times," said the man who left
+school last, amidst a murmur of satisfaction.
+
+"Eight shillin's apiece," said Smiler.
+
+"Get along with you," cried Joey.  "Three shillin's apiece.  Hands out,
+boys."
+
+Seven hard palms were extended to him instantly, the coins counted into
+them, and Joey looked round.
+
+"Before we can get to work again, boys, it'll be nigh time to leave
+off."
+
+"Ay," was chorussed.
+
+"There's a drop of yale nigh at hand, we're all dry and we've yearned
+it, so I says let's have one drink and then talk about it as we goes
+back."
+
+"And so says all you," cried Smiler.
+
+But they did not in words, only in acts; so that the aphides left on the
+hops enjoyed a few more leaves of life.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY.
+
+JERRY LETS OUT THE CAT.
+
+That night, after the mess dinner, Jerry, when seeing about the coffee
+for his master, had a note given to him to take into the room, and this
+he handed to the lieutenant, who flushed a little as he recognised the
+hand, and, disregarding the smiles of those nearest to him, he read,
+hastily written:--
+
+"Pray come at once!  Aunt and I were out driving, and we found poor
+Smithson.  We brought him here.  He is wounded, and dying.  I know no
+more."
+
+"Anna."
+
+The lieutenant sprang up excitedly, and strode to the colonel's side,
+giving him the note to read.
+
+"Poor boy!" cried the colonel.  "Then he did not desert.  I'm glad of
+that.  Doctor, Smithson is found.  He is, it seems, badly hurt."
+
+"Bless my soul!" cried the doctor.
+
+"Yes.  Will you go on with Lacey at once, and--My good fellow, are you
+mad?"
+
+"Yes, sir, a'most," cried Jerry, whose appearance and action justified
+the colonel's question, for he had suddenly seized the old officer's arm
+and made a snatch at the note.
+
+"Stand back, sir!  Leave the room at once!  Here, turn this scoundrel
+out."
+
+"Keep off, or I'll do you a mischief," roared Jerry, as two of the men
+sprang at him, and they shrank from his menacing gesture.  "Here, Mr
+Lacey, Colonel, I want to know--I will know--if S'Richard's hurt--"
+
+"Sir Richard!  The man's drunk," cried the colonel.
+
+"No, I ain't; but it's enough to make me," roared Jerry.  "I am drunk
+now with what you gents call indignation.  If S'Richard's hurt, it's
+foul play, and it's that black-hearted, cheating, gambling hound as done
+it.  Keep back!--d'yer hear?  It's all over now.  It's the cat out of
+the bag, and no mistake!"
+
+"One moment, colonel," cried Lacey firmly.  "Brigley never drinks.--Look
+here, my man, you said foul play.  Do you know who was likely to injure
+Smithson?"
+
+"Smithson!" cried Jerry in contemptuous tones.  "I don't care; I will
+speak now.  Smithson--do I know?  Yes, sir, I do; and I ought to have
+spoke before, when he was missing first."
+
+"Then speak out," said Lacey, and the angry frown upon the colonel's
+face began to change to a look of interest.  "Who is the scoundrel that
+had a grudge against Smithson?"
+
+"Tell you he ain't no Smithson!" roared Jerry, bringing his fist down
+upon the table and making the glasses jump and one fall to the floor
+with a crash.  "He made me swear I wouldn't speak; but I will now.  He's
+no Smithson.  He's Sir Richard Frayne, Baronet, and the man as hurt him
+is his black-hearted cousin Mark, as calls himself `Sir.'  Him of the
+310th."
+
+"Stop, my man," cried the colonel.  "This is a terribly serious charge
+to make against an officer and a gentleman."
+
+"Officer!" cried Jerry, who was boiling over with hysterical excitement;
+"he deserves to have his uniform stripped off his back.  Gentleman! as
+borrowed money on bills, and forged Sir Richard's name; said he didn't;
+and made the poor feller go off, leave everything, and come here and
+'list."
+
+"You are too excited, my man," said the colonel.  "If all this is
+true--"
+
+"True, sir?  Bring me face to face with him--no: don't; for if he's
+killed that poor dear lad, I shall be hung for him as sure as I'm a
+man."
+
+"Brigley," said the colonel, "you will be brought face to face with Sir
+Mark--"
+
+"Mark--no _Sir_," cried Jerry hotly.
+
+"Silence, man.  You will be brought face to face with the officer you
+accuse.  Meanwhile, you do not leave the barracks.  You are under
+arrest."
+
+"No, sir; pray, sir--Colonel, don't say that.  Let me go and see him,"
+cried Jerry, with the tears now streaming down his cheeks.  "Mr Lacey,
+sir, say a word for me to the colonel.  I must go to Sir Richard.  If
+you shut me up--I can't help it, even if you shoot me for it--I shall
+desert."
+
+"Silence, sir!"
+
+"I beg pardon, sir," said Lacey; "the man is over-excited.  I will be
+answerable for him, if you will let him come with me."
+
+The colonel nodded his consent.
+
+"What he says is true," continued Lacey, flushing now.  "It must be.
+There have been so many things to prove that Smithson--"
+
+"S'Richard, sir," cried Jerry.
+
+"Well, that the young man we are going to see is a gentleman.  I believe
+it all, Colonel; for, to my sorrow, I know Mark Frayne is little better
+than a sharper and a cheat."
+
+"Mind what you are saying, Mr Lacey," cried the colonel sternly.
+
+"I can prove my words, sir," said Lacey firmly.
+
+"Go on, and see what is the matter," said the colonel.  "Gentlemen, will
+you excuse me?  Major, will you come to my quarters?  I should like a
+word."
+
+Lacey, the doctor, and Jerry went off at once, and ten minutes later
+they were at the bedside of Richard Frayne, who was slowly recovering
+after the young doctor's bandaging, and was talking wildly, but with
+sufficient coherence about the scene among the hops to let his hearers
+grasp the fact that this was no attempt at suicide, but a would-be
+murderer's deed.
+
+The colonel and major left the barracks some time later, and were driven
+up to the quarters of the colonel of the 310th, who looked surprised at
+the visit, but said _en passant_--
+
+"I have just heard that your missing bandsman has been found.  Suicide,
+I suppose?"
+
+"Or attempted murder!" said the colonel gravely.  "We have come about
+that."
+
+He related what had taken place, and the colonel of the 310th smiled.
+
+"I have heard of romances," he said quietly.  "Excuse me."
+
+He touched the bell, and, upon a servant appearing, said--
+
+"Go to Sir Mark Frayne's quarters, and ask him, with my compliments, to
+be good enough to step here.  _Audi alteram partem_, gentlemen.  You
+have an impostor in your band."
+
+"We shall see."
+
+Five minutes later the servant returned.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Sir Mark Frayne left the mess-table, sir, when the news came of that
+man being found in the hop-field, and went to lie down, sir; but his man
+says he went out about a quarter of an hour after _in mufti_, sir, and
+with a little Gladstone bag.  Sergeant at the station, sir--provost--saw
+him leave by the up train at eight."
+
+"That will do," said his master, and the colonel and the major rose to
+go.
+
+"Looks bad, gentlemen," continued the colonel of the 310th.  "A nasty
+scandal to have in one's corps!"
+
+"Yes; but I don't think we want any more confirmation.  That Gladstone
+bag and the train are enough."
+
+"And if he had been a gentleman," said the major hotly, "he would have
+had the door of his quarters locked."
+
+"How will it all end?" muttered the colonel.  "Ah, well! there are black
+sheep in every flock, even if they hide their wool under our uniform."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY ONE.
+
+"HALT!"
+
+"Why, it was plain enough," said Jerry, one day as he sat by Richard's
+bed.  "He'd made all his plans and led you on out there on purpose."
+
+"Nonsense, man!"
+
+"Ah, you may call it nonsense, if you like, because you don't see
+through it now no more than you did then."
+
+"Of course I don't.  When once you take a dislike to a man, you see
+nothing but evil in him.  You invent things."
+
+"Oh, do I!" cried Jerry.  "Never mind.  I couldn't invent so much
+wickedness as he's got in him, if I tried all night.  Now, just let me
+ask you two or three questions."
+
+"Go on then," said Dick, wearily.
+
+"Here goes then.  You know your cousin to be in the habit of going out
+grassing and taking walks up Constitootion Hill for training hisself?"
+
+"Well, no, Jerry, I never did."
+
+"Never found him fond o' buttercups and daisies, or prospects and views
+and that sort o' thing?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Nor yet taking six or seven or eight-mile walks to get himself a
+happetite?"
+
+"Never."
+
+"Then don't it seem a little strange as he should have done it that day
+and walked on and on, and never once made out that you were close behind
+him all the time?"
+
+"It did seem strange to me once or twice.  In fact, I felt pretty
+certain that he saw me."
+
+"Oh, no; not likely," said Jerry, with a derisive grin.  "He's too nice
+and innocent a young gentleman as to think that sooner or later you'd be
+making him give up the title and the money.  He wasn't likely to say to
+himself, `I'll walk right away into the lonesomest place I can find, and
+coax him on and on till I get him where there's not a soul likely to be
+about, right down in one of the hop-gardens.'  He wouldn't ever dream o'
+taking a loaded revolver with him and shoot you, so as to be able to
+enter to the property and be Sir Mark--not him!"
+
+Dick remained silent, but his fingers were tearing impatiently at the
+bed-clothes.
+
+"He wouldn't say to himself, `I'll delude him down into a place like
+that and give him one pill.'  And no one would ever say he was a likely
+gentleman to think of sticking the pistol in your hand so as to make it
+seem, when you were found by the hop-pickers, that you had done it
+yourself."
+
+Dick drew a long deep breath, and Jerry went on.
+
+"I'm getting too wicked altogether.  Soldiering's pysoning my morals--
+there's no mistake about it.  You see how I get thinking all kinds of
+bad about as mild and pleasant a gentleman as ever was born to be a
+comfort to people."
+
+"Hold your tongue!" said Dick hoarsely.  "Look here, Jerry, you don't
+think it possible that my cousin could have planned all that?"
+
+"Think it possible!" cried Jerry contemptuously; "why, I'm sure of it.
+He was getting desperate; and how you could go on looking at it all in
+such a hinnercent way caps me.  Why, a child could see through it all,
+and so could you, only you wouldn't.  You knew it was just as I said,
+now didn't you?"
+
+"I tried not to, Jerry, but it would take that shape."
+
+"Of course it would, because there was no other shape for it to take.
+Officers wear swords, but they don't go out walking in plain clothes
+with six-shooters in their pockets, to take aim at their cousins in
+lonely places.  Well, he made a mistake this time, and so he'll find."
+
+But Mark Frayne was not heard of again for years, when someone brought
+news of having seen him far up the country in Queensland; but it might
+only have been a rumour, after all.
+
+This was long after Sir Richard Frayne's promotion to captain in the
+regiment which he joined in India; for when he had fully recovered from
+the wound which brought him within an inch of death--the fever caused by
+the exposure playing its part--he went through a course of study and
+received his commission.  While he remained in England, many were the
+pleasant weeks he spent with his friends the Laceys, and many the
+poorly-played duets that followed on the flutes.
+
+There was no difficulty about the resumption of the title, and though
+the estate had been sorely plundered by the reckless spendthrift and
+gambler who had held it for a time, it soon began to recover in careful
+hands; while, as to Lacey, his losses were balanced by a heavy legacy
+just before he married, when he looked as handsome and easy-going as
+ever; and so he remained until stirred to action, as he subsequently
+was, when in Africa, upon more than one occasion.  Then he proved a
+tough customer to have to deal with.
+
+"And so you will not stay with Captain Lacey, Jerry?" said Sir Richard
+one day.
+
+"No, S'Richard.  I'd do anything for him, sir; and, as for his dear
+lady, she knows as I'd be her slave, but I seem to belong to you, sir,
+and, as you're going out to Indy, I feel as if I must go too, and so I
+volunteers."
+
+Jerry did go, and nursed his master after wounds received in struggles
+with the Hill Tribes, and, after fever, too; but never was Sir Richard
+Frayne so near death as upon that day when he was borne back to Ratcham
+upon a hurdle and the truth came out.
+
+"Ah!"  Jerry used to mutter sometimes over his pipe, "that was a narrow
+squeak.  But what I say is, there's worse lives than a soldier's, so
+three cheers for The Queen's Scarlet."
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Queen's Scarlet, by George Manville Fenn
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