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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..049c6d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #53874 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53874) diff --git a/old/53874-8.txt b/old/53874-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 38256fc..0000000 --- a/old/53874-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,17368 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Under the Red Dragon, by James Grant - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Under the Red Dragon - A Novel - -Author: James Grant - -Release Date: January 2, 2017 [EBook #53874] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER THE RED DRAGON *** - - - - -Produced by Charles Bowen from page scans provided by -Google Books (Cornell University Library) - - - - - - - - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: - 1. Page scan source: Google Books - https://books.google.com/books?id=bZ4xAQAAMAAJ - (Cornell University Library) - - - - - - -UNDER THE RED DRAGON. - - - -A Novel. - - - -By JAMES GRANT, - -AUTHOR OF "THE ROMANCE OF WAR," "ONLY AN ENSIGN," ETC. - - - - -LONDON: -GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, -THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE. -NEW YORK: 416, BROOME STREET. -1873. - - - - - - -CONTENTS. - -CHAP. - - I. THE INVITATION. - II. THE MOTH AND THE CANDLE. - III. BY EXPRESS. - IV. WINNY AND DORA LLOYD. - V. CRAIGADERYN COURT. - VI. THREE GRACES. - VII. PIQUE. - VIII. SUNDAY AT CRAIGADERYN. - IX. THE INITIALS. - X. A PERILOUS RAMBLE. - XI. THE FETE CHAMPETRE. - XII. ON THE CLIFFS. - XIII. A PROPOSAL. - XIV. THE UNFORESEEN. - XV. WHAT THE MOON SAW. - XVI. THE SECRET ENGAGEMENT. - XVII. WHAT FOLLOWED IT. - XVIII. GUILFOYLE. - XIX. TWO LOVES FOR ONE HEART. - XX. FEARS. - XXI. GEORGETTE FRANKLIN. - XXII. GEORGETTE FRANKLIN'S STORY. - XXIII. TURNING THE TABLES. - XXIV. BITTER THOUGHTS. - XXV. SURPRISES. - XXVI. WITHOUT PURCHASE. - XXVII. RECONCILIATION. - XVIII. ON BOARD THE URGENT. - XXIX. "ICH DIEN." - XXX. NEWS OF BATTLE. - XXXI. UNDER CANVAS. - XXXII. IN THE TRENCHES. - XXXIII. THE FLAG OF TRUCE. - XXXIV. GUILFOYLE REDIVIVUS. - XXXV. THE NIGHT BEFORE INKERMANN. - XXXVI. THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER. - XXXVII. THE ANGEL OF HORROR. - XXXVIII. THE CAMP AGAIN. - XXXIX. A MAIL FROM ENGLAND. - XL. A PERILOUS DUTY. - XLI. THE CARAVANSERAI. - XLII. THE TCHERNIMORSKI COSSACKS. - XLIII. WINIFRED'S SECRET. - XLIV. THE CASTLE OF YALTA. - XLV. EVIL TIDINGS. - XLVI. DELILAH. - XLVII. VALERIE VOLHONSKI. - XLVIII. THE THREATS OF TOLSTOFF. - XLIX. BETROTHED. - L. CAUGHT AT LAST. - LI. FLIGHT. - LII. BEFORE SEBASTOPOL STILL. - LIII. NEWS FROM CRAIGADERYN. - LIV. THE ASSAULT. - LV. INSIDE THE REDAN. - LVI. A SUNDAY MORNING IN THE CRIMEA. - LVII. IN THE MONASTERY OF ST. GEORGE. - LVIII. HOME. - LIX. "A DREAM WHICH WAS NOT ALL A DREAM." - LX. A HONEYMOON. - LXI. "FOR VALOUR." - - - - - - -UNDER THE RED DRAGON. - - - - -CHAPTER I.--THE INVITATION. - - -"And _she_ is to be there--nay, is there already; so one more chance -is given me to meet her. But for what?--to part again silently, and -more helplessly bewitched than ever, perhaps. Ah, never will she learn -to love me as I love her!" thought I, as I turned over my old friend's -letter, not venturing, however, to give utterance to this aloud, as -the quizzical eyes of Phil Caradoc were upon me. - -"A penny for your thoughts, friend Harry?" said he, laughing; "try -another cigar, and rouse yourself. What the deuce is in this letter, -that it affects you so? Have you put a pot of money on the wrong -horse?" - -"Been jilted, had a bill returned, or what?" suggested Gwynne. - -"Neither, fortunately," said I; "it is simply an invitation from Sir -Madoc Lloyd, which rather perplexes me." - -At this time our regiment was then in the East, awaiting with the rest -of the army some movement to be made from Varna, either towards -Bessarabia or the Crimea--men's minds were undecided as to which, -while her Majesty's Ministers seemed to have no thought on the -subject. Our depôt belonged to the provisional battalion at -Winchester, where Caradoc, Gwynne, two other subalterns, and I, with -some two hundred rank and file, expected ere long the fiat of the -fates who reign at the Horse Guards to send us forth to win our -laurels from the Russians, or, what seemed more probable, a grave -where the pest was then decimating our hapless army, in the beautiful -but perilous vale of Aladdyn, on the coast of Bulgaria. We had -just adjourned from mess, to have a quiet cheroot and glass of -brandy-and-water in my quarters, when I received from my man, Owen -Evans, the letter the contents of which awakened so many new hopes and -tantalising wishes in my heart, and on which so much of my fate in the -future might hinge. - -The bare, half-empty, or but partially-furnished single room accorded -by the barrack authorities to me as a subaltern, in that huge square -edifice built of old by Charles II. for a royal residence, seemed by -its aspect but little calculated to flatter the brilliant hopes in -question. Though ample in size, it was far from regal in its -appurtenances--the barrack furniture, a camp-bed, my baggage trunks -piled in one corner, swords and a gun-case in another, books, empty -bottles, cigar-boxes, and a few pairs of boots ostentatiously -displayed in a row by Evans, making up its entire garniture, and by -very contrast in its meagreness compelling me to smile sadly at myself -for the ambitious ideas the letter of my old friend had suggested; and -thus, for a minute or so ignoring, or rather oblivious of, the -presence of my two companions, my eye wandered dreamily over the -far-extended mass of old brick houses and the gray church towers of -the city, all visible from the open window, and then steeped in the -silver haze of the moonlight. - -Sipping their brandy-and-water, each with a lighted cheroot between -his fingers, their shell-jackets open, and their feet unceremoniously -planted on a hard wooden chair, while they lounged back upon another, -were Phil Caradoc and Charley Gwynne. The first a good specimen of a -handsome, curly-haired, and heedless young Englishman, who shot, -fished, hunted, pulled a steady oar, and could keep his wicket against -any man, while shining without effort in almost every manly sport, was -moreover a finished gentleman and thorough good fellow. Less -fashionable in appearance and less dashing in manner, though by no -means less soldier-like, Gwynne was his senior by some ten years. He -was more grave and thoughtful, for he had seen more of the service and -more of the world. Already a gray hair or so had begun to mingle with -the blackness of his heavy moustache, and the lines of thought were -traceable on his forehead and about the corners of his keen dark-gray -eyes; for he was a hard-working officer, who had been promoted from -the ranks when the regiment lay at Barbadoes, and was every inch a -soldier. And now they sat opposite me, waiting, with a half-comical -expression, for farther information as to their queries; and though we -were great friends, and usually had few secrets from each other, I -began to find that I had _one_ now, and that a little reticence was -necessary. - -"You know Sir Madoc's place in North Wales?" said I. - -"Of course," replied Caradoc; "there are few of ours who don't. Half -the regiment have been there as visitors at one time or other." - -"Well, he wishes me to get leave between returns--for even longer if I -can--and run down there for a few weeks. 'Come early, if possible,' he -adds; 'the girls insist on having an outdoor fête, and a lot of nice -folks are coming. Winny has arranged that we shall have a regimental -band--the Yeomanry one too, probably; then we are to have a Welsh -harper, of course, and an itinerant Merlin in the grotto, to tell -every one's fortune, and to predict your promotion and the C.B., if -the seer remains sober. While I write, little Dora is drawing up a -programme of the dances, and marking off, she says, those which she -means to have with _you_.'" - -Here I paused; but seeing they expected to hear more, for the writer -was a friend of us all, I read on coolly, and with an air of as much -unconsciousness as I could assume: - -"Lady Estelle Cressingham is with us--by the way, she seems to know -you, and would, I think, like to see more of you. She is a very fine -girl, though not pure Welsh; but that she cannot help--it is her -misfortune, not her fault. We have also a fellow here, though I don't -quite know how he got introduced--Hawkesby Guilfoyle, who met her -abroad at Ems, or Baden-Baden, or one of those places where one meets -everybody, and he seems uncommonly attentive--so much so, that I -wonder her mother permits it; but he seems to have some special power -or influence over the old lady, though his name is not as yet, or ever -likely to be, chronicled by Burke or Debrett. In lieu of the goat -which your regiment lost in Barbadoes, Winifred has a beautiful pet -one, a magnificent animal, which she means to present to the Welsh -Fusileers. Tell them so. And now, for yourself, I will take no -refusal, and Winny and Dora will take none either; so pack your traps, -and come off so soon as you can get leave. You need not, unless you -choose, bring horses; we have plenty of cavalry here. Hope you will be -able to stay till the 12th, and have a shot at the grouse. Meanwhile, -believe me, my dear Hardinge, yours, &c., Madoc Meredyth Lloyd.'" - -"Kindly written, and so like the jolly style of the old Baronet," said -Gwynne. "I have ridden with him once or twice in the hunting-field--on -a borrowed mount, of course," added poor Charley; who had only his -pay, and, being an enthusiast in his profession, was no lounger in the -service. - -"But what is there in all this that perplexes you?" asked Caradoc, -who, I suppose, had been attentively observing me. As he spoke, I -coloured visibly, feeling the while that I did so. - -"The difficulty about leave, perhaps," I stammered. - -"You'll go, of course," said Caradoc. "His place--Craigaderyn -Court--is one of the finest in North Wales; his daughters are indeed -charming; and you are certain to meet only people of the best style -there." - -"Yet he seems to doubt this--what is his name?--Guilfoyle, however," -said I. - -"What of that? One swallow--you know the adage. I should go, if I had -the invitation. His eldest daughter has, I have heard, in her own -right, no end of coal-mines somewhere, and many grassy acres of dairy -farms in the happy hunting-grounds of the midland counties." - -"By Jove," murmured Gwynne, as he lit a fresh cigar; "she should be -the girl for me." - -"But I have another inducement than even the fair Winny," said I. - -"Oho! Lady--" - -"Sir Madoc," said I hastily, "is an old friend of my family, and -having known me from infancy, he almost views me as a son. Don't -mistake me," I added, reddening with positive annoyance at the hearty -laugh my admission elicited; "Miss Lloyd and I are old friends too, -and know each other a deuced deal too well to tempt the perils of -matrimony together. We have no draughts ready for the East, nor will -there be yet awhile; even our last recruits are not quite licked into -shape." - -"No," sighed Gwynne, who had a special charge of the said "licking -into shape." - -"And so, as the spring drills are over, I shall try my luck with old -R----." - -The person thus bluntly spoken of was the lieutenant-colonel of the -depôt battalion--one who kept a pretty tight hand over us all in -general, and the subalterns in particular. - -"Stay," I exclaimed suddenly; "here is a postscript. 'Bring Caradoc of -yours with you, and Gwynne, too, if you can. Winny has mastered the -duet the former sent her, and is anxious to try it over with him." - -"Caradoc will only be too happy, if the genius who presides over us in -the orderly-room is propitious," said Phil, colouring and laughing. - -"Thank Sir Madoc for me, old fellow," said Gwynne, half sadly. "Tell -him that the Fates have made me musketry instructor, and that daily I -have that - - - 'Delightful task! to rear the tender thought, - To teach the young idea how to _shoot_'-- - - -to set up Taffy and Giles Chawbacon in the Hythe position, and drill -them to fire without closing both eyes and blazing in the air." - -"'In the lawn,' adds Sir Madoc, 'we are to have everything--from -waltzing to croquet (which, being an old fellow, and being above -insteps and all that sort of thing, I think the slowest game known), -and from cliquot and sparkling hock to bottled stout and bitter -beer--unlimited flirtation too, according to that wag, Dora.'" - -"A tempting bill of fare, especially with two such hostesses," said -Gwynne; "but for me to quit Winchester is impossible. Even the stale -dodge of 'urgent private affairs' won't serve me. Such droll ideas of -the service old Sir Madoc must have, to think that three of us could -leave the depôt, and all at once too!" - -"I shall try my luck, however." - -"And I too," rejoined Caradoc. "I am entitled to leave. Price of ours -will take my guards for me. Wales will be glorious in this hot month. -I _did_ all the dear old Principality last year--went over every foot -of Snowdonia, leaving nothing undone, from singing 'Jenny Jones' to -dancing a Welsh jig at a harvest-home." - -"But you didn't go over Snowdonia with such a girl as Winifred Lloyd?" - -"No, certainly," said he, laughing, and almost reddening again. -"Nature, even in my native Wales, must be more charming under such -bright auspices and happy influence. So Wales be it, if possible. -London, of course, is empty just now, and all who can get out of it -will be yachting at Cowes, shooting in Scotland, fishing in Norway, -backing the red at Baden-Baden, climbing the Matterhorn, or, it may -be, the Peter Botte; killing buffaloes in America, or voyaging up the -Nile in canoes. Rotten-row will be a desert, the opera a place of -silence and cobwebs; and the irresistible desire to go somewhere and -be doing something, no matter what, which inspires all young Britons -about this time, renders Sir Madoc's invitation most tempting and -acceptable." - -"Till the route comes for the East," said I. - -"Potting the Ruskies, and turning my musketry theory into practice, -are likely to be my chief relaxations and excitement," said Gwynne, -with a good-natured laugh, as he applied his hand to the brandy -bottle. "At present I have other work in hand than flirting with -countesses, or visiting heiresses. But I envy you both, and heartily -wish you all pleasure," he added, as he shook hands and left us early, -as he had several squads to put through that most monotonous of all -drill (shot drill perhaps excepted)--a course of musketry--betimes in -the morning. - -We knew that Gwynne, who was a tall, thin, close-flanked, and square -shouldered, but soldier-like fellow, had nothing but his pay; and -having a mother to support, he was fain to slave as a musketry -instructor, the five shillings extra daily being a great pecuniary -object to him. He was very modest withal, and feared that, nathless -his red coat and stalwart figure, his chances of an heiress, even in -Cottonopolis, were somewhat slender. - - - - -CHAPTER II.--THE MOTH AND THE CANDLE. - - -Philip Caradoc, perceiving that I was somewhat dull and disposed to -indulge in reverie, soon retired also, and we separated, intending to -mature our plans after morning parade next day, as I knew that -secretly Caradoc was very much attached to Winifred Lloyd, though that -young lady by no means reciprocated his affection. But I, seized by an -irresistible impulse, could not wait for our appointed time; so, the -moment he was gone, I opened my desk, wrote my application for leave, -and desiring Evans to take it to the orderly-room among his first -duties on the morrow, threw open a second window to admit the soft -breeze of the summer night, lit another cigar, and sat down to indulge -in the train of thought Sir Madoc's unexpected letter had awakened -within my breast. - -Yet I was not much given to reflection--far from it, perhaps; and it -is lucky for soldiers that they rarely indulge much in thought, or -that the system of their life is apt to preclude time or opportunity -for it. I had come home on a year's sick-leave from the West Indies, -where the baleful night-dews, and a fever caught in the rainy season, -had nearly finished my career while stationed at Up Park Camp; and -now, through the friendly interest of Sir Madoc, I had been gazetted -to the Welsh Fusileers, as I preferred the chances of the coming war -and military service in any part of Europe to broiling uselessly in -the land of the Maroons. Our army was in the East, I have said, -encamped in the vale of Aladdyn, between Varna and the sea. There -camp-fever and the terrible cholera were filling fast with graves the -grassy plain and all the Valley of the Plague, as the Bulgarians so -aptly named it; and though I was not sorry to escape the perils -encountered where no honour could be won, I was pretty weary of the -daily round at Winchester, of barrack life, of in-lying pickets, -guards, parades, and drill. I had been seven years in the service, and -deemed myself somewhat of a veteran, though only five-and-twenty. I -was weary too of belonging to a provisional battalion, wherein, beyond -the narrow circle of one's own depôt, no two men have the slightest -interest in each other, or seem to care if they ever meet again, the -whole organisation being temporary, and where the duties of such a -battalion--it being, in effect, a strict military school for training -recruits--are harassing to the newly-fledged, and a dreadful bore to -the fully-initiated, soldier. So, till the time came when the order -would be, "Eastward, ho!" Sir Madoc had opportunely offered me a -little relaxation and escape from all this; and though he knew it not, -his letter might be perhaps the means of doing much more--of opening -up a path to happiness and fortune, or leaving one closed for ever -behind me in sorrow, mortification, and bitterness of heart. - -Good old Sir Madoc (or, as he loved to call himself, Madoc ap Meredyth -Lloyd) had in his youth been an unsuccessful lover of my mother, then -the pretty Mary Vassal, a belle in her second season; and now, though -she had long since passed away, he had a strong regard for me. For her -sake he had a deep and kindly interest in my welfare; and as he had no -son (no heir to his baronetcy, with all its old traditional honours,) -he quite regarded me in the light of one; and having two daughters, -desired nothing more than that I should cut the service and become one -in reality. So many an act of friendship and many a piece of stamped -paper he had done for me, when in the first years of my career, I got -into scrapes with rogues upon the turf, at billiards, and with those -curses of all barracks, the children of Judea. Had I seen where my own -good fortune really lay, I should have fallen readily into the snare -so temptingly baited for me, a half-pennyless sub.; for Winifred Lloyd -was a girl among a thousand, so far as brilliant attractions go, and, -moreover, was not indisposed to view me favourably (at least, so my -vanity taught me). But this world is full of cross purposes; people -are too often blind to their profit and advantage, and, as Jaques has -it, "thereby hangs a tale." - -All the attractions of bright-eyed Winny Lloyd, personal and -pecuniary, were at that time as nothing to me. I had casually, when -idling in London, been introduced to, and had met at several places, -this identical Lady Cressingham, whom my friend had mentioned so -incidentally and in such an offhand way in his letter; and that -sentence it was which brought the blood to my temples and quickened -all the pulses of my heart. - -She was very beautiful--as the reader will find when we meet her -by-and-by--and I had soon learned to love her, but without quite -venturing to say so; to love her as much as it was possible for one -without hope of ultimate success, and so circumstanced as I was--a -poor gentleman, with little more in the world save my sword and -epaulettes. Doubtless she had seen and read the emotion with which she -had inspired me, for women have keen perceptions in such matters; and -though it seems as if it was on her very smile that the mainspring of -my existence turned, the whole affair might be but a source of quiet -amusement, of curiosity, or gratified vanity to her. Yet, by every -opportunity that the chances and artificial system of society in town -afforded, I had evinced this passion, the boldness of which my secret -heart confessed. Her portrait, a stately full-length, was in the -Academy, and how often had I gazed at it, till in fancy the limner's -work seemed to become instinct with life! Traced on the canvas by no -unskilful hand, it seemed to express a somewhat haughty consciousness -of her own brilliant beauty, and somehow I fancied a deuced deal more -of her own exalted _position_, as the only daughter of a deceased but -wealthy peer, and as if she rather disdained alike the criticism and -the admiration of the crowd of middle-class folks who thronged the -Academy halls. - -Visions of her--as I had seen her in the Countess's curtained box at -the opera, her rare and high-class beauty enhanced by all the -accessories of fashion and costume, by brilliance of light and the -subtle flash of many a gem amid her hair; when galloping along the -Row on her beautiful satin-skinned bay; or while driving after -in the Park, with all those appliances and surroundings that wealth -and rank confer--came floating before me, with the memory of words -half-uttered, and glances responded to when eye met eye, and told so -much more than the tongue might venture to utter. Was it mere vanity, -or reality, that made me think her smile _had_ brightened when she met -me, or that when I rode by her side she preferred me to the many -others who daily pressed forward to greet her amid that wonderful -place, the Row? Her rank, and the fact that she was an heiress, had no -real weight with me; nor did these fortuitous circumstances enhance -her merit in my eyes, though they certainly added to the difficulty of -winning her. Was it possible that the days of disinterested and -romantic love, like those of chivalry, were indeed past--gone with the -days when - - - "It was a clerk's son, of low degree, - Loved the king's daughter of Hongarie?" - - -With the love that struggled against humble fortune in my heart, I had -that keenly sensitive pride which is based on proper self-respect. -Hope I seemed to have none. What hope could I, Harry Hardinge, a mere -subaltern, with little more than seven-and-sixpence per diem, have of -obtaining such a wife as Lady Estelle Cressingham, and, more than all, -of winning the good wishes of her over-awing mamma? Though "love will -venture in when it daurna weel be seen," I could neither be hanged nor -reduced to the ranks for my presumption, like the luckless Captain -Ogilvie; who, according to the Scottish ballad, loved the Duke of -Gordon's bonnie daughter Jean. Yet defeat and rejection might cover me -with certain ridicule, leaving the stings of wounded self-esteem to -rankle all the deeper, by thrusting the partial disparity of our -relative positions in society more unpleasantly and humiliatingly -before me and the world; for there is a snobbery in rank that is only -equalled by the snobbery of wealth, and here I might have both to -encounter. And so, as I brooded over these things, some very levelling -and rather democratic, if not entirely Communal, ideas began to occur -to me. And yet, for the Countess and those who set store upon such -empty facts, I could have proved my descent from Nicholas Hardinge, -knight, of King's Newton, in Derbyshire; who in the time of Henry VII. -held his lands by the homely and most sanitary tenure of furnishing -clean straw for his Majesty's bed when he and his queen, Elizabeth of -York, passed that way, together with fresh rushes from the margin of -the Trent wherewith to strew the floor of the royal apartment. But -this would seem as yesterday to the fair Estelle, who boasted of an -ancestor, one Sir Hugh Cressingham, who, as history tells us, was -defeated and _flayed_ by the Scots after the battle of Stirling; while -old Sir Madoc Lloyd, who doubtless traced himself up to Noah ap -Lamech, would have laughed both pedigrees to scorn. - -Leaving London, I had striven to stifle as simply absurd the passion -that had grown within me, and had joined at Winchester in the honest -and earnest hope that ere long the coming campaign would teach me to -forget the fair face and witching eyes, and, more than all, the -winning manner that haunted me; and now I was to be cast within their -magic influence once more, and doubtless to be hopelessly lost. To -have acted wisely, I should have declined the invitation and pleaded -military duty; yet to see her once, to be with her once again, without -that cordon of guardsmen and cavaliers who daily formed her mounted -escort in Rotten-row, and with all the chances our quiet mutual -residence in a sequestered country mansion, when backed by all the -influence and friendship of Sir Madoc, must afford me, proved a -temptation too strong for resistance or for my philosophy; so, like -the poor moth, infatuated and self-doomed, I resolved once more to -rush at the light which dazzled me. - -"She seems to know you, _and would like to see more of you_," ran the -letter of Sir Madoc. I read that line over and over again, studying it -minutely in every way. Were those dozen words simply the embodiment of -his own ideas, or were they her personally expressed wish put -literally into writing? Were they but the reflex of some casual -remark? Even that conviction would bring me happiness. And so, after -my friends left me, I sat pondering thus, blowing long rings of -concentric smoke in the moonlight; and on those words of Sir Madoc -raising not only a vast and aerial castle, but a "bower of bliss," as -the pantomimes have it at Christmas time. - -But how about this Mr. Hawkesby Guilfoyle? was my next thought. Could -_his_ attentions be tolerated by such a stately and watchful dowager as -the Countess of Naseby? Could Sir Madoc actually hint that such as he -might have a chance of success, when I had none? The idea was too -ridiculous; for I had heard whispers of this man before, in London and -about the clubs, where he was generally deemed to be a species of -adventurer, the exact source of whose revenue no one knew. One fact -was pretty certain: he was unpleasantly successful at billiards and on -the turf. If he--to use his own phraseology--was daring enough to -enter stakes for such a prize as Lord Cressingham's daughter, why -should not I? - -Thus, in reverie of a somewhat chequered kind, I lingered on, while -the shadows of the cathedral, its lofty tower and choir, the spire of -St. Lawrence, and many other bold features of the view began to deepen -or become more uncertain on the city roofs below, and from amid which -their masses stood upward in a flood of silver sheen. Ere long the -full-orbed moon--that seemed to float in beauty beneath its snow-white -clouds, looking calmly down on Winchester, even as she had done ages -ago, ere London was a capital, and when the white city was the seat of -England's Saxon, Danish, and Norman dynasties, of Alfred's triumphs -and Canute's glories--began at last to pale and wane; and the solemn -silence of the morning--for dewy morning it was now--was broken only -by the chime of the city bells and clocks, and by the tread of feet in -the gravelled barrack-yard, as the reliefs went round, and the -sentinels were changed. - -The first red streak of dawn was beginning to steal across the east; -the bugles were pealing reveilles, waking all the hitherto silent -echoes of the square; and just about the time when worthy and -unambitious Charley Gwynne would be parading his first squad for -"aiming drill" at sundry bull's-eyes painted on the barrack-walls, I -retired to dream over a possible future, and to hope that if the stars -were propitious, at the altar of that somewhat dingy fane, St. -George's, Hanover-square, I might yet become the son-in-law of the -late Earl of Naseby, Baron Cressingham of Cotteswold, in the county of -Northampton, and of Walcot Park in Hants, Lord-lieutenant, _custos -rotulorum_, and so forth, as I had frequently and secretly read in the -mess-room copy of Sir Bernard Burke's thick royal octavo; "the -Englishman's Bible" according to Thackeray, and, as I greatly feared, -the somewhat exclusive _libro d'oro_ of Mamma Cressingham, who was apt -to reverence it pretty much as the Venetian nobles did the remarkable -volume of that name. - - - - -CHAPTER III--By EXPRESS. - - -Leave granted, our acceptance of Sir Madoc's invitation duly -telegraphed--"wired," as the phrase is now--our uniforms doffed and -mufti substituted, the morning of the second day ensuing saw Caradoc -and myself on the Birmingham railway _en route_ for Chester; the -exclusive occupants of a softly cushioned compartment, where, by the -influence of a couple of florins slipped deftly and judiciously into -the palm of an apparently unconscious and incorruptible official, we -could lounge at our ease, and enjoy without intrusion the _Times_, -_Punch_, or our own thoughts, and the inevitable cigar. Though in -mufti we had uniform with us; we _believed_ in it then, and in its -influence; for certain German ideas of military tailoring subsequent -to the Crimean war had not shorn us of our epaulettes, and otherwise -reduced the character of our regimentals to something akin to the -livery of a penny postman or a railway guard. - -Somehow, I felt more hopeful of my prospects, when, with the bright -sunshine of July around us, I found myself spinning at the rate of -fifty miles per hour by the express train--the motion was almost as -imperceptible as the speed was exhilarating--and swiftly passed the -scenes on either side, the broad green fields of growing grain, the -grassy paddocks, the village churches, the snug and picturesque -homesteads of Warwick and Worcestershire. We glided past Rugby, where -Caradoc had erewhile conned his tasks in that great Elizabethan pile -which is built of white brick with stone angles and cornices, and -where in the playing fields he had gallantly learned to keep his -wicket with that skill which made him our prime regimental bat and -bowler too. Coventry next, where of course we laughed as we thought of -"peeping Tom" and Earl Leofric's pretty countess, when we saw its -beautiful and tapering spires rise over the dark and narrow streets -below. Anon, we paused amid the busy but grimy world of Birmingham, -which furnishes half the world with the implements of destruction; -Stafford, with its ruined castle on a well-wooded eminence; and ere -long we halted in quaint old Chester by the Dee, where the stately red -stone tower of the cathedral rises darkly over its picturesque -thoroughfares of the middle ages. There the rail went no farther then; -but a carriage sent by Sir Madoc awaited us at the station, and we had -before us the prospect of a delightful drive for nearly thirty miles -amid the beautiful Welsh hills ere we reached his residence. - -"This whiff of the country is indeed delightful!" exclaimed Caradoc, -as we bowled along on a lovely July evening, the changing shadows of -the rounded hills deepening as the sun verged westward; "it makes one -half inclined to cut the service, and turn farmer or cattle-breeding -squire--even to chuck ambition, glory, and oneself away upon a landed -heiress, if such could be found ready to hand." - -"Even upon Winifred Lloyd, with her dairy-farms in the midland -counties, eh?" - -Phil coloured a little, but laughed good-humouredly as he replied, - -"Well, I must confess that she is somewhat more than my weakness--at -present." - -At Aber-something we found a relay of fresh horses, sent on by Sir -Madoc, awaiting us, the Welsh roads not being quite so smooth as a -billiard-table; and there certain hoarse gurgling expletives, uttered -by ostlers and stable-boys, might have warned us that we were in the -land of Owen and Hughes, Griffiths and Davies, and all the men of the -Twelve Royal Tribes, even if there had not been the green mountains -towering into the blue sky, and the pretty little ivy-covered inn, at -the porch of which sat a white-haired harper (on the watch for patrons -and customers), performing the invariable "Jenny Jones" or -_Ar-hyd-y-nos_ (the live-long night), and all the while keeping a -sharp Celtic eye to the expected coin. - -Everything around us indicated that we were drawing nearer to the -abode of Sir Madoc, and that ere long--in an hour or so, perhaps--I -should again see one who, by _name_ as well as circumstance, was a -star that I feared and hoped would greatly influence all my future. -The Eastern war, and, more than all, the novelty of any war after -forty years of European peace, occupied keenly the minds of all -thinking people. My regiment was already gone, and I certainly should -soon have to follow it. I knew that, individually and collectively, -all bound for the seat of the coming strife had a romantic and even -melancholy interest, in the hearts of women especially; and I was not -without some hope that this sentiment might add to my chances of -finding favour with the rather haughty Estelle Cressingham. - -It was a glorious summer evening when our open barouche swept along -the white dusty road that wound by the base of Mynedd Hiraethrog, that -wild and bleak mountain chain which rises between the Dee and its -tributaries the Elwey and the Aled. Westward in the distance towered -blue Snowdon, above the white floating clouds of mist, with all its -subordinate peaks. In the immediate foreground were a series of -beautiful hills that were glowing, and, to the eye, apparently -vibrating, under a burning sunset. The Welsh woods were in all the -wealth of their thickest foliage--the umbrageous growth of centuries; -and where the boughs cast their deepest shadows, the dun deer and the -fleet hare lurked among the fragrant fern, and the yellow sunlight -fell in golden patches on the passing runnel, that leaped flashing -from rock to rock, to mingle with the Alwen, or crept slowly and -stealthily under the long rank grass towards Llyn-Aled. - -That other accessories might not be wanting to remind us that we were -in the land of the Cymri, we passed occasionally the _Carneddau_, or -heaps of stones that mark the old places of battle or burial; and -perched high on the hills the _Hafodtai_ or summer farms, where -enormous flocks of sheep--the boasted Welsh mutton--were pasturing. -Then we heard at times the melancholy sound of the horn, by which -inmates summon the shepherds to their meals, and the notes of which, -when waking the echoes of the silent glen, have an effect so weird and -mournful. - -"By Jove, but we have a change here, Phil," said I, "a striking -change, indeed, from the hot and dusty gravelled yard of Winchester -barracks, the awkward squads at incessant drill with dumb-bell, club, -or musket; the pipeclay, the pacing-stick, and the tap of the drum!" - -Through a moss-grown gateway, the design of Inigo Jones, we turned -down the long straight avenue of limes that leads to Craigaderyn; a -fine old mansion situated in a species of valley, its broad lawn -overlooked by the identical craig from which it takes its name, "the -Rock of Birds," a lofty and insulated mass, the resort of innumerable -hawks, wood-pigeons, and even of hoarse-croaking cormorants from the -cliffs about Orme's Head and Llandulas. On its summit are the ruins of -an ancient British fort, wherein Sir Jorwerth Goch (_i. e_. Red Edward) -Lloyd of Craigaderyn had exterminated a band of Rumpers and Roundheads -in the last year of Charles I., using as a war-cry the old Welsh shout -of "Liberty, loyalty, and the long head of hair!" On either side of -the way spread the lawn, closely shorn and carefully rolled, the -turf being like velvet of emerald greenness, having broad winding -carriage-ways laid with gravel, the bright red of which contrasted so -strongly with the verdant hue of the grass. The foliage of the timber -was heavy and leafy, and there, at times, could be seen the lively -squirrel leaping from branch to branch of some ancient oak, in the -hollow of which lay its winter store of nuts; the rabbit bounding -across the path, from root to fern tuft; and the _bela-goed_, or -yellow-breasted martin (still a denizen of the old Welsh woods), with -rounded ears and sharp white claws, the terror of the poultry-yard, -appeared occasionally, despite the gamekeeper's gun. In one place a -herd of deer were browsing near the half-leafless ruins of a mighty -oak--one so old, that Owen Glendower had once reconnoitred an English -force from amid its branches. - -We had barely turned into the avenue, when a gentleman and two ladies, -all mounted, came galloping from a side path to meet us. He and one of -his companions cleared the wire fence in excellent style by a flying -leap; but the other, who was less pretentiously mounted, adroitly -opened the iron gate with the handle of her riding switch, and came a -few paces after them to meet us. They proved to be Sir Madoc and his -two daughters, Winifred and Dora. - -"True in the direction of time, 'by Shrewsbury clock'!" said he, -cantering up; "welcome to Craigaderyn, gentlemen! We were just looking -for you." - -He was a fine hale-looking man, about sixty years old, with a ruddy -complexion, and a keen, clear, dark eye; his hair, once of raven -blackness, was white as silver now, though very curly or wavy still; -his eyebrows were bushy and yet dark as when in youth. He was a Welsh -gentleman, full of many local prejudices and sympathies; a man of the -old school--for such a school has existed in all ages, and still -exists even in ours of rapid progress, scientific marvels, and -moneymaking. His manners were easy and polished, yet without anything -either of style or fashion about them; for he was simple in all his -tastes and ways, and was almost as plainly attired as one of his own -farmers. His figure and costume, his rubicund face, round merry eyes, -and series of chins, his amplitude of paunch and stunted figure, his -bottle-green coat rather short in the skirts, his deep waistcoat and -low-crowned hat, were all somewhat Pickwickian in their character and -_tout-ensemble_, save that in lieu of the tights and gaiters of our -old friend he wore white corded breeches, and orthodox dun-coloured -top-boots with silver spurs, and instead of green goggles had a gold -eyeglass dangling at the end of a black-silk ribbon. Strong -riding-gloves and a heavy hammer-headed whip completed his attire. - -"Glad to see you, Harry, and you too, Mr. Caradoc," resumed Sir Madoc, -who was fond of remembering that which Phil--more a man of the -world--was apt to forget or to set little store on--that he was -descended from Sir Matthew Caradoc, who in the days of Perkin Warbeck -(an epoch but as yesterday in Sir Madoc's estimation) was chancellor -of Glamorgan and steward of Gower and Helvie; for what true Welshman -is without a pedigree? "Let me look at you again, Harry. God bless me! -is it possible that you, a tall fellow with a black moustache, can be -the curly fair-haired boy I have so often carried on my back and -saddle-bow, and taught to make flies of red spinner and drakes' wings, -when we trouted together at Llyn Cwellyn among the hills yonder?" - -"I think, papa, you would be more surprised if you found him a -curly-pated boy still," said Miss Lloyd. - -"And it is seven years since he joined the service; what a fine fellow -he has grown!" - -"Papa, you are quite making Mr. Hardinge blush!" said Dora, laughing. - -"Almost at the top of the lieutenants, too; there is luck for you!" he -continued. - -"More luck than merit, perhaps; more the Varna fever than either, Sir -Madoc," said I, as he slowly relinquished my hand, which he had held -for a few seconds in his, while looking kindly and earnestly into my -face. - -It was well browned by the sun and sea of the Windward Isles, -tolerably well whiskered and moustached too; so I fear that if the -good old gentleman was seeking for some resemblance to the sweet Mary -Vassal of the past times, he sought in vain. Our horses were all -walking now; Sir Madoc rode on one side of the barouche, and his two -daughters on the other. - -"You saw my girls last season in town," said he; "but when you were -last here, Winifred was in her first long frock, and Dora little more -than a baby." - -"But Craigaderyn is all unchanged, though _we_ may be," said Winifred, -whose remark had some secret point in it so far as referred to me. - -"And Wales is unchanged too," added Dora; "Mr. Hardinge will find the -odious hat of the women still lingers in the more savage regions; the -itinerant harper and the goat too are not out of fashion; and we still -wear our leek on the first of March." - -"And long may all this be so!" said her father; "for since those -pestilent railways have come up by Shrewsbury and Chester, with their -tides of tourists, greed, dissipation, and idleness are on the -increase, and all our good old Welsh customs are going to Caerphilly -and the devil! Without the wants of over-civilisation we were -contented; but now--_Gwell y chydig gait rad, na llawr gan avrard_," -he added with something like an angry sigh, quoting a Welsh proverb to -the effect that a little with a blessing is better than much with -prodigality. - - - - -CHAPTER IV.--WINNY AND DORA LLOYD. - - -Both girls were very handsome, and for their pure and brilliant -complexion were doubtless indebted to the healthful breeze that swept -the green sides of the Denbigh hills, together with an occasional -_soupçon_ of that which comes from the waters of the Irish Sea. - -It is difficult to say whether Winifred could be pronounced a brunette -or a blonde, her skin was so exquisitely fair, while her splendid hair -was a shade of the deepest brown, and her glorious sparkling eyes were -of the darkest violet blue. Their normal expression was quiet and -subdued; they only flashed up at times, and she was a girl that -somehow every colour became. In pure white one might have thought her -lovely, and lovelier still, perhaps, in black or blue or rose, or any -other tint or shade. Her fine lithe figure appeared to perfection in -her close-fitting habit of dark-blue cloth, and the masses of her hair -being tightly bound up under her hat, revealed the contour of her -slender neck and delicately formed ear. - -Dora was a smaller and younger edition of her sister--more girlish and -more of a hoyden, with her lighter tresses, half golden in hue, -floating loose over her shoulders and to beneath her waist from under -a smart little hat, the feather and fashion of which imparted intense -piquancy to the character of her somewhat irregular but remarkably -pretty face and--we must admit it--rather _retroussé_ nose. - -Pride and a little reserve were rather the predominant style of the -elder and dark-eyed sister; merriment, fun, and rather noisy -flirtation were that of Dora, who permitted herself to laugh at times -when her sister would barely have smiled, and to say things on which -the other would never have ventured; but this _espièglerie_ and a -certain bearing of almost rantipole--if one may use such a term--were -thought to become her. - -Winifred rode a tall wiry nag, a hand or two higher than her father's -stout active hunter; but Dora preferred to scamper about on a -beautiful Welsh pony, the small head, high withers, flat legs, and -round hoofs of which it no doubt inherited, as Sir Madoc would have -said, from the celebrated horse Merlin. - -"Hope you'll stay with us till the twelfth of next month," said he. -"The grouse are looking well." - -"Our time is doubtful, our short leave conditional, Sir Madoc," -replied Phil Caradoc, who, however, was not looking at the Baronet, -but at Winifred, in the hope that the alleged brevity of his visit -might find him some tender interest in her eyes, or stir some chord by -its suggestiveness in her breast; but Winny, indifferent apparently to -separation and danger so far as he was concerned, seemed intent on -twirling the silky mane of her horse with the lash of her whip. - -"Then, in about a fortnight after, we shall be blazing at the -partridges," resumed Sir Madoc, to tempt us. "But matters are looking -ill for the pheasants in October, for the gamekeeper tells me that the -gapes have been prevalent among them. The poults were hatched early, -and the wet weather from the mountains has made more havoc than our -guns are likely to do." - -"Long before that time, Sir Madoc, I hope we shall be making havoc -among the Russians," replied Phil, still glancing covertly at Miss -Lloyd. - -"Ah, I hope not!" said she, roused apparently this time. "I look -forward to this most useless war with horror and dismay. So many dear -friends have gone, so many more are going, it makes one quite sad! O, -I shall never forget that morning in London when the poor Guards -marched!" - -This was addressed, not to Phil Caradoc, but to _me_. - -"We knew that we should meet you," said she, colouring, and adding a -little hastily, "We asked Lady Estelle to accompany us; but--" - -"She is far too--what shall I call it?--aristocratic or -unimpressionable to think of going to meet any one," interrupted her -sister. - -"Don't say so, Dora! Yet I thought the loveliness of the evening would -have tempted her. And Bob Spurrit the groom has broken a new pad -expressly for her, by riding it for weeks with a skirt." - -So there was no temptation but "the loveliness of the evening," -thought I; while Dora said, - -"But she preferred playing over to Mr. Guilfoyle that piece of German -music he gave her yesterday." - -All this was not encouraging. She knew that I was coming--a friend in -whom she could not help having, from the past, rather more than a -common interest--and yet she had declined to accompany those frank and -kindly girls. Worse than all, perhaps she had at that moment this Mr. -Hawkesby Guilfoyle hanging over her admiringly at the piano, while she -played _his_ music, presented to her doubtless with some suggestive, -secret or implied, meaning in the sentiment or the title of it. -Jealousy readily suggested much of this, and a great deal more. That -Lady Estelle was at Craigaderyn Court had been my prevailing idea when -accepting so readily my kind friend's invitation. Then I should see -her in a very little time now! I had been resolved to watch well how -she received me, though it would be no easy task to read the secret -thoughts of one so well and so carefully trained to keep all human -emotions under perfect control, outwardly at least--a "Belgravian -thoroughbred," as I once heard Sir Madoc term her; but if she changed -colour, however faintly, if there was the slightest perceptible tremor -in her voice, or a flash of the eye, which indicated that which, under -the supervision of the usually astute dowager her mother, she dared -scarcely to betray--an interest in one such as me--it would prove at -least that my presence was not indifferent to her. Thus much only did -I hope, and of such faint hope had my heart been full until now, when -I heard all this; and if I was piqued by her absence, I was still more -by the cause of it; though had I reflected for a moment, I ought to -have known that the very circumstances under which I had last parted -from her in London, with an expected avowal all but uttered and -hovering on my lips when leading her to the carriage, were sufficient -to preclude a girl so proud as she from coming to meet me, even in the -avenue, and when accompanied by Winifred and Dora Lloyd. - -"Is Mr. Guilfoyle a musician?" I asked. - -"A little," replied Dora; "plays and sings too; but I can't help -laughing at him--and it is so rude." - -"He says that he is a friend of yours, Harry Hardinge; is he so?' -asked Sir Madoc, with his bushy brows depressed for a moment. - -"Well, if losing to him once at pool mysteriously, also on a certain -horse, while he scratched out of its engagements another on which I -stood sure to win, make a friend, he is one. I have met him at his -club, and should think that he--he--" - -"Is not a good style of fellow, in fact," said Sir Madoc in a low -tone, and rather bluntly. - -"Perhaps so; nor one I should like to see at Craigaderyn Court." I -cared not to add "especially in the society of Lady Cressingham," -after whom he dangled, on the strength of some attentions or friendly -services performed on the Continent. - -"And so you lost money to him? We have a Welsh proverb beginning, -_Dyled ar bawb_--" - -"We shall have barely time to dress, dear papa," said Miss Lloyd, -increasing the speed of her horse, as she seemed to dread the Welsh -proclivities of her parent; "and remember that we have quite a -dinner-party to-day." - -"Yes," added Dora; "two country M.P.s are coming; but, O dear! they -will talk nothing but blue-book with papa, or about the crops, fat -pigs, and the county pack; and shake their heads about ministerial -policy and our foreign prestige, whatever that may be. Then we have an -Indian colonel with only half a liver, the doctor says, and two Indian -judges without any at all." - -"Dora!" exclaimed Miss Lloyd in a tone of expostulation. "Well, it is -what the doctor said," persisted Dora; "and if he is wrong can I help -it?" - -"But people don't talk of such things." - -"Then people shouldn't have them." - -"A wild Welsh girl this," said Sir Madoc; "neither schooling in -Switzerland nor London has tamed her." - -"And we are to have several county gentlemen who are great in the -matters of turnips, top-dressing, and Welsh mutton; four young ladies, -each with a flirtation on hand; and four old ones, deep in religion -and scandal, flannel and coals for the poor; so, Mr. Hardinge, you and -Mr. Caradoc will be quite a double relief to us--to me, certainly." - -"O, Dora, how your tongue runs on!" exclaimed Winifred. - -"And then we have Lady Naseby to act as materfamilias, and play -propriety for us all in black velvet and diamonds. Winny, eldest -daughter of the house, is evidently unequal to the task." - -"And the coming fête," said I, "is it in honour of anything in -particular?" - -"Yes, something very particular indeed," replied Dora. - -"Of what?" - -"Me." - -"You!" - -"My birthday--I shall be eighteen," she added, shaking back the heavy -masses of her golden hair. - -"And she has actually promised to have one round dance with Lord -Pottersleigh," said Winny, laughing heartily. - -"I did but promise out of mischief; I trust, however, the Viscount -will leave off his goloshes for that day, though we are to dance on -the grass, or I hope he may forget all about it. Old Potter, I call -him," added the young lady in a _sotto-voce_ to me, "at least, when -the Cressinghams are not present." - -"Why them especially?" - -"Because he is such a particular friend of theirs." - -This was annoyance number two; for this wealthy but senile old peer -had been a perpetual adorer of Lady Estelle, favoured too, apparently, -by her mother, and had been on more than one occasion a _bête noire_ -to me; and now I was to meet him here again! - -"Papa has told you that I mean to part with my poor pet goat--Carneydd -Llewellyn, so called from the mountain whence he came. He is to be -sent to the regiment--in your care, too." - -"Why deprive yourself of a favourite? Why deprive it of such care as -yours? Among soldiers," said I, "the poor animal will sorely miss the -kindness and caresses you bestow upon it." - -"I shall be so pleased to think that our Welsh Fusileers, in the lands -to which they are going, will have something so characteristic to -remind them of home, of the wild hills of Wales, perhaps to make them -think of the donor. Besides, papa says the corps has never been -without this emblem of the old Principality since it was raised in the -year of the Revolution." - -"Most true; but how shall I--how shall _we_--ever thank you?" - -I could see that her nether lip--a lovely little pouting lip it -was--quivered slightly, and that her eyes were full of strange light, -though bent downward on her horse's mane; and now I felt that, for -reasons apparent enough, I was cold, even unkind, to this warm-hearted -girl; for we had been better and dearer friends before we knew the -Cressinghams. She checked her horse a little abruptly, and began to -address some of the merest commonplaces to Phil Caradoc; who, with his -thick brown curly hair parted in the middle, his smiling handsome face -and white regular teeth, was finding great favour in the eyes of the -laughing Dora. But now we were drawing near Craigaderyn Court. The -scenery was Welsh, and yet the house and all its surroundings were in -character genuinely English, though to have hinted so much might have -piqued Sir Madoc. The elegance and comfort of the mansion were -English, and English too was the rich verdure of the velvet lawn and -the stately old chase, the trees of which were ancient enough--some of -them at least--to have sheltered Owen Glendower, or echoed to the -bugle of Llewellyn ap Seisalt, whose tall grave-stone stands amid the -battle-mounds on grassy Castell Coch. - -At a carved and massive entrance-door we alighted, assisted the ladies -to dismount, and then, gathering up their trains, they swept merrily -up the steps and into the house, to prepare for dinner; while Sir -Madoc, ere he permitted us to retire, though the first bell had been -rung, led us into the hall; a low-ceiled, irregular, and oak-panelled -room, decorated with deers' antlers, foxes' brushes crossed, and -stuffed birds of various kinds, among others a gigantic golden eagle, -shot by himself on Snowdon. This long apartment was so cool that, -though the season was summer, a fire burned in the old stone -fireplace; and on a thick rug before it lay a great, rough, red eyed -staghound, that made one think of the faithful brach that saved -Llewellyn's heir. The windows were half shaded by scarlet hangings; a -hunting piece or two by Sneyders, with pictures of departed -favourites, horses and dogs, indicated the tastes of the master of the -house and of his ancestors; and there too was the skull of the _last_ -wolf killed in Wales, more than a century ago, grinning on an oak -bracket. The butler, Owen Gwyllim, who occasionally officiated as a -harper, especially at Yule, was speedily in attendance, and Sir Madoc -insisted on our joining him in a stiff glass of brandy-and-water, "as -a whet," he said; and prior to tossing off which he gave a hoarse -guttural toast in Welsh, which his butler alone understood, and at -which he laughed heartily, with the indulged familiarity of an old -servant. - -I then retired to make an unusually careful toilette; to leave nothing -undone or omitted in the way of cuffs, studs, rings, and so forth, in -all the minor details of masculine finery; hearing the while from a -distance the notes of a piano in another wing of the house come -floating through an open window. The air was German;--could I doubt -whose white fingers were gliding over the keys, and _who_ might be -standing by, and feeling himself, perhaps, somewhat master of the -situation? - - - - -CHAPTER V.--CRAIGADERYN COURT. - - -Apart from Welsh fable and tradition, the lands of Craigaderyn had -been in possession of Sir Madoc's family for many ages, and for more -generations of the line of Lloyd; but the mansion, the Court itself, -is not older than the Stuart times, and portions of it were much more -recent, particularly the library, the shelves of which were replete -with all that a gentleman's library should contain; the billiard-room -and gun-room, where all manner of firearms, from the old -long-barrelled fowling-piece of Anne's time down to Joe Manton and -Colt's revolver, stood side by side on racks; the kennels, where many -a puppy yelped; and the stable-court, where hoofs rang and -stall-collars jangled, and where Mr. Bob Spurrit--a long-bodied, -short-and-crooked legged specimen of the Welsh groom--reigned supreme, -and watered and corned his nags by the notes of an ancient clock in -the central tower--a clock said to have been brought as spoil from the -church of Todtenhausen, by Sir Madoc's grandfather, after he led the -Welsh Fusileers at the battle of Minden. Masses of that "rare old -plant, the ivy green," heavy, leafy, and overlapping each other, -shrouded great portions of the house. Oriels, full of small panes and -quaint coats of arms, abutted here and there; while pinnacles and -turrets, vanes, and groups of twisted, fluted, or garlanded stone -chimney stacks, rose sharply up to break the sky-line and many a panel -and scutcheon of stone were there, charged with the bend, ermine, and -pean of Lloyd--the lion rampant wreathed with oak, and armed with a -sword--and the heraldic cognizance of many a successive matrimonial -alliance. - -Some portions of the house, where the walls were strong and the lower -storey vaulted, were associated, of course, with visits from Llewellyn -and Owen Glendower; and there also abode--a ghost. The park, too, was -not without its old memories and traditions. Many of its trees were -descendants of an ancient grove dedicated to Druidic worship; and -bones frequently found there were alleged by some to be the relics of -human sacrifice, by others to be those of Roman or of Saxon warriors -slain by the sturdy Britons who, under Cadwallader, Llewellyn of the -Torques, or some other hero of the Pendragonate, had held, in defiance -of both, the _caer_ or fort on the summit of Craigaderyn. But the -woodlands on which Sir Madoc mostly prided himself were those of the -old acorn season, when Nature planted her own wild forests, and sowed -the lawn out of her own lawns, as some writer has it. They were -unquestionably the most picturesque, but the trim and orderly chase -was not without its beauties too, and there had many grand -Eisteddfoddiau been held under the auspices of Sir Madoc, and often -fifty harpers at a time had made the woods ring to "The noble Race of -Shenkin," or "The March of the Men of Harlech." - -The old Court and its surroundings were such as to make one agree with -what Lord Lyttelton wrote of another Welsh valley, where "the -mountains seemed placed to guard the charming retreat from invasions; -and where, with the woman one loves, the friend of one's heart, and a -good library, one might pass an age, and think it a day." - -The ghost was a tall thin figure, dressed somewhat in the costume of -Henry VIII.'s time; but his full-skirted doublet with large sleeves, -the cap bordered with ostrich feathers, the close tight hose, and -square-toed shoes, were all deep black, hence his, or _its_, aspect -was sombre in the extreme, shadowy and uncertain too, as he was only -visible in the twilight of eve, or the first dim and similarly -uncertain light of the early dawn; and these alleged appearances have -been chiefly on St. David's day, the 1st of March, and were preceded -by the sound of a harp about the place--but a harp _unseen_. He was -generally supposed to leave, or be seen quitting, a portion of the -house, where the old wall was shrouded with ivy, and to walk or glide -swiftly and steadily, without casting either shadow or foot-mark on -the grass, towards a certain ancient tree in the park, where he -disappeared--faded, or melted out of sight. On the wall beneath the -ivy being examined, a door--the portion of an earlier structure--was -discovered to have been built up, but none knew when or why; and -tradition averred that those who had seen him pass--for none dared -follow--towards the old tree, could make out that his figure and face -were those of a man in the prime of life, but the expression of the -latter was sad, solemn, resolute, and gloomy. - -The origin of the legend, as told to me by Winifred Lloyd, referred to -a period rather remote in history, and was to the following effect. -Some fifteen miles southward from Craigaderyn is a quaint and singular -village named Dinas Mowddwy, situated very strangely on the shelf of a -steep mountain overlooking the Dyfi stream--a lofty spot commanding a -view of the three beautiful valleys of the Ceryst; but this place was -in past times the abode and fortress of a peculiar and terrible tribe, -called the Gwylliad Cochion, or Red-haired Robbers, who made all North -Wales, but more particularly their own district, a by-word and -reproach, from the great extent and savage nature of the outrages they -committed by fire and sword; so that to this day, we are told, there -may be seen, in some of the remote mountain hamlets, more especially -in Cemmaes near the sea, the well-sharpened scythe-blades, which were -placed in the chimney-corners overnight, to be ready for them in case -of a sudden attack. They were great crossbowmen, those outlaws, and -never failed in their aim; and so, like the broken clans upon the -Highland border, they levied black mail on all, till the night of the -1st of March, 1534; when, during a terrific storm of thunder, -lightning, and wind, Sir Jorwerth Lloyd of Craigaderyn, John Wynne ap -Meredydd, and a baron named Owen, scaled the mountain at the head of -their followers, fell on them sword in hand, and after slaying a great -number, hung one hundred of them in a row. One wretched mother, a -red-haired Celt, begged hard and piteously to have her youngest son -spared; but Sir Jorwerth was relentless, so the young robber perished -with the rest. Then the woman rent her garments, and laying bare her -bosom, said it had nursed other sons and daughters, who would yet wash -their hands in the blood of them all. Owen was waylaid and slain by -them at a place named to this day Llidiart-y-Barwn, or the Baron's -Gate, and Meredydd fell soon after; but for Lloyd the woman, who was a -reputed witch, had prepared another fate, as if aiming at the -destruction of his soul as well as his body; for after his marriage -with Gwerfyl Owen, he fell madly in love with a golden-haired girl -whom he met when hunting in the forest near Craigaderyn; and as he -immediately relinquished all attendance at church and all forms of -prayer, and seemed to be besotted by her, the girl was averred to be -an evil spirit, as she was never seen save in his company, and then -only (by those who watched and lurked) "in the glimpses of the moon." - -On the third St. David's eve after the slaughter at Dinas Mowddwy, he -was seated with Gwerfyl in her chamber, listening to a terrific storm -of wind and rain that swept through the valley, overturning the oldest -trees, and shaking the walls of the ancient house, while the lightning -played above the dim summits of Snowdon, and every mountain stream and -_rhaidr_, or cataract, rolled in foam and flood to Llyn Alwen or the -Conway. - -On a tabourette near his knee she sat, lovingly clasping his hand -between her own two, for he seemed restless, petulant, and gloomy, and -had his cloak and cap at hand, as if about to go forth, though the -weather was frightful. - -"Jorwerth," said she softly, "the last time there was such a storm as -this was on that terrible night--you remember?" - -"When we cut off the Gwylliad Cochion--yes, root and branch, sparing, -as we thought, none, while the rain ran through my armour as through a -waterspout. But why speak of it, to-night especially? Yes, root and -branch, even while that woman vowed vengeance," he added, grinding his -teeth. "But what sound is that?" - -"Music," she replied, rising and looking round with surprise; but his -tremulous hand, and, more than that, the sudden pallor of his face, -arrested her, while the strains of a small harp, struck wildly and -plaintively, came at times between the fierce gusts of wind that shook -the forest trees and the hiss of the rain on the window-panes without. -Louder they seemed to come, and to be more emphatic and sharp; and, as -he heard them, a violent trembling and cold perspiration came over all -the form of Sir Jorwerth Lloyd. - -"Heaven pity the harper who is abroad to-night!" said Gwerfyl, -clasping her white hands. - -"Let Hell do so, rather!" was the fierce response of her husband, as -his eyes filled with a strange light. - -At that moment a hand knocked on the window, and the startled wife, as -she crouched by her husband's side, could see that it was small and -delicate, wondrously beautiful too, and radiant with gems or -glittering raindrops; and now her husband trembled more violently than -ever. - -Gwerfyl crossed herself, and rushed to the window. - -"Strange," said she; "I can see no one." - -"No one in human form, perhaps," replied her husband gloomily, as he -lifted his cloak. "Look again, dear wife." - -The lady did so, and fancied that close to the window-pane she could -see a female face--anon she could perceive that it was small and -beautiful, with hair of golden red, all wavy, and, strange to say, -unwetted by the rain, and with eyes that were also of golden red, but -with a devilish smile and glare, and glitter in them and over all her -features, as they appeared, but to vanish, as the successive flashes -of lightning passed. With terror and foreboding of evil, she turned to -her startled husband. He was a pale and handsome man, with an aquiline -nose, a finely-cut mouth and chin; but now his lips were firmly -compressed, a flashing and fiery light seemed to sparkle in his eyes, -his forehead was covered with lines, and the veins of his temples were -swollen, while his black hair and moustache seemed to have actually -become streaked with gray. What unknown emotion caused all this? There -were power and passion in his bearing; but something strange, and -dark, and demon-like was brooding in his soul. The white drops -glittered on his brow as he threw his cloak about him, and _then_ the -notes of the harp were heard, as if struck triumphantly and joyously. - -"Stay, stay! leave me not!" implored his wife on her knees, in a -sudden access of terror and pity, that proved greater even than love. - -"I cannot--I cannot! God pardon me and bless you, dear, dear wife, but -go I must!" - -("Exactly like Rudolph, as we saw him last night in the opera, -breaking away from his followers when he heard the voice of Lurline -singing amid the waters of the Rhine," added Winifred in a -parenthesis, as she laid her hand timidly on my arm.) - -She strove on her knees to place in his hand the small ivory-bound -volume of prayers which ladies then carried slung by a chain at their -girdle, even as a watch is now; but he thrust it aside, as if it -scorched his fingers. Then he kissed her wildly, and broke away. - -She sprang from the floor, but he was gone--gone swiftly into the -forest; and with sorrow and prayer in her heart his wife stealthily -followed him. By this time the sudden storm had as suddenly ceased; -already the gusty wind had died away, and no trace of it remained, -save the strewn leaves and a quivering in the dripping branches; the -white clouds were sailing through the blue sky, and whiter still, in -silvery sheen 'the moonlight fell aslant in patches through the -branches on the glittering grass. Amid that sheen she saw the dark -figure of her husband passing, gliding onward to the old oak tree, and -Gwerfyl shrunk behind another, as the notes of the infernal harp--for -such she judged it to be--fell upon her ear. - -"You have come, my beloved," said a sweet voice; and she saw the same -strangely-beautiful girl with the red-golden hair, her skin of -wondrous whiteness, and eyes that glittered with devilish triumph, -though to Jorwerth Du they seemed only filled with ardour and the -light of passionate love, even as the beauty of her form seemed all -round and white and perfect; but lo! to the eyes of his wife, who was -under _no spell_, that form was fast becoming like features in a -dissolving view, changed to that of extreme old age--gray hairs and -wrinkles seemed to come with every respiration; for this mysterious -love, who had bewitched her husband, was some evil spirit or demon of -the woods. - -"How long you have been!" said she reproachfully, for even the -sweetness of her tone had suddenly passed away; "so long that already -age seems to have come upon me." - -"Pardon me; have I not sworn to love you for ever and ever, though -neither of us is immortal?" - -"You are ready?" said she, laying her head on his breast. - -"Yes, my own wild love!" - -"Then let us go." - -All beauty of form had completely passed away, and now Gwerfyl saw her -handsome husband in the arms of a very hag; hollow-cheeked, toothless, -almost fleshless, with restless shifty eyes, and grey elf-locks like -the serpents of Medusa; a hag beyond all description hideous: and her -long, lean, shrivelled arms she wound lovingly and triumphantly around -him. Her eyes gleamed like two live coals as he kissed her wildly and -passionately from time to time, the full blaze of the moonlight -streaming upon both their forms. - -Gwerfyl strove to pray, to cry aloud, to move. But her tongue refused -its office, and her lips were powerless; all capability of volition -had left her, and she was as it were rooted to the spot. A moment -more, and a dark cloud came over the moon, causing a deeper shadow -under the old oak tree. Then a shriek escaped her, and when again the -moon shone forth on the green grass and the gnarled tree, Gwerfyl -alone was there--her husband and the hag had disappeared. Neither was -ever seen more. North Wales is the most primitive portion of the -country, and it is there that such fancies and memories still linger -longest; and such was the little family legend told me by Winifred -Lloyd. I was thinking over it now, recalling the earnest expression of -her bright soft face and intelligent eyes, and the tone of her -pleasantly modulated voice, when she, half laughingly and half -seriously, had related it, with more point than I can give it, while -we sat in a corner and somewhat apart from every one--on the first -night I met the Cressinghams--in a crowded London ballroom, amid the -heat, the buzz, and crush of the season--about the last place in the -world to hear a story of _diablerie_; and "the old time" seemed to -come again, as I descended to the drawing-room, to meet her and Lady -Estelle. - - - - -CHAPTER VI.--THREE GRACES. - - -Already having met and been welcomed by my host and his daughters, my -first glances round the room were in search of Lady Estelle and her -mother. About eighteen persons were present, mostly gentlemen, and I -instinctively made my way to where she I sought was seated, idling -over a book of prints. Two or three gentlemen were exclusively in -conversation with her; Sir Madoc, who was now in evening costume, for -one. - -"Come, Harry," said he, "here is a fair friend to whom I wish to -present you." - -"You forget, Sir Madoc, that I said we had met before; Mr. Hardinge -and I are almost old friends--the friends of a season, at least," -said Lady Estelle, presenting her hand to me with a bright but -calm and decidedly conventional smile, and with the most perfect -self-possession. - -"It makes me so very happy to meet you again," said I in a low voice, -the tone of which she could not mistake. - -"Mamma, too, will be _so_ delighted--you were quite a favourite with -her." - -I bowed, as if accepting for fact a sentiment of which I was extremely -doubtful, and then after a little pause she added,-- - -"Mamma always preferred your escort, you remember." - -Of that I was aware, when she wished to leave some more eligible -_parti_--old Lord Pottersleigh, for instance--to take charge of her -daughter. - -"I am so pleased that we are to see a little more of you, ere you -depart for the East; whence, I hear, you are bound," said she after a -little pause. - -Simple though the words, they made my heart beat happily, and I -dreaded that some sharp observer might read in my eyes the expression -which I knew could not be concealed from her; and now I turned to look -for some assistance from Winifred Lloyd; but, though observing us, she -was apparently busy with Caradoc; luckily for me, perhaps, as there -was something of awkwardness in my position with her. I had flirted -rather too much at one time with Winny--been almost tender--but -nothing more. Now I loved Lady Estelle, and that love was indeed -destitute of all ambition, though the known difficulties attendant on -the winning of such a hand as hers, added zest and keenness to its -course. - -When I looked at Winifred and saw how fair and attractive she was, "a -creature so compact and complete," as Caradoc phrased it, with such -brilliance of complexion, such deep violet eyes and thick dark wavy -hair; and when I thought of the girl's actual wealth, and her kind old -father's great regard for me, it seemed indeed that I might do well in -offering my heart where there was little doubt it would be accepted; -but the more stately and statuesque beauty, the infinitely greater -personal attractions of Lady Estelle dazzled me, and rendered me blind -to Winny's genuine goodness of soul The latter was every way a most -attractive girl Dora was quite as much so, in her own droll and jolly -way; but Lady Estelle possessed that higher style of loveliness and -bearing so difficult to define; and though less natural perhaps than -the Lloyds, she had usually that calm, placid, and unruffled or -settled expression of features so peculiar to many Englishwomen of -rank and culture, yet they could light up at times; then, indeed, she -became radiant; and now, in full dinner dress, she seemed to look -pretty much as I had seemed to see her in that haughty full-length by -the President of the R.A., with an admiring and critical crowd about -it. - -The three girls I have named were all handsome--each sufficiently so -to have been the belle of any room; yet, though each was different in -type from the other, they were all thoroughly English; perhaps Sir -Madoc would have reminded me that two were Welsh. The beauty of -Winifred and Dora was less regular; yet, like Lady Estelle, in their -faces each feature seemed so charmingly suited to the rest, and all so -perfect, that I doubt much the story that Canova had sixty models for -his single Venus, or that Zeuxis of Heraclea had even five for his -Helen. Lady Estelle Cressingham was tall and full in form, with a neck -that rose from her white shoulders like that of some perfect Greek -model; her smile, when real, was very captivating; her eyes were dark -and deep, and softly lidded with long lashes; they had neither the -inquiring nor soft pleading expression of Winifred's, nor the saucy -drollery of Dora's, yet at times they seemed to have the power of -both; for they were eloquent eyes, and, as a writer has it, "could -light up her whole _personnel_ as if her whole body thought." Her -colour was pale, almost creamy; her features clearly cut and delicate. -She had a well-curved mouth, a short upper lip and chin, that -indicated what she did not quite possess--decision. Her thick hair, -which in its darkness contrasted so powerfully with her paleness, came -somewhat well down, in what is called "a widow's peak," on a forehead -that was broad rather than low. Her taste was perfect in dress and -jewelry; for though but a girl in years, she had been carefully -trained, and knew nearly as much of the world--at least of _the_ -exclusive world in which she lived--as her cold and unimpressionable -mamma, who seemed to be but a larger, fuller, older, and more stately -version of herself; certainly much more of that selfish world than I, -a line subaltern of seven years' foreign service, could know. - -A few words more, concerning my approaching departure for the East, -were all that could pass between us then; for the conversation was, of -course, general, and of that enforced and heavy nature which usually -precedes a dinner-party; but our memories and our thoughts were -nevertheless our own still, as I could see when her glance met mine -occasionally. - -War was new to Britain then, and thus, even in the society at -Craigaderyn Court, Caradoc and I, as officers whose regiment had -already departed--more than all, as two of the Royal Welsh -Fusileers--found ourselves rather objects of interest, and at a high -premium. - -"Ah, the dooce! Hardinge, how d'you do, how d'you do? Not off to the -seat of war" (he pronounced it _waw_), "to tread the path of glory -that leads to--where _does_ old Gray say it leads to?" said a thin -wiry-looking man of more than middle height and less than middle age, -his well-saved hair carefully parted in the centre, a glass in his -eye, and an easy _insouciance_ that bordered on insolence in his tone -and bearing, as he came bluntly forward, and interrupted me while -paying the necessary court to "Mamma Cressingham," who received me -with simple politeness, nothing more. I could not detect the slightest -cordiality in her tone or eye. Though in the _Army List_, my name was -unchronicled by Debrett, and might never be. - -I bowed to the speaker, who was the identical Mr. Hawkesby Guilfoyle -of whom I have already spoken, and with whom I felt nettled for -presuming to place himself on such a footing of apparent familiarity -with me, from the simple circumstance that I had more than once--I -scarcely knew how--lost money to him. - -"I am going Eastward ere long, at all events," said I; "and I cannot -help thinking that some of you many idlers here could not do better -than take a turn of service against the Russians too." - -"It don't pay, my dear fellow; moreover, I prefer to be one of the -gentlemen of England, who live at home at ease. I shall be quite -satisfied with reading all about it, and rejoicing in your exploits." - -I smiled and bowed, but felt that he was closely scrutinising me -through his glass, which he held in its place by a muscular -contraction of the left eye; and I felt moreover, instinctively and -intuitively, by some magnetic influence, that this man was my enemy, -and yet I had done him no wrong. The aversion was certainly mutual. It -was somewhat of the impulse that led Tom Brown of old to dislike Dr. -Fell, yet, in my instance, it was not exactly without knowing "why." - -I had quickly read the character of this Mr. Guilfoyle. He had cold, -cunning, and shifty eyes of a greenish yellow colour. They seldom -smiled, even when his mouth did, if that can be called a smile which -is merely a grin from the teeth outwards. He was undoubtedly -gentlemanlike in air and appearance, always correct in costume, suave -to servility when it suited his purpose, but daringly insolent when he -could venture to be so with impunity. He had that narrowness of mind -which made him counterfeit regret for the disaster of his best friend, -while secretly exulting in it, if that friend could serve his purposes -no more; the praise or success of another never failed to excite -either his envy or his malice; and doating on himself, he thought that -all who knew him should quarrel with those against whom he conceived -either spleen or enmity. A member of a good club in town, he was -fashionable, moderately dissipated, and rather handsome in person. No -one knew exactly from what source his income was derived; but vague -hints of India stock, foreign bonds, and so forth, served to satisfy -the few--and in the world of London few they were indeed--who cared a -jot about the matter. Such was Mr. Hawkesby Guilfoyle, of whom the -reader shall hear more in these pages. - -"And so you don't approve of risking your valuable person in the -service of the country?" said I, in a tone which I felt to be a -sneering one. - -"No; I am disposed to be rather economical of it--think myself too -good-looking, perhaps, to fill a hole in a trench. Ha, ha! Moreover, -what the deuce do I want with glory or honour?" said he, in a lower -tone; "are not self-love or interest, rather than virtue, the true -motives of most of our actions?" - -"Do you think so?" - -"Yes, by Jove! I do." - -"A horrid idea, surely!" - -"Not at all. Besides, virtues, as they are often called, are too often -only vices disguised." - -"The deuce!" said Caradoc, who overheard us; "I don't understand this -paradox." - -"Nor did I intend _you_ to do so," replied the other, in a tone that, -to say the least of it, was offensive, and made Phil's eyes sparkle. -"But whether in pursuit of vice or virtue, it is an awkward thing when -the ruling passion makes one take a wrong turn in life." - -"The ruling passion?" said I, thinking of the money I had lost to him. - -"Yes, whether it be ambition, avarice, wine, or love," he replied, his -eyes going involuntarily towards Lady Estelle; "but at all times there -is nothing like taking precious good care of number one; and so, were -I a king, I should certainly reign for myself." - -"And be left to yourself," said I, almost amused by this avowed -cynicism and selfishness. - -"Well, as Prince Esterhazy said, when he did me the honour to present -me with this ring," he began, playing the while with a splendid -brilliant, which sparkled on one of his fingers. - -But what the Prince had said I was never fated to know; for the -aphorisms of Mr. Guilfoyle were cut short by the welcome sound of the -dinner-gong, and in file we proceeded through the corridor and hall to -the dining-room, duly marshalled between two rows of tall liverymen in -powder and plush, Sir Madoc leading the way with the Countess on his -arm, her long sweeping skirt so stiff with brocade, that, as Caradoc -whispered, it looked like our regimental colours. - -Lady Estelle was committed to the care of a stout old gentleman, who -was the exact counterpart of our host, and whose conversation, as it -evidently failed to amuse, bored her. Miss Lloyd was led by Caradoc, -and Dora fell to my care. Of the other ladies I took little heed; -neither did I much of the sumptuous dinner, which passed away as other -dinners do, through all its courses, with entrées and relays of -various wines, the serving up of the latter proving in one sense a -nuisance, from the absurd breaks caused thereby in the conversation. -The buzz of voices was pretty loud at times, for many of the guests -were country gentlemen, hale and hearty old fellows some of them, who -laughed with right good will, not caring whether to do so was good -_ton_ or not. But while listening to the lively prattle of Dora Lloyd, -I could not refrain from glancing ever and anon to where Estelle -Cressingham, looking so radiant, yet withal "so delicately white" in -her complexion, her slender throat and dazzling shoulders, her thick -dark hair and tiny ears, at which the diamond pendants sparkled, sat -listening to her elderly bore, smiling assents from time to time out -of pure complaisance, and toying with her fruit knife when the dessert -came, her hands and arms seeming so perfect in form and colour, and on -more than one occasion--when her mamma was engrossed by courteous old -Sir Madoc, who could "talk peerage," and knew the quartering of arms -better than the Garter King or Rouge Dragon--giving me a bright -intelligent smile, that made my heart beat happily; all the more so -that I had been afflicted by some painful suspicion of coldness in her -first reception of me--a coldness rather deduced from her perfect -self-possession--while I had been farther annoyed to find that her -somewhat questionable admirer, Guilfoyle, was seated by her side, with -a lady whose presence he almost ignored in his desire to be pleasing -elsewhere. Yet, had it been otherwise, if anything might console a man -for fancied coldness in the woman he loved, or for a partial -separation from her by a few yards of mahogany, it should be the -lively rattle of a lovely girl of eighteen; but while listening and -replying to Dora, my thoughts and wishes were with another. - -"I told you how it would be, Mr. Hardinge," whispered Dora; "that the -staple conversation of the gentlemen, if it didn't run on the county -pack, would be about horses and cattle, sheep, horned and South Down; -or on the British Constitution, which must be a very patched -invention, to judge by all they say of it." - -I confessed inwardly that much of what went on around me was so -provincial and local--the bishop's visitation, the--parish poor, -crops and game, grouse and turnips--and proved such boredom that, but -for the smiling girl beside me, with her waggish eyes and pretty ways, -and the longing and hope to have more of the society of Lady Estelle, -I could have wished myself back at the mess of the depôt battalion in -Winchester. Yet this restlessness was ungrateful; for Craigaderyn was -as much a home to me as if I had been a son of the house, and times -there were when the girls, like their father, called me simply -"Harry," by my Christian name. - -The long and stately dining-room, like other parts of the house, was -well hung with portraits. At one end was a full-length of Sir Madoc in -his scarlet coat and yellow-topped boots, seated on his favourite bay -mare, "Irish Jumper," with mane and reins in hand, a brass horn slung -over his shoulder, and looking every inch like what he was--the M.F.H. -of the county, trotting to cover. Opposite, of course, was his -lady--it might almost have passed for a likeness of Winifred--done -several years ago, her dress of puce velvet cut low to show her -beautiful outline, but otherwise very full indeed, as she leaned in -the approved fashion against a vase full of impossible flowers beside -a column and draped curtain, in what seemed a windy and draughty -staircase, a view of Snowdon in the distance. "Breed and blood," as -Sir Madoc used to say, "in every line of her portrait, from the bridge -of her nose to the heel of her slipper;" for she was a lineal -descendant of _y Marchog gwyllt o' Cae Hywel_, or "the wild Knight of -Caehowel," a circumstance he valued more than all her personal merits -and goodness of heart. - -Some of Dora's remarks about the family portraits elicited an -occasional glance of reprehension from the Dowager of Naseby, who -thought such relics or evidences of descent were not to be treated -lightly. On my enquiring who that lady in the very low dress with the -somewhat dishevelled hair was, I had for answer, "A great favourite of -Charles II., Mr. Hardinge--an ancestress of ours. Papa knows her name. -There was some lively scandal about her, of course. And that is her -brother beside her--he in the rose-coloured doublet and black wig. He -was killed in a duel about a young lady--run clean through the heart -by one of the Wynnes of Llanrhaidr, at the Ring in Hyde Park." - -"When men risked their lives so, love must have been very earnest in -those days," said Lady Estelle. - -"And very fearful," said the gentler Winny. "It is said the lady's -name was engraved on the blade of the sword that slew him." - -"A duel! How delightful to be the heroine of a duel!" exclaimed the -volatile Dora. - -"And who is that pretty woman in the sacque and puffed cap?" asked -Caradoc, pointing to a brisk-looking dame in a long stomacher. She was -well rouged, rather _décolletée_, had a roguish kissing-patch in the -corner of her mouth, and looked very like Dora indeed. - -"Papa's grandmother, who insisted on wearing a white rose when she was -presented to the Elector at St. James's," replied Dora; "and her -marriage to the heir of Craigaderyn is chronicled in the fashion of -the Georgian era, by gossipping Mr. Sylvanus Urban, as that of -'Mistress Betty Temple, an agreeable and modest young lady with -50,000_l_. fortune, from the eastward of Temple Bar.' I don't think -people were such tuft-hunters in those days as they are now. Do _you_ -think so, Mr. Guilfoyle? O, I am sure, that if all we read in novels -is true, there must have been more romantic marriages and much more -honest love long ago than we find in society now. What do you say to -this, Estelle?" - -But the fair Estelle only fanned herself, and replied by a languid -smile, that somehow eluded when it might have fallen on _me_. So while -we lingered over the dessert (the pineapples, peaches, grapes, and so -forth being all the produce of Sir Madoc's own hothouses), Dora -resumed: - -"And so, poor Harry Hardinge, in a few weeks more you will be far away -from us, and face to face with those odious Russians--in a real -battle, perhaps. It is something terrible to think of! Ah, heavens, if -you should be killed!" she added, as her smile certainly passed away -for a moment. - -"I don't think somehow there is very much danger of that--at least I -can but hope--" - -"Or wounded! If you should lose a leg--two legs perhaps--" - -"He could scarcely lose _more_," said Mr. Guilfoyle. - -"And come home with wooden ones!" she continued, lowering her voice. -"You will look so funny! O, I could never love or marry a man with -wooden stumps!" - -"But," said I, a little irritated that she should see anything so very -amusing in this supposed contingency, "I don't mean to marry _you_." - -"Of course not--I know that. It is Winny, papa thinks--or is it -Estelle Cressingham you prefer?" - -Lowly and whispered though the heedless girl said this, it reached the -ears of Lady Estelle, and caused her to grow if possible paler, while -I felt my face suffused with scarlet; but luckily all now rose from -the table, as the ladies, led by Winifred, filed back alone to the -drawing-room; and I felt that Dora's too palpable hints must have done -much to make or mar my cause--perhaps to gain me the enmity of both -her sister and the Lady Estelle. - -Sir Madoc assumed his daughter's place at the head of the table, and -beckoned _me_ to take his chair at the foot. Owen Gwyllim replenished -the various decanters and the two great silver jugs of claret and -burgundy, and the flow of conversation became a little louder in tone, -and of course less reserved. I listened now with less patience to all -that passed around me, in my anxiety to follow the ladies to the -drawing-room. Every moment spent out of _her_ presence seemed doubly -long and doubly lost. The chances of the coming war--_where_ our -troops were to land, whether at Eupatoria or Perecop, or were to await -an attack where they were literally rotting in the camp upon the -Bulgarian shore; their prospects of success, the proposed bombardment -of Cronstadt, the bewildering orders issued to our admirals, the inane -weakness and pitiful vacillation, if not worse, of Lord Aberdeen's -government, our total want of all preparation in the ambulance and -commissariat services, even to the lack of sufficient shot, shell, and -gunpowder--were all freely descanted on, and attacked, explained, or -defended according to the politics or the views of those present; and -Guilfoyle--who, on the strength of having been attaché at the petty -German court of Catzenelnbogen, affected a great knowledge of -continental affairs--indulged in much "tall talk" on the European -situation till once more the county pack and hunting became the chief -topic, and then too he endeavoured, but perhaps vainly, to take the -lead. - -"You talk of fox-hunting, gentlemen," said he, raising his voice after -a preliminary cough, "and some of the anecdotes you tell of wonderful -leaps, mistakes, and runs, with the cunning displayed by reynard on -various occasions, such as hiding in a pool up to the snout, feigning -death--a notion old as the days of Olaus Magnus--throwing dogs off the -scent by traversing a running stream, and so forth, are all remarkable -enough; but give me a good buck-hunt, such as I have seen in Croatia! -When travelling there among the mountains that lie between Carlstadt -and the Adriatic, I had the good fortune to reside for a few weeks -with my kind friend Ladislaus Count Mosvina, Grand Huntsman to the -Emperor of Austria, and captain of the German Guard of Arzieres, and -who takes his title from that wine-growing district, the vintage of -which is fully equal to the finest burgundy. The season was winter. -The snow lay deep among the frightful valleys and precipices of the -Vellibitch range, and an enormous _rehbock_, or roebuck, fully five -feet in height to the shoulder, with antlers of vast size--five feet, -if an inch, from tip to tip--driven from the mountains by the storm -and _la bora_, the biting north-east wind, took shelter in a thicket -near the house. Several shots were fired; but no one, not even _I_, -could succeed in hitting him, till at last he defiantly and coolly -fed among the sheep, in the yard of the Count's home farm, where, by -the use of his antlers, he severely wounded and disabled all who -attempted to dislodge him. At last four of the Count's farmers or -foresters--some of those Croatian boors who are liable to receive -twenty-five blows of a cudgel yearly if they fail to engraft at least -twenty-five fruit-trees--undertook to slay or capture the intruder. -But though they were powerful, hardy, and brave men, this devil -of a _rehbock_, by successive blows of its antlers, fractured the -skulls of two and the thigh-bones of the others, smashing them like -tobacco-pipes, and made an escape to the mountains. A combined hunt -was now ordered by my friend Mosvina, and all the gentlemen and -officers in the _generalat_ or district commanded by him set off, -mounted and in pursuit. There were nearly a thousand horsemen; but the -cavalry there are small and weak. _I_ was perhaps the best-mounted man -in the field. We pursued it for twenty-five miles, by rocky hills and -almost pathless woods, by ravines and rivers. Many of our people fell. -Some got staked, were pulled from their saddles by trees, or tumbled -off by running foul of wild swine. Many missed their way, grew weary, -got imbogged in the half-frozen marshes, and so forth, till at last -only the Count and I with four dogs were on his track, and when on it, -we leaped no less than four frozen cataracts, each at least a hundred -feet in height--'pon honour they were. We had gone almost neck and -neck for a time; but the Grand Huntsman's horse began to fail him now -(for we had come over terrible ground, most of it being uphill), and -ultimately it fell dead lame. Then whoop--tally-ho! I spurred onward -alone. Just as the furious giant was coming to bay in a narrow gorge, -and, fastening on his flanks and neck, the maddened dogs were tearing -him down, their red jaws steaming in the frosty air, the Count came up -on foot, breathless and thoroughly blown, to have the honour of -slaying this antlered monarch of the Dinovian Alps. But I was too -quick for him. I had sprung from my horse, and with my unsheathed -_hanshar_ or Croatian knife had flung myself, fearlessly and -regardless of all danger, upon the buck, eluding a last and desperate -butt made at me with his pointed horns. Another moment saw my knife -buried to the haft in his throat, and a torrent of crimson blood -flowing upon the snow, then I courteously tendered my weapon by the -hilt to the Count, who, in admiration of my adroitness, presented me -with this ring--a very fine brilliant, you may perceive--which his -grandfather had received from the Empress Maria Theresa, and the pure -gold of which is native, from the sand upon the banks of the Drave." - -And as he concluded his anecdote, which he related with considerable -pomposity and perfect coolness, he twirled round his finger this -remarkable ring, of which I was eventually to hear more from time to -time. - -"So, out of a thousand Croatian horsemen, _you_ were the only one in at -the death! It says little for their manhood," said an old fox-hunter, -as he filled his glass with burgundy, and pretty palpably winked to -Sir Madoc, under cover of an épergne. - -"This may all be true, Harry, or not--only _entre nous_, I don't -believe it is," said Phil Caradoc aside to me; "for who here knows -anything of Croatia? He might as well talk to old Gwyllim the butler, -or any chance medley Englishman, of the land of Memnon and the -hieroglyphics. This fellow Guilfoyle beats Munchausen all to nothing; -but did he not before tell something _else_ about that ring?" - -"I don't remember; but now, Phil, that you have seen her," said I, in -a tone of tolerably-affected carelessness, "what do you think of _la -belle_ Cressingham?" - -"She is very handsome, certainly," replied Phil, in the same -undertone, and luckily looking at his glass, and not at me, "a -splendid specimen of her class--a proud and by no means a bashful -beauty." - -"Most things in this world are prized just as they are difficult of -attainment, or are scarce. I reckon beauty among these, and no woman -holds it cheap," said I, not knowing exactly what to think of -Caradoc's criticism. "There is Miss Lloyd, for instance--" - -"Ah," said he, with honest animation, "she is a beauty too, but a -gentle and retiring one--a girl that is all sweetness and genuine -goodness of heart." - -"With some dairy-farms in the midland counties, eh?" - -"The graces of such a girl are always the most attractive. We men are -so constituted that we are apt to decline admiration where it is -loftily courted or seemingly expected--as I fear it is in the case of -Lady Cressingham--and to bestow it on the gentle and retiring." - -I felt there was much truth in my friend's remarks, and yet they -piqued me so that I rather turned from him coldly for the remainder of -the evening. - -"Her mother is haughty, intensely ambitious, and looks forward to a -title for her as high, if not higher, than that her father bore," I -heard Sir Madoc say to a neighbour who had been talking on the same -subject--the beauty of Lady, Estelle; "the old lady is half Irish and -half Welsh." - -"Rather a combustible compound, I should think," added Guilfoyle, as, -after coffee and curaçoa, we all rose to join the ladies in the -drawing-room. - - - - -CHAPTER VII.--PIQUE. - - -The moment I entered the drawing-room, where Winifred Lloyd had been -doing her utmost to amuse her various guests till we came, and where -undoubtedly the ladies' faces grew brighter when we appeared, I felt -conscious that the remark of the hoydenish Dora had done me some -little mischief. I could read this in the face of the haughty Estelle, -together with her fear that _others_ might have heard it; thus, -instead of seating myself near her, as I wished and had fully -intended, I remained rather aloof, and leaving her almost exclusively -to the industrious Guilfoyle, divided my time between listening to -Winifred, who, with Caradoc, proceeded to perform the duet he had sent -her from the barracks, and endeavouring to make myself agreeable to -the Countess--a process rather, I am sorry to say, somewhat of a task -to me. Though her dark hair was considerably seamed with gray, her -forehead was without a line, smooth and unwrinkled as that of a -child--care, thought, reflection, or sorrow had never visited _her_. -Wealth and rank, with a naturally aristocratic indolence and -indifference of mind, had made the ways of life and of the world--at -least, the world in which she lived--easy, soft, and pleasant, and all -her years had glided brilliantly but monotonously on. She had married -the late earl to please her family rather than herself, because he was -undoubtedly an eligible _parti_; and she fully expected their only -daughter to act exactly in the same docile manner. Her mien and air -were stately, reserved, and uninviting; her eyes were cold, inquiring, -and searching in expression, and I fancied that they seemed to watch -and follow me, as if she really and naturally suspected me of "views," -or, as she would have deemed them, _designs_. - -Amid the commonplaces I was venturing to utter to this proud, cold, -and decidedly unpleasant old dame, whose goodwill and favour I was -sedulously anxious to gain, it was impossible for me to avoid hearing -some remarks that Sir Madoc made concerning me, and to her daughter. - -"I am so glad you like my young friend, Lady Estelle," said the bluff -baronet, leaning over her chair, his rubicund face beaming with smiles -and happiness; for he was in best of moods after a pleasant dinner, -with agreeable society and plenty of good wine. - -"Who told you that I did so?" asked she, looking up with fresh -annoyance, yet not unmixed with drollery, in her beautiful face. - -"Dora and Winny too; and I am so pleased, for he is an especial friend -of ours. I love the lad for his dead mother's sake--she was an old -flame of mine in my more romantic days--and doesn't he deserve it? -What do you think the colonel of his old corps says of him?" - -"Really, Sir Madoc, I know not--that he is quite a ladykiller, -perhaps; to be such is the ambition of most young subalterns." - -"Better than that. He wrote me, that young Hardinge is all that a -British officer ought to be; that he has a constitution of iron--could -sleep out in all weathers, in a hammock or under a tree--till the -fever attacked him at least. If provisions were scanty, he'd share his -last biscuit with a comrade; on the longest and hottest march he never -fell out or became knocked up; and more than once he has been seen -carrying a couple of muskets, the arms of those whose strength had -failed them. 'I envy the Royal Welsh their acquisition, and regret -that _we_ have lost him'--these were the colonel's very words." - -Had I fee'd or begged him to plead my cause, he could not have been -more earnest or emphatic. - -"For heaven's sake, Sir Madoc, do stop this overpowering eulogium," -said I; "it is impossible for one not to overhear, when one's own name -is mentioned. But did the colonel really say all this of me?" - -"All, and more, Harry." - -"It should win him a diploma of knight-bachelor," said Lady Estelle, -laughing, "a C.B., perhaps a baronetcy." - -"Nay," said Sir Madoc; "such rewards are reserved now for toad-eaters, -opulent traders, tuft-hunters, and ministerial tools; the days when -true merit was rewarded are gone, my dear Lady Estelle." - -The duet over, Phil Caradoc drew near me, for evidently he was not -making much progress with Miss Lloyd. - -"Well, Phil," said I, in a low voice, "among those present have you -seen your ideal of woman?" - -"Can't say," said he, rather curtly; "but _you_ have, at all events, -old fellow, and I think Sir Madoc has done a good stroke of business -for you by his quotation of the colonel's letter. I heard him all -through our singing--the old gentleman has no idea of a _sotto voce_, -and talks always as if he were in the hunting-field. By Jove, Harry, -you grow quite pink!" he continued, laughing. "I see how the land lies -with you; but as for '_la mère_ Cressingham,' she is an exclusive of -the first water, a match-maker by reputation; and I fear you have not -the ghost of a chance with her." - -"Hush, Caradoc," said I, glancing nervously about me "remember that we -are not at Winchester, or inside the main-guard, just now. But see, -Lady Estelle and that fellow Guilfoyle are about to favour us," I -added, as the pale beauty spread her ample skirts over the -piano-stool, with an air that, though all unstudied, seemed quite -imperial, and ran her slender fingers rapidly over the white keys, -preluding an air; while Guilfoyle, who had a tolerable voice and an -intolerable amount of assurance, prepared to sing by fussily placing -on the piano a piece of music, on the corner of which was written in a -large and bold hand, evidently his own--"To Mr. H. Guilfoyle, from -H.S.H. the Princess of Catzenelnbogen." - -"You must have been a special favourite with this lady," said Estelle, -"as most of your German music is inscribed thus." - -"Yes, we were always exchanging our pieces and songs," said he, -languidly and in a low voice close to her ear, yet not so low as to be -unheard by me. "I was somewhat of a favourite with her, certainly; but -then the Princess was quite a privileged person." - -"In what respect?" - -"She could flirt farther than any one, and yet never compromise -herself. However, when she bestowed this ring upon me, on the day when -I saved her life, by arresting her runaway horse on the very brink of -the Rhine, I must own that his Highness the Prince was the reverse of -pleased, and viewed me with coldness ever after; so that ultimately I -resigned my office of attaché, just about the time I had the -pleasure--may I call it the joy?--of meeting you." - -"O fie, Mr. Guilfoyle! were you actually flirting with her?" - -"Nay, pardon me; I never flirt." - -"You were in love then?" - -"I was never in love till--" - -A crash of notes as she resumed the air interrupted whatever he was -about to say; but his eye told more than his bold tongue would perhaps -have dared to utter in such a time or place; and, aware that they had -met on the Continent, and had been for some time together in the -seclusion of Craigaderyn, I began to fear that he must have far -surpassed me in the chances of interest with her.. Moreover, Dora's -foolish remark might reasonably lead her to suppose that I was already -involved with Winifred; and now, with a somewhat cloudy expression in -my face (as a mirror close by informed me), and a keen sense of pique -in my heart, I listened while she played the accompaniment to his -pretty long German song, the burden of which seemed to be ever and -always-- - - - "Ach nein! ach nein! ich darf es nich. - Leb wohl! Leb' wohl! Leb' wohl!" - - -Sir Madoc, who had listened with some secret impatience to this most -protracted German ditty, now begged his fair guest to favour him with -something Welsh; but as she knew no airs pertaining to the locality, -she resigned her place to Winifred, whom I led across the room, and by -whose side I remained. After the showy performances of Lady Estelle, -she was somewhat reluctant to begin: all the more so, perhaps, that -her friend--with rather questionable taste, certainly--was wont, in a -spirit of mischief or raillery--but one pardons so much in lovely -woman, especially one of rank--to quiz Wales, its music and -provincialism; just as, when in the Highlands, she had laughed at the -natives, and voted "their sham chiefs and gatherings as delightfully -absurd." Finding that his daughter lingered ere she began, and half -suspecting the cause, Sir Madoc threatened to send for Owen Gwyllim, -the butler, with his harp. Owen had frequently accompanied her with -his instrument; but though that passed well enough occasionally among -homely Welsh folks, it would never do when Lady Naseby and certain -others were present. - -"It is useless for an English girl to sing in a foreign language, or -attempt to rival paid professional artists, by mourning like Mario -from the turret, or bawling like Edgardo in the burying-ground, or to -give us 'Stride la vampa' in a fashion that would terrify Alboni," -said Sir Madoc, "or indeed to attempt any of those operatic effusions -with which every hand organ has made us familiar. So come, Winny, a -Welsh air, or I shall ring for Owen." - -This rather blundering speech caused Lady Estelle to smile, and -Guilfoyle, whose "Leb' wohl" had been something of the style objected -to, coloured very perceptibly. Thus urged, Winifred played and sang -with great spirit "The March of the Men of Harlech;" doubtless as much -to compliment Caradoc and me as to please her father; for it was then -our regimental march; and, apart from its old Welsh associations, it -is one of the finest effusions of our old harpers. Sir Madoc beat -time, while his eyes lit up with enthusiasm, and he patted his -daughter's plump white shoulders kindly with his weather-brown but -handsome hands; for the old gentleman rather despised gloves, indoors -especially, as effeminate. - -Winifred had striven to please rather than to excel; and though -tremulous at times, her voice was most attractive. - -"Thank you," said I, in a low and earnest tone; "your execution is -just of that peculiar kind which leaves nothing more to be wished for, -and while it lasts, Winny, inspires a sense of joy in one's heart." - -"You flatter me much--far too much," replied Miss Lloyd, in a lower -and still more tremulous tone, as she grew very pale; for some girls -will do so, when others would flush with emotion, and it was evident -that my praise gave her pleasure; she attached more to my words than -they meant. - -An undefinable feeling of pique now possessed me--a sensation of -disappointment most difficult to describe; but it arose from a sense -of doubt as to how I really stood in the estimation of the fair -Estelle. Taking an opportunity, while Sir Madoc was emphatically -discussing the points and pedigrees of certain horses and harriers -with Guilfoyle and other male friends, while the Countess and other -ladies were clustered about Winifred at the piano, and Dora and -Caradoc were deep in some affair of their own, I leaned over her -chair, and referring--I forget now in what terms--to the last time we -met, or rather parted, I strove to effect that most difficult of all -moves in the game of love--to lead back the emotions, or the past -train of thought, to where they had been dropped, or snapped by -mischance, to the time when I had bid her lingeringly adieu, after -duly shawling and handing her to the carriage, at the close of a late -rout in Park-lane, when the birds of an early June morning were -twittering in the trees of Hyde Park, when the purple shadows were -lying deep about the Serpentine, when the Ring-road was a solitude, -the distant Row a desert, and the yawning footmen in plush and powder, -and the usually rubicund coachmen, looking weary, pale, and impatient, -and when the time and place were suited neither for delay nor -dalliance. Yet, as I have elsewhere said, an avowal of all she had -inspired within me was trembling on my lips as I led her through the -marble vestibule and down the steps, pressing her hand and arm the -while against my side; but her mother's voice from the depths of the -carriage (into which old Lord Pottersleigh had just handed her) -arrested a speech to which she might only have responded by silence, -then at least; and I had driven, _viâ_ Piccadilly, to the Junior U.S., -when Westminster clock was paling out like a harvest moon beyond the -Green Park, cursing my diffidence, that delayed all I had to say till -the carriage was announced, thereby missing the chance that never -might come again. And then I had but the memory of a lovely face, -framed by a carriage window, regarding me with a bright yet wistful -smile, and of a soft thrilling pressure returned by an ungloved hand, -that was waved to me from the same carriage as it rolled away -westward. The night had fled, and there remained of it only the memory -of this, and of those glances so full of tenderness, and those soft -attentions or half endearments which are so charming, and so -implicitly understood, as almost to render language, perhaps, un -necessary. - -"You remember the night we last met, and parted, in London?" I -whispered. - -"Morning, rather, I think it wash" said she, fanning herself; "but -night or morning, it was a most delightful ball. I had not enjoyed -myself anywhere so much that season, and it was a gay one." - -"Ah, you have not forgotten it, then," said I, encouraged. - -"No; it stands out in my memory as one night among many happy ones. -Day was almost breaking when you led me to the carriage, I remember." - -"Can you remember nothing more?' I asked, earnestly. - -"You shawled me most attentively--" - -"And I was whispering--" - -"Something foolish, no doubt; men are apt to do so at such times," she -replied, while her white eyelids quivered and she looked up at me -with her calm, bright smile. - -"Something foolish!" thought I, reproachfully; "and then, as now, my -soul seemed on my lips." - -"Do you admire Mr. Guilfoyle's singing?" she asked, after a little -pause, to change the subject probably. - -"His voice is unquestionably good and highly cultured," said I, -praising him truthfully enough to conceal the intense annoyance her -unexpected question gave me; "but, by the way, Lady Estelle, how does -it come to pass that he has the honour of knowing you--to be _here_, -too?" - -"How--why--what _do_, you mean, Mr. Hardinge?" she asked, and I could -perceive that after colouring slightly she grew a trifle paler than -before. "He is a visitor here, like you or myself. We met him abroad -first; he was most kind to us when mamma lost all her passports at the -Berlin Eisenbahnhof, and he accompanied us to the Alte Leipziger -Strasse for others, and saw us safely to our carriage. Then, by the -most singular chances, we met him again at the new Kursaal of Ems, at -Gerolstein, when we were beginning the tour of the Eifel, and at -Baden-Baden. Lastly, we met him at Llandudno, on the beach, quite -casually, when driving with Sir Madoc, to whom he said that he knew -you--that you were quite old friends, in fact." - -"Knew me, by Jove! that is rather odd. I only lost some money to him; -enough to make me wary for the future." - -"Wary?" she asked, with dilated eyes. - -"Yes." - -"An unpleasant expression, surely. Sir Madoc, who is so hospitable, -asked him here to see the lions of Craigaderyn, and has put a gun at -his disposal for the twelfth." - -"How kind of unthinking Sir Madoc! A most satisfactory explanation," -said I, cloudily, while gnawing my moustache. Guilfoyle had too -evidently followed them. - -"If any explanation were necessary," was the somewhat haughty -response, as the mother-of-pearl fan went faster than ever, and she -looked me full in the face with her clear, dark, and penetrating eyes, -to the sparkle of which the form of their lids, and their thick fringe -of black lash, served to impart a softness that was indeed required. -"Do you know anything of him?" she added. - -"No; that is--" - -"Anything against him?" - -"No, Lady Estelle." - -"What then?" she asked, a little petulantly. - -"Simply that I, pardon me, think a good deal." - -"More than you would say?" - -"Perhaps." - -"This is not just. Mamma is somewhat particular, as you know; and our -family solicitor, Mr. Sharpus, who is his legal friend also, speaks -most warmly of him. We met him in the best society--abroad, of course; -but, Mr. Hardinge, your words, your manner, more than all, your tone, -imply what I fear Mr. Guilfoyle would strongly resent. But please go -and be attentive to mamma--you have scarcely been near her to-night," -she added quickly, as a flush of anger crossed my face, and she -perceived it. I bowed and obeyed, with a smile on my lips and intense -annoyance in my heart. I knew that the soft eyes of Winifred Lloyd had -been on us from time to time; but my little flirtation with _her_ was -a thing of the past now, and I was reckless of its memory. Was she so? -Time will prove. I felt jealousy of Guilfoyle, pique at Lady Estelle, -and rage at my own mismanagement. I had sought to resume the tenor of -our thoughts and conversation on the occasion of our parting after -that joyous and brilliant night in Park-lane, when my name on her -engagement card had appeared thrice for that of any one else; but if I -had touched her heart, even in the slightest degree, would she have -become, as it seemed, almost warm in defence of this man, a waif -picked up on the Continent? Yet, had she any deeper interest in him -than mere acquaintanceship warranted, would she have spoken of him so -openly, and so candidly, to me? - -Heavens! we had actually been covertly fencing, and nearly -quarrelling! Yet, if so, why should she be anxious for me to win the -estimation of "mamma"? Lady Naseby had been beautiful in her time, and -the utter vacuity and calm of her mind had enabled her to retain much -of that beauty unimpaired; and I thought that her daughter, though -with more sparkle and brilliance, would be sure to resemble her very -much at the same years. She was not displeased to meet with attention, -but was shrewd enough to see, and disdainful enough to resent, its -being bestowed, as she suspected it was in my instance, on account of -her daughter; thus I never had much success; for on the night of that -very rout in London my attentions in that quarter, and their apparent -good fortune, had excited her parental indignation and aristocratic -prejudices against me. - -After all the visitors had withdrawn (as horses or carriages were -announced in succession), save one or two fox-hunters whom Guilfoyle -had lured into the billiard-room for purposes of his own, when the -ladies left us at night Lady Estelle did not give me her hand. She -passed me with a bow and smile only, and as she swept through the -gilded folding doors of the outer drawing-room, with an arm round -Dora's waist, her backward glances fell on all--but me. Why was this? -Was this coldness of manner the result of Guilfoyle's influence, fear -of her mamma, her alleged engagement with old Lord Pottersleigh, pique -at myself caused by Dora's folly, or what? It was the old story of -"trifles light as air." I felt wrathful and heavy at heart, and -repented bitterly the invitation I had accepted, and the leave I had -asked; for Lady Estelle seemed so totally unconcerned and indifferent -to me now, considering the _empressement_ with which we had parted in -London. - -The "family solicitor," too! He had been introduced as a mutual friend -in the course of affairs--in the course of a friendship that had -ripened most wonderfully. Was this Hawkesby Guilfoyle a fool, or a -charlatan, or both? His various versions of the diamond ring would -seem to show that he was the former. What fancy had the Countess for -him, and why was he tolerated by Sir Madoc? Familiar though I was with -my old friend, I felt that I could not, without a violation of good -taste, ask a question about a guest, especially one introduced by the -Cressinghams. His voice was soft in tone; his manner, when he chose, -was suave; his laugh at all times, even when he mocked and sneered, -which was not unfrequent, silvery and pleasing; yet he was evidently -one who could "smile and smile and be"--I shall not exactly say what. -While smoking a cigar, I pondered over these and other perplexing -things in my room before retiring for the night, hearing ever and anon -the click of the billiard-balls at the end of the corridor. Had I not -the same chance and right of competition as this Guilfoyle, though -unknown to the "family solicitor"? How far had he succeeded in -supplanting me, and perhaps others? for that there were others I knew. -How far had he gone in his suit--how prospered? How was I to construe -the glances I had seen exchanged, the half speech so bluntly made, and -so adroitly drowned at the piano? Who was he? what was he? The attaché -of the mock embassy at a petty German Court! Surely my position in -society was as good, if not better defined than his; while youth, -appearance, health, and strength gave me every advantage over an "old -fogie" like Viscount Pottersleigh. - -As if farther to inflame my pique, and confirm the chagrin and -irritation that grew within me on reflection, Phil Caradoc, smoothing -his moustache, came into my room, which adjoined his, to have, as he -said, "a quiet weed before turning in." He looked ruffled; for he had -lost money at billiards--that was evident--and to the object of my -jealousy, too. - -"That fellow Guilfoyle is a thorough Bohemian if ever there was one!" -said he, as he viciously bit off the end of his cigar prior to -lighting it, "with his inimitable tact, his steady stroke at -billiards, his scientific whist, his coolness and perfect breeding: -yet he is, I am certain, unless greatly mistaken, a regular -free-lance, without the bravery or brilliance that appertained to the -name of old--a lawless ritter of the gaming-table, and one that can't -even act his part well or consistently in being so. He has been -spinning another story about that ring, with which I suppose, like -Claude Melnotte's, we shall hear in time his grandfather, the Doge of -Venice, married the Adriatic I am certain," continued Caradoc, who was -unusually ruffled, "that though a vainglorious and boasting fellow, he -is half knave, half fool, and wholly adventurer!" - -"This is strong language, Phil. Good heavens! do you really think so?" -I asked, astonished to find him so boldly putting my own thoughts into -words. - -"I am all but convinced of it," said he, emphatically. "But how in -such society?" - -"Ah, that is the rub, and the affair of Sir Madoc, and of Lady Naseby, -and of Lady Estelle, too, for she seems to take rather more than an -interest in him--they have some secret understanding. . By Jove! I -can't make it out at all." - -Caradoc's strong convictions and unusual bluntness added fuel to my -pique and chagrin, and I resolved that, come what might, I would end -the matter ere long; and I thought the while of the song of -Montrose-- - - - "He either fears his fate too much, - Or his deserts are small, - Who dares not put it to the touch, - To gain or lose it all!" - - - - -CHAPTER VIII.--SUNDAY AT CRAIGADERYN. - - -The following day was Sunday; and ere it closed, there occurred a -little contretemps which nearly lost me all chance of putting to the -issue whether I was "to gain or lose it all" with Estelle Cressingham. - -I felt that it was quite possible, if I chose, to have my revenge -through the sweet medium of Winifred Lloyd; yet, though Lady Estelle's -somewhat pointed defence of Guilfoyle rankled in my memory, and -Caradoc's hints had added fuel to the flame, I shrunk from such a -double game, and hoped that the chances afforded by propinquity in -general, and the coming fête in particular, would soon enable me to -come to a decision. My mind was full of vague irritation against her; -yet when I rose in the morning, my one and predominant thought was -that I should see her again. Carriages and horses had been ordered -from the stable for our conveyance to Craigaderyn church, a three -miles' drive through lovely scenery, and I resolved to accompany the -sisters in the barouche, leaving whom fate directed to take charge of -Lady Estelle; yet great was my contentment when she fell to the care -of Sir Madoc in the family carriage. Lady Naseby did not appear, her -French soubrette, Mademoiselle Babette Pompon, announcing that she was -indisposed. Guilfoyle and Caradoc rode somewhat unwillingly together, -and I sat opposite Winny, who insisted on driving, and was duly -furnished with the smartest of parasol whips--pink, with a white -fringe. Quitting the park, we skirted a broad trout stream, the steep -banks of which were clad with light-green foliage, and name -_Nant-y-belan_, or the "Martens' dingle." At the bottom the river -foamed along over broken and abutting rocks, or flowed in dark and -noiseless pools, where the brown trout lurked in the shade, and where -the overarching trees and grassy knolls were reflected downward in -the depth. - -Hawkesby Guilfoyle sat his horse--one of Sir Madoc's hunters, fully -sixteen hands high--so well, and looked so handsome and gentlemanly, -his riding costume was so complete, even to his silver spurs, -well-fitting buff gloves, and riding switch, that I felt regret in the -conviction that some cloud hung over the fellow's antecedents, and -present life too, perhaps; but with all that I could not forgive him -his rivalry and, as I deemed it, presumption, with the strong belief -that he was, in his secret heart; my enemy. He and Caradoc rode behind -the open carriage; we led the way in the barouche; and a very merry -and laughing party we were, as we swept by the base of the green hills -of Mynedd Hiraethrog, and over the ancient bridge that spans Llyn -Aled, to the church of Craigaderyn, where the entrance of Sir Madoc's -family and their visitors caused periodically somewhat of a sensation -among the more humble parishioners who were there, and were wont to -regard with a species of respectful awe the great square pew, which -was lined with purple velvet, and had a carved-oak table in the -centre, and over the principal seat the lion's head erased, and the -shield of Lloyd per bend sinister, ermine and pean, a lion rampant, -armed with a sword. - -With a roof of carved oak, brought from some _other_ place (the -invariable account of all such roofs in Wales), and built by Jorwerth -ap Davydd Lloyd, in 1320, the church was a picturesque old place, -where many generations of the Craigaderyn family had worshipped long -before and since the Reformation, and whose bones, lapped in lead, and -even in coffins of stone, lay in the burial vaults below. The oaken -pews were high and deep, and were covered with dates, coats-of-arms, -and quaint monograms. In some places the white slabs indicated where -lay the remains of those who died but yesterday. Elsewhere, with -helmet, spurs, and gloves of steel hung above their stony effigies, -and covered by cobwebs and dust, lay the men of ages past and gone, -their brasses and pedestal tombs bearing, in some instances, how -stoutly and valiantly they had fought against the Spaniard, the -Frenchman, and the Scot. One, Sir Madoc ap Meredyth Lloyd, whose sword -hung immediately over my head, had wielded it, as his brass recorded, -"contra Scotos apud Flodden et Musselboro;" and now the spiders were -busy spinning their cobwebs over the rusted helmet through which this -old Welsh knight had seen King James's host defile by the silver Till, -and that of his fated granddaughter by the banks of the beautiful Esk. -In other places I saw the more humble, but curious Welsh mode of -commemorating the dead, by hanging up a coffin-plate, inscribed with -their names, in the pews where they were wont to sit. Coats-of-arms -met the eye on all sides--solid evidences of birth and family, which -more than once evoked a covert sneer from Guilfoyle, who to his other -bad qualities added the pride and the envy of such things, that seem -inseparable from the character of the parvenu. There were two -services in Craigaderyn church each Sunday, one in Welsh, the other in -English. Sir Madoc usually attended the former; but in courtesy to -Lady Estelle, he had come to the latter to-day. - -Over all the details of the village fane my eyes wandered from time to -time, always to rest on the face of Estelle Cressingham or of Winifred -Lloyd, who was beside me, and who on this day, as I had accompanied -her, seemed to feel that she had me all to herself. We read off the -same book, as we had done years before in the same pew and place; ever -and anon our gloved fingers touched; I felt her silk dress rustling -against me; her long lashes and snowy lids, with the soft pale beauty -of her downcast face, and her sweetly curved mouth, were all most -pleasing and attractive; but the _sense_ of Estelle's presence rendered -me invulnerable to all but her; and my eyes could not but roam to -where she stood or knelt by the side of burly Sir Madoc, her fine face -downcast too in the soft light that stole between the deep mullions -and twisted tracery of an ancient stained-glass window, her noble and -equally pure profile half seen and half hidden by a short veil of -black lace; her rounded chin and lips rich in colour, and beautiful in -character as those of one of Greuze's loveliest masterpieces. There, -too, were the rich brightness of her hair, and the proud grace that -pervaded all her actions, and even her stillness. - -Thus, even when I did not look towards her, but in Winifred's face, or -on the book we mutually held, and mechanically affected to read, a -perception, a dreamy sense of Estelle's presence was about me, and I -could not help reverting to our past season in London, and all that -has been described by a writer as those "first sweet hours of -communion, when strangers glide into friends; that hour which, either -in friendship or in love, is as the bloom to the fruit, as the -daybreak to the day, indefinable, magical, and fleeting;" the hours -which saw me presented as a friend, and left me a lover. The day was -intensely hot, and inside the old church, though some of the arched -recesses and ancient tombs looked cool enough, there was a blaze of -sunshine, that fell in hazy flakes or streams of coloured light -athwart the bowed heads of the congregation. With heat and languor, -there was also the buzz of insect life; and amid the monotonous tones -of the preacher I loved to fancy him reading the marriage service for -us--that is, for Estelle and myself--fancied it as an enthusiastic -school-girl might have done; and yet how was it that, amid these -conceits, the face and form of Winifred Lloyd, with her pretty hand in -the tight straw-coloured kid glove, that touched mine, filled up the -eye of the mind? Was I dreaming, or only about to sleep, like so many -of the congregation--those toilers afield, those hardy hewers of wood -and drawers of water, whose strong sinews, when unbraced, induced them -to slumber now--the men especially, as the study of each other's -toilets served to keep the female portion fully awake. When the -clergyman prayed for the success of our arms in the strife that was to -come, Winifred's dark eyes looked into mine for a moment, quick as -light, and I saw her bosom swell; and when he prayed, "Give peace in -our time, O Lord," her voice became earnest and tremulous in -responding; and I could have sworn that I saw a tear oozing, but -arrested, on the thick black eyelash of this impulsive Welsh girl, -whom this part of the service, by its association and the time, seemed -to move; but Lady Estelle was wholly intent on having one of her -gloves buttoned by Guilfoyle, whose attendance she doubtless preferred -to that of old Sir Madoc. - -"Look!" said Winifred Lloyd, in an excited whisper, as she lightly -touched my hand. - -I followed the direction of her eye, and saw, seated at the end of the -central aisle, modestly and humbly, among the free places reserved for -the poor, a young woman, whose appearance was singularly interesting. -Poorly, or rather plainly, attired in faded black, her face was -remarkably handsome; and her whole air was perfectly ladylike. She was -as pale as death, with a wild wan look in all her features; disease, -or sorrow, or penury--perhaps all these together--had marked her as -their own; her eyes, of clear, bright, and most expressive gray, were -haggard and hollow, with dark circles under them. Black kid gloves -showed her pretensions to neatness and gentility; but as they were -frayed and worn, she strove to conceal her hands nervously under her -gathered shawl. - -"She is looking at you, Winifred," said Dora. - -"No--at Estelle." - -"At us all, I think," resumed Dora, in the same whispered tone; "and -she has done so for some time past. Heavens! she seems quite like a -spectre." - -"Poor creature!" said Winifred; "we must inquire about her." - -"Do you know her, Mr. Hardinge?" asked Dora. - -"Nay, not I; it is Mr. Guilfoyle she is looking at," said I. - -Guilfoyle, having achieved the somewhat protracted operation of -buttoning Lady Estelle's lavender kid glove, now stuck his glass in -his eye, and turned leisurely and languidly in the direction that -attracted us all, just as the service was closing; but the pale woman -quickly drew down her veil, and quitted the church abruptly, ere he -could see her, as I thought; and this circumstance, though I took no -heed of it then, I remembered in the time to come. - -Winifred frankly took my arm as we left the church. - -"You promised to come with me after luncheon and see the goat I have -for the regiment," said she. - -"Did I?--ah, yes--shall be most happy, I'm sure," said I, shamefully -oblivious of the promise in question, as we proceeded towards the -carriages, the people making way for us on all sides, the women -curtseying and the men uncovering to Sir Madoc, who was a universal -favourite, especially with the maternal portion of the parish, as he -was very fond of children and flattered himself not a little on his -power of getting on with them, being wont to stop mothers on the road -or in the village street, and make knowing remarks on the beauty, the -complexions, or the curly heads of their offspring while he was never -without a handful of copper or loose silver for general distribution; -and now it excited some surprise and even secret disdain in -Guilfoyle--a little petulance in Lady Estelle too--to find him shaking -hands and speaking in gutteral Welsh with some of the men cottagers, -or peasant-women with jackets and tall odd hats. But one anecdote will -suffice to show the character of Sir Madoc. - -In the very summer of my visit, it had occurred that he had to serve -on a jury when a property of some three thousand pounds or so was at -issue; and when the jury retired, he found that they were determined -to decide in such manner as he did not deem equitable, and which in -the end would inevitably ruin an honest farmer named Evan Rhuddlan, -father of a sergeant in my company of Welsh Fusileers, who dwelt at a -place called Craig Eryri, or "the Rock of Eagles." Finding that they -were resolute, he submitted, or affected to acquiesce in their -decision; but on announcing it to the court he handed the losing party -a cheque on Coutts and Co. for the whole sum in litigation, and became -more than ever the idol of the country people. - -"Romantic old place--casques, cobwebs, and all that sort of thing," -said Guilfoyle, as he handed Lady Estelle into the carriage, and took -the bridle of his horse from Bob Spurrit, the groom; "I thought Burke -had written the epitaph of chivalry and all belonging to it." - -"Yes, but romance still exists, Mr. Guilfoyle," said Winifred, whose -face was bright with smiles. - -"And love too, eh, Estelle?" added Dora, laughing. - -"Even in the region of Mayfair, you think?" said she. - -"Yes; and wherever there is beauty, that is rarest," said I. - -But she only replied by one of her calm smiles; for she had a -reticence of manner which there seemed to be no means of moving. - -"Talking of love and romance, I should like to know more of that pale -woman we saw in church to-day," said Dora. - -"Why so?" asked Guilfoyle, curtly. - -"Because I saw she must have some terrible story to tell.--What was -the text, Mr. Caradoc?" she asked, as we departed homewards. - -"Haven't the ghost of an idea," replied Phil. - -"O fie!--or the subject?" - -"No," said Caradoc, reddening a little; for he had been intent during -the whole service on Winifred Lloyd. - -"It was all about Jacob's ladder, of which we have had a most -inaccurate notion hitherto," said Dora, as we drove down the long lime -avenue, to find that, as the day was so sultry, luncheon had been laid -for us by Owen Gwyllim under the grand old trees in the lawn, about -thirty yards from the entrance-hall, under the very oak where the -spectre of Sir Jorwerth Du was alleged to vanish, the oak of Owen -Glendower; and where that doughty Cymbrian had perhaps sought to -summon spirits from the vasty deep, we found spirits of another -kind--brandy and seltzer, clicquot and sparkling moselle cooling in -silver ice-pails on the greensward; and there too, awaiting us, sat -Lady Naseby, smiling and fanning herself under the umbrageous shadows -of the chase. - -Over her stately head was pinned a fall of rich Maltese lace, that -hung in lappets on each side--a kind of demi-toilette that well became -her lingering beauty and matronly appearance. - -In a mother-of-pearl basket by her side, and placed on the -luncheon-table, lay Tiny, her shock, a diminutive cur, white as snow, -spotless as Mademoiselle Babette with perfumed soap could make it, its -long woolly hair dangling over its pink eyes, giving it, as Sir Madoc -said, "a most pitiable appearance;" for with all his love of dogs, he -disliked such pampered, waddling, and wheezing pets as this, and -thought manhood never looked so utterly contemptible as when a -tall "Jeames" in livery, with whiskers and calves, cane and nosegay, -had the custody of such a quadruped, while his lady shopped in -Regent-street or Piccadilly. - - - - -CHAPTER IX.-THE INITIALS. - - -While we were at luncheon, and the swollen champagne-corks were flying -upward into the green foliage overhead, and while Owen Gwyllim was -supplying us with iced claret-cup from a great silver tankard -presented to Sir Madoc's uncle by his regiment, the Ancient Britons, -after the Irish rebellion of 1798, and with which he, Sir Madoc, had -been wont to dispense swig or "brown Betty" on St. David's day, when -at Cambridge--Dora, with her hair flying loose, her eyes sparkling, -and her face radiant with excitement and merriment came tripping down -the perron from the entrance hall, and across the lawn towards us, -with the contents of the household post-bag. She seemed to have -letters for every one, save me--letters which she dropped and picked -up as she came along. There was quite a pile of notes for herself, on -the subject of her approaching fête; and how busy her pretty little -hands immediately became! - -After the usual muttered apologies, all began to read. - -There was a letter for Guilfoyle, on reading which he grew very white, -exhibited great trepidation, and thrust it into his coat-pocket. - -"What is up, sir?" asked Sir Madoc, pausing with a slice of cold fowl -on his fork; "nothing unpleasant, I hope?' - -"Sold on a bay mare--that is all," he replied, with an affected laugh, -as if to dismiss the subject. - -"How?" asked Sir Madoc, whom a "horsey" topic immediately interested. - -"Like many other handicap 'pots' this season, my nag came in worse -than second." - -"A case of jockeying?" - -"Pure and simple." - -"When?" - -"O, ah--York races." - -"Why, man alive, they don't come off for a month yet!" responded Sir -Madoc, somewhat dryly; but perceiving that his guest was awkwardly -placed, he changed the subject by saying, "But your letter, Lady -Estelle, gives you pleasure, I am glad to see." - -"It is from Lord Pottersleigh. He arrives here to-morrow and hopes his -rooms have a southern exposure." - -"The fête-day--of course. His comforts shall be fully attended to." - -"Why did he write to _her_ about this, and not to Sir Madoc or Miss -Lloyd?" thought I. - -"He is such an old friend," remarked Lady Estelle, as if she divined -my mental query. - -"Yes, rather too old for my taste," said the somewhat mischievous -Dora. "He wears goloshes in damp weather, his hat down on the nape of -his neck; is in an agony of mind about exposures, draughts, and -currents of air; makes his horse shy every time he attempts to mount, -and they go round in circles, eyeing each other suspiciously till a -groom comes; and when he does achieve his saddle, he drops his whip or -his gloves, or twists his stirrup-leather. And yet it is this old -fogie whose drag at Epsom or the Derby makes the greatest show, has -the finest display of lovely faces, fans, bonnets, and parasols--a -moving Swan and Edgar, with a luncheon spread that Fortnum and Mason -might envy, and champagne flowing as if from a fountain; but withal, -he is so tiresome!" - -"Dora, you quite forget yourself," said Winifred, while I could have -kissed her for this sketch of my rival, at which Sir Madoc, and even -Estelle Cressingham, laughed; but Lady Naseby said, with some asperity -of tone, - -"Lord Pottersleigh is one of our richest peers, Miss Dora, and his -creation dates from Henry VIII." - -"And he is to dance with me," said the heedless girl, still laughing. -"O, won't I astonish his nerves if we waltz!" - -"Your cousin Naseby is to visit us, Estelle, at Walcot Park, so soon -as we return, if he can," said the Countess, turning from Dora with a -very dubious expression of eye, and closing a letter she had received; -"his love-affair with that odious Irish girl is quite off, thank -heaven!" - -"How?--love of change, or change of love?" - -"Neither." - -"What then, mamma?" - -"The Irish girl actually had a mind of her own, and preferred some one -else even to a peer, an English peer!" - -"I drain this clicquot to the young lady's happiness," said Sir Madoc. - -"But all this is nothing to me, mamma," said Lady Estelle, coldly. - -But I could see at a glance, that if it was unimportant to _her_, it -was not so to her mother, his aunt, who would rather have had the -young earl for her son-in-law than the old viscount, even though the -patent of the latter had been expede by the royal Bluebeard, most -probably for services that pertained more to knavery than knighthood. - -"Well, Caradoc," said I, "is your despatch from the regiment?" - -"Yes; from Price of ours. Nothing but rumours of drafts going eastward -to make up the death-losses at Varna, and he fears our leave may be -cancelled. 'Deuced awkward if we go soon,' he adds, 'as I have a most -successful _affaire du c[oe]ur_ on hand just now.'" - -"When is he ever without one?" said I; and we both laughed. - -Winifred's eyes were on me, and Caradoc's were on her, while I was -sedulously attending to Lady Estelle. As for Guilfoyle, since the -advent of his letter he had become quite silent. We were at the old -game of cross-purposes; for it seems to be in love, as with everything -else in life, that the obstacles in the way, and the difficulty of -attainment, always enhance the value of the object to be won. Yet in -the instance of Lady Estelle I was not so foolish as poor Price of -ours, the butt of the mess, who always fell in love with the wrong -person--to whom the pale widow, inconsolable in her first crape; the -blooming bride, in her clouds of tulle and white lace; the girl just -engaged, and who consequently saw but one man in the world, and that -man her own _fiancé_; or any pretty girl whom he met just when the -route came and the mess-plate was packed prior to marching--became -invested with remarkable charms, and a sudden interest that made his -susceptible heart feel sad and tender. - -The ladies' letters opened up quite a budget of town news and gossip. -To Sir Madoc, a genuine country gentleman, full only of field-sports, -the prospects of the turnip crop and the grouse season, the -county-pack and so forth, a conversation that now rose, chiefly on the -coming fête on dresses, music, routs and Rotten-row, kettledrums and -drawing-rooms, and the town in general, proved somewhat of a bore. He -fidgeted, and ultimately left for the stables, where he and Bob -Spurrit had to hold a grave consultation on certain equine ailments. -The ladies also rose to leave us; but Caradoc, Guilfoyle, and I -lingered under the cool shadow of the oaks, and lit our cigars. With -his silver case for holding the last-named luxuries, Guilfoyle -unconsciously pulled forth a letter, which fell on the grass at my -feet. Picking it up, I restored it to him; but brief though the -action, I could not help perceiving it to be the letter he had just -received, that it was addressed in a woman's hand, and had on the -envelope, in coloured letters, the name "Georgette." - -"Thanks," said he, with sudden irritation of manner, as he thrust it -into a breast-pocket this time; "a narrow squeak that!" he added, -slangily, with a half-muttered malediction. - -I felt certain that there was a mystery in all this; that he feared -something unpleasant might have been revealed, had that identical -letter fallen into _other_ hands, or under more prying eyes; and I -remembered those trivial circumstances at a future, and to me rather -harassing, time. I must own that this man was to me a puzzle. With all -his disposition to boast, he never spoke of relations or of family; -yet he seemed in perfectly easy circumstances; his own valet, groom, -and horses were at Craigaderyn; he could bear himself well and with -perfect ease in the best society; and it was evident that, wherever -they came from, he was at present a man of pretty ample means. He -possessed, moreover, a keen perception for appreciating individuals -and events at their actual value; his manners were, _when he chose_, -polished, his coolness imperturbable, and his _insouciance_ sometimes -amusing. For the present, it had left him. - -"Beautiful brilliant that of yours, Mr. Guilfoyle," said Caradoc, to -fish for another legend of the ring; but in vain, for Guilfoyle was no -longer quite himself, though he had policy enough to feed the snarling -cur Tiny in her basket, with choice morsels of cold fowl, as Lady -Naseby's soubrette, Mademoiselle Babette, was waiting to carry it -away. Since the remarks or _contretemps_ concerning the York races he -had been as mute as a fish; and now, when he did begin to speak in the -absence of Sir Madoc, I could perceive that gratitude for kindness did -not form an ingredient in the strange compound of which his character -was made up. Perhaps secret irritation at Sir Madoc's queries about -the letter which so evidently disturbed his usual equanimity might -have been the real spirit that moved him now to sneer at the old -baronet's Welsh foibles, and particularly his weakness on the subject -of pedigrees. - -"You are to stay here for the 1st, I believe?" said I. - -"Yes; but, the dooce! for what? Such a labour to march through miles -of beans and growing crop, to knock over a few partridges and rabbits" -(partwidges and wabbits, he called them), "which you can pay another -to do much better for you." - -"Sturdy Sir Madoc would hear this with incredulous astonishment," said -I. - -"Very probably. Kind fellow old Taffy, though," said he, while smoking -leisurely, and lounging back in an easy garden-chair; "has a long -pedigree, of course, as we may always remember by the coats-of-arms -stuck up all over the house. 'County people' in the days of Howel Dha; -'county ditto' in the days of Queen Victoria, and likely to remain so -till the next flood forms a second great epoch in the family history. -Very funny, is it not? He reminds me of what we read of Mathew Bramble -in _Humphry Clinker_--a gentleman of great worth and property, -descended in a straight line by the female side from Llewellyn, Prince -of Wales." - -I was full of indignation on hearing my old friend spoken of thus, if -not under his own roof, under his ancient ancestral oaks; but Philip -Caradoc, more Celtic and fiery by nature, anticipated me by saying -sharply, "Bad taste this, surely in you, Mr. Guilfoyle, to sneer thus -at our hospitable entertainer; and believe me, sir, that no one treats -lightly the pedigree of another who--who--" - -"Ah, well--who what?" - -"Possesses one himself," added Phil, looking him steadily in the face. - -"Bah! I suppose every one has had a grandfather." - -"Even you, Mr. Guilfoyle?" continued Caradoc, whose cheek began to -flush; but the other replied calmly, and not without point, - -"There is a writer who says, that to pride oneself on the nobility of -one's ancestors is like looking among the roots for the fruit that -should be found on the branches." - -Finding that the conversation was taking a decidedly unpleasant turn, -and that, though his tone was quiet and his manner suave, a glassy -glare shone in the greenish-gray eyes of Guilfoyle, I said, with an -assumed laugh, - -"We must not forget the inborn ideas and the national sentiments of -the Welsh--call them provincialisms if you will. But remember that -there are eight hundred thousand people inspired by a nationality so -strong, that they will speak only the language of the Cymri; and it is -among those chiefly that our regiment has ever been recruited. But if -the foibles--I cannot deem them folly--of Sir Madoc are distasteful to -you, the charms of the scenery around us and those of our lady friends -cannot but be pleasing." - -"Granted," said he, coldly; "all are beautiful, even to Miss Dora, who -looks so innocent." - -"Who _is_ so innocent by nature, Mr. Guilfoyle," said I, in a tone of -undisguised sternness. - -"Then it is a pity she permits herself to say--sharp things." - -"With so much unintentional point, perhaps?" - -"Sir!" - -"Truth, then--which you will," said I, as we simultaneously rose to -leave luncheon-table. - -And now, oddly enough, followed by Winifred, Dora herself came again -tripping down the broad steps of the perron towards us, exclaiming, - -"Is not papa with you?--the tiresome old dear, he will be among the -harriers or the stables of course!" - -"What is the matter?" I asked. - -"Only think, Mr. Hardinge, that poor woman we saw at church this -morning, looking so pretty, so pale, and interesting, was found among -the tombstones by Farmer Rhuddlan, quite in a helpless faint, after we -drove away--so the housekeeper tells me; so we must find her out and -succour her if possible." - -"But who is she?" asked Caradoc. - -"No one knows; she refused obstinately to give her name or tell her -story ere she went away; but at her neck hangs a gold locket, with a -crest, the date, 1st of September, on one side, and H. G. beautifully -enamelled on the other. How odd--your initials, Mr. Guilfoyle!" - -"You are perhaps not aware that my name is Henry Hawkesby Guilfoyle," -said he, with ill-concealed anger, while he played nervously with his -diamond ring. - -"How intensely odd!" resumed his beautiful but unwitting tormentor; -"H. H. G. were the three letters on the locket!" - -"Did no one open it?" he asked. - -"No; it was firmly closed." - -"By a secret spring, no doubt." - -Guilfoyle looked ghastly for a moment, or it might have been the -effect of the sunlight flashing on his face through the waving foliage -of the trees overhead; but he said laughingly, - -"A droll coincidence, which under some circumstances, might be very -romantic, but fortunately in the present has no point whatever. If my -initials hung at your neck instead of hers, how happy I should be, -Miss Dora!" - -And turning the matter thus, by a somewhat clumsy compliment or bit of -flattery, he ended an unpleasant conversation by entering the house -with her and Caradoc. - -Winifred remained irresolutely behind them. - -"We were to visit my future comrade," said I. - -"Come, then," said she, with a beautiful smile, and a soft blush of -innocent pleasure. - - - - -CHAPTER X.--A PERILOUS RAMBLE. - - -Winifred Lloyd was, as Caradoc had said, a very complete and perfect -creature. The very way her gloves fitted, the handsome form of her -feet, the softness of her dark eyes, the tender curve of her lips, -and, more than all, her winning manner--the inspiration of an innocent -and guileless heart--made her a most desirable companion at all times; -but with me, at present, poor Winifred was only the means to an end; -and perhaps she secretly felt this, as she lingered pensively for a -moment by the marble fountain that stood before Craigaderyn Court, and -played with her white fingers in the water, causing the gold and -silver fish to dart madly to and fro. Above its basin a group of green -bronze tritons were spouting, great Nile lilies floated on its -surface, and over all was the crest of the Lloyds, also in bronze, a -lion's head, gorged, with a wreath of oak. The notes of a harp came -softly towards us through the trees as we walked onward, for old Owen -Gwyllim the butler was playing in that most unromantic place his -pantry, and the air was the inevitable "Jenny Jones." - -From the lawn I led her by walks and ways forgotten since my boyhood, -and since I had gone the same route with her birdnesting and nutting -in those glorious Welsh woods, by hedgerows that were matted and -interwoven with thorny brambles and bright wild-flowers, past laden -orchards and picturesque farms, nooks that were leafy and green, and -little tarns of gleaming water, that reflected the smiling summer sky; -past meadows, where the sleek brown, or black, or brindled cattle were -chewing the cud and ruminating knee-deep among the fragrant pasture; -and dreamily I walked by her side, touching her hand from time to -time, or taking it fairly in mine as of old, and occasionally -enforcing what I said by a pressure of her soft arm within mine, while -I talked to her, saying heaven knows what, but most ungratefully -wishing all the time that she were Estelle Cressingham. All was soft -and peaceful around us. The woods of Craigaderyn, glowing in the heat -of the August afternoon, were hushed and still, all save the hum of -insects, or if they stirred it was when the soft west wind seemed to -pass through them with a languid sigh; and so some of the influences -of a past time and a boyish love came over me; a time long before I -had met the dazzling Estelle--a time when to me there had seemed to be -but one girl in the world, and she was Winifred Lloyd--ere I joined -the --th in the West Indies, or the Welsh Fusileers, and knew what the -world was. I dreaded being betrayed into some tenderness as a treason -to Lady Estelle; and fortunately we were not without some -interruptions in our walk of a mile or so to visit her horned pet, -whom she had sent forth for a last run on his native hills. - -We visited Yr Ogof (or the cave) where one of her cavalier ancestors -had hidden after the battle of Llandegai, in the Vale of the Ogwen, -during the wars of Cromwell, and now, by local superstition, deemed an -abode of the knockers, those supernatural guardians of the mines, to -whom are known all the metallic riches of the mountains; hideous pigmy -gnomes, who, though they can never be seen, are frequently heard -beating, blasting, and boring with their little hammers, and singing -in a language known to themselves only. Then we tarried by the -heaped-up cairn that marked some long-forgotten strife; and then by -the Maen Hir, a long boulder, under which some fabled giant lay; and -next a great rocking stone, amid a field of beans, which we found -Farmer Rhuddlan--a sturdy specimen of a Welsh Celt, high cheek-boned -and sharp-eyed--contemplating with great satisfaction. High -above the sea of green stalks towered that wizard altar, where whilom -an archdruid had sat, and offered up the blood of his fellow-men to -gods whose names and rites are alike buried in oblivion; but Strabo -tells us that it was from the flowing blood of the victim that the -Druidesses--virgins supposed to be endowed with the gift of -prophecy--divined the events of the future; and this old stone, now -deemed but a barrier to the plough, had witnessed those terrible -observances. - -Poised one block upon the other, resting on the space a sparrow alone -might occupy, and having stood balanced thus mysteriously for -uncounted ages, lay the rocking stone. The farmer applied his strong -hand to the spheroidal mass, and after one or two impulses it swayed -most perceptibly. Then begging me not to forget his son, who was with -our Fusileers far away at Varna, he respectfully uncovered his old -white head, and left us to continue his tour of the crops, but not -without bestowing upon us a peculiar and knowing smile, that made the -blood mantle in the peachlike cheeks of Winifred. - -"How strange are the reflections these solemn old relics excite!" said -she, somewhat hastily; "if, indeed, one may pretend to value or to -think of such things in these days of ours, when picturesque -superstition is dying and poetry is long since dead." - -"Poetry dead?" - -"I think it died with Byron." - -"Poetry can never die while beauty exists," said I, smiling rather -pointedly in her face. - -My mind being so filled with Estelle and her fancied image, caused me -to be unusually soft and tender to Winifred. I seemed to be mingling -one woman's presence with that of another. I regarded Winifred as the -dearest of friends; but I loved Estelle with a passion that was full -of enthusiasm and admiration. - -"No two men have the same idea of beauty," said Winifred, after a -pause. - -"True, nor any two nations; it exists chiefly, perhaps, in the mind of -the lover." - -"Yet love has nothing exactly to do with it." - -"Prove this," said I, laughing, as I caught her hand in mine. - -"Easily. Ask a Chinese his idea of loveliness, and he will tell you, a -woman with her eyebrows plucked out, the lids painted, her teeth -blackened, and her feet shapeless; and what does the cynical Voltaire -say?--'Ask a toad what is beauty, the supremely beautiful, and he will -answer you, it is his female, with two round eyes projecting out of -its little head, a broad flat neck, a yellow breast, and dark-brown -back.' Even red hair is thought lovely by some; and did not Duke -Philip the Good institute the order of the Golden Fleece of Burgundy -in honour of a damsel whose hair was as yellow as saffron; and now, -Harry Hardinge, what is _your_ idea?" - -"Can you ask me?" I exclaimed, with something of ardour, for she -looked so laughingly bright and intelligent as she spoke; then -divining that I was thinking of another, not of her, "for there is a -thread in our thoughts even as there is a pulse in our hearts, and he -who can hold the one knows how to think, and he who can move the other -knows how to feel," she said, with a point scarcely meant. - -"The eye may be pleased, the vanity flattered, and ambition excited by -a woman of beauty, especially if she is one of rank; yet the heart may -be won by one her inferior. Talking of beauty, Lady Naseby has striven -hard to get the young earl, her nephew, to marry our friend, Lady -Estelle." - -"Would she have him?" I asked, while my cheek grew hot. - -"I cannot say--but he declined," replied Winifred, pressing a wild -rose to her nostrils. - -"Declined--impossible!" - -"Why impossible? But in her fiery pride Estelle will never, never -forgive him; though he was already engaged to one whom he, then at -least, loved well." - -"Ah--the Irish girl, I suppose?" - -"Yes," said Winifred, with a short little sigh, as she looked down. - -"Such a girl as Estelle Cressingham must always find admirers." - -"Hundreds; but as the estates, like the title, have passed to the next -male heir, and Lady Naseby has only a life-rent of the jointure house -in Hants--Walcot Park, a lovely place--she is anxious that her -daughter should make a most suitable marriage." - -"Which means lots of tin, I suppose?" said I, sourly. - -"Exactly," responded Winifred, determined, perhaps, if I had the bad -taste to speak so much of Estelle, to say unpleasant things; "and the -favoured _parti_ at present is Viscount Pottersleigh, who comes here -to-morrow, as his letter informed her." - -"Old Pottersleigh is sixty if he is a day!" said I, emphatically. - -"What has age to do with the matter in view? Money and position are -preferable to all fancies of the heart, I fear." - -"Nay, nay, Winifred, you belie yourself and Lady Estelle too; love is -before everything!" - -She laughed at my energy, while I began to feel that, next to making -love, there is nothing so pleasant or so suggestive as talking of it -to a pretty girl; and I beg to assure you, that it was somewhat -perilous work with one like Winifred Lloyd; a girl who had the -sweetest voice, the most brilliant complexion, and the softest eyes -perhaps in all North Wales. She now drew her hand away; till then I -had half forgot it was _her_ hand I had been holding. - -"Remember that oft-quoted line in the song of Montrose," said she, -pretty pointedly. - -"Which? for I haven't an idea." - - "'Love _one_--and love no more.'" - -"The great marquis was wrong," said I; "at least, if, according to a -more obscure authority in such matters, Price of ours, one may love -many times and always truly." - -"Indeed!" Her lip curled as she spoke. - -"Yes; for may not the same charms, traits, manner, and beauty which -lure us to love once, lure us to love again?" - -Winifred actually sighed, with something very like irritation, as she -said, "I think all this the most abominable sophistry, Mr. Hardinge, -and I feel a hatred for 'Price of ours,' whoever he may be." - -"Mister! Why I was Harry a moment ago." - -"Well, here is the abode of Cameydd Llewellyn; and you must tell me -what you think of your future Welsh comrade; his beard may be to the -regimental pattern, though decidedly his horns and moustaches are -not." - -As she said this, again laughingly, we found ourselves close to a -little hut that abutted on a thatched cottage and cow-house, in a most -secluded place, a little glen or dell, over which the trees were -arching, and so forming a vista, through which we saw Craigaderyn -Court, as if in a frame of foliage. She opened a little wicket, and at -the sound of her voice the goat came forth, dancing on his hind -legs--a trick she had taught him--or playfully butting her skirts with -his horns, regarding me somewhat dubiously and suspiciously the while -with his great hazel eyes. He was truly a splendid specimen of the old -Carnarvonshire breed of goats, which once ran wild over the mountains -there, and were either hunted by dogs or shot with the bullet so -lately as Pennant's time. His hair, which was longer than is usual -with those of England, led me to fancy there was a Cashmerian cross in -his blood; his black horns were two feet three inches long, and more -than two feet from one sharp tip to the other. He was as white as the -new-fallen snow, with a black streak down the back, and his beard was -as venerable in proportion and volume as it was silky in texture. - -"He is indeed a beautiful creature--a noble fellow!" I exclaimed, with -genuine admiration. - -"And just four years old. I obtained him when quite a kid." - -"I am so loth that the Fusileers should deprive you of him." - -"Talk not of that; but when you see my goat, my old pet Carneydd -Llewellyn, marching proudly at their head, and decked with chaplets on -St. David's day, when you are far, far away from us, you will--" she -paused. - -"What, Winifred?" - -"Think sometimes of Craigaderyn--of to-day--and of me, perhaps," she -added, with a laugh that sounded strangely unlike one. - -"Do I require aught to make me think of you?" said I, patting kindly -the plump, ungloved hand with which she was caressing the goat's head, -and which in whiteness rivalled the hue of his glossy coat; and -thereon I saw a Conway pearl, in a ring I had given her long ago, when -she was quite a little girl. - -"I hope not--and papa--I hope not." - -The bright beaming face was upturned to me, and, as the deuce would -have it, I kissed her: the impulse was irresistible. - -She trembled then, withdrew a pace or two, grew very pale, and her -eyes filled with tears. - -"You should not have done that, Harry--I mean, Mr. Hardinge." - -There was something wild and pitiful in her face. - -"Tears?" said I, not knowing very well what to say; for "people often -_do_ say very little, when they mean a great deal." - -"My old favourite will know the black ladders of Carneydd Llewellyn no -more," said she, stooping over the goat caressingly to hide her -confusion. - -"But, Winifred--Miss Lloyd--why tears?" - -"Can you ask me?" said she, her eyes flashing through them. - -"Why, what a fuss you make! I have often done so--when a boy!" - -"But you are no longer a boy; nor am I a girl, Mr. Hardinge." - -"Do please call me Harry, like Sir Madoc," I entreated. "Not -now--after this; and here comes Lady Estelle." - -"Estelle!" - -At that moment, not far from us, we saw Lady Naseby, driven in a -pony-phaeton by Caradoc, and Lady Estelle with Guilfoyle a little way -behind them, on horseback, and unaccompanied by any groom, coming -sweeping at a trot down the wooded glen. - -Such is the amusing inconsistency of the human heart--the male human -heart, perhaps my lady readers will say--that though I had been more -than flirting with Winifred Lloyd--on the eve of becoming too tender, -perhaps--I felt a pang of jealousy on seeing that Guilfoyle was Lady -Estelle's sole companion, for Dora was doubtless immersed in the -details of her forthcoming fête. - -Had she seen us? - -Had she detected in the distance that little salute? If so, in the -silly, kindly, half-flirting, and half-affectionate impulse which led -me to kiss my beautiful companion and playfellow of the past -years--the mere impulse of a moment--if mistaken, I might have ruined -myself with her--perhaps with both. - -"A lovely animal'! I hope you are gratified, Mr. Hardinge?" said Lady -Estelle, with--but perhaps it was fancy--a curl on her red lip, as she -reined-in her spirited horse sharply with one firm hand, and caressed -his arching neck gracefully with the other, while he rose on his hind -legs, and her veil flew aside. - -Already dread of the future had chased away my first emotion of pique, -nor was it possible to be long angry with Estelle; for with men and -women alike, her beauty made her irresistible. Some enemies among the -latter she undoubtedly had; they might condemn the regularity of her -features as too classically severe, or have said that at times the -flash of her dark eyes was proud or defiant; but the smile that played -about her lip was so soft and winning that its influence was felt by -all. Her perfect ease of manner seemed cold--very cold, indeed, -when compared to the thoughts that burned in my own breast at that -moment--dread that I might have been trifling with Winifred Lloyd, for -whom I cherished a sincere and tender friendship; intense annoyance -lest my friend Caradoc, who really loved her, might resent the affair; -and, more than all, that she for whom I would freely have perilled -limb and life might also resent, or mistake, the situation entirely. -And in this vague mood of mind I returned with the little party to the -house, where the bell had rung for tea, before dinner, which was -always served at eight o'clock. As we quitted the goat, its keeper, an -old peasant dame, wearing a man's hat and coat, with a striped -petticoat and large spotted handkerchief, looked affectionately after -Miss Lloyd, and uttered an exclamation in Welsh, which Caradoc -translated to me as being, - -"God bless her! May feet so light and pretty never carry a heavy -heart!" - - - - -CHAPTER XI.--THE FÊTE CHAMPETRE. - - -How wild and inconceivable, abrupt, yet quite practicable, were the -brilliant visions I drew, the projects I formed! Mentally I sprang -over all barriers, cleared at a flying leap every obstacle. In fancy I -achieved all my desires. I was the husband of Estelle; the chosen -son-in-law of her mother--the man of all men to whom she would have -entrusted the future happiness of her only daughter. The good old lady -had sacrificed pride, ambition, and all to love. Time, life-usage, all -became subservient to me when in these victorious moods. I had -distanced all rivals--she was mine; I hers. I had cut the service, -bidden farewell to the Royal Welsh; she, for a time at least, to -London, the court, the Row, "society," the world itself for me; and -were rusticating hand-in-hand, amid the woods of Walcot Park, or -somewhere else, of which I had a very vague idea. But from these -daydreams I had to rouse myself to the knowledge that, so far from -being accepted, I had not yet ventured to propose; that I had more -than one formidable rival; that other obstacles were to be overcome; -and that Lady Naseby was as cold and proud and unapproachable as ever. - -The day of Dora's fête proved a lovely one. The merry little -creature--for she was much less in stature than her elder sister--with -her bright blue eyes and wealth of golden hair, was full of smiles, -pleasure, and impatience; and was as radiant with gems, the gifts of -friends, as a young bride. I welcomed the day with vague hopes that -grew into confidence, though I could scarcely foresee how it was to -close for me, or all that was to happen. Though Caradoc and I had come -from Winchester ostensibly to attend this fête, I must glance briefly -at many of the details of it, and confine myself almost to the -_dramatis personæ_. Suffice it to say that there was a militia band on -one of the flower-terraces; there was a pretty dark-eyed Welsh gipsy, -with black, dishevelled hair, who told fortunes, and picked up, but -omitted to restore, certain stray spoons and forks; there was an -itinerant Welsh harper, whom the staghound Brach, the same stately -animal which I had seen on the rug before the hall-fire, inspired by -that animosity which all dogs seem to have for mendicants, assailed -about the calf of the leg, for which he seemed to have a particular -fancy. So Sir Madoc had to plaster the bite with a fifty-pound note. -Then there was a prophetic hermit, in a moss-covered grotto, cloaked -like a gray friar, and bearded like the pard; a wizard yclept Merlin, -who, having imbibed too much brandy, made a great muddle of the -predictions and couplets so carefully entrusted to him for judicious -utterance; and who assigned the initials of Lady Estelle Cressingham -to the portly old vicar, as those of his future spouse, and those of -his lady, a stout matron with eight bantlings, to me, and so on. - -The company poured in fast; and after being duly received by Sir Madoc -and Miss Lloyd in the great drawing-room, literally crowded all the -beautiful grounds, the band in white uniform on the terrace being a -rival attraction to the great refreshment tent or marquee--a stately -polychromed edifice, with gilt bells hanging from each point of the -vandyked edging--wherein a standing luncheon was arranged, under the -care of Owen Gwyllim; and over all floated a great banner, ermine and -pean, with the lion rampant of the Lloyds. A ball was to follow in the -evening. The floor of the old dining-hall had been waxed till it shone -like glass for the dancers. Its walls were hung with evergreens and -coloured lamps, and a select few were invited; but Fate ordained that -neither Lady Estelle nor I were to figure in this, the closing portion -of the festivities. A number of beautiful girls in charming toilettes -were present. People of the best style, too, mingled with humble -middle-class country folks--tenants and so forth. There were some -officers from the detachments quartered in Chester, and several little -half-known parsons, in Noah's-ark coats, who came sidling in, and -intrenched themselves beside huge mammas in quiet corners, to discuss -parish matters and general philanthropy through the medium of iced -claret-cup and sparkling moselle. And there were present, too, as -Guilfoyle phrased it, "some of those d--d fellows who write and paint, -by Jove!" - -On this day Guilfoyle, though he had carefully attired himself in -correct morning costume, seemed rather preoccupied and irritable. The -presence of Pottersleigh and so many others placed his society -somewhat at a discount; and, glass in eye, he seemed to watch the -arrival of the lady guests, especially any who were darkly attired, -with a nervous anxiety, which, somehow, I mentally connected with the -pale woman in church, and Dora's story of the initials. There was -undoubtedly some mystery about him. Viewed from the perron of the -house, the scene was certainly a gay one--the greenness of the -closely-mown lawn, dotted by the bright costumes of the ladies, and a -few scarlet coats (among them Caradoc's and mine); the brilliance and -the perfume of flowers were there; the buzz of happy voices, the soft -laughter of well-bred women, and the strains of the band, as they -ebbed and flowed on the gentle breeze of the sunny noon. Every way it -was most enjoyable. Here on one side spread an English chase, with -oaks as old, perhaps, as the days when "Beddgelert heard the bugle -sound," leafy, crisp, and massive, their shadows casting a tint that -was almost blue on the soft greensward, with the sea rippling and -sparkling about a mile distant, where a portion of the chase ended at -the edge of some lofty cliffs. On the other side rose the Welsh -mountains, with all their gray rocks, huge boulders, and foaming -waterfalls--mountains from where there seemed in fancy to come the -scent of wild flowers, of gorse, and blackberries, to dispel the -fashionable languor of the promenaders on the lawn. The leaves, the -flowers, the trees of the chase, the ladies' dresses, and the quaint -façade of the old Tudor mansion were all warm with sunshine. - -Old Morgan Roots the gardener, to his great disgust, had been -compelled to rifle the treasures of his hothouses, and to strip his -shelves of the most wonderful exotics, to furnish bouquets for the -ladies; for Morgan was proud of his floral effects, and when -displaying his slippings from Kew and all the best gardens in England, -tulips from Holland and the Cape, peonies from Persia, rhododendrons -from Asia, azaleas from America, wax-like magnolias, and so forth, he -was wont to exult over his rival, the vicar's Scotch gardener, whom he -stigmatised as "a sassenach;" and not the least of his efforts were -some superb roses, named the "Dora," in honour of the fair-haired -heroine of the day. And Caradoc--who was a good judge of everything, -from cutlets and clicquot to horses and harness, and had a special eye -for ankles, insteps, and eyelashes, style, and colour, &c.--declared -the fête to be quite a success. As I looked around me, I could not but -feel how England is pre-eminently, beyond all others, the land of fair -women and of beauty. Lady Estelle, with her pale complexion and thick -dark hair, her dress of light-blue silk, over which she wore a white -transparent tunique, her tiny bonnet of white lace, her gloves and -parasol of the palest silver-gray, seemed a very perfect specimen of -her class; but until Lord Pottersleigh appeared, which was long after -dancing had begun on the sward (by country visitors chiefly), she sat -by the side of mamma, and declined all offers from partners. The -Viscount--my principal _bête noire_--had arrived over-night in his own -carriage from Chester, but did not appear at breakfast next morning, -nor until fully midday, as he had to pass--so Dora whispered to -me--several hours in an arm-chair, with his gouty feet enveloped in -flannel, while he regaled himself by sipping colchicum and warm -wine-whey, though he alleged that his lameness was caused by a kick -from his horse; and now, when with hobbling steps he came to where -Lady Naseby and her stately daughter were seated, he did not seem--his -coronet and Order of the Garter excepted--a rival to be much dreaded -by a smart Welsh Fusileer of five and twenty. - -Fully in his sixtieth year, and considerably wasted--more, perhaps, by -early dissipation than by time--the Viscount was a pale, thin, and -feeble-looking man, hollow-chested and slightly bent, with an -unsteadiness of gait, an occasional querulousness of manner and -restlessness of eye, as if nervous of the approach of many of those -among whom he now found himself, and whom he viewed as "bumpkins in a -state of rude health." Guilfoyle, of whom he evidently had misgivings, -he regarded with a cold and aristocratic stare, after carefully -adjusting a gold eyeglass on his thin, aquiline nose, and yet they had -been twice introduced elsewhere. His features were good. In youth he -had been deemed a handsome man; but now his brilliant teeth were of -Paris, and what remained of his hair was carefully dyed a clear dark -brown, that consorted but ill with the wrinkled aspect of his face, -and the withered appearance of his thin white hands, when he ungloved, -which was seldom. His whole air and style were so different from -those, of hearty and jolly Sir Madoc, whose years were the same, and -who was looking so bland, so bald, and shiny in face and brow, so full -and round in waistcoat, with one of the finest camellias in his -button-hole, "just like Morgan Roots the gardener going to church on -Sunday," as Dora had it, while he watched the dancers, and clapped his -hands to the music. - -"Ha, Pottersleigh," said he, "you and I have done with this sort of -thing now; but I have seen the day, when I was young, less fleshy, and -didn't ride with a crupper, I could whirl in the waltz like a spinning -jenny." - -To this awkward speech the Viscount, who affected juvenility, -responded by a cold smile; and as he approached and was welcomed by -Lady Naseby and her daughter, the latter glanced at me, and I could -detect an undefinable expression, that savoured of amusement, or -disdain, or annoyance, or all together, ending with a haughty smile, -hovering on her dark and ever-sparkling eyes; for she knew by past -experience, that from thenceforward, with an air of proprietary that -was very provoking, he would be certain to hover constantly beside -her; and now, after paying the usual compliments to the two ladies, -his lordship condescended to honour me with a glance and a smile, but -not with his hand. - -"Ah, how do you do, Mr. Hardinge--or shall I have the pleasure of -saying Captain Hardinge?" said he. - -"Fortune has not so far favoured me--I am only a sub still." - -"So was Wellington in his time," said Sir Madoc, tapping me on the -shoulder. - -"Ah, but you'll soon be off to the East now, I suppose." (His eyes -expressed the words, "I hope.") "We shall soon come to blows with -those Russian fellows, and then promotions will come thick and fast. I -have it as a certainty from Aberdeen himself, that a landing somewhere -on the enemy's coast cannot be much longer delayed now." - -"And with one-half our army dead, and the other half worn out by -camp-fever, cholera, and sufferings at Varna, we shall take the field -with winter before us--a Russian winter, too!" said Sir Madoc, who was -a bitter opponent of the ministry. - -Ere Pottersleigh could reply, to avert any discussion of politics, the -Countess spoke. - -"I trust," said she, "that the paragraph in the _Court Journal_ and -other papers, which stated that your title is about to be made an -earldom, is something more than mere rumour?" - -"Much more, I have the pleasure to inform you," mumbled this -hereditary legislator. "I have already received official notice of the -honour intended me by her Majesty. I supported the Aberdeen ministry -so vigorously throughout this Russian affair, clearing them, so far as -in me lay, from the allegations of vacillation, that in gratitude they -were bound to recognise my services." - -He played with his eyeglass, and glanced at Estelle. She seemed to be -looking intently at the shifting crowd; yet she heard him, for a -slight colour crossed her cheek. - -"So Potter is to be an earl," thought I; "and she perhaps is -contrasting _his_ promotion with that which I have to hope for." - -Even this brief conversation by its import made me fear that my dreams -might never come to pass--that my longings were too impossible for -fulfilment. I envied Caradoc, who, having no distinction of rank to -contend with in his love affair, seemed, to be getting on very well -with Winifred Lloyd, who, to his great delight, had made him her -_aide-de-camp_, and useful friend during the day. - -"Our troops will find it tough work encountering the Russians, I -expect," said Lord Pottersleigh; "for although the rank and file are -utter barbarians, Mr. Hardinge, many of their officers are men of high -culture, and all regard the Czar as a demigod, and Russia as holy." - -"I met some of them when I was in the north of Europe," said -Guilfoyle--who, being rather ignored by Pottersleigh, felt ruffled, if -not secretly enraged and disposed to contradict him; "and though I -think all foreigners usually absurd--" - -"Ah, that is a thoroughly English and somewhat provincial idea," said -his lordship, quietly interrupting him; "but I have read of an old -Carib who said, 'The only obstinate savages I have met are the -English; they adopt none of our customs.'" - -"To adopt their _dress_ might have been difficult in those days; but -all foreigners, and especially Russians, are somewhat strange, my -lord, when judged by an English standard. I can relate a curious -instance of attempted peculation in a Russian official, such as would -never occur with one occupying a corresponding position here. When -_attaché_ at the court of Catzenelnbogen, I once visited a wealthy -Russian landowner, a Count Tolstoff, who lived near Riga, at a time -when he was about to receive the sum of eighty thousand silver roubles -from the imperial treasury, for hemp, timber, and other produce of his -estate, sold for the use of the navy. Ivan Nicolaevitch, the -Pulkovnich commanding the marine infantry stationed in the fortress of -Dunamunde, was to pay this money; but that official informed Tolstoff -verbally--he was too wary to commit anything to paper--that unless six -thousand of the roubles were left in his hands, the whole might be -lost by the way, as my friend's residence was in a solitary place, and -the neighbourhood abounded with lawless characters. - -"On Tolstoff threatening to complain to the Emperor, the Pulkovnich -most unwillingly handed over the entire sum, which was delivered in -great state by a praperchich, or ensign, and six soldiers; and there -we thought the matter would end. But that very night, as we sat at -supper, smoking our meerschaums to digest a repast of mutton with -mushrooms, _compote_ of almonds and stuffed carrots--carrots scooped -out like pop-guns, and loaded with mincemeat--the dining-room was -softly entered by six men dressed like Russian peasants, with canvas -craftans and rope girdles, bark shoes and long beards, their faces -covered with crape. They threatened me with instant death by the -pistol if I dared to stir; and pinioning my friend to a chair, placed -the barrel of another to his head, and demanded the treasure, or to be -told where it was. - -"Tolstoff, who was a very cool fellow, gave me a peculiar smile, and -told me in French to open the lower drawer of his escritoire, and give -them every kopec I found there. - -"On obtaining permission from the leader, I crossed the room, and -found in the drawer indicated no money, but a brace of revolver -pistols. With these, which luckily were loaded and capped, I shot down -two of the intruders, and the rest fled. On tearing the masks from the -fallen men, we discovered them to be--whom think you? The Pulkovnich -Nicholaevitch and the praperchich of the escort! There was an awful -row about the affair, as you may imagine; but in a burst of gratitude -my friend gave me this valuable ring, a diamond one, which I have worn -ever since." - -"God bless my soul, what a terrible story!" exclaimed Pottersleigh, -regarding the ring with interest; for Guilfoyle usually selected a new -audience for each of these anecdotes, by which he hoped to create an -interest in himself; and certainly he seemed to do so for a time in -the mind of the somewhat simple old lord, who now entered into -conversation with him on the political situation, actually took his -arm, and they proceeded slowly across the lawn together. I was sorry -Caradoc had not overheard the new version of the ring, and wondered -how many stories concerning it the proprietor had told to others, or -whether he had merely a stock on hand, for chance narration. Was it -vanity, art, or weakness of intellect that prompted him? Yet I have -known a Scotch captain of the line, a very shrewd fellow, who was wont -to tell similar stories of a ring, and, oddly enough, over and over -again to the _same_ audience at the mess-table. - -Being rid of both now, I resolved to lose no time in taking advantage -of the situation. Sir Madoc and "mamma" were in the refreshment tent, -where I hoped they were enjoying themselves; Dora was busy with a -young sub from Chester--little Tom Clavell of the 19th--who evidently -thought her fête was "awfully jolly;" Caradoc had secured Winifred for -one dance--she could spare him but one--and his usual soldierly swing -was now reduced to suit her measure, as they whirled amid the throng -on the smoothly-shorn turf. - - - - -CHAPTER XII.--ON THE CLIFFS. - - -Lady Estelle received me with a welcome smile, for at that time all -around her were strangers; and I hoped--nay, felt almost certain--that -pleasure to see me inspired it, for on my approach she immediately -rose from her seat, joined me, and as if by tacit and silent consent, -we walked onward together. Pottersleigh's presence at Craigaderyn -Court, and the rumours it revived; something cool and patronising in -his manner towards me, for he had not forgotten _that_ night in -Park-lane; Lady Naseby's influence against me; the chances that some -sudden military or political contingency might cut short my leave of -absence; the certainty that ere long I should have to "go where glory -waited" me, and perhaps something less pleasant in the shape of -mutilation--the wooden leg which Dora referred to--a coffinless grave -in a ghastly battle trench--all rendered my anxiety to come to an -understanding with Lady Estelle irrepressible. My secret was already -known to Phil Caradoc, fully occupied though he was with his own -passion for Winifred Lloyd; and I felt piqued by the idea of being -less successful than I honestly hoped he was, for Phil was the king of -good fellows, and one of my best friends. - -"You have seemed very _triste_ to-day--looking quite as if you lived -in some thoughtful world of your own," said Lady Estelle, when she -left her seat; "neither laughing nor dancing, scarcely even -conversing, and certainly not with me. Why is this?" - -"You have declined all dancing, hence the music has lost its zest for -me." - -"It is not brilliant; besides, it is somewhat of a maypole or -harvest-home accomplishment, dancing on the grass; pretty laborious -too! And then, as Welsh airs predominate, one could scarcely waltz to -the Noble Race of Shenkin." - -"You reserve yourself for the evening, probably?" - -"Exactly. I infinitely prefer a well-waxed floor to a lawn, -however well mown and rolled. But concerning your--what shall I term -it--sadness!" - -"Why ask me when you may divine the cause, though I dare not -explain--here at least?" - -After a little pause she disengaged two flowers from her bouquet, and -presenting them to me with an arch and enchanting smile--for when -beyond her mother's ken, she could at times be perfectly natural--she -said, - -"At this floral _fête champêtre_, I cannot permit you to be the only -undecorated man." - -"Being in uniform, I never thought of such an ornament." - -"Wear these, then," said she, placing them in a button-hole. - -"As your gift and for your sake?" - -"If you choose, do so." - -"Ah, who would not but choose?" said I, rendered quite bright and gay -even by such a trifle as this. "But Lady Estelle, do you know what -these are emblematic of?" - -"In the language of the flowers, do you mean?" - -"Of course; what else could he mean?" said a merry voice; and the -bright face of Dora, nestled amid her golden hair, appeared, as she -joined us, flushed with her dancing, and her breast palpitating with -pleasure, at a time when I most cordially wished her elsewhere. "Yes," -she continued, "there is a pansy; that's for thought, as Ophelia -says--and a rosebud; that is for affection." - -"But I don't believe in such symbolism, Dora; do you. Mr. Hardinge?" - -"At this moment I do, from my soul." - -She laughed, or affected to laugh, at my earnestness; but it was not -displeasing to her, and we walked slowly on. Among the multitude of -strangers--to us they were so, at least--to isolate ourselves was -comparatively easy now. Besides, it is extremely probable that under -the eyes of so many girls she had been rather bored by the senile -assiduity of her old admirer; so, avoiding the throng around the -dancers, the band, and the luncheon marquee, we walked along the -terraces towards the chase, accompanied by Dora, who opened a wicket -in a hedge, and led us by a narrow path suddenly to the cliffs that -overhung the sea. Here we were quite isolated. Even the music of the -band failed to reach us; we heard only the monotonous chafing of the -waves below, and the sad cry of an occasional sea-bird, as it swooped -up or down from its eyrie. The change from the glitter and brilliance -of the crowded lawn to this utter solitude was as sudden as it was -pleasing. In the distance towered up Great Orme's Head, seven hundred -and fifty feet in height; its enormous masses of limestone rock -abutting against the foam, and the ruins of Pen-y-Dinas cutting the -sky-line. The vast expanse of the Irish Sea rolled away to the -north-westward, dotted by many a distant sail; and some eighty feet -below us the surf was rolling white against the rocky base of the -headland on which we stood. - -"We are just over the Bôd Mynach, or 'monk's dwelling,'" said Dora. -"Have you not yet seen it, Estelle?" - -"No; I am not curious in such matters." - -"It is deemed one of the most interesting things in North Wales, quite -as much so as St. Tudno's Cradle, or the rocking-stone on yonder -promontory. Papa is intensely vain of being its proprietor. Gruffyd ap -Madoc hid here, when he fled from the Welsh after his desertion of -Henry III.; so it was not made yesterday. Let us go down and rest -ourselves in it." - -"Down the cliffs?' exclaimed Lady Estelle, with astonishment. - -"Yes--why not? There is an excellent path, with steps hewn in the -rock. Harry Hardinge knows the way, I am sure." - -"As a boy I have gone there often, in search of puffins' nests; but -remember that Lady Estelle--" - -"Is not a Welsh girl of course," said Dora. - -"Nor a goat, like Carneydd Llewellyn," added her friend. "But with Mr. -Hardinge's hand to assist you," urged Dora. "Well, let us make the -essay at once, nor lose time, ere we be missed," said the other, her -mind no doubt reverting to mamma and Lord Pottersleigh. - -I began to descend the path first, accepting with pleasure the office -of leading Lady Estelle, who for greater security drew off a glove and -placed her hand in mine, firmly and reliantly, though the path, a -ladder of steps cut in the living rock, almost overhung the sea, and -the descent was not without its perils. The headland was cleft in two -by some throe of nature, and down this chasm poured a little stream, -at the mouth of which, as in a diminutive bay, a gaily-painted -pleasure-boat of Sir Madoc's, named the "Winifred," was moored, and it -seemed to be dancing on the waves almost beneath us. - -We had barely proceeded some twenty feet down the cliff when Dora, -instead of following us, exclaimed that she had dropped a bracelet on -the path near the wicket, but we were to go on, and she would soon -rejoin us. As she said this she disappeared, and we were thus left -alone. To linger where we stood, almost in mid-air, was not pleasant; -to return to the edge of the cliff and await her there, seemed a -useless task. Why should we not continue to descend, as she must soon -overtake us? I could read in the proud face of Lady Estelle, as we -paused on that ladder of rock, with her soft and beautiful hand in -mine, that she felt in a little dilemma. So did I, but my heart beat -happily; to have her so entirely to myself, even for ten minutes, was -a source of joy. - -While lingering thus, I gradually led our conversation up to the point -I wished, by talking of my too probable speedy departure for another -land; of the happy days like the present, which I should never forget; -of herself. My lips trembled as my heart seemed to rise to them; and -forgetting the perilous place in which we stood, and remembering only -that her hand was clasped in mine, I began to look into her face with -an expression of love and tenderness which she could not mistake; for -her gaze soon became averted, her bosom heaved, and her colour came -and went; and so, as the minutes fled, we were all unaware that Dora -had not yet returned; that the sultry afternoon had begun to darken as -heavy dun clouds rolled up from the seaward, and the air become filled -with electricity; and that a sound alleged to be distant thunder had -been heard at Craigaderyn Court, causing some of the guests to -prepare, for departure, despite Sir Madoc's assurances that no rain -would fall, as the glass had been rising. - -Dora was long in returning; so long that, instead of waiting or -retracing our steps, proceeding hand in hand, and more than once Lady -Estelle having to lean on my shoulder for support, we continued to -descend the path in the face of the cliff--a path that ultimately led -us into a terrible catastrophe. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII.--A PROPOSAL. - - -A long time elapsed and we did not return, but amid the bustle that -reigned in and around Craigaderyn Court, our absence was not observed -so soon as it might otherwise have been, the attention of the many -guests being fully occupied by each other. The proposal of Dora's -health devolved upon Lord Pottersleigh as the senior bachelor present, -and it was drunk amid such cheers as country gentlemen alone can give. -Then Sir Madoc, who had a horror of after-dinner speeches in general, -replied tersely and forcibly enough, because the words of thanks and -praise for his youngest girl came straight from his affectionate -heart; but his white handkerchief was freely applied to the nervous -task of polishing his forehead, which gave him a sense of relief; for -the worthy old gentleman was no orator, and closed his response by -drinking to the health of all present in Welsh. - -"Our good friend's ideas are somewhat antiquated," said Pottersleigh -to Guilfoyle, who now stuck to him pretty closely; "but he is a -thorough gentleman of an old school that is passing away." - -His lordship, however, looked the older man of the two. - -"Antiquated! By Jove, I should think so," responded the other, who -instinctively disliked his host; "ideas old as the days when people -made war without powder and shot, went to sea without compasses, and -pegged their clothes for lack of buttons; but he is an hospitable old -file, and his wine--this Château d'Yquem, for instance, is excellent." - -Pottersleigh gave the speaker a quiet stare, and then, as if disliking -this style of comment, turned to Lady Naseby for the remainder of the -repast. - -The overcasting of the day and a threatening of rain had put an end to -much of the dancing on the flower-terrace, and of the promenading in -the garden and grounds. The proposal of Dora's health had been deemed -the close of the fête; the servants had begun to prepare for the ball, -and many of the guests, whose invitation did not include that portion -of the festivities--for the grounds of course, would hold more than -the hall--were beginning to depart, while a few still lingered in the -conservatories, the library, or the picture gallery; thus, though -Caradoc was looking through them for me, with a shrewd idea that I was -with Lady Estelle, he could not for the life of him imagine _where_; -besides, Phil was anxious to make the most of his time with Miss -Lloyd. - -The breaking of the guests into groups caused our absence to be long -unnoticed, especially while carriages, gigs, drags, wagonnettes, and -saddle-horses were brought in succession to the door; cloaks and -shawls put on, ladies handed in, and the stream of vehicles went -pouring down the long lime avenue and out of the park. - -"You have danced but once to-day with Mr. Caradoc, he has told me," -said Dora in a low voice, as she passed her sister. - -"I had so many to dance with--so many to introduce; and then, think of -the evening before us." - -"He loves you quite passionately, I think, Winny dear; more than words -can tell." - -"So it would seem," replied Winifred, smiling over her fan. -"Why--how?" - -"He has never spoken to me on the subject." - -"He will do so before this evening is over, or I am no true -prophetess," said Dora, as she threw back the bright masses of her -hair. - -"That I don't believe." - -"Why?" - -"Because he wears at his neck a gold locket, the contents of which no -one has seen; and Mr. Guilfoyle assures me that it holds the likeness -of a lady." - -"Well time will prove," replied Dora, as she was again led away by her -new admirer, the little sub from Chester; but her prediction came -true. - -Winifred felt instinctively that she was the chief attraction to -Caradoc, and was exciting in his breast emotions to which she could -not respond. Again and again when asking her to dance, she had urged -in reply, that he would please her more by dancing with others, as -there were present plenty of country girls to whom a red coat was -quite a magnet; so poor Caradoc found plenty of work cut out for him. -Pressed at last by him, Winifred said, while fanning herself, - -"Do excuse me; to-night I shall reward you fully; but meanwhile we may -take a little promenade. I think all who are to remain must know each -other pretty well now;" and taking his arm they passed from the great -marquee along the now deserted terrace, to find that the sky was so -overcast and the wind so high, that they turned into an alley of the -conservatory, where she expected to find some of their friends, but it -was empty; and as Caradoc's face, and the tremulous inflections of his -voice, while he was uttering mere commonplaces about the sudden change -of the weather, the beauty of the flowers, the elegance of the -conservatory, and so forth, told her what was passing in his mind, she -became perplexed annoyed with herself, and said hurriedly, - -"Let us seek Lady Naseby; I fear that we are quite neglecting her--and -she is somewhat particular." - -"One moment, Miss Lloyd, ere we go; I have so longed for an -opportunity to speak with you--alone, I mean--for a moment--even for a -moment," said he. - -Winifred Lloyd knew what was coming; there was a nervous quivering of -her upper lip, which was a short one, and showed a small portion of -her white teeth, usually imparting an expression of innocence to her -face, while its normal one was softness combined with great sweetness. -Caradoc had now possessed himself of her right hand, thus without -breaking away from him, and making thereby a species of "scene" -between them, an episode to be avoided, she could not withdraw, but -stood looking shyly and blushingly half into his handsome face, while -he spoke to her with low and broken but earnest utterances. - -"I have decoyed you hither," said he, "and you will surely pardon me -for doing so, when you think how brief is my time now, here, in this -happy home of yours--even in England itself; and when I tell you how -anxious I have been to--to address you--" - -"Mr. Caradoc," interrupted the girl, now blushing furiously behind her -fan, "your moments will soon become minutes!" - -"Would that the minutes might become hours, and the hours, days and -years, could I but spend them with you! Listen to me, Miss Lloyd--" - -"Not at present--do, pray, excuse me--I wish to speak with Dora." - -But instead of having her hand released, it was now pressed by Caradoc -between both of his. - -"I will not detain you very long," said he, sadly, almost -reproachfully; "you know that I love you; every time my eyes have met -yours, every time I have spoken, my voice must have told you that I do -dearly, and if the fondest emotions of my heart--" - -"A soldier's heart, of which little scraps and shreds have been left -in every garrison town?" - -"Do not laugh at my honest earnestness!" urged Caradoc, with a deep -sigh. - -"Pardon me, I do not laugh; O think not that I could be guilty of such -a thing!" replied Winifred, colouring deeper than ever. - -Beautiful though she was, and well dowered too, this was the first -proposal or declaration that had been made to her. The speaker was -eminently handsome, his voice and eyes were full of passion and -earnestness, and she could not hear him without a thrill of pleasure -and esteem. - -"I know that I am not worthy of you, perhaps; but--" - -"I thank you, dear Mr. Caradoc, but--but--more is impossible." - -"Impossible--why?" - -She grew quite pale now, but he still retained her hand; and her -change of colour was, perhaps, unseen by him, for there was little -light in the conservatory, the evening clouds being dark and dense -without. - -"Miss Lloyd--Winifred--dearest Winifred--I love you, love you with all -my heart and soul!" - -"Do not say so, I implore you!" said she in an agitated voice, and -turning away her head. - -"Do you mean to infer that you are already engaged?" - -"No." - -"Or that you love another?" - -"That is not a fair question," she replied, with a little hauteur of -manner. - -"It is, circumstanced as I am, and after the avowal I have made." - -"Well, I do--not." - -"And yet you cannot love me? Alas, I am most unfortunate!" - -"Let this end, dear Mr. Caradoc," said Winifred, almost sobbing, and -deeply repenting that she had taken his arm for a little promenade -that was to end in a proposal. Phil, being in full uniform, played -with, or swung somewhat nervously, the tassels of his crimson sash, a -favourite resort of young officers when in any dubiety or dilemma. -After a little pause-- - -"May I speak to Sir Madoc on the subject?" he asked. - -"No." - -"Perhaps my friend Harry Hardinge might advise--" - -"Nay, for Heaven's sake don't confer with him on the matter at all!" - -"Why?" said he, startled by her earnestness. - -"Would you make love to me through _him_--through another?" - -"You entirely mistake my meaning." - -"What _do_ you mean?" - -"Simply what I have said; that I love you, esteem and admire you; that -you are, indeed, most dear to me, and that if I had the approval--" - -"Of the lady whose likeness is in your locket; so treasured that a -secret spring secures it!" said she, suddenly remembering Dora's words -as a means of escape. - -"Yes, especially with her approval. I should then be happy, indeed. I -know not how you came to know of it; but shall I show you the -likeness?" - -"If you choose," said Winifred, thinking in her heart, "Poor fellow, -it must be his mother's miniature;" but when Phil touched a spring and -the locket flew open she beheld a beautiful coloured photo of -_herself_. - -"Good heavens!" she exclaimed, "how came you by this?" - -"Hardinge had two in the barracks, and I begged one from him." - -"Hardinge--Harry Hardinge! That was most unfair of him," said she, her -agitation increasing; "he is one of our oldest friends." - -"May I be permitted to keep it?" - -"O, no; not there--not there, in a locket at your neck." - -"Be it so; your slightest wish is law to me; but be assured, Miss -Lloyd, the heart near which it lies was never offered to woman -before." - -"I can well believe you; but--hush, here are people coming!" - -Sir Madoc and Lady Naseby entered the conservatory somewhat hurriedly, -followed by two or three of the guests. - -"Lady Estelle! Is Lady Estelle here?" they asked, simultaneously. - -"No," replied Caradoc. - -"Nor Harry Hardinge?" - -"We are quite alone, papa," said Winifred, in a voice the agitation of -which, at another time, must have been apparent to all; for no woman -can hear a declaration of love or receive a proposal quite -unconcerned, especially from a handsome young fellow who was so -earnest as Philip Caradoc; around whom the coming departure for the -seat of war shed a halo of melancholy interest, and who, by the -artless production of the locket, proved that he had loved her for -some time past, and secretly too. - -"What the deuce is the meaning of this?" exclaimed Sir Madoc, with an -expression of comicality, annoyance, and alarm mingling in his face; -"the servants can nowhere find her!" - -"Find who?" asked Lord Pottersleigh, opening his snuffbox as he -shambled forward. - -"Why, Lady Estelle." - -His lordship took a pinch, paused for the refreshing titillation of a -sneeze, and then said, - -"Indeed--surprising--very!" - -"And Hardinge is missing, too, you say?" said Phil. "How odd!" - -"Odd! egad, I think it _is_ odd; they have not been seen by any one -for more than two hours, and a regular storm has come on!" - -Phil and Miss Lloyd had been too much occupied, or they must have -remarked the bellowing of the wind without and the sudden darkening of -the atmosphere. - -"O papa, papa!" exclaimed Dora, now rushing in from the lawn, -"something dreadful must have happened. I left them on the verge of -the cliffs; returning to look for the bracelet you gave me, I met my -partner, Mr. Clavell of the 19th; we began dancing again, and I forgot -all about them." - -"On the cliffs!" exclaimed several voices, reprehensibly and -fearfully. - -"Yes," continued Dora, beginning to weep; "I took them through the -park wicket, and suggested a visit to the Bôd Mynach." - -"Suggested this to Estelle! She is not, as we are, used to such paths -and places, and you tell us of it only now!" exclaimed Winifred, with -an expression of reproach and anguish sparkling in her eyes. - -"My God, an accident must have occurred! The wind--weather--compose -yourself, Lady Naseby; Gwyllim, ring the house-bell, and summon every -one," cried Sir Madoc; "not a moment is to be lost." - -"O, what is all this you tell me now, Dora?" exclaimed Winifred, as -she started from the conservatory, with her lips parted, her dark eyes -dilated, and her hair put back by both her trembling hands. - -Poor Phil Caradoc and his proposal were alike forgotten now; and he -began to fear that, like Hugh Price of ours, in making love he had -made some confounded mistake. - -Querulous, and useless so far as searching or assisting went, Lord -Pottersleigh nevertheless saw the necessity of affecting to do -something, as a man, as a gentleman, and a very particular friend of -the Naseby family. Accoutred in warm mufflings by his valet, with a -mackintosh, goloshes, and umbrella, he left the house half an hour -after every one else, and pottered about the lawn, exclaiming from -time to time, - -"Such weather! such a sky! ugh, ugh! what the devil can have -happened?" till a violent fit of coughing, caused by the keen breeze -from the sea, and certain monitory twinges of gout, compelled him to -return to his room, and wait the event there, making wry faces and -sipping his colchicum, while sturdy old Sir Madoc conducted the search -on horseback, galloping knee-deep among fern, searching the vistas of -the park, and sending deer, rabbits, and hares scampering in every -direction before him. Above the bellowing of the stormy wind, that -swept the freshly torn leaves like rain against the walls and -mullioned windows of the old house, or down those long umbrageous -vistas where ere long the autumn spoil would be lying thick, rose and -fell the clangour of the house-bell. Servants, grooms, gamekeepers, -and gardeners were despatched to search, chiefly in the wild vicinity -of the now empty Bôd Mynach; but no trace could be found of Lady -Estelle or her squire, save a white-laced handkerchief, which, while a -low cry of terror escaped her, Lady Naseby recognised as belonging to -her daughter. On it were a coronet and the initials of her name. - -It had been found by Phil Caradoc with the aid of a lantern, when -searching along the weedy rocks between the silent cavern and the -seething sea, which was now black with the gathered darkness and a -mist from the west. - -There was no ball at Craigaderyn Court that night. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV.--THE UNFORESEEN. - - -In this world, events unthought of and unforeseen are always -happening; so, as I have hinted, did it prove with me, on the epoch of -Dora's birthday fête. It was not without considerable difficulty and -care on my side, trepidation and much of annoyance at Dora on that of -Lady Estelle, mingled with a display of courage which sprang from her -pride, that I conducted her by the hand down the old and time-worn -flight of narrow steps--which had been hewn, ages ago, by some old -Celtic hermit in the face of the cliff--till at last we stood on the -little plateau that lies between the mouth of his abode and the sea, -which was chafing and surging there in green waves, that the wind was -cresting with snowy foam. - -On our right the headland receded away into a wooded dell, that formed -part of Craigaderyn Park. There a little _rhaidr_ or cascade came -plashing down a fissure in the limestone rocks, and fell into a pool, -where a pointed pleasure-boat, named the Winifred, was moored. On our -left the headland, that towered some eighty feet above us, formed part -of the bluffs or sea-wall that stretched away to the eastward, and, -sheer as a rampart, met the waves of the wide Irish Sea. Before us -opened the arched entrance of the monk's abode--a little cavern or -cell, that had been hollowed by no mortal hand. Its echoes are alleged -to be wonderful; and it has been of old used as a hiding-place in -times of war and trouble, and by smugglers for storing goods, where -the knights of Craigaderyn could find them without paying to the -king's revenue. It has evidently been what its name imports--the -chapel and abode of some forgotten recluse. A seat of stones goes -round the interior, save at the entrance. A stone pillar or altar had -stood in its centre. A font or stone basin is there, and from it there -flows a spring of clear water, with which the follower of St. David -was wont to baptise the little savages of Britannia Secunda; and where -now, in a more pleasant and prosaic age, it has supplied the tea and -coffee kettles of many a joyous party, who came hither boating or -fishing from Craigaderyn Court; and above that stone basin the -hermit's hand has carved the somewhat unpronounceable Welsh legend: - - - "Heb Dduw, heb ddim."[1] - - -"A wonderful old place! But I have seen caverns enough elsewhere, -and this does not interest me. I am no archæologist," said Lady -Estelle--"besides, where is Dora?" she added, looking somewhat blankly -up the ladder of steps in the cliff, by which we were to return: and -she speedily became much less alive to the beauty of the scenery than -to a sense of danger and awkwardness in her position. - -There was no appearance of Dora Lloyd, and we heard no sound in that -secluded place, save the chafing of the surf, the equally monotonous -pouring of the waterfall, and the voices of sea-birds as they skimmed -about us. - -I thought that Lady Estelle leant upon my arm a little heavier than -usual, and remembered that, when I took her hand in mine to guide her -down, she left it there firmly and confidingly. - -"May I show you the grotto?" said I; and my heart beat tumultuously -while I looked in her face, the rare beauty of which was now greatly -enhanced by a flush, consequent on our descent and the sea-breeze. - -"O no, no, thanks very much; but let us return to the park ere we be -missed. Give me your hand, Mr. Hardinge. If we came down so quickly, -surely we may as quickly ascend again." - -"Shall I go first?" - -"Please, do. The caves of Fingal, or Elephanta and Ellora to boot, -were not worth this danger." - -"I have come here many a time for a few sea-birds' eggs," said I, -laughing, to reassure her. - -But the ascent proved somehow beyond her power. The wind had risen -fast, and was sweeping round the headland now, blowing her dress about -her ankles, and impeding her motions. She had only ascended a little -way when giddiness or terror came over her. She lost all presence of -mind, and began to descend again. Thrice, with my assistance, she -essayed to climb the winding steps that led to the summit, and then -desisted. She was in tears at last. As all confidence had deserted -her, I proposed to bind her eyes with a handkerchief; but she -declined. I also offered, if she would permit me to leave her for a -few minutes, to reach the summit and bring assistance; but she was too -terrified to remain alone on the plateau of rock, between the cell and -the water. - -"Good heavens!" she exclaimed, when, like myself, perhaps she thought -of Lady Naseby, "what shall I do? And all this has been brought about -by the heedless suggestions of Dora Lloyd--by her folly and -impulsiveness! Will she never return to advise us?" - -Nearly half-an-hour had elapsed, and a dread that she, that I--that -both of us--must now be missed, and the cause of surmise, roused an -anger and pride in her breast, that kindled her eye and affected her -manner, thus effectually crushing any attempt to intrude my own secret -thoughts upon her. - -"What _are_ we to do, Mr. Hardinge? Here we cannot stay; I dare not -climb; not a boat is to be seen; the sun has almost set, and see, how -dense a mist is coming on!" - -I confess that I had not observed this before, so much had I been -occupied by her own presence, by her beauty, and by entreating that -she would "screw her courage to the sticking-point," and ascend where -I had seen the two pretty Lloyds trip from step to step in their mere -girlhood, to the horror, certainly, of their French governess; but -knowing that a fog from the sea was rolling landward in dense masses, -and that the evening would be a stormy one, I felt intense anxiety for -Lady Estelle, and certainly left nothing unsaid to reassure her, -firmly yet delicately--for good breeding becomes a second nature, and -is not forgotten even in times of dire emergency; then how much less -so when we love, and love as I did Estelle Cressingham?--but all my -arguments were in vain. There was in her dark eyes a wild and startled -brilliance, a hectic spot on each pale cheek. Her innate pride -remained, but her courage was gone. She trembled, and her breath came -short and quick as she said, - -"Who would have dreamt that I--_I_ should have acted thus? More -heedlessly even than Dora, for she is a Welsh girl, and, like a goat, -is used to such places. And now there is no aid--not even the smallest -boat in sight!" - -"Of what have I been thinking!" I exclaimed. "The pleasure-boat which -belongs to the grotto is moored yonder in the creek, where some -visitor, who preferred the short cut up the cliff, has evidently left -it. If you will permit me to place you in it, I can row across the -mouth of the waterfall to the other side, where a Chinese bridge will -enable us at once to reach the lawn." - -"Why did you not think of this before?" she asked, with something of -angry reproach almost flashing in her eyes. - -"Will you make the attempt?" - -"Of course. O, would that you had thought of it before!" - -"Come, then, though the wind has risen certainly; and among so many -guests, our absence may have been unnoticed yet." - -I reached the boat--a gaudily-painted shallop, seated for four oars. -There were but two, however; these were enough; but as ill-luck would -have it, she was moored to a ring-bolt in the rocks by a padlock and -chain, which I had neither the strength nor the means of breaking. -This was a fresh source of delay, and Lady Estelle's whole frame -seemed to quiver and vibrate with impatience, while every moment she -raised her eyes to the cliff, by which she expected succour or -searchers to come. What the deuce was she--were _we_--to say to all -this? With a girl possessed of more nerve and firmness of mind this -matter could never have taken such a turn, and the delay had never -occurred. This _malheur_ or mishap--this variation from the strict -rules laid down by such matrons as the Countess of Naseby--looked so -like a scheme, that I felt we were in a thorough scrape, and knew -there was not a moment to be lost in making our appearance at the -Court. By a stone I smashed the padlock, and casting loose the boat, -brought it to where Lady Estelle stood, beating the rock impatiently -with her foot; and, handing her on board, seated her in the -stern-sheets, but with some difficulty, as the west wind was rolling -the waves with no small fury now past the headland, in which the black -Bôd Mynach gaped. - -"Pull with all your strength, Mr. Hardinge. Dear Mr. Hardinge, let us -only be back in time, and I shall ever thank you!" she exclaimed. - -"All that man can do I shall," was my enthusiastic reply. - -I could pull a good stroke-oar, and had done so steadily in many a -regimental and college boat-race and regatta; but now there ensued -what I never could have calculated upon. Excited by the desire of -pleasing Lady Estelle by landing her on the opposite side of the tiny -bay with all speed--desirous, when seated opposite to her, face to -face, of appearing to some advantage by an exhibition of strength and -skill--at each successive stroke, as I shot the light boat seaward, I -almost lifted it out of the water. I had to clear a rock, over which -the water was foaming and gleaming in green and gold amid the sinking -sunshine, ere I headed her due westward, and in doing so I cleared -also the headland, which rose like a tower of rock from the sea, -crowned by a clump of old elms, wherein some rooks had taken up their -quarters in times long past. - -"O, Mr. Hardinge," said Lady Estelle, while grasping the gunwale with -both hands, and looking up, "how had I ever the courage to come down -such a place? It looks fearful from this!" - -Ere I could reply, the oar in my right hand broke in the iron rowlock -with a crash. The wood had been faulty. By this mishap I lost my -balance, and was nearly thrown into the sea, as the boat careered over -on a wave. Thus the _other_ was torn from my grasp, and swept far -beyond my reach. I was powerless now--powerless to aid either her or -myself. The tide was ebbing fast. The strong west wind, and the -current running eastward, influenced by the flow of the Clwyde, and -even of the Dee, ten miles distant, swept the now useless boat past -the abutting headland, and along the front of those cliffs which rise -like a wall of rock from the sea, and where, as the mist gathered -round us, our fate would be unseen, whether we were dashed against the -iron shore or swept out into the ocean. - -The red sunset was fading fast on distant Orme's Head, where myriads -of sea-birds are ever revolving, like gnats in the light amid its -grand and inaccessible crags. It was dying, too, though tipping them -with flame, on Snowdon's peaks, the eyrie of the golden eagle and the -peregrine falcon, and on the smaller range of Carneydd Llewellyn. -Purple darkness was gathering in the grassy vales between, and blue -and denser grew those shadows as the cold gray mist came on, and the -sombre glow of a stormy sunset passed away. Soon the haze of the -twilight blurred, softened, and blended land and sea to the eastward. -The sharp edge of the new moon was rising from a dark and trembling -horizon, whence the mist was coming faster and more fast, and the -evening star, pale Hesperus, shone like a tiny lamp amid the opal -tints of a sky that was turning fast to dun and darkness. The rolling -mist soon hid the star and the land, too, and I only knew that we were -drifting helplessly away. - - - - -CHAPTER XV.--WHAT THE MOON SAW. - - -The absence of the boat from its mooring-place was soon observed, and -surmises were rife that we must infallibly have gone seaward. But why? -It seemed unaccountable--and at such a time, too! The idea that Lady -Estelle's heart should fail her in attempting to return by the cliff -never occurred to any save Winifred, who knew more of her friend's -temperament than the rest, and for a time, with others, the ardent and -courageous girl searched the shore, and several boats were put forth -into the mist; but in vain, and ere long the strength and violence of -the wind drove even Sir Madoc and all his startled guests to the -shelter of the house. Muffled in silk cloaks and warm shawls or -otter-skin jackets, the ladies had lingered long on the terraces, on -the lawn and avenues, while the lights of the searchers were visible, -and while their hallooing could be heard at times from the rocks and -ravines, where they swung their lanterns as signals, in hopes that the -lost ones might see them. - -Lord Pottersleigh snuffed and ejaculated from time to time, and ere -long had betaken himself to his room. Caradoc, Guilfoyle--who seemed -considerably bewildered by the affair--young Clavel of the 19th, and -other gentlemen, with Gwyllim the butler, Morgan Roots the gardener, -Bob Spurrit, and the whole male staff of the household, manfully -continued their search by the shore. There the scene was wild and -impressive. Before the violence of the bellowing wind, the mist was -giving place to the pall-like masses of dark clouds, which rolled -swiftly past the pale face of the new moon, imparting a weird-like -aspect to the rocky coast, against which the sea was foaming in white -and hurrying waves, while the sea-birds, scared alike by the shouts -and the light of the searchers, quite as much as by the storm, -screamed and wheeled in wild flights about their eyries. Moments there -were when Caradoc thought the search was prosecuted in the wrong -direction, and that, as there had probably been an elopement, this -prowling along the seashore was absurd. - -"Can it be," said he, inaudibly, "that the little boy who cried for -the moon has made off with it bodily? If so, this will be rather a -'swell' affair for the mess of the Royal Welsh." - -Slowly passed the time, and more anxious than all the rest--Lady -Naseby of course excepted--the soft-hearted Winifred was full of -dismay that any catastrophe should occur to two guests at Craigaderyn, -and she listened like a startled fawn to every passing sound. - -Dora, as deeming herself the authoress of the whole calamity, was -completely crushed, and sat on a low stool with her head bowed on Lady -Naseby's knee, sobbing bitterly ever and anon, when the storm-gusts -howled among the trees of the chase, shook the oriels of the old -mansion, and made the ivy leaves patter on the panes, or shuddering as -she heard the knell-like ding-dong of the house-bell occasionally. The -masses of her golden hair had been dishevelled by the wind without; -but she forgot all about that, as well as about her two solemn -engagements made with Tom Clavell for the morrow; one, the mild -excitement of fishing for sticklebacks in the horse-pond, and the -other, a gallop to the Marine Parade of Llandudno, attended by old Bob -Spurrit; for the little sub of the 1st York North Riding was, _pro -tem_., the bondsman of a girl who was at once charming and childish, -petulant and more than pretty. Heavily and anxiously were passed the -minutes, the quarters, and the hours. Messenger after messenger to the -searchers by the shore went forth and returned. Their tidings were all -the same; nothing had been seen or heard of the boat, of Lady Estelle, -or of her companion. Nine o'clock was struck by the great old clock in -the stable court, and then every one instinctively looked at his or -her watch. Half-past nine, ten, and even midnight struck, without -tidings of the lost. By that time the mist had cleared away, the tide -had turned, and the west wind was rolling the incoming sea with -mightier fury on the rock-bound shore. - -The first hours of the morning passed without intelligence, and alarm, -dismay, and grief reigned supreme among the pallid group at -Craigaderyn Court. All could but hope that with the coming day a -revelation might come for weal or woe; and as if to involve the -disappearance of the missing ones in greater mystery, if it did not -point to a terrible conclusion, the lost pleasure-boat was discovered -by a coastguardsman, high and dry, and bottom up, on a strip of sandy -beach, some miles from Craigaderyn; but of its supposed occupants not -a trace could be found, save a lace cuff, recognised as Lady -Estelle's, wedged or washed into the framework of the little craft, -thus linking her fate with it. Ours was, indeed, a perilous situation. -We were helplessly adrift on a stormy sea, off a rock-bound coast, in -a tiny boat, liable to swamping at any moment, without oars or -covering, the wind rising fast, while the darkness and the mist were -coming down together. I had no words to express my anxiety for what -one so delicately nurtured as Estelle might suffer. My annoyance at -the surmises and wonder naturally excited by our protracted absence; -quizzical, it might be equivocal, inferences drawn from it--I thought -nothing of these. I was beyond all such minor considerations, and felt -only solicitude for her safety and a terror of what her fate might be. -All other ideas, even love itself--though that very solicitude was -born of love--were merged for the time in the tenderest anxiety. If -her situation with me was perilous, what had it been if with Lord -Pottersleigh? But had she been with him, no such event as a descent to -that unlucky pleasure grotto could have been thought of. Though pale -and terrified, not a tear escaped her now; but her white and beautiful -face was turned, with a haggard aspect, to mine. A life-buoy happened -to be in the boat, and without a word I tied it to her securely. - -"Is there not one for you?" she asked, piteously, laying a hand on -mine. - -"Think not of me, Lady Estelle; if you are saved, what care I for -myself?" - -"You swim, then?" - -"A little, a very little; scarcely at all." - -"You are generous and noble, Mr. Hardinge! O, if kind God permits me -to reach the land safely, I shall never be guilty of an act of folly -like this again. Mamma says--poor mamma!--that it is birth, or blood, -which carries people through great emergencies; but who could have -foreseen such a calamitous contretemps as this? And who could have -been a greater coward than I? I should have made a steady attempt at -yonder pitiful cliff; to fail was most childish, and I have involved -you in this most fatal peril." - -She sobbed as she spoke, and her eyes were full of light; but her lips -were compressed, and all her soft and aristocratic loveliness seemed -for a time to grow different in expression; to gather sternness, as a -courage now possessed her, of which she had seemed deficient before, -or it might be an obstinacy born of despair; for the light boat was -swept hither and thither helplessly, by stem and stern alternately, on -each successive wave; tossed upward on the crest of one watery ridge, -or sunk downward between two that heaved up on each side as if to -engulf us; while the spoondrift, salt and bitter, torn from their -tops, flew over us, as she clung with one hand to the gunwale of the -tiny craft, and with the other to me. - -That we were not being drifted landward was evident, for we could no -longer hear the voices of the sea-birds among the rocks; and to be -drifted seaward by ebb tide or current was only another phase of -peril. The voice of Lady Estelle came in painful gasps as she said, - -"O, Mr. Hardinge, Mr. Hardinge, we shall perish most miserably; we -shall certainly be drowned! Mamma, my poor mamma, I shall never see -her more!" - -Though striving to reassure her I was, for a time, completely -bewildered by anxiety for what she must suffer by a terror of the -sudden fate that might come upon her; and I was haunted by morbid -visions of her, the brilliant Estelle, a drowned and sodden corpse, -the sport of the waves--of myself I never thought--tossing unburied in -the deep, or, it might be, cast mutilated on the shore; and she looked -so beautiful and helpless as she clung to me now, clasping my right -arm with all her energy, her head half reclined upon my shoulder, and -the passing spray mingling with her tears upon her cheek. "The -drowning man is said to be confronted by a ghostly panorama of his -whole life." It may be so generally; but then I had only the horror of -losing Estelle, whom I loved so tenderly. We were now together and -alone, so completely, suddenly, and terribly alone, it might be for -life or for death--the former short indeed, and the latter swift and -sudden, if the boat upset, or we were washed out of it into the sea; -and yet in that time of peril she possessed more than ever for me that -wondrous and undefinable charm and allurement which every man finds in -the woman he loves, and in her only. - -"God spare us and help us!" she exclaimed. "Mr. Hardinge, I am filled -with unutterable fear;" and then she added, unconsciously quoting some -poet, "I find the thought of death, to one near death, most dreadful!" - -"With you, Estelle, love might make it indeed a joy to die!" I -exclaimed, with a gush of enthusiasm and tenderness that, but for the -terrible situation, had been melodramatic. - -"I did not think that you loved me so," said she, after a little -pause; and my arm now encircled her waist, while something of an -invocation to heaven rose to my lips, and I repeated, - -"Not think that I loved you! Do not be coquettishly unwilling to -admit what you must know, that since that last happy night in London -you have never been absent from my thoughts; and here, Estelle, dear, -dear Estelle, when menaced by a grave amid these waters, I tell you -that I loved you from the first moment that I knew you! Death stares -us in the face, but tell me truly that you--that you--" - -"Love you in return? I do, indeed, dear Harry!" she sobbed, and then -her beloved face, chilled and damp with tears and spray, came close to -mine. - -"God bless you, O my darling, for this avowal!" said I in a thick -voice, and even the terrors of our position could not damp the glow of -my joy. - -In all my waking dreams of her had Estelle seemed beautiful; but never -so much so as now, when I seemed on the eve of losing her for ever, -and my own life, too; when each successive wave that rolled in inky -blackness towards us might tear her from my clasp! How easily under -some circumstances do we learn the language of passion! and now, while -clasping her fast with one arm, as with both of hers she clung to me, -I pressed her to my breast, and told her again and again how fondly I -loved her, while--as it were in a dream, a portion of a nightmare--our -boat, now filling fast with water, was tossed madly to and fro. And -like a dream, too, it seemed, the fact that I had her all to -myself--for life or death, as it were--this brilliant creature so -loved by many, so prized by all, and hitherto apparently so -unattainable; she who, by a look, a glance, a smile, by a flirt of her -fan, by the dropping of a glove, or the gift of a flower, selected -with point from her bouquet, had held my soul in thrall by all the -delicious trifles that make up the sum and glory of love to the lover -who is young. And where were we now? Alone on the dark, and ere long -it was the midnight, sea! Alone, and with me; I who had so long eyed -her lovingly and longingly, even as Schön Rohtrant, the German king's -daughter, was gazed at and loved by the handsome page, who dared not -to touch or kiss her till he gathered courage one day, as the ballad -tells us, when they were under a shady old oak. - -"If God spares us to see her," said Lady Estelle, "what will mamma -think of this terrible _fiasco_ of ours?" - -While Estelle loved me, I felt that I did not care very much for the -dowager's views of the matter, especially at that precise moment. When -on _terra firma_ there would be sufficient time to consider them. - -"And you are mine, darling?" said I, tenderly. - -"I am yours, Harry, and yours only." - -"Never shall I weary of hearing this admission; but the rumour of an -engagement to Lord Pottersleigh?' - -"Absurd! It has grown out of his dangling after me and mamma's wish, -as I won't have my cousin Naseby." - -"And you do not hold yourself engaged--" - -"Save to you, Harry, and you alone." - -And as her head again sank upon my shoulder, her pride and my doubts -fled together; but now a half-stifled shriek escaped her, as the frail -boat was nearly overturned by a larger wave than usual, which struck -it on the counter. We were drenched and chilled, so ours was, indeed, -love-making under difficulties; and the time, even with her reclining -in my arms, passed slowly. How many a prayer and invocation, all too -deep for utterance, rose to my lips for her! The hours drew on. Would -day never dawn? With all the sweet but now terrible companionship of -love--for it was love combined with gloomy danger--this was our utmost -craving. - -The new moon, as she rose pale and sharp, like a silver sickle, from -the Irish Sea, when the fog began to disperse, tipped for a little -time with light the wave-tops as they rose or sank around us; but -clouds soon enveloped her again; and when the tide turned, the sea ran -inward, and broke wildly on the tremendous headlands of the coast. -That our boat was not swamped seemed miraculous; but it was very -buoyant, being entirely lined with cork, and had air-tight -compartments under the seats. A gray streak at the far horizon had -spread across a gap of pale green, announcing that the short August -night was past, and rapidly it broadened and brightened into day, -while crimson and gold began to tip the wave-tops with a fiery hue, -the whole ocean seeming to be mottled, as it were; and I could see the -coast-line, as we were not quite a mile from it. In the distance were -plainly visible the little town of Abergele, and those hills where -Castell Cawr and the Cefn Ogo are, tinged with pink, as they rose -above the white vapour that rolled along the shore. - -The more distant mountain ranges seemed blue and purple against a sky -where clouds of pearly-pink were floating. Estelle was exhausted now. -Her pallor added to my misery. So many hours of pitiless exposure had -proved too much for her strength, and with her eyes closed she lay -helpless in my arms, while wave after wave was now impelling us -shoreward, and, most happily it would seem, towards a point where the -rocks opened and the water shoaled. One enormous breaker, -white-crested and overarching, came rolling upon us. A gasp, a mutual -cry to heaven, half-stifled by the bitter spray, and then the mighty -volume of it engulfed us and our boat. We had a momentary sense of -darkness and blindness, a sound as of booming thunder mingled with the -clangour of bells in our ears, and something of the feeling of being -swept by an express train through a tunnel filled with water, for we -were fairly under the latter; but I clung to the boat with one hand -and arm, while the other went round Estelle with a death-like embrace, -that prevented her from being swept or torn from me. - -For some moments I knew not whether we were on the land or in the sea; -but, though stunned by the shock, I acted mechanically. Then I -remember becoming conscious of rising through the pale-green water, of -inhaling a long breath, a gasping respiration, and of seeing the -sunshine on the waves. Another shock came, and we were flung on the -flat or sloping beach, to be there left by the receding sea. Instead -of in that place, had we been dashed against the impending rocks -elsewhere, all had then been over with us. I still felt that my right -arm was clasped around Estelle; but she was motionless, breathless, -and still; and though a terror that she was dead oppressed me, a -torpor that I could not resist spread over all my faculties, and I -sank into a state of perfect unconsciousness. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI.--THE SECRET ENGAGEMENT. - - -In making a circuit of his farm on the morning after the storm, Farmer -Rhuddlan, while traversing a field that was bounded by a strip of the -sea shore, on which the ebbing surf still rolled heavily, was very -much scared to find lying there, and to all appearance but recently -cast up from the ocean, among starfish, weed, and wreck, an officer in -full dress, and a lady (in what had been an elegant demi-toilette of -blue silk and fine lace), fair and most delicately white, but -drenched, sodden, and to all appearance, as he thought, -"dearanwyl--drowned"--as she was quite motionless, with her beautiful -dark hair all dishevelled and matted among the sand. - -He knew me--in fact, he had known me since boyhood, having caught me -many a time in his orchard at Craig Eryri--and thought he recognized -the lady. Moreover, he had heard of the search overnight, and lost no -time in spurring his fat little cob in quest of succour. Some -wondering rustics promptly came from a neighbouring barnyard, and by -the time they arrived, Estelle and I had recovered consciousness, and -struggled into a sitting position on some stones close by, whence we -were beginning to look about us. - -A benumbed sensation and total lack of power in my right arm warned me -that an accident had occurred, and I endeavoured to conceal the -circumstance from Estelle, but in vain; for when murmuring some thanks -to God for our preservation, she suddenly lifted her face from my -breast, and exclaimed, "You cannot move this arm! You have been hurt, -darling! Tell me about it--speak!" - -"I think it is broken, Estelle," said I, with a smile; for while I -felt something almost of pleasure in the conviction that I had -undergone this in saving her, thereby giving me a greater title to her -interest and sympathy, I could not forget my short leave from -Winchester, the war at hand, the regiment already abroad, and the -active duties that were expected of me. - -"Broken?" she repeated, in a faint voice. - -"My sword-arm--on the eve of marching for foreign service. Awkward, -isn't it?" - -"Awkward! O Harry, it is horrible! And all this has occurred through -me and my childish folly!" - -"One arm is at your service, dearest, still," said I, while placing it -round her, and assisting her to rise, as the kind old farmer returned -with his people, joyful to find that we were living, after all, and -that by assisting us he might in some degree repay Sir Madoc Lloyd a -portion of that debt of gratitude which he owed to him. - -After despatching a mounted messenger to Craigaderyn with tidings of -our safety, he had us at once conveyed to his farm-house at Craig -Eryri, where dry clothing was given us, and a doctor summoned to -attend me. - -"You knew that we were missing--lost?" said I. - -"Too well, sir," replied the farmer, as he produced a brandy-bottle -from an ancient oak cupboard. "With all my lads I assisted in the -search," he continued in Welsh, as he could scarcely speak a word of -English. "A gentleman came here over night with a groom, both mounted, -to spread the news of you and a lady having been lost somewhere below -the Bôd Mynach." - -"A gentleman mounted--Mr. Caradoc, perhaps?" - -"Caradoc is one of ourselves," said the farmer, his keen eyes -twinkling; "this one was a Sassenach--he Sir Madoc gave that lovely -ring to, with a diamond as big as a horse-bean, for winning a race at -Chester." - -"O, Mr. Guilfoyle." - -"Yes, sir, that is his name, I believe," replied Rhuddlan; and despite -the gnawing agony of my arm I laughed outright, for the quondam German -_attaché_ would seem to have actually found time to relate something -new about his brilliant to the simple old farmer, and while the fate -of Lady Estelle was yet a mystery. As for _mine_, I shrewdly suspected -he cared little about that. - -Attired by the farmer's wife in the best clothing with which she could -provide her, Lady Estelle, pale, wan, and exhausted, was seated near a -fire to restore warmth to her chilled frame, while I retired with the -medical man, who found my unlucky arm broken above the elbow; -fortunately, the fracture was simple, and in no way a compound one. -The bones were speedily set, splinted, and bandaged; and clad in a -suit provided for me by Farmer Rhuddlan--to wit, a pair of corduroy -knee-breeches, a deeply-flapped double-breasted waistcoat, which, from -its pattern, seemed to have been cut from a chintz bedcover, so -gorgeous were the roses and tulips it displayed, a large loose coat of -coarse gray Welsh frieze, with horn buttons larger than crown pieces, -each garment "a world too wide"--I presented a figure so absurd and -novel that Estelle, in spite of all the misery and danger we had -undergone, laughed merrily as she held out to me in welcome a hand of -marvellous form and whiteness, the hand that was to be mine in the -time to come; and I seated myself by her side, while the farmer and -his wife bustled about, preparing for the certain arrival of Sir Madoc -and others from the Court. - -"How odd it seems!" said Estelle, in a low voice, and after a long -pause, as she lay back in the farmer's black-leather elbow chair, -where his wife had kindly placed and pillowed her; and while she -spoke, her eyes were half closed and her lips were wreathed with -smiles; "engaged to be married--and to you, Harry! I can scarcely' -realise it. Is this the end of all our ballroom flirtations, our Park -drives, and gallops in the Row?" - -"Nay, not the end of any; but a continuance of them all, I hope." - -"Scarcely; people don't flirt after marriage--together, at least. But -it will be the end of all mamma's grand schemes for me. She always -hoped I should twine strawberry leaves with my marriage wreath. -Heavens, how nearly I was having a wreath of seaweed!" she added, with -a shudder and a little gasping laugh as I kissed her hand. "O, my poor -Harry, with an arm broken, and by my means I shall never forgive -myself--never!" - -"Better an arm than if my heart had been broken by your means, -Estelle," said I, in a low voice. After a little she said calmly and -in an earnest tone, while her colour came and went more than once, - -"We must be _secret_, secret as we are sincere; and yet such a system -is repugnant to me, and to my pride of heart." - -"Secret, Estelle!" (How delicious to call her simply Estelle!) "Why?" - -"It is most necessary--yet awhile, at least." - -"Your mamma's objections?" - -"More than that." - -"What--more?" - -"By papa's will mamma has entire control over all her fortune and -mine, too, and should I marry without her full approbation and -consent, she may bequeath both if she pleases to my cousin Naseby, -leaving but a pittance to me." - -"But what will not one undergo for love?" said I, gazing tenderly into -her eyes. - -She smiled sadly, but made no response; perhaps she thought of what -love might have of luxury on a subaltern's pay and his "expectations." - -"Fear not, Estelle," said I, "for your sake our engagement shall be a -secret one." - -All my doubts and fears had already given place to the confidence of -avowed and reciprocated affection, and in the security of that I was -blindly happy. How my heart had been wont to throb when I used -mentally to imagine the last interview I should have with her ere -going forth to the East, with the story of my love untold; leaving her -in ignorance, or partially so, of the sweet but subtle link that bound -my existence to hers! _Now_, the love was told; the link had become a -tie, and pain of the anticipated parting became all the more keen -apparently, and I prospectively reckoned one by one the weeks, the -days, yea, almost the hours I might yet spend in the society of -Estelle. I was not much given to daydreams or illusions, but, I asked -of myself, was not all this most strange if I was not dreaming now? -Could it be that, within a few hours--a time so short--Estelle and I -had braved such peril together, and that I had achieved her plight, -her troth; the promise of her hand; the acknowledgment of her love, -and that all was fulfilled; the coveted and dearest object of my -secret thoughts and tenderest wishes! - -Whether our engagement were secret or not mattered little to me now. -Assured of her regard, I felt in her presence and society all that -calm delight and sense of repose which were so pleasing after my late -tumult of anxiety, pique, jealousy, and uncertainty. By chance or some -intuition the farmer and his wife left us for a time alone, while -waiting the arrival of our friends; and never while life lasts shall I -forget the joy of that calm morning spent alone with Estelle in -Rhuddlan's quaint little drawing-room, the windows of which faced the -green Denbigh hills, on which the warm August sun shone cheerily; and -often did the memory of it come back to me when I was far away, when I -was shivering amid the misery of the half-frozen trenches before -Sebastopol, or relieving the out pickets, when Inkermann lights were -waxing pale and dim as dawn stole over those snow-clad wastes, where -so thick lay the graves of men and horses, while the eternal boom and -flash went on without ceasing from the Russian bastions and the allied -batteries. I felt as if I had gained life anew, and with it Estelle -Cressingham. Great, indeed, was the revulsion of feeling after such -peril undergone; after a night of such horror and suffering, to sit by -her side, to hang over her, inspired to the full by that emotion of -tenderness and rapture which no man can feel but once in life, -when the first woman he has really loved admits that he has not -done so in vain. I placed on her finger--_the_ engaged finger--an -emerald-and-diamond ring that I valued highly, as it had once been my -mother's, and in its place took one of hers, a single pearl set in -blue-and-gold enamel. The once proud beauty seemed so humble, gentle, -and loving now, as she reclined with her head on my shoulder, and -looked at me from time to time with a sweet quiet smile in the soft -depths of her dark eyes I forgot that she was an earl's daughter, with -a noble dowry and an ambitious mother, and that I was but a sub of the -Royal Welsh, with little more than his pay. I forgot that the route -for Varna hung over my head like the sword of Damocles; that a -separation, certain and inevitable, was hourly drawing closer and -closer, though the accident which had occurred might protract it a -little now. - -Estelle Cressingham was a grand creature, certainly. She naturally -seemed to adopt statuesque positions, and thus every movement, however -careless and unstudied, was full of artistic grace. Even the misshapen -garments of Mrs. Evan Rhuddlan could not quite disfigure her. The turn -of her head was stately, and at times her glance, quick and flashing, -had a pride in it that she was quite unconscious of. She was, as -Caradoc had said, "decidedly a splendid woman--young lady, rather--but -of the magnificent order." But there were tender and womanly touches, -a gentler nature, in the character of Estelle, that lay under the -artificial strata of that cumbrous society in which she had been -reared. She had many pets at home in London and at Walcot Park--birds -and dogs, which she fed with her own hands, and little children, who -were her pensioners; and if her nose seemed a proud one, with an -aristocratic curve of nostril, her short upper lip would quiver -occasionally when she heard a tale of sorrow or cruelty. And now, from -our mutual daydream, we were roused by the sound of wheels, of hoofs, -and several voices, as some of our friends from the Court arrived. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII.--WHAT FOLLOWED IT. - - -To expatiate upon the joy of all when we found ourselves safe in -Craigaderyn Court again were a needless task. Lady Estelle was -conveyed at once to her own room, and placed in charge of Mademoiselle -Pompon. For two entire days I saw nothing of her, and could but hover -on the terrace which her windows overlooked, in the hope of seeing -her; but the same doctor who came daily to dress my arm had to attend -her, as she was weak, feverish, and rather hysterical after all she -had undergone; while I, with my broken limb, found myself somewhat of -a hero in our little circle. - -"This adventure of yours will make the Bôd Mynach the eighth wonder of -Wales, if it gets into print," said Sir Madoc. - -This chance was Lady Naseby's fear. She was "full of annoyance and -perplexity," as she said, "lest some of those busybodies who write for -the ephemeral columns of the daily press should hear of the affair, -and ventilate it in some manner that was garbled, sensational, and, -what was worse than either, unpunishable." - -She thanked me with great courtesy, but without cordiality, for having -saved her daughter's life at the expense of a broken limb, as it was -by sheer strength that I prevented Estelle being torn from the boat -and me. Her ladyship, however, soon dismissed the subject, and now -Tiny, the snappish white shock, which for some hours had been -forgotten and shamefully neglected, came in for as many caresses as -her daughter, if not more. - -Anxious, for many obvious reasons, to gain the esteem of this cold and -unapproachable dowager--even to love her, for her daughter's sake, -most unlovable though she was--I was ever assiduous in my attentions; -and these seemed to excite quietly the ridicule of Winifred Lloyd, -while Dora said that she believed Lady Estelle must have quarrelled -with me, and that I had transferred my affections to her mamma. - -But little Dora saw and knew more than I supposed. On the second day -after the affair, when she came with her light tripping step down the -perron of the mansion, and joined me on the terrace, where I was -idling with a cigar, I said, - -"By the bye, why _did_ you leave us, Dora, in that remarkable manner, -and not return?" - -"Mr. Clavell overtook me, and insisted upon my keeping an engagement -to him. Moreover," she added, waggishly, "under my music-master I have -learned that many a delightful duet becomes most discordant when -attempted as a trio." - -"And for that reason you left us?" - -"Precisely," replied the lively girl, as she removed her hat, and -permitted the wealth of her golden hair to float out on the wind. -"Save for your poor arm being broken, and the terrible risks you ran, -I might laugh at the whole affair; for it was quite romantic--like -something out of a play or novel; but it quite put an end to the -ball." - -"And now that Tom Clavell has gone back to his depôt at Chester, you -can scarcely forgive me?" - -"I saw that you were dying to be alone with Lady Estelle," she -retorted, "and _now_ don't you thank me?" - -I certainly felt a gratitude I did not express, but doubted whether -her elder sister would have approved of Dora's complicity in the -matter; and affecting to misunderstand her I said, - -"Why thank you now?" - -"Because," said Dora, looking at me, with her blue eyes half closed, -"if on the top of a mountain an acquaintance ripens fast, good -heavens, how must it have been with you two at the bottom of the sea!" - -And she laughed merrily at her own conceit, while swinging her hat to -and fro by its ribbons. Lord Pottersleigh shook his head as if he -disliked the whole affair, and nervously scanned the daily papers with -spectacles on his thin aquiline nose, in expectation of seeing some -absurd, perhaps impertinent, paragraph about it; and such was the old -man's aristocratic vanity, that I verily believe, had he seen such, he -would there and then have relinquished all his expectations--for he -undoubtedly had them--of making Estelle Lady Pottersleigh, and the -partner of his higher honours that were to come. - -"Lady Naseby owes you a debt of gratitude, Mr. Hardinge, for saving -the life of her daughter--and I, too," he added, "owe you an -everlasting debt of gratitude." - -"You, my lord?" said I, turning round in the library, where we -happened to be alone. - -"Yes; for in saving her you saved one in whom I have the deepest -interest. So, my dear Mr. Hardinge," he continued, pompously, looking -up from the _Times_, "if I can do aught for you at the Horse Guards, -command me, my young friend, command me." - -"Thanks, my lord," said I, curtly; for his tone of patronage, and the -cause thereof, were distasteful to me. - -"You have of course heard the rumour of--of an engagement?" - -"With Lady Estelle Cressingham?" - -"Exactly," said he, laughing till he brought on a fit of coughing-- -"exactly--ha, ha--ugh, ugh! How the deuce these things ooze out at -clubs and in society, I cannot conceive; for even the world of London -seems like a village in that way. Ah, nowhere out of our aristocracy -could a man find such a wife as Lady Estelle!" - -"I quite agree with you; but there is a point beyond that." - -"Indeed! what may that be?" - -"To get her!" said I, defiantly, enraged by the old man's cool -presumption. - -Was this reference to "a rumour" merely his senile vanity, or had -Estelle ignored something that really existed? - -Caradoc's congratulations, though I carefully kept my own counsel, -were as warm in reality as those of Guilfoyle were in pretence. - -"Wish you every joy," said the latter, in a low tone, as we met in the -billiard-room, where he was practising strokes with Sir Madoc. - -"I don't quite understand." - -"You hold the winning-cards now, I think," said he, with a cold glare -in his eye. - -"Sir?" - -"I congratulate you on escaping so many perils with the Lady Estelle, -and being thereby a winner." - -I had just left Pottersleigh, and was not disposed to endure much from -Guilfoyle. - -"The winner of what?" I asked. - -"The future esteem of the Countess," he sneered. - -"Perhaps she will present me with a diamond ring on the head of it," -said I, turning on my heel, while Sir Madoc laughed at the hit; but -whatever he felt, Guilfoyle cloaked it pretty well by laughing, and, -as a Parthian shot, quoting, with some point, and with unruffled -exterior, a line or two from the fourth book of the _Æneid_, -concerning the storm which drew Dido and her hero into the cave. - -The bearing of Winifred Lloyd now became somewhat of a riddle to me; -and on the morning of the third day, when we all met at the breakfast -table (which was littered by cards and notes of congratulation), and -when Lady Estelle appeared, looking so pale and beautiful, declining -Mademoiselle Babette's cosmetics and pearl-powder alike, in the -loveliest morning-dress that Swan and Edgar could produce, I was -conscious that she watched us with an interest that seemed wistful, -tearful, and earnest. Whether I had a tell-tale face, I know not. -Nothing, however, could be gathered from that of Estelle, or her mode -of greeting me and inquiring about the progress of my broken arm -towards recovery. My ring was on her finger; but as she wore several, -it passed unnoticed, and even Dora's quick eye failed to detect it. - -Winifred had become very taciturn; and when I asked her to drive with -me in the open carriage--as for a time I could not ride--she declined -rather curtly, and with something of petulance, even disdain, in her -tone. She never had the usual inquiries made by others concerning my -fracture, nor joined with Dora in the playful rivalry of the ladies -cutting for me, if no servant was near; for at table I was of course -helpless. She smiled seldom, but laughed frequently; and yet it struck -me there was something unwonted in the ring of her laughter, as if it -came not from her heart. The girl had a secret sorrow evidently. Was -Master Phil Caradoc at the bottom of this? If not, who then? I watched -her from time to time, and observed that once, when our eyes met, she -seemed confused, and coloured perceptibly. - -"Surely," thought I, "she is not resenting my half-flirtation with her -the other day, when we visited her pet goat!" - -She was restless, absent, listlessly indifferent, and occasionally -preoccupied in manner; and in vain did I say to her more than once, - -"Miss Lloyd--Winifred--what troubles you? what has vexed you?" - -"Nothing troubles me, Mr. Hardinge." - -"_Mr.?_" - -"Well, then, Harry--and nothing vexes me. What leads you to think so?" - -Her full-fringed dark eyes looked clearly into mine; they seemed -moist, yet defiant, and she tossed her pretty little head wilfully and -petulantly. I felt that I had in some way displeased her; but dared -not press the matter, for, with all her softness of heart, she had a -little Welsh temper of her own. - -Phil Caradoc gave me his entire confidence, especially after dinner, -when men become full of talk, and inspired by bland and generous -impulses. He related, without reserve, the whole episode that occurred -in the conservatory; and I felt some compunction or annoyance that -circumstances prevented me from having the same frankness with him, -for none would have rejoiced in my success more warmly than he. - -"For the life of me, Harry, I can't make out what Miss Lloyd means," -said Phil, in a low voice, as he made his Cliquot effervesce, by -stirring it with a macaroon; "she was ready enough to love me as a -friend, and all that sort of thing." - -"You have asked her, then?" - -"Pointedly--hardly know what I said, though--one feels so deuced queer -when making love--in earnest, I mean." - -"A man can do no more than ask." - -"Except asking again; but tell me, old fellow, have I a chance?" - -"How should I know, Phil? But I think that the pattern sub of the -Royal Welsh Fusileers, made up, like Don Juan, - - - "'By love, by youth, and by an army tailor,' - - -should have a particularly good chance." - -"_You_ can afford to laugh at me, Harry." - -"Far from it, Phil; I haven't such a thought, believe me." - -"Seeing how friendly you are with these girls--with her especially--I -thought you might know this. Is any other fellow spooney upon Miss -Lloyd?" - -"A good many may well be; she is lovely." - -"Well, does any one stand in her good graces?" - -"Can't say, indeed, Caradoc," said I, as my thoughts reverted to that -episode at the goat's-house, and others not dissimilar, with some -emotions of compunction, as I looked into Phil's honest brown eyes. - -He fancied that Winifred avoided him. In that idea he erred. She -admired and loved him as a friend--a gentleman who had done her great -honour; but she never thought of analysing his emotions farther than -to wish him well, and to wish him away from Craigaderyn, after that -scene in the conservatory; and remembering it in all its points, she -was careful not to trust herself alone with him, lest the subject -might be renewed; and yet she found the necessity of approaching it -one day, when a sudden recollection struck her, as they were riding -home together, and had cantered a little way in advance of their -party. - -"Now that I think of it, Mr. Caradoc," said she, "you must give me -that likeness which you wear. I really cannot permit you to keep it, -even in jest." - -"Jest!" repeated Phil, sadly and reproachfully; "do you think so -meanly of me as to imagine that I would jest with you or with it?" - -"But I can see no reason why you should retain it." - -"Perhaps there is none--and yet, there is. It is the face of one I -shall never, never forget; and it is a memento of happy days spent -with you--a memento that other eyes than mine shall never look upon." - -"Do not speak thus, Mr. Caradoc, I implore you!" said Winifred, -looking down on her horse's mane. - -"You will permit me to keep it?" - -"For a time," said she, trying to smile, but her lips quivered, "Thank -you, dear Winifred." - -"If shown to none." - -"'While I live none shall see; and if I die in action--as many shall -surely do, and why not I as well as happier fellows?--it will be heard -of no more?" - -Caradoc's voice became quite tremulous, either because of Miss Lloyd's -obduracy, or that he felt, as many people do, rather pathetic at the -thought of his own demise. He had already possessed himself of her -whip-hand, when her horse began to rear, and in a minute more they -were in the lime avenue; and this proved the last opportunity he had -of reasoning with her on the subject that was nearest his heart. He -now wished that he had never met Winifred Lloyd, or that, having met, -and learned to love her--oddly enough, when his passion was not -returned--he could be what her _ideal_ was. "In what," thought he, "am -I wanting? Am I too rough, too soldierly, too blunt, unwinning, or -what?" It was none of these; for Caradoc was a well-mannered, -courteous, gentle, and pleasing young fellow, and by women unanimously -deemed handsome and _distingué_. All that day he was unusually cast -down and taciturn, though he strove to take an interest in the -conversation around him. - -"By Jove, Hardinge," said he, "I wish you had never brought me here, -to renew the hopes I had begun to entertain in London." - -"Don't lose heart yet, Phil," said I. - -"But I have to leave for the seat of war--leave her to the chance of -being loved by others, without even a promise--" - -"To what troubles we are exposed in life!" said I, sententiously, and -feeling perhaps selfishly secure in my own affair. - -"Greater troubles perhaps in death," added Phil, gloomily, as he -gnawed his moustache. "I sometimes wonder whether man was made for the -world, or the world was made for man." - -"In what respect," said I, surprised by the train of thought so -unusual in him. - -"Look at the newly-born infant, and you will find it difficult to -determine. 'He begins his life,' as Pliny says, 'in punishment, and -only for being born.'" - -"Come Phil," said I, "don't get into the blues; and as for Pliny, I -left him with Euclid, Straith's _Fortification_, and gunnery, at -Sandhurst." - -The morning mail brought letters from the depôt-adjutant to Phil and -me. Their official aspect, as Owen Gwyllim laid them on the breakfast -table, attracted the attention of all. The eyes of Winifred were on -me, and mine turned instinctively and sadly to Lady Estelle, who grew -ashy pale, but seemed intent on some letters of her own. The -adjutant's epistles were brief. Caradoc was requested to join at once, -his short leave being cancelled, as he had to go with a draft of -eighty rank-and-file for the East. My leave was, extended for a -fortnight, in consequence of a medical certificate received concerning -the accident that had befallen me. - -So that night saw poor good-hearted Phil depart; and the memory of his -thick brown hair and handsome brown moustache, his clear hazel eyes -and honest English face dwelt not in the thoughts of her with whom he -had left his heart behind. - -He had the regimental goat in his custody; and when Winifred caressed -and kissed her pet, ere it was lifted into the vehicle that was to -convey it to Chester, Phil eyed her wistfully; and I knew that he -would have given the best of his heart's blood to have felt but one of -those kisses on his nut-brown cheek! - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII.--GUILFOYLE. - - -My Lord Pottersleigh and the adventurer Hawkesby Guilfoyle--for an -artful, presumptuous, and very singular adventurer he eventually -proved to be--could not detect that there was a secret understanding, -and still less that there was any engagement, between Lady Estelle and -me; yet both were sharp enough to fancy that there was something wrong -so far as they were concerned--something understood by us which to -them was incomprehensible; and the latter now referred in vain to -Baden, Berlin, Catzenelnbogen, and other places where they had met so -pleasantly on the Continent. Engaged solemnly and tenderly to Estelle, -I had yet the absurd annoyance of beholding Pottersleigh, who was -assured of her mother's countenance and favour (though he would have -been a more seemly suitor for herself), and whose years and position -gave him perfect confidence, hovering or shambling perpetually about -her, absorbing her time if not her attention, mumbling his -overstrained compliments into her unwilling ear, touching her hand or -tapered arm, and even patting her lovely white shoulders from time to -time with his withered paws, and every way giving himself such -fatherly and lover-like airs of proprietary oddly mingled that I could -with pleasure have punched his aristocratic old head. We frequently -laughed at all this even when he was present; for by a glance rather -than a word, Estelle could convey to me all she thought and felt. -There was something delightful in this secret understanding, this -secret community of thought and interest, with one so young and -beautiful--more than all, when blended with it was the charm of the -most perfect success in a first affair of love; and I thought myself -one of the happiest fellows in the world. - -Superb as her toilettes were at all times, she seemed to make little -Babette Pompon take extra pains with them now, and I felt delighted -accordingly, for such infinite care seemed to express a desire to -please me. Our next departure from the Court was Mr. Hawkesby -Guilfoyle, whom Sir Madoc and all his visitors had begun to view with -a coolness and disfavour of which the party in question found it -convenient to seem quite oblivious; but it reached its culminating -point through a very small matter. One day after luncheon we had gone -so far as Penmaen Mawr. The four ladies were in the open carriage; I -occupied the rumble; Sir Madoc, Lord Pottersleigh, and Guilfoyle were -mounted, and we were all enjoying to the fullest extent that glorious -combination of marine and mountain scenery peculiar to the Welsh -coast; the air was full of ozone and the sky was full of sunshine. We -were all happy, and even Winifred seemed in unusually high spirits; as -for Dora, she was never otherwise. The well-hung carriage rolled -pleasantly along, between the beautiful green hills, past quiet -villages and ancient churches, vast yawning slate quarries, green -mounds and gray stones that marked where battles had been, with -occasional glimpses of the Irish Sea, that stretched away to the dim -horizon like a sheet of glittering glass. Estelle, by arrangement, -sat with her back to the horses, so that she and I could freely -converse with our eyes, from time to time, under the shade of her -skilfully-managed parasol. - -Sir Madoc on this day was peculiarly enthusiastic, and having mounted -what the girls called his "Welsh hobby," was disposed to give it full -rein. We halted in a little sequestered glen, a lovely spot embosomed -among trees, on the southern slope of the hill. The horses were -unbitted; Owen Gwyllim had put the champagne' bottles to cool in a -runnel, where their long gilded necks and swollen corks stood -invitingly up amid the rich green grass that almost hid the murmuring -water. We had come by Caerhun, through an old and little-frequented -road, where Sir Madoc insisted on pointing out to us all the many -erect old battle-stones by the wayside; for his mind was now full of -quaint stories, and the memory of heroes with barbarous names. Thus -when Owen uncorked the Cliquot, he drank more than one guttural Welsh -toast, and told us how, often in his boyhood, the road had been -obstructed for weeks by masses of rock that fell thundering from the -mountain above; and in his love of the olden time or detestation of -change, I believe he would have preferred such barriers to progress -still, rather than have seen the lines of road and rail that now sweep -between the mountain and the sea on the way to Holyhead. - -"It was in this dell or _glyn_," said Sir Madoc, as he seated his sturdy -figure on the grass, though the ladies did not leave the carriage, -"that Llewellyn ap Jorwerth took prisoner the luckless William de -Breas, whom he hanged at Aber, in the time of Henry III." - -"Why did he hang him?" asked Guilfoyle, holding his glass for Owen to -refill it. - -"Because he was a handsome fellow, and found too much favour in the -eyes of his princess, whom he dragged to the window that she might see -his body hanging lifeless on the gibbet." - -"Deuced hard lines," said Guilfoyle, laughing. "I thought he might -have been hung because he hadn't a pedigree, or some other enormity in -Welsh eyes." As Sir Madoc looked at the speaker his eyes sparkled, for -the remark was a singularly gratuitous one. - -"You English," said he, "laugh at what you are pleased to consider our -little weakness in that respect; and yet the best names in the peerage -are apt to be deduced from some corporal or sergeant of William's -Norman rabble." - -"Heavens, papa! when I change my name of Lloyd, I hope it won't be for -that of Mrs. John Smith or Robinson?" said Dora, merrily, as she heard -that Sir Madoc's tone was sharp. - -"Well, but you must admit that these fortuitous circumstances are -deemed of small account now; for as Dick Cypher sings, - - "'A peer and a 'prentice now dress much the same, - And you can't tell the difference excepting by name.'" - -"I don't know who your friend Dick Cypher may be," replied Sir Madoc, -quietly, though evidently greatly ruffled, "but Burke and Debrett -record as ancient, names we deem but those of yesterday, and when -compared with ours are as the stunted gorsebush to pine or oak--yes, -sir! or as the donkey that crops thistles by the wayside when compared -to the Arab horse!" - -"God bless my soul!" exclaimed Pottersleigh, letting his hat sink -farther on the nape of his neck, as he placed his gold glasses on his -long thin nose and gazed at Sir Madoc, who tossed an empty bottle into -the runnel, and continued:--"In Wales we have the lines of Kynaston, -who descend from Rhodric Mawr, King of all Wales, and the daughter and -coheir of the Bloody Wolf; the Mostyns, from the Lord of Abergeleu who -founded the eighth noble tribe; the Vaughans, who come from that King -Rhodric who married the daughter of Meuric ap Dyfnwall ap Arthur ap -Sitsylt, though that was only in the year 800; and we have the -Lloyds----" - -"O, papa," exclaimed Winifred, seeing that Estelle was laughing -heartily, "we cannot listen to more; and I am sure that your -muster-roll of terrible names must have quite convinced Mr. Guilfoyle -of his error." - -"If it ever existed--I did but jest," said he, bowing and smiling as -he turned to her. - -Sir Madoc's gust of patriotic ire passed away at the sound of his -daughter's voice; but from that moment his manner to Guilfoyle -underwent a marked change, for he had already more than once contrived -to wound him on this his most tender point. So the usually suave and -kind old man became very cool to him as they rode homeward; and early -that evening Guilfoyle retired to his room, alleging that he had to -write letters. - -After dinner, as we idled for a little time in the smoking-room prior -to joining the ladies, Lord Pottersleigh led the conversation -gradually back to our evening excursion, and with some hesitation -began to speak of Guilfoyle. - -"You will pardon me, my dear Sir Madoc, for venturing to speak -slightingly of any friend of yours; but----" - -"Mr. Guilfoyle is no friend of mine," said the other, hastily; "he -dropped among us from the clouds, as it were. When with Lady Naseby I -met him on the beach at Llandudno. He had done her some service on the -Continent, at Catzeneln--what's-its-name?--I invited him on the -strength of their past acquaintance--that's all." - -"Then, briefly, get rid of him if you can." - -"What do _you_ say, Harry?" - -"I say with Lord Pottersleigh." - -Sir Madoc fidgeted, for his Welsh ideas of hospitality were somewhat -shocked by the idea of "getting rid" of a guest. - -"I assure you, Sir Madoc," resumed the peer, "that he is quite -out of his place amongst us, quite; and despite his usually assumed -suavity--for it is assumed--he lacks intensely _l'odeur de la bonne -société_, though he affects it; and I overheard two of your late -guests making some very dubious remarks concerning him." - -"The deuce you did!" exclaimed Sir Madoc, tossing away his half-smoked -cigar. - -"They spoke quite audibly, as if they cared not who might hear them." - -"Who were they?" - -"Officers of the 19th, from Chester. 'Guilfoyle!' I heard that fast -boy Clavell exclaim, as if with surprise, to another; 'is that fellow, -who--' 'The very same.' 'Then how comes he to be a guest here?' 'Just -what I was asking of myself, as he is tabooed everywhere. You know -they say--' '_They_--who?' 'O, that ubiquitous and irresponsible party -so difficult to grapple with--that though he was attaché at some -German place, he has been in several conspiracies to pigeon young -muffs just come of age. There was particularly one poor fellow of ours -whom he rooked at Hamburg of every sixpence, and who was afterwards -found drowned in the Alster. And lately I have heard that he was -proprietor, or part proprietor, of a gaming-hell in Berlin.' 'By -Jove!' exclaimed little Clavell, but can all this be proved?' 'No.' -'Why?' 'He lays his plans too deeply and surely.' Then they walked -towards the marquee, and I thought I had hear, enough--quite," added -his lordship, snuffing. - -Long before Pottersleigh was done, Sir Madoc had blushed purple with -stifled rage and mortification. He said, - -"My lord, you should have mentioned all this instantly." - -"Truth is, I knew not how to approach the subject." - -"And I have introduced this fellow to my daughters, to my friends, and -to Craigaderyn! D--n me, I shall choke!" he exclaimed, as he started -from his chair. "He is deep as Llyn Tegid! I have already lost -considerable sums to him at billiards, and I always thought his -success at cards miraculous. But an end shall be put to this -instantly!--Owen! Owen Gwyllim!" - -He kicked a spittoon to the other end of the room, rang the bell -furiously for the butler, and dashed off a note to Mr. Guilfoyle. It -was sufficiently curt and pointed. He expressed "regret that a gun -would not be at his service on the coming 1st of September; but that -the carriage would await his orders, for Chester or elsewhere." - -Guilfoyle had doubtless been accustomed to meet with affronts such as -this. Desiring his baggage to be sent after him, he departed that -night with his two horses, his groom (and diamond ring); but, prior to -doing so, he had the effrontery to leave P.P.C. cards for Lady Naseby -and Estelle, saying that "he should not forget their kind invitation -to Walcot Park;" and rode off, scheming vengeance on me, to whom he -evidently attributed the whole matter, as he informed Owen Gwyllim -that he "would yet repay me, through his solicitor, perhaps, for the -interest I had taken in his affairs." - -This threw a temporary cloud over our little party, and good Sir Madoc -felt a kind of sorrow for Guilfoyle as he surmised how little money he -might have in his purse, forgetting that he was proprietor of a pair -of horses. To prevent her _amour propre_ being wounded, we most -unfortunately did not reveal this man's real character to Lady Naseby; -thus, to Sir Madoc's hot temper was attributed his sudden departure. - -Though Lady Estelle was excessively provoked that, through her and her -mother, whom his service on the Continent had prejudiced in his -favour, and through his alleged acquaintance with me, he had become -Sir Madoc's guest, in a day or two the whole _contretemps_ was -forgotten; but I was fated not to have seen or heard the last of Mr. -Hawkesby Guilfoyle. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX.--TWO LOVES FOR ONE HEART. - - -By the peculiarity of our position kept much apart, or seldom finding -opportunities, even in a house like Craigaderyn Court, for being -alone, as it was perpetually thronged by visitors, we had to content -ourselves with the joy of stolen glances that lit up the eye with an -expression we alone could read, or that was understood by ourselves -only; by tender touches of the hand that thrilled to the heart; and by -inflections of the voice, which, do as we might, would at times become -soft and tremulous. Our life was now full of petty stratagems and -pretty lover-like enigmas, especially when in the presence of Lady -Naseby; and now I also became afraid of Winifred Lloyd, who, -unoccupied, so far as I could see, by any love-affair of her own, was -almost certain, I thought, to see through mine. "There is no conquest -without the affections," said Ninon de l'Enclos; "and what mole is so -blind as a woman in love?" Yet Estelle was careful to a degree in her -bearing, and never permitted her fondness of me to lull her into a -sense of security from observation. I learned, however, from my ally -Dora, that Lady Naseby was so provoked by what Estelle not inaptly -termed our "late _fiasco_," that, save for the weight such a -proceeding might have given it, they and the Viscount, too, would have -quitted Craigaderyn Court, So they remained; but, thought I, what -right had _he_ to be concerned in the matter? And unless I greatly -erred, I felt certain that the Countess cared not how soon I received -my marching orders for that fatal shore where so many of us were to -leave our bones. - -Yet many a stolen kiss and snatched caress or pressure of the hand, -many a whispered assurance of love, made Estelle and me supremely -happy, while the few days that remained of my leave glided -quickly--ah, too quickly!--past; and all desire for "glory" apart, I -was not sorry when I saw that my fractured arm would prevent my being -sent with the next draft, and cause my retention for a little time -longer in England. "They who love must drink deeply of the cup of -trembling," says some one; "for at times there will arise in their -hearts a nameless terror, a sickening anxiety for the future, whose -brightness all depends upon this one cherished treasure, which often -proves a foreboding of some real anguish looming in the distant -hours." - -As yet no forebodings came to mar my happiness; it was without alloy, -save the prospect of a certain and, as we trusted to Providence, a -temporary separation; yet it was well that I saw not the future, or -what those distant hours had in store for me. - -"Estelle," said I, one day when a happy chance threw us together for a -few minutes in an arbour of the garden, where we sometimes met at a -certain hour, and separated after by different paths, like a pair of -conspirators, "when shall a period be put to all this mystery--this -painful, though joyous, false position in which we find ourselves?" - -"We can but wait and hope, Harry--wait and hope!" said she, while her -head drooped on my shoulder, and my arm went round her. - -"Wait and hope, dearest, for what? My promotion?" - -"That would bring the end no nearer," said she, with a sad, sickly -smile. - -"No, certainly; even to be colonel of the Royal Welsh instead of a -mere sub would not enhance my value much in Lady Naseby's estimation," -said I, with some bitterness. "For what then, darling?" - -"Some change in mamma's views regarding me." - -"She will never change!" - -"You know, Harry, that were you rich, I might marry you now--yes, and -go to Turkey with you, too!" said she, with a brightness in her eyes. - -"Would to Heaven, then, that I were rich! But being poor--" - -"It is impossible." - -And we both sighed heavily. - -"I am under orders for the East, and _must_ take my turn of duty -there, risking all the chances of war, ere I can think of home or -marriage, Estelle; but when we part, if I am not to write to you, how -shall I ever know that you think of me? how hear of your health and -welfare? that you remain true to me--" - -"O, doubt not that!" - -"Nor do I; but it would be so sweet to see your writing, and imagine -your voice reiterating the troth you plighted to me in that terrible -time." - -"I shall write to you, dear, dear Harry, for I can do that freely and -openly; but of you, alas! alas! I can only hear through our friends at -the Court here, for you can neither write to me in London nor at -Walcot Park." - -"May I not ask Miss Lloyd to receive enclosures for you? I shall be -writing to her, and we are such old friends that she would think -nothing of it." - -"Too old friends, I fear," said she, with a half-smiling but pointed -glance; "but for Heaven's sake think not of that. She would never -consent, nor should I wish her to do so. I can of course receive what -letters I choose; but servants will pry, and consider what certain -coats of arms, monograms, and postal marks mean; so my Crimean -correspondent would be shrewdly suspected, and myself subjected to -much annoyance by mamma and her views." - -"Her _views!_ This is the second time you have referred to them," said -I, anxiously; "and they are--" - -"That I should marry my cousin Naseby, whom I always disliked," said -Estelle, in a sad and sweetly modulated voice; "or Lord Pottersleigh, -whose wealth and influence are so great that a short time must see him -created an earl; but he has no chance _now_, dear Harry!" - -Long, lovingly, and tenderly she gazed into my eyes, and her glance -and her manner seemed so truthful and genuine that I felt all the -rapture of trusting her fearlessly, and that neither time nor distance -would alter or lessen her regard for me; and a thousand times in "the -distant hours" that came did I live over and over again that scene in -the arbour, when the warm flush of the August evening was lying deep -on the Welsh woods and mountains, when all the mullioned windows of -the quaint old mansion were glittering in light, and the soft coo of -the wild pigeons was heard as they winged their way to the summit of -Craigaderyn, which is usually alive with them, and there the fierce -hawk and the ravenous cormorant know well when to find their prey. - -The time for my departure drew near; and already but a day remained to -me. Caradoc and Charley Gwynne had already sailed in a troopship for -Varna, from which the entire army was about to embark for a landing on -the Russian coast, and ill or well, my presence with the regimental -depôt was imperative. My bullock trunks had been packed by Owen -Gwyllim, and the carriage was ordered to convey me next evening, after -an early dinner. The latter passed slowly and heavily enough, and -afterwards, instead of remaining all together, as might have been -expected, circumstances separated us for an hour or so. Lady Naseby -was indisposed; so was Lord Pottersleigh, whom his old enemy had -confined by the feet to this rooms, yet he hoped to be in service -order, to enact the sportsman on the coming 1st of September, a period -to which he looked forward with disgust and horror, as involving an -enormous amount of useless fatigue, with the chances of shooting -himself or some one else. Sir Madoc had certain country business to -attend; and on the three young ladies retiring to the drawing-room, I -was left to think over my approaching departure through the medium of -burgundy and a cigar. - -My sword arm was nearly well now; but still I should have made but a -poor affair of it, if compelled to resort to inside and outside cuts, -to point and parry, with a burly Muscovite. To know that I had but a -few hours left me now, and not to spend them with Estelle Cressingham, -seemed intolerable! Before me, from the window, spread the far extent -of grassy chase steeped in the evening sunshine; above the green woods -were the peaks of Snowdon and Carneydd Llewellyn, dim and blue in the -distance; and while gazing at them wistfully, I reflected on all I -should have to see and undergo, to hope and fear and suffer--the miles -I should have to traverse by sea and land--ere I again heard, if ever, -the pleasant rustle of the leaves in these old woods, the voice of the -wild pigeon or the croak of the rooks among the old Tudor gables and -chimneys of Craigaderyn. And then again I thought of Estelle. - -"I _must_ see her, and alone, too, at all risks; perhaps dear little -Dora will assist me," I muttered, and went towards the drawing-room, -which was now considerably involved in shadow, being on the western -side of the Court; and I felt with the tender Rosalind, when her lover -said, "For these two hours, Rosalind, I will leave thee," "Alas, dear -love, I cannot lack thee two hours." - -I entered the room and found only Winifred Lloyd. She was seated in -the deep bay of a very picturesque old oriel window, which seemed to -frame her as if in a picture. Her chin was resting in the hollow of -her left hand, and she was gazing outward dreamily on vacancy, or -along the flower-terraces of the house; but she looked hastily round, -and held out a hand to me as I approached. - -I caressed the pretty hand, and then dropped it; and not knowing very -well what to say, leaned over the back of her chair. - -"I suppose," she began, "you are thinking--thinking--" - -"How far more pleasing to the eye are a pair of fair white shoulders -to the same amount of silk or satin," said I smilingly, as I patted -her neck with my glove. - -She shrugged the white shoulders in question, and said petulantly, -with half averted face, - -"Is it possible that your departure has no place in your thoughts?" - -"Alas, yes! for do I not leave Craigaderyn by sunset? and its golden -farewell rays are lingering on blue Snowdon even now," said I, with a -forced smile; for though I had come in quest of Estelle, something--I -know not what--drew me to Winifred just then. - -Her eyebrows were very black, but slightly arched, and they almost met -over her nose; and I gazed into the orbs below them, so dark, so -clear, and beautiful--eyes that could neither conceal the emotions of -her heart, nor the pleasure or sorrow she felt; and I thought how -easily a man might be lured to forget the world for her, as friendship -between the sexes--especially in youth--is perilous; and some such -thought, perhaps, occurred to her, for she turned her face abruptly -from me. - -"You are surely not angry with me?" said I, bending nearer her ear. - -"Angry--I with you?" - -"Yes." - -"Why should I be so?" she asked, looking down upon her folded hands -that trembled in her lap--for she was evidently repressing some -emotion; thinking, perhaps, of poor Phil Caradoc, who was then -ploughing the waters of the Mediterranean with Carneydd Llewellyn to -console him. - -"You should not have come here," said she, after a pause. - -"Not into the drawing-room?" - -"Unless to meet Estelle Cressingham." - -"Do not say this," said I, nervously and imploringly, in a low voice; -"what is Estelle to me?" - -"Indeed!" said the little scornful lip. "Her mamma summoned her, but -she may be here shortly." - -Doubtless Lady Naseby had some dread of the leave-taking. - -"I shall be so glad to see her once again ere I go." - -"Of course." - -"I hope that you and she will often think and speak of me when I am -gone." - -"You are a delightful egotist, Harry Hardinge; but I trust our -memories may be reciprocal." - -"We have ever been such friends, and must be, you know, Winifred." - -"Yes, Harry; why should we _not_ be friends?" she asked, with a dash -of passionate earnestness in her tone, while she gazed at me with a -curious expression in her large, soft, and long-lashed eyes. - -"Have you any message for--for----" - -"Whom?" she asked, sharply. - -"Philip Caradoc." - -"None." - -"None!" - -"Save kindest regards and warmest wishes. What is Mr. Caradoc to me?" -Then she gave a little shiver, as she added, "Our conversation is -taking a very strange tone." - -"I cannot conceive in how I have annoyed you," said I, with something -of sorrow and wonder in my heart. - -"Perhaps; but you have not annoyed me, though you are not quite what -you used to be; and none are so blind as those who will not see." - -"I am quite perplexed. I think we know each other pretty well, -Winifred?" said I, very softly. - -"I know you certainly," was the dubious response. - -"Well--and I you?" said I, laughing. - -"Scarcely. Woman, you should be aware, is a privileged enigma." - -"Well, I was about to say that, whatever happens, we must ever be dear -friends, and think of each other kindly and tenderly, for the pleasant -times that are past and gone." - -"What can happen to make us otherwise?" she asked, in a strange voice. - -"I--may be killed," said I, not knowing very well what to say or -suggest; "so, while there is a chance of such a contingency, let us -part kindly; not so coldly as this, dear Winifred; and kiss me ere I -go." - -Her lips, warm and tremulous, touched mine for an instant; but her -eyes were sad and wild, and her poor little face grew ashy white as -she hastened away, leaving me with Estelle, who was approaching -through the long and shaded room; and when with her, Winifred Lloyd -and the momentary emotion that had sprung up--emotion that I cared not -and dared not _then_ to analyse--were utterly forgotten. - - -Our interview was a very silent one. We had barely time for a few -words, and heavy on my heart as lead weighed the conviction that I had -to part from her--my love so recently won, so firmly promised and -affianced. I knew that the days of my sojourn at Winchester must be -few now; and with the chances of war before me, and temptations and -aristocratic ambition left behind with her, how dubious and how remote -were the chances of our meeting again! - -Moments there were when I felt blindly desperate, and with my arms -round Estelle. - -When returning, would she still love me, as Desdemona loved her Moor, -for the dangers I had dared? The days of chivalry and romance have -gone; but the "old, old story" yet remains to us, fresh as when first -told in Eden. - -"For life or death, for good or for evil, for weal or woe, darling -Estelle, I leave my heart in your keeping!" said I, in a low -passionate whisper; "in twelve months, perhaps, I may claim you as my -wife." - -"L'homme propose, et Dieu dispose," said she, quietly and tenderly. "I -yet hope to see you, were it but for a day, at Walcot Park, ere you -sail." - -"Bless you for the hope your words give me!" said I, as Owen Gwyllim -came to announce that the carriage was at the door, and to give me -Lady Naseby's and Lord Pottersleigh's cards and farewell wishes. And -from that moment all the rest of my leave-taking seemed purely -mechanical; and not only Sir Madoc, his two daughters, and Estelle, -were on the terrace of the mansion to bid me adieu, but all the -hearty, hot-tempered, high-cheekboned old Welsh domestics, most of -whom had known me since boyhood, were also there. - -The impulsive Dora brought me my courier-bag, a flask filled with -brandy, and dainty sandwiches cut and prepared by Winifred's own kind -little hands (for in doing this for me she would trust neither the -butler nor Mrs. Gwenny Davis the housekeeper), and then she held up -her bright face to be kissed; but inspired by I know not what emotion -of doubt or dread, I only touched with my lips the hands of Lady -Estelle and Miss Lloyd. Both girls stood a little apart from each -other, pale as death, tremulous with suppressed emotion, and with -their lashes matted and their eyes filled with tears, that pride and -the presence of others restrained from falling. They were calm -externally, but their hearts were full of secret thoughts, to which I -was long in getting the clue. In the eyes of Estelle there was that -glance or expression of loving intensity which most men have seen -_once_--it may be twice--in a woman's eye, and have never, never -forgotten. - -Sir Madoc's brown manly hand shook mine heartily, and he clapped me on -the back. - -"I hope to see you yet ere you leave England, my boy, and such hopes -always take the sting from an adieu," said he, with a voice that -quivered nevertheless. "Sorry you can't stay for the 1st of -September--the partridges will be in splendid order; but there is -shooting enough of another kind in the preserves you are going to." - -"And may never come back from," was the comforting addendum of old -Mrs. Davis, as she applied her black-silk apron to her eyes. - -"Ah, Harry," said Sir Madoc, "you gave a smile so like your mother -just now! She was handsome; but you will be never like her, were you -as beautiful as Absalom." - -"It is well that poor mamma can't hear all this," said Dora, laughing -through her tears. - -"Your dear mamma, my girl, was very fond of her and of him, too," said -honest Sir Madoc; and then he whispered, "If ever you want cash, -Harry, don't forget me, and Coutts and Co.--the dingy den in the -Strand. Farewell--anwylbach!--good-bye!" - -A few minutes more and all the tableau on the steps had passed away. I -was bowling along the tall lime avenue and down the steep mountain -road, up which Phil Caradoc and I had travelled but a few weeks -before. How much had passed since _then!_ and how much was inevitably to -pass ere I should again see these familiar scenes! What had I said, or -left unsaid? What had I done, what had passed, or how was it, that as -the train sped with me beyond brave old Chester, on and on, on and on, -monotonously clanking, grinding, jarring, and occasionally shrieking, -while intrenched among railway rugs, with a choice cigar between my -teeth, and while I was verging into that pleasant frame of mind when -soft and happy visions are born of the half-drowsy brain, lulled as it -were by rapidity of motion and the sameness of recurring sounds--how -was it, I say, that the strange, unfathomable expression I had seen in -the soft pleading eyes of dear Winifred--distance was already making -her "dear"--mingled in my memory with the smileless, grave, and tender -farewell glance of my pale Estelle; and that the sweet innocent kiss -of the former was remembered with sadness and delight? - -I strove to analyse my ideas, and then thrust them from me, as I -lowered the carriage window and looked forth upon the flying landscape -and the starry night, and muttered, - -"Poor Winny--God bless her! But _two loves for one heart_ will never, -never do. I have been at Craigaderyn too long!" - -And I pictured to myself the drawing-room there: Estelle, perhaps, at -the piano to conceal her emotions; or listening, it might be, to the -twaddle of old Pottersleigh. Winny gazing out upon the starlit -terrace, trying to realise the prospect--as women proposed to will -do--if she had married Phil Caradoc; or thinking of--heaven knows -what! And old Sir Madoc in his arm-chair, and dreaming, while Dora -nestled by his side, of the old times, and the boy--to wit, myself--he -loved so well. - - - - -CHAPTER XX.-FEARS. - - -Caradoc and many other good fellows were gone eastward, and save Hugh -Price and a newly-fledged ensign, I was the only officer with the -depôt, and being senior had the command. The former had always some -affair of the heart on the tapis; the latter was a mere boy, fresh -from Harrow, so neither was companion for me. Back once more to the -prosaic life of heavy drill and much useless duty in Winchester -barracks, the picturesque and joyous past at Craigaderyn--after I had -written a letter to Sir Madoc full of remembrances to the ladies-- -seemed somewhat like a dream. - -My engagement with Estelle--our rides, drives, and rambles by the wild -green hills of Mynedd Hiraethrog; in the chase and long lime avenue; -our chance meetings in the garden arbour; by the fountain, where the -lilies floated and the gold fish shot to and fro; over all, that wild -boat adventure, by which our lives were to be knit up as one in the -future--seemed too like a dream, of which her ring on my finger alone -remained to convince me of the reality, as no letters could pass -between us--at least none from me to her. Thus I grew fond of courting -solitude after the duties of the day were over, and I could fling -sword, sash, and belt aside; and usually I quitted early the jollity -of the battalion mess, that I might indulge in visions and conjure up -bright fancies amid the gray smoke wreaths of a quiet cigar, in that -humble bachelor's quarter already described; while the moonlight -silvered the spires and red-tiled roofs of Winchester, and when all -became still in the crowded barrack, after the tattoo-drums had -beaten, and the notes of the last bugle had warned--like the Norman -curfew of old--the extinction of all lights and fires. - -I had seen many a drama and read many a romance; but now I seemed to -be personally the hero of either one or other. Engaged to the daughter -of an earl; but in _secret_, and unknown to all! And how or when was -that engagement to end--to be brought to a successful issue? On these -points my ideas were painfully vague and full of anxiety. Were we yet -to meet--were it but for an hour--ere war separated us more -completely, by sea as well as land? Returning, it might be mutilated -and disfigured, should I still find her loving, tender, and true? and -if I fell in action, how long might I hope to be remembered ere -Estelle--But I could not with patience contemplate the chances of -another replacing or supplanting me. Occasionally, as if to kill time, -I was seized by fits of unwonted zeal, and found plenty of work to do, -apart from parades, guards, sword-exercise, and revolver-pistol -practice--for hourly recruits, many of whom could not speak a word of -English, were coming in to replace those that had sailed with Phil -Caradoc; and it is one of the essential parts of the duty of the -officer commanding a regimental depôt to see after the arms, -accoutrements, and clothing of his men; and also, that so far as drill -goes, they are made perfect soldiers. Few or none of these recruits -were natives of the counties outside Offa's Dyke; but when the news of -the Alma came, and all England thrilled with the story of the uphill -charge of the Royal Welsh, more than one London paper enviously spread -the rumour, that our regiment was Cambrian only in name; till it was -flatly contradicted by the colonel--but the story nearly gave hot -peppery Sir Madoc a fit of apoplexy. - -Besides other duties there was no small number of books--goodly sized -folios--of which I had the supervision, ten at least exactly similar -to those which are kept at headquarters; and all these tasks were -varied by an occasional ball or rout such as a cathedral and garrison -town can furnish; or a court-martial, or one of inquiry, concerning -Mrs. Private Jones resenting--_vi et armis_--that the canteen-keeper -should cut her bacon and tobacco, butter and bread, with the same -knife; or to give some Giles Chawbacon fifty lashes about daybreak for -a violation of the Red-book, in a hollow square, where men's teeth -chattered in the chilly air, or they yawned behind their glazed stocks -and shivered with disgust, at a punishment for which the army was -indebted to William of Orange, and which is now happily a thing of the -past. So the month of August drew to a close, and a box of partridges -duly came from Sir Madoc--the spoil of his gun on the slopes of Mynedd -Hiraethrog, perhaps; with a letter which acquainted me that Lady -Naseby and her daughter had been for fully a fortnight at Walcot Park -in Hampshire, but that he supposed I was probably aware of the -circumstance, and that Pottersleigh was with them. - -Fully a fortnight, and neither letter nor card of invitation, though -they knew that I was in Winchester! How or why was this? A chill came -over me, though I certainly had no fear of the Viscount's influence; -but then I reflected that Estelle could not, and that Lady Naseby -would not, invite me--each for reasons of her own. What, then, -remained for me to do, but wait the event with patience, or endeavour -to seek her out, by throwing myself in her way? I writhed at the idea -of a fortnight having escaped us, while the coming of the fatal route -for the East hung over me. There was something revolting and -humiliating to my spirit in acting the part of a prowler about Walcot -Park; but who is a more humble slave than a lover? The declaration of -war had animated the services, both by sea and land, with a new or -revived interest for all, with women especially. Thus our parades, -reviews, and even our marches of exercise were frequently witnessed by -all the beauty and fashion of the city and county; and among them I -always looked in vain for the carriage and liveries of the Countess. -Was Estelle ill, or was their absence from these spectacles part of a -system to be pursued by the former? - -Walcot Park was, I knew, only a few miles from the barracks on the -Whitchurch-road. I had spent many an hour riding there merely to see -the place which was associated with Estelle, when she had been absent -from it in London or elsewhere; and now I had doubly an attraction to -make me turn my horse's head in that direction, after Sir Madoc's -letter came; so the second day saw me take the way northward from the -old cathedral city, in mufti, to elude observation. The evening was a -lovely one, and those swelling hills and fertile valleys, wide -expanses of woodland already becoming crisp by the heat of the past -summer, with clumps of birch and elder, the wild ash and the oak, -which make up the staple features of Hampshire scenery, were in all -their autumnal beauty and repose. The tinkling of the waggoner's bells -on the dusty highway, was still heard, though the shrill whistle of -the locomotive seemed to hint that, like the old stage-coachman, he -should ere long find his occupation gone; and mellowed on the soft and -ambient air there came the merry evening chimes from more than one -quaint, village-church--the broad square Norman tower of which -stood--the landmark of its district--in outline distinct and dark -against the golden flush of the western sky. Dusk was almost closing -when I crossed that noted trouting-stream, the Teste; and passed -through Whitchurch. - -As I trotted leisurely along the single street of which the little -market borough is chiefly composed, at the door of a small inn I -perceived a stable-boy holding by their bridles a black horse and a -roan mare. The form of the latter seemed familiar to me. I could not -mistake the height of forehead, the depth of chest, and roundness of -barrel, or a peculiar white spot on the off-shoulder, and in the -former recognised the roadster which Guilfoyle had brought with him to -Craigaderyn. On seeing that I drew my reins and looked rather -scrutinisingly at the animal, the groom, stable helper, or whatever he -was, touched his cap, on which I inquired, - -"Whose nag is this, my man?" - -"Can't say as I knows, sir; but the gentleman, with another, is inside -the bar, having a drop of summut," was the answer. - -"Does he reside hereabout?" - -"At Walcot Park he do." - -"Walcot Park!" - -"My Lady Naseby's place; he's been there for a couple of days at -least, with Mr. Sharpus, my lady's lawyer from London." - -I rode on and spurred my horse to a maddening pace for some distance, -and then permitting the reins to drop on his neck, gave way to the -tide of perplexing, harassing, and exasperating thoughts that flowed -upon me. I remembered that we had arranged at Craigaderyn not to -inform Lady Naseby of the real character of her chosen continental -acquaintance, a foolish and fatal mistake, as the fellow would seem to -have had sufficient presumption to present himself at Walcot Park, and -there remain until exposed and expelled. But how came it to pass that -such as he was patronised and fostered, as it were, by "the family -solicitor," and patented by being his companion? Surely a legal man, -however great a rascal professionally and personally, was too wary to -adopt openly a blackleg as his friend and protégé! - -I felt that Lady Naseby should instantly be warned of Guilfoyle's real -character; but by whom was this to be done? Tied up by my secret -arrangements with Estelle, I could neither write nor call uninvited; -but why had she not, as she had promised, written to me, or given me -some sign of her being so near Winchester as Walcot Park? When I -recalled her apparent preference for this man, when Caradoc and I -first went to Wales, their frequent recurrence to past companionship -abroad, their duets together, and so forth, her angry defence of him -to myself, together with an interest he had acquired in the eyes of -her usually unapproachable mother, something of my old emotions of -pique and doubt, and a jealousy for which I blushed, began to mingle -with my perplexity and mortification, and the fear that _he_ could -have any influence on her destiny or mine! - -I recalled all the conversation overheard by Pottersleigh, and greater -grew my astonishment and indignation. I felt it imperative that -something should be done instantly, and resolved to telegraph or write -to Sir Madoc, requesting him to procure the dismission of this -intruder from Walcot Park as promptly as he had despatched him from -Craigaderyn. From a part of the road where it wound over an upland -slope I could see the Jointure House which formed the residence of -Lady Naseby and of that Estelle who was a law, a light, a guiding star -to me, and towards whom every thought and aspiration turned. Walcot -Park was a spacious domain, and studded by clumps of stately old -trees, which had been planted after the Revolution of 1688 by a peer -of the Naseby family, who was one of the first to desert his -hereditary king at Rochester. The mansion itself dated from the same -stormy period, and was built entirely of red brick with white stone -corners and cornices. Its peristyle of six Ionic columns glistened -white in the moonlight, and was distinctly visible from where I sat on -horseback. The shadow of the square façade of the entire edifice fell -purple and dark far across the park. There were lights in several of -the windows, and I knew that my Estelle must be in one of those -rooms--but which? - -At that moment all my soul yearned for her; could I but for an instant -have seen her, or heard her voice! She dwelt there, visible to and -approachable by others, and yet I dared not visit her. The fact of her -presence there seemed to pervade and charm all the place, and with a -sad, loving, and yet exasperated interest, I continued to survey it. I -was hovering there, but aimlessly, and without any defined purpose, -other than the vague chance of seeing or being near her. Walcot I knew -was her favourite place, and there she kept all her pets, for she had -many: a parrot sent from the Cape by the captain of a frigate to whom -she had spoken but once at a ball; a spaniel from Malta, the gift of -some forgotten rifleman; a noble staghound, given by a Highland -officer who had danced with her once--once only--and never forgot it; -a squirrel, the gift of Sir Madoc; and an old horse or two, her -father's favourite hacks, turned loose in the park as perpetual -pensioners. - -Could she really have loved me as she said she did, if she was already -behaving so coldly to me now? No letter or note, no invitation--she -had surely influence enough with her mother to have procured me -that!--no notice taken of my vicinity, of my presence with the depôt -again! What shadow was this that seemed already to be falling on our -sunny love? Whence the doubt that had sprung up within me, and the -coldness that seemed between us? Full of these thoughts, I was gazing -wistfully at the house, when I perceived the dark figures of two -horsemen riding leisurely along the winding approach that led to the -white peristyle, and felt certain that they were Guilfoyle and his -legal friend Mr. Sharpus (of Sharpus and Juggles) mounted on the -identical nags I had seen at the inn-door; and inspired by emotions of -a very mingled character, I galloped back to the barracks, never -drawing my bridle for the entire twelve miles of the way, until I -threw it to my man Evans; and hurrying to my room, wrote instantly a -most pressing letter to Sir Madoc, informing him of what I had seen -and heard. I was not without thoughts of communicating with Lord -Pottersleigh; but, for obvious reasons, shrunk from _his_ intervention -in the Cressingham family circle. - -I knew that it would be delivered at Craigaderyn on the morrow, and -deemed that now twenty-four hours must be the utmost limit of Mr. -Hawkesby Guilfoyle's sojourn in his present quarters, and in a sphere -which he insulted by his presence; but three, four, even five days -passed, and no reply came from Sir Madoc, who was then, though I knew -it not, shooting with some friends in South Wales, and did not receive -my epistle until it was somewhat late for him to act on it. During -these intervening days I was in a species of fever. One Sunday I -incidentally heard, at mess, that Lady Naseby's party, now a pretty -numerous one, had been at service in the cathedral, and to hear the -bishop preach. She had come in state, in the carriage, attended by -several gentlemen on horseback, and two tall fellows in livery, one -carrying her prayer-books, the other a long cane and huge nosegay; -and there I might have met them all face to face, and seen Estelle -once more, had my evil destiny not assigned to me the command -of the main guard, and thus detained me in barracks; but Price of -ours--susceptible as the Tupman of _Pickwick_--had seen her, and came -to mess raving about her beauty. - -Every hour I could spare from duty was spent in hovering, like a -spectre or a spy--an unquiet spirit certainly--in the vicinity of -Walcot Park, till the lodge-keepers, who had been wont to touch their -hats civilly at first, began ere long to view me with mistrust; and my -horse knew every crook and turn of the Whitchurch-road quite as well -as the way to his own stable. On the evening of the fifth day after I -had written to Sir Madoc--a pleasant evening in the first days of -September--I was again riding leisurely among the deep green lanes -that border on Walcot Park, and which lay between dark green hedgerows -then studded by scarlet dogberries, and the overarching branches of -apple, pear, and damson trees, my heart, as usual, full of vague -doubts, decided longings, and most undecided intentions, when I began -slowly to walk my horse up a long, steep, and picturesque road, the -vista of which was closed by an old village church, in the low and -moss-grown wall surrounding which was a green wicket. It was on just -such an evening as the last I have described, when the farewell gleam -of the sun shone level along the fields, when the many-coloured -foliage rustled in the gentle wind, and the voices of the blackbird, -the thrush, and the lark came sweetly at times from the darkening -copsewood, and when, as Clare writes in his rhyming calendar, - - - "The wagons haste the corn to load, - And hurry down the dusty road; - The driving boy with eager eye - Watches the church clock, passing by-- - Whose gilt hands glitter in the sun-- - To see how far the hours have run; - Right happy in the breathless day, - To see time wearing fast away." - - -Nearly covered with ivy, the square tower of the little church--a fane -old as the days when the Saxons bent their bows in vain at Hastings; -yea, old as the time of St. Ethelwold (the famous architect and Bishop -of Winchester)--peeped up amid the rich autumnal foliage that almost -hid it from the view. At the wicket, some hundred yards from me, in -the twilight--for though the sun had not set, the density of the -copsewood about the place rendered the light rather dim and -obscure--were a lady and gentleman, the latter mounted, and the former -on foot. At first they seemed to be in close and earnest conversation; -then the lady gesticulated earnestly, raising her hands and face to -him imploringly; but twice he thrust her back, almost violently, with -the handle of his whip. This was a strange and unpleasant episode to -encounter. I knew not whether to advance or retire. I feared to -intrude on what I supposed was something more than a lovers' quarrel, -or, from the man's utter indifference, was perhaps a matrimonial -squabble; and I was equally loth to retire, and leave a woman--a lady -evidently--to the violence or passion of this person, upon whose love -or mercy--it might be both--by her gestures and even the distant tones -of her voice, she was so evidently throwing herself in vain. - -I checked my horse's pace, and, amid the thick rank grass of the -narrow lane, his footsteps were unheeded by the two actors in this -scene; moreover, without backing him well into one of the thick -hedges, I could not have turned to retrace my way. - -Her hands were clasped now; she had dropped her parasol, and her face, -a very white one, was upturned pleadingly to his; but to whatever she -said, this horseman, whose back was to me, replied scornfully and -derisively by a low mocking laugh, which somehow I seemed to have -heard before, but when, or where, I quite failed to remember. Anon she -drew something from her bosom, and, kissing it, held it towards him, -as if seeking to influence him, by an appeal through it to some past -time of love, or truth, or happiness, or all together. Whatever it was -she thus displayed, he snatched it roughly, even fiercely, from her -with a curse, and, again thrusting her violently from him--so violently, -that I believe he must have used his foot and the off-stirrup -iron---she fell heavily against the low wall, which, at the same moment, -he cleared by a flying leap, and then disappeared in the network of -lanes, orchards, and hedgerows that lie about the churchyard. A low wail -escaped her; and when I came cantering up, and dismounted, she was lying -on the path beside the churchyard wicket in tears and despair. Her -appearance was perfectly ladylike, and most prepossessing; yet I knew -not very clearly what to say or how to interfere in the matter, though -manhood and courtesy rendered some action imperatively necessary. - -"I trust you are not hurt," said I, taking her hand and assisting her -to rise. - -"Thank you, sir--not bodily hurt," she replied, in a low and broken -voice, while scarcely venturing to look at me, and pressing her left -hand upon her heart, as if to restrain emotion, or as if she felt a -pain there. - -"Did that person rob you?" asked I. - -"O no, no, sir," she answered, hurriedly. - -"But he seemed to snatch or wrench something from you?" - -"Yes," said she, with hesitation. - -"By violence, too?" - -She did not reply, but covered her face with her handkerchief, and bit -it, apparently in efforts to control her sobs. - -"Can I assist you--be of service to you in any way?" I urged, in a -pleading tone; for her whole air and appearance interested me. - -"No, sir; none can assist me now." - -"None?" - -"Save God, and even He seems to abandon me." - -"What is the meaning of this despair?" I asked, after a pause. "It is -a lovers' quarrel, I presume; and if so--" - -"O no, sir; he is no lover of mine--now, at least." - -"He--who?" - -"The gentleman who has just left me," said she, evasively. "But permit -me to pass you, sir; I must return to Whitchurch." - -I bowed, and led my horse aside, that she might pass down the lane. - -"I thank you, sir, for your kindness," said she, bowing, as I lifted -my hat; and then she seemed to totter away weakly and feebly, -supporting or guiding herself, as if blind, by the rude low wall; and -I could perceive that her left hand, which was now ungloved, was -small, delicate, and of exceeding beauty in form. Her manner and air -were hurried; her voice and eyes were agitated; she seemed a ladylike -little creature, but plainly and darkly attired in a kind of second -mourning. Her figure, if _petite_, was very graceful and girlish, too, -though she was nearer thirty, perhaps, than twenty. Her face was -delicate in feature, and charmingly soft and feminine in expression. -Her eyes were of that clear dark gray which seems almost black at -night, and their lashes were long and tremulous, lending a chastened -or Madonna tone to her face, which, when taken together with her -sadness of manner and a certain languor that seemed to be the result -of ill-health, proved very prepossessing. With all this there was -something, I thought, of the widow in her aspect and dress; but this -was merely fancy. - -Ere I remounted, and while observing her, I perceived that she -tottered, as if overcome by weakness, emotion, or both. She sank -against the churchyard wall, and nearly fell; on this, I again -approached, and said with all softness and respect: - -"Pardon me, and do not deem me, though a stranger, intrusive; you are -ill and weary, and unable to walk alone. Permit me to offer my arm, -for a little way at least, down this steep and rugged road." - -"Thanks," she replied; "you are very kind, sir; once at the foot of -this lane, I shall easily make my way alone. I am not afraid of -strangers," she added, with a strange smile; "I have been much cast -among them of late." - -"You reside at Whitchurch?" said I, as we proceeded slowly together, -occasionally treading the fallen apples under foot among the long -grass. - -"Yes." - -"It is, then, your home?" - -"I have no other--at present," said she, in a choking voice, and -scarcely making an effort to restrain her tears, while I detected on a -finger of the ungloved hand, the beauty of which I so much admired, a -plain gold hoop--the marriage ring. So she was a wife; and the -unseemly quarrel I had seen must have been a matrimonial one. Thus I -became more assured in my manner. - -"I am almost a stranger here," said I, "as I belong to the garrison at -Winchester." - -"You are an officer?" - -"Yes, madam, of the Royal Welsh Fusileers." - -She simply bowed, but did not respond to my information by saying -_who_ she was. - -"Though a soldier, sir," said she, after a pause, "I dare say you will -be aware that the hardest battles of this world are _not_ fought in -the field." - -"Where then?" - -"Where we might least look for struggles of the soul: in many a -well-ordered drawing-room; in many a poor garret; in many a lovely -bower and sunny garden, or in a green and shady lane like this; fought -in secrecy and the silence of the heart, and in tears that are hot and -salt as blood!" - -She _is_ very pretty, thought I; but I hope she won't become -melodramatic, hysterical, or anything of that sort! - -"Darkness will be set in ere you can reach Whitchurch, at our present -rate of progression," said I; "and your--your--" (I was about to say -husband) "relations or friends will be anxious about you." - -"Alas, no, sir! I have no one to miss or to regret me," she replied, -mournfully; "but I must not intrude selfishly my sorrows on a -stranger." - -"There is no appearance of the--the person who annoyed you returning," -said I, looking backward up the long narrow lane we were descending. - -"Little chance is there of that," said she, bitterly; "_he_ will return -no more." - -"You are certain of that?" - -"Too fatally certain!" - -"You have quarrelled, then?" - -"No; it is worse than a quarrel," said she, with her pale lips -quivering. - -"He is an enemy?" - -"My enemy?--my tempter--my evil spirit--he is my husband!" - -"Pardon me; I did not mean to be curious, when I have no right to be -so; but here is the highway; I too am going towards Whitchurch--my way -to the barracks lies in that direction; and I shall have much pleasure -in escorting you to your home, if you will permit me," said I, seized -by an impulse of gallantry, humanity, or both, which I ere long had -cause to repent. - -"Sir, I thank you, and shall detain you no longer," she replied, -hurriedly; "I am something of a wanderer now, and my rooms are at the -ivy-clad inn by the roadside." - -This was the place where I had seen Guilfoyle's roan mare, an evening -or so past. - -We had now reached the end of the narrow and secluded lane, a famous -one in that locality as the trysting-place of lovers, and were -standing irresolutely near the main road that leads to Whitchurch and -Winchester, when a large and handsome carriage, drawn by a pair of -spanking dark gray horses, approached us rapidly. - -Throwing my nag's bridle over my left arm, I was in the act of -offering my right hand to this mysterious lady in farewell, when her -eyes caught sight of the carriage; a half-stifled sob escaped her; she -reeled again, and would have fallen, had I not thrown my arm round -her, and by its firm support upheld her. At that moment the carriage -bowled past. The face of a lady was at the open window, looking out -upon us with wonder and interest, as she saw a lady and gentleman to -all appearance embracing, or at least on very good terms with each -other, at the corner of a shady lane, a little way off the Queen's -highway; and something like an exclamation of dismay escaped me on -recognising the colourless haughty face, the dark eyes, the black -hair, and bonnet of that orange tint so becoming to one of her -complexion--she of whom my whole soul was full, Lady Estelle -Cressingham! - - - - -CHAPTER XXI .-GEORGETTE FRANKLIN. - - -Had Estelle recognised me? If so, what might she--nay, what must -she--think, and how misconstrue the whole situation? Should I ride -after the carriage, or write at all risks, and explain the matter, or -commit the event to fate? That might be perilous. She may not have -recognised me, I thought: the twilight, the shade, the place might -have concealed my identity; but if not, they were all the more against -me. I was now in greater and more horrible perplexity than ever, and I -wished the unhappy little woman, the cause of all, in a very warm -climate indeed. - -Thus, while longing with all the energies of my life to see Estelle, -to be seen by her _there_, at a time so liable to misconception if -left unexplained, might be death to my dearest hopes, and destruction -to the success I had achieved. - -"Why were you so agitated by the sight of Lady Naseby's carriage?" I -asked, with an annoyance of tone that I cared not to conceal. - -"Giddiness, perhaps; but was I agitated?" - -"Of course you were--nearly fell; would have fallen flat, indeed, but -for me." - -"I thank you, sir," was the gentle reply; for my asperity of manner -was either unnoticed or unheeded by her; "but you seemed scarcely less -so." - -"I, madam!--why the deuce should I have been agitated?" - -"Unless I greatly err, you were, and are so still." - -"Indeed!" - -"Do you know the ladies?" - -"Were there two?" asked I, with increased annoyance. - -"The Countess and her daughter." - -"I saw but one." - -"And--O, pardon my curiosity, dear sir--you know them?" - -"Intimately;--and what then?" I asked, with growing irritation. - -"Intimately!" she repeated, with surprise. - -"There is nothing very singular in that, I suppose?" - -"And, sir, you visit them?" - -"I have not as yet, but hope to do soon. We were all together in the -same house in North Wales." - -"Ah! at Craigaderyn Court?" - -"Yes; Sir Madoc Lloyd's. Do you know Sir Madoc?" - -"I have not that pleasure." - -"Who, then, that you are acquainted with knows him?" - -"My husband." - -"Your husband!" said I, glancing at the plain hoop on the delicate -little hand, which she was now gloving nervously. - -"He was there with you; must have been conversing with you often. I -saw you all at church together one Sunday afternoon, and frequently on -the terraces and on the lawn; while!"--she covered her face with her -hands--"while I loitered and lurked like an outcast!" - -"Your husband, madam?" I queried again. - -"Mr. Hawkesby Guilfoyle." - -Whew! Here was a discovery: it quite took my breath away, and I looked -with deeper interest on the sweet and pale and patient little face. - -I now remembered the letter I had picked up and returned to him; his -confusion about it, and the horse he alleged to have lost by at a race -that had not come off; his irritation, the postal marks, and the name -of _Georgette_. - -After such a termination to his visit to Craigaderyn, I could fancy -that his situation as a guest or visitor at Walcot Park, even after he -found the ladies there were ignorant of the nature of Sir Madoc's curt -note to him, must be far from enviable, for such as he must live in -hourly dread of insult, slight, or exposure; but how was I now -situated with regard to her I loved? - -Deemed, perhaps, guilty in her eyes, and without a crime; and if aware -of the situation, the malevolent Guilfoyle would be sure to avail -himself of it to the fullest extent. - -"Lady Estelle is very lovely, as I could see," said my companion. - -"Very; but you saw her--when?" - -"In Craigaderyn church, most fully and favourably." - -And now I recalled the pale-faced little woman in black, who had been -pointed out to me by Winifred Lloyd, and who had been found in a swoon -among the gravestones by old Farmer Rhuddlan. - -In all this there was some mystery, which I felt curious enough to -probe, as Guilfoyle had never by word or hint at any time given those -among whom he moved reason to believe he was aught else than a -bachelor, and a very eligible one, too; for if my once rival, as I -believed him to be, was not a creditable, he was certainly a -plausible, one; and here lay with me the means of an _exposé_ beyond -even that which had taken place at Craigaderyn Court. - -"You are his wife, madam, and yet--does he, for purposes of his own, -disavow you?" said I, after a pause, not knowing very well how to put -my leading question. - -"It is so, sir--for infamous purposes of his own." - -"But you have him in your power; you have all the air of a lady of -birth and education--why not come forward and assert your position?" - -The woman's soft gray eyes were usually filled by an expression of -great and deep sadness; but there were times when, as she spoke, they -flashed with fire, and there were others, when her whole face seemed -to glitter with "the white light of passion" as she thought of her -wrongs. Restraining her emotion, she replied, - -"To assert my claims; that is exactly what I cannot do--now at least." - -"Why?" - -"Because he has destroyed all the proofs that existed of our unhappy -and most miserable marriage." - -"Destroyed them! how?" - -"Very simply, by putting them in the fire before my face." - -"But a record--a register--must exist somewhere." - -"We were married at sea, and the ship, in the chaplain's books of -which the marriage I have no doubt was recorded, perished. Proofs I -have none. But tell me, sir, is it true, that--that he is to be -married to the daughter of Lady Naseby?" - -"To Estelle Cressingham?" I exclaimed, while much of amusement mingled -with the angry scorn of my manner. - -"Yes," she replied, eagerly. - -"No, certainly not; what on earth can have put such an idea into your -head, my good woman?" - -My hauteur of tone passed unheeded, as she replied: - -"I saw her portrait in the Royal Academy, and heard a gentleman who -stood near me say to another, that it was so rumoured; that he--Mr. -Guilfoyle--had come with her from the Continent, and that he was going -after her down to North Wales. He had said so at the club." - -I almost ground my teeth on hearing this. That his contemptible name -should have been linked with hers by empty gossips in public places -like the Royal Academy and "his club," where none dared think of mine, -was intolerable. - -"I followed him to Wales," she continued. "I saw nothing at -Craigaderyn church, or elsewhere, on her part to justify the story; -when I met my husband on the lawn at the _fête_--for I was there, -though uninvited--he laughed bitterly at the rumour, and said she was -contracted to Lord Pottersleigh, who, as I might perceive, was ever by -her side. He then gave me money, which I flung on the earth; ordered -me on peril of my life to leave the place, lest he might give notice -to the police that I had no right to be there. But though I have long -since ceased to love, I cannot help hovering near him, and from Wales -I followed him here; for I know that now he is at Walcot Park." - -"I can assure you, for your ease, that the Lady Estelle is engaged, -but to a very different person from old Lord Pottersleigh," said I, -twirling the ends of my moustache with undisguised satisfaction, if -not with a little superciliousness; "your husband, however, seems a -man of means, Mrs. Guilfoyle." - -She gave me a bitter smile, as she replied, "Yes, at times; and drawn -from various resources. He laughs to scorn now my marriage ring; and -yet he wears the diamond one which I gave him in the days when we were -engaged lovers, and which had once been my dear father's." - -The diamond which _she_ gave him! Here, then, was another, and the -most probable version of the history of that remarkable brilliant. - -"Of what was it that he deprived you by force, before his horse leaped -the wall?" - -"A locket which I wore at my neck, suspended by a ribbon," said she, -as her tears began to fall again. - -"He has the family solicitor with him at Walcot Park, I understand," -said I. - -"They are visiting there together. Mr. Sharpus came on business, and -my husband accompanied him." - -"Why not appeal to this legal man? - -"I have done so many times." - -"And he--" - -"Fears Mr. Guilfoyle and dare not move in the matter, or affects to -disbelieve me." - -"What power has this--your husband, over him?" - -"God alone knows--I do not," she replied, clasping her hands; "but Mr. -Sharpus quails like a criminal under the eye of Hawkesby Guilfoyle, -who seems also to possess some strange power over Lady Naseby, I -think." - -Could such really be? It seemed impossible; everything appeared to -forbid it; and yet I was not insensible to a conviction that the -dowager countess was rather pleased with, than influenced by, him. -Could he have acted in secret the part of lover to _her_, and so -flattered her weakness by adulation? Old women and old men, too, are -at times absurd enough for anything; and now the words of Caradoc, on -the night he lost money to Guilfoyle at billiards, recurred to me, -when in his blunt way he averred they had all some secret -understanding, adding, "By Jove! I can't make it out at all." My mind -was a kind of chaos as I walked onward with my new friend, and leading -my horse by the bridle we entered Whitchurch together. In the dusk I -left her at the inn door, promising to visit her on the morrow, and -consult with her on the means for farther exposing her husband; for -although her story--for all I knew to the contrary--might be an entire -fabrication, I was not then in a mood of mind to view it as such. As I -bade her adieu, a dog-cart, driven by a servant,--whose livery was -familiar to me, passed quickly. Two women were in it, one of whom -mentioned my name. I looked up and recognised Mademoiselle Babette -Pompon, Lady Naseby's soubrette, who had evidently been shopping; and -a natural dread that she, out of a love of gossip, or the malevolence -peculiar to her class, might mention having seen me at the inn porch -with a fair friend, was now added to the annoyance caused by the -episode at the lane end--an episode to which the said parting would -seem but an addendum or sequel; and I galloped home to my quarters in -a frame of thought far from enviable, and one which neither brandy nor -seltzer at the mess-house could allay. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII.--GEORGETTE FRANKLIN'S STORY. - -Next day I heard the stranger's story, and it was a sad one. Georgette -Franklin--for such was her unmarried name--was the last surviving -child of George Franklin, a decayed gentleman, who dwelt in Salop, -near the Welsh border--we need not precisely say where, but within -view of the green hills of Denbigh; for the swelling undulations of -the beautiful Clwydian range formed the background to the prospect -from the windows of that quaint old house which was nearly all that -survived of his hereditary patrimony. Stoke Franklin--so named as it -occupied the site of a timber dwelling of the Saxon times, coeval -perhaps with Offa's Dyke--was still surrounded by a defensive ditch or -moat, where now no water lay, but where, in the season, the primroses -grew in golden sheets on the emerald turf. It was an isolated edifice, -built of dark-red brick, with stone corners, stone mullions to its -quaint old sunken windows, and ogee pediments or gables above them, -also of stone. From foundation to chimneys it was quaint in style, -ancient in date, and picturesque in aspect. Long lines of elms, and in -some places pollard willows, marked the boundaries of what had been -the demesne of the Franklins; but piecemeal it had passed away to more -careful neighbours, and now little remained to George Franklin but the -ground whereon the old mansion-house stood, and that sombre green -patch in God's-acre, the neighbouring churchyard, where his wife and -their four children lay, near the ancient yew, the greenery of which -had decorated the altar in the yule feasts of centuries ago, and whose -sturdy branches had furnished bow-staves for the archers who shot -under his ancestors at Bosworth, at Shrewsbury, and Flodden Field. - -George Franklin was not a misanthrope; far from it; but he lived very -much alone in the old house. His oaken library, so solemnly tranquil, -with its heavy dark draperies and book-hidden walls, when the evening -sun stole through the deep mullions of the lozenged and painted -windows, was his favourite resort. And a cozy room it proved in -winter, when the adjacent meres were frozen, and the scalp of Moel -Fammau was powdered with snow. There he was wont to sit, with -Georgette by his knee, he reading and she working; a bright-faced, -brown-haired, and lively girl, whose golden canaries and green -love-birds hung in every window; for the house was quite alive with -her feathered pets, and was as full of sound as an aviary with their -voices in summer. One warm evening in autumn, when Georgette was -verging on her eighteenth year, she and her father were seated near -the house-door, under a shady chestnut-tree. The sunshine lay bright -on the greensward, and on the wilderness of flowers and shrubs that -grew close to the massive red walls of the old mansion. Mr. Franklin -was idly lingering over a book and sipping a glass of some dark and -full-bodied old port--almost the last bottle that remained in his now -but ill-replenished cellar. And a very perfect picture the old man -made. His thin but stately figure; his features so patrician in -profile; his dress somewhat old in fashion; his hands, though faded, -so shapely, with a diamond ring on one finger, _the_ diamond ring of -which we have heard so much lately; and the handsome girl who hovered -about him, attending to his little wants, varying her kind offices -with playful caresses, while her white neck and her golden-brown hair -glittered in the sunshine--all this seemed to harmonise well with the -old house that formed the background to the picture. The evening was -quiet and still. The voices of Georgette's birds, her caged canaries -and piping bullfinches, came through the open windows; but there were -no other sounds, save once or twice when the notes of a distant -hunting-horn, prolonged and sad, came on the passing wind, and then -the old man would raise his head, and his clear eye would sparkle, - - - "As he thought of the days that had long since gone by, - When his spirit was bold and his courage was high;" - - -and when he, too, had followed that sound, and ridden across the -stiffest country, neck and neck with the best horsemen in Salop and -Cheshire. - -Suddenly there came a shout, and a huntsman in red, minus his black -velvet cap, was seen to clear a beech-hedge on the border of the lawn; -and ere an exclamation of annoyance or indignation could escape old -George Franklin, that his privacy should be invaded, even by a -sportsman, in this unwonted manner, a cry of terror escaped Georgette; -for it was evident that the gentleman's horse had become quite -unmanageable, as the bridle-rein had given way; and after its terrible -leap, it came tearing at a mad pace straight towards the house, and -dashing itself head foremost against a tree, hurled the rider -senseless on the ground. He rolled to the very feet of Georgette and -her father, both of whom were full of pity and compassion, the former -all the more so that the stranger was undoubtedly a handsome man, and -barely yet in the prime of life. Aid was promptly summoned, and the -village doctor, anxious to serve, for a time at least, one whom he -deemed a wealthy patient, earnestly seconded, and even enforced, the -suggestion of the hospitable George Franklin, that the sufferer, whose -head was contused, and whose shoulder-blade had narrowly escaped -fracture, should neither be removed nor disturbed. Hence he was at -once assigned a room in the old mansion, with Georgette's old Welsh -nurse, now the housekeeper, to attend him. He was a man, however, of a -strong constitution, "one of those fellows who are hard to kill," as -he phrased it; thus, on the third morning after the accident, he was -well enough to make his way to the breakfast room. - -Georgette, attired in a most becoming muslin dress, and looking fresh, -rosy, and innocent, as a young girl can only look who has left her -couch after a healthy slumber to greet the sunny morning, was standing -on a chair in an oriel, attending to the wants of one of her feathered -pets; suddenly the chair slipped, and she was about to fall, when a -strong arm, in the sleeve of a scarlet hunting-coat, encircled and -supported her. This little _contretemps_ made both parties at once at -home, and on easy terms. - -"Mr. Guilfoyle!" exclaimed the girl, for it was he. - -"Miss Franklin, I presume?" - -"Are you well already?" she asked. - -"Nearly so," said he, smilingly, as he took in all the girl's beauty -at a glance, together with the pleasant view beyond the antique oriel, -where the morning sun came down on the shining leaves, covering all -the dewy ground, as it were, with drops of golden light; and the -quaint old house, he thought, seemed such a pleasant home. - -"How happy papa will be!" said the young lady, colouring slightly -under his somewhat critical gray--or rather green--eye. "I should have -nursed you myself, instead of old nurse Wynne," she added, archly. - -"In that case I should have been in no hurry to announce my -convalescence," said he, rather pointedly; "may I ask your name--the -first one, I mean? Somehow, I fancy that I can judge of character by -the name." - -"Georgette Franklin." - -"Georgette!" - -"I am called after papa." - -"A charming name!" he exclaimed, but in a low tone. - -Naturally frank and honest, purely innocent, and assured of her own -position, and of that of her father--for though poor now, he was one -of England's old untitled aristocracy--the girl felt neither -awkwardness nor shyness with her new friend, who, though polished in -manner, easy, and not ungraceful, was a thorough man of the world, and -selfishly ready to take advantage of every place and person who came -in his way; and a very simple one, indeed, was the kind old gentleman -who now came to welcome his visitor, to express fears that he had left -his couch too soon; and critically and keenly this hawk, who was now -in the dove's nest, eyed him, and saw, by the thinness of his hair, -his spare figure and wrinkled face, "delicately lined by such -characters as a silver _stylus_ might produce upon a waxen tablet," -that his years could not be many now; yet his keen gray eyes were full -of bright intelligence still, and were shaded by lashes as long and -silky as those of his daughter. - -Hunting and breakfast were discussed together. Mr. Guilfoyle seemed, -or affected to be, an enthusiast in old English sports, professing -that he loved them for themselves and from their associations; and -quite won George Franklin's heart by stigmatising the "iron horse" of -civilisation, which was now bearing all before it; and his host seemed -to grow young again, as he recurred to the field exploits of his -earlier years, over the same ground which Mr. Guilfoyle--who had been -on a visit to the house of some friend twenty miles distant--had -hunted so recently: round beautiful Ellesmere, by Halston and Hordley, -by the flat fields of Creamore, by the base of wooded Hawkstone, where -he had made many a terrible flying leap, and away by Acton Reynald; -all this ground had Guilfoyle gone over but lately, and, as the event -proved, almost fatally for his own bones, and more fatally for his -future peace of mind, as he pretty plainly indicated to Miss Franklin -on every available opportunity, in the softest and most well-chosen -language. Though able to leave his room, he was neither permitted to -leave the house nor attempt to mount; so he wrote to his friend, had -some of his wardrobe sent over to Stoke Franklin, and, encouraged by -the hearty hospitality of its owner, took up his quarters there for an -indefinite period; at least, until his hunting friend should depart -for Madeira, whither he had promised to accompany him; for Mr. -Hawkesby Guilfoyle seemed somewhat of a cosmopolitan, and rather -peripatetic in his habits. He had been over one half the world, -according to his own accounts, and fully intended to go over the -other; so he proved a very agreeable companion to the hitherto lonely -father and daughter in that secluded mansion in Salop. Merciful it is, -indeed, that none of us can lift the veil that hides the future; thus -little could George Franklin foresee the influence this man was to -exert over the fate of his daughter and himself, when he listened to -his plausible anecdotes, or sat alone and happy in his shady old -library, communing pleasantly with his ancient favourites--with -Geoffrey Chaucer, the knightly pages of Froissart, Dame Juliana -Berners on hunting and hawking, and works, rare as manuscripts, that -came from the antique press of Caxton and De Worde. Mr. Guilfoyle -found himself in very pleasant quarters, indeed. It was ever his -principle to improve the occasion or the shining hour. Georgette was -highly accomplished, and knew more than one language; so did he; so -week after week stole pleasantly away. - -By them the touching airs of Wales, the merry _chansons_ of Wronger, -were played and sung together; and she it was, and no Princess of -Catzenelnbogen, who taught him that wild German farewell, with its -burden of "Leb'wohl! Leb'wohl!" we had heard at Craigaderyn Court. -Even Petrarch was not omitted by them; for he knew, or pretended to -know, a smattering of Italian, and translated the tenderest speeches -of Laura's lover with a _point_ that caused the young girl's heart to -vibrate with new and strange emotions. And now, ever and anon, there -was a heightened flush on her soft cheek, a bright sparkle in her dark -gray eye, a lightness in all her motions; she had moments of merry -laughter, alternated by others of dreamy sadness--that yet was not all -sadness--which showed that Georgette was in love. - -And Guilfoyle, in his own fashion, loved her, too; but he had learned -that of all George Franklin's once noble estate, the house alone -remained, and that at his death even it must inevitably go to the -spoiler; so, though to love Georgette was very pleasant and sweet, -matrimony with her was not to be thought of. Money was the god of -Guilfoyle's idolatry, and he thought of the wonder of his "fast" -friends when they asked, "What did he get with his wife?" and how they -should laugh if they heard he had married for love. Yet Georgette had -become besotted--there is no other word for it, save infatuated--by -him; by one who had made flippant love with strange facility to many. -By degrees he artfully strove to warp or poison the girl's mind; but -finding that instinctively her innocence took the alarm after a time, -though she long misunderstood him, he quite as artfully changed his -tactics, and spoke sorrowfully of his imperative and approaching -departure for Madeira, of the agony such a separation would cause him; -"it might be for years, and it might be for ever," and so forth, -while, reclining in tears on his breast, the girl heard him. Taking -the right time, when she was thoroughly subdued or softened by love, -and fear lest she should lose him, he prayed her to elope or consent -to a private marriage--he was not without hopes that his hunting -friend might officiate as parson. This, he urged, would keep them true -to each other until his return and their final reunion; but to this -measure she would not consent. - -"Come with me, then, to Madeira; we shall be back in a month, at -latest." - -"But think of dear papa--my poor old papa," replied Georgette, -piteously; "worn as he is with years and infirmity, I cannot leave him -even for so short a time; for who will soothe his pillow when I am -gone?" - -"Old moth--Mrs. Wynne can do all that; at least, until we return," -said he, almost impatiently. - -"But must you really go to Madeira?" pleaded the gentle voice. - -"I must, indeed: business of the first importance compels me; in fact, -my funds are there," he added, with charming candour, as his hunting -friend had promised to frank him to Funchal and back again to London. -"We shall be gone but a short time, and when we return this dear old -house shall be brighter than ever, and together we shall enliven his -old age. We shall kneel at his feet, darling Georgie, and implore--" - -"Why not kneel _now_," urged Georgette, "and beg his consent and -blessing?" - -"Nay, that would be inopportune, absurd, melodramatic, and all that -sort of thing. Returning, we shall be linked in the fondest affection; -returning, he will be unable to resist our united supplications. Come, -darling, come with me. Let us despise the silly rules of society, and -the cold conventionalities of this heartless world! Let us live but -for each other, Georgie; and O, how happy we shall be, when we have -passed, through the medium of romance, into the prose of wedded life; -though that life, my darling, shall not be altogether without romance -to us!" - -Overcome by the intensity of her affection for this man, her first and -only lover, the poor girl never analysed the inflated sophistries he -poured into her too willing ear, but sank, half fainting with delight, -upon his shoulder. Guilfoyle clasped her fondly in his arms; he -covered her brow, her eyes--and handsome eyes they were--her lips, and -braided hair, with kisses, and in his forcible but somewhat fatuous -language, poured forth his raptures, his love, and his vows of -attachment. - -Suddenly a terror came over her, and starting from his arm, she half -repulsed him, with a sudden and sorrowful expression of alarm in her -eye. - -"Leave me, Hawkesby," said she, "leave me, I implore you; I cannot -desert papa, now especially, when most he needs my aid. O, I feel -faint, very faint and ill! I doubt not your love, O, doubt not mine; -but--but--' - -"I must and do doubt it," said he, sadly and gloomily. "But enough of -this; to-morrow I sail from Liverpool, and _then_ all shall be at an -end." - -"O God, how lonely I shall be!" wailed the girl; "I would, dear -Hawkesby, that you had never come here." - -"Or had broken my neck when my horse cleared yonder hedge," said he, -as his arm again went round her, and the strong deep love with which -he had so artfully succeeded in inspiring her, triumphed over every -sentiment of filial regard, of reason, and humanity. She forgot the -old parent who doted on her; the stately old ancestral home, that was -incrusted with the heraldic honours of the past; she forgot her -position in the world, and fled with the _parvenu_ Guilfoyle. - -That night the swift express from Shrewsbury to Birkenhead, as it -swept through the beautiful scenery by Chirk and Oswestry, while the -wooded Wrekin sank flat and far behind, bore her irrevocably from her -home; but her father's pale, white, and wondering face was ever and -always upbraidingly before her. As Guilfoyle had foreseen, no proper -marriage could be celebrated at Liverpool ere the ship sailed from the -Mersey. He hurried her on board, and his hunting friend--a dissipated -man of the world, ordered to Madeira for the benefit of his -health--received the pale, shrinking, and already conscience-stricken -girl in the noisy cabin of the great steamer with a critical eye and -remarkably knowing smile, while his manner, that for the time was -veiled by well-bred courtesy, might have taught the poor dove that she -was in the snares of an unscrupulous fowler. - -But ere the great ship had made the half of her voyage--about six -days--in her sickness of body and soul, the girl had made a friend and -confidant of the captain, a jolly and good-hearted man, who had girls -of his own at home; and he, summoning a clergyman who chanced to be on -board, under some very decided threats compelled Guilfoyle to perform -the part he had promised; so he and Georgette were duly wedded in the -cabin, while, under sail and steam, the vessel cleft the blue waves of -the western ocean, and her ensign was displayed in honour of the -event. But there the pleasure and the honour ended, too; and Guilfoyle -soon showed himself in his true colours, as a selfish and infamous -_roué_. - -"Alas!" said she, weeping, "he no longer called me the pet names I -loved so well; or made a fuss with me, and caressed me, as he was wont -to do among the pleasant woods of Stoke Franklin. I felt that, though -he was my husband, he was a lover no longer! We had not been a -fortnight at Madeira when we heard that the vessel, on board of which -we were married, had perished at sea with all on board, including her -temporary chaplain. Then it was that Mr. Guilfoyle tore from me the -sole evidence of that solemn ceremony given to me by the clergyman, -and cast it in the flames before my face, declaring that then he was -free! Of our past love I had no relic but a gold locket containing his -likeness and bearing a date, the 1st of September, the day on which we -were married, with our initials, H. H. and G., and even that he rent -from me yesterday. Alas for the treachery of which some human hearts -are capable! We were _one_ no longer now, as the old song has it: - - - "'That time!--'tis now "long, long ago!" - Its hopes and joys all passed away! - On life's calm tide three bubbles glow; - And pleasure, youth, and love are they, - Hope paints them bright as bright can be, - Or did, when he and I were _we!_' - - -As a finishing stroke to his cruelty and perfidy, he suddenly quitted -Madeira, after some gambling transaction which brought the alcalde of -Funchal and other authorities upon him. He effected his escape -disguised as a vendor of sombreros and canary birds, and got clear -off, leaving a note by the tenor of which he bequeathed me to his -friend, with whom he left me at a solitary _quinta_ among the -mountains." - -Though dissipated and "fast" by nature and habit, the latter was at -heart an English gentleman; and pitying the forlorn girl abandoned in -a foreign colony under circumstances so terrible, he sent her home; -and one day, some six months after her flight, saw her once more -standing irresolutely at the closed gate of the old manor-house of -Stoke Franklin. - -The latter was empty now; the windows were closed, the bird-cages hung -there no more; the golden and purple crocuses she had planted were -peeping up from the fragrant earth, untended now; the pathways were -already covered with grass and mosses; untrimmed ivy nearly hid the -now unopened door; the old vanes creaked mournfully in the wind; and -save the drowsy hum of the bees, all spoke to her hopeless, -despairing, and remorseful heart of the silence and desolation that -follow death. The odour of last year's dead leaves was heavy on the -air. After a time she learned how rapidly her father had changed in -aspect, and how he had sunk after her disappearance--her desertion of -him; and how there came a time when the fine old gentleman, whose thin -figure half stooping, with his head bent forward musingly, his scant -white hair floating over the collar of his somewhat faded coat, his -kindly but wrinkled face, his tasselled cane trailing behind him from -his folded hands, whilom so familiar in the green lanes about Stoke -Franklin, and who was always welcomed by the children that gambolled -on the village green or around the old stone cross, and the decayed -wooden stocks that stood thereby, appeared no more. A sudden illness -carried him off, or he passed away in his sleep, none knew precisely -which; and then another mound under the old yew-tree was all that -remained to mark where the last of the Franklins, the last of an old, -old Saxon line, was laid. - -I promised to assist her if I could, though without the advice of a -legal friend I knew not very clearly what to do; besides, knowing what -lawyers usually are, I had never included one in the circle even of my -acquaintances. Estelle's long silence, and the late episode in the -lane, chiefly occupied my thoughts while riding back to the barracks, -where somewhat of a shock awaited me. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII.--TURNING THE TABLES. - - -Though the dower-house of Walcot Park dated from the days of Dutch -William, when taste was declining fast in England, internally it had -all the comforts of modern life, and its large double drawing-room was -replete with every elegance that art could furnish or luxury -require--gilt china, and buhl cabinets, and console mirrors which -reproduced again and again, in far and shadowy perspectives, the -winged lions of St. Mark in _verde antique_; Laocoon and his sons -writhing in the coils of the serpents; Majolica vases, where tritons, -nymphs, and dolphins were entwined; Titian's cavaliers sallow and -sombre in ruffs and half-armour, with pointed moustachios and -imperious eyes; or red-haired Venetian dames with long stomachers, -long fingers, and Bologna spaniels; or Rubens' blowsy belles, all -flesh and bone, with sturdy limbs, and ruddy cheeks and elbows; but -the mirrors reflected more about the very time that I was lingering at -Whitchurch; to wit, a group, a trio composed of Lady Naseby, her -daughter, and Mr. Guilfoyle; and within that room, so elegant and -luxurious, was being fought by Estelle, silently and bitterly, one of -those struggles of the heart, or battles of life, which, as poor -Georgette Franklin said truly, were harder than those which were -fought in the field by armed men. Guilfoyle was smiling, and looking -very bland and pleased, indeed, to all appearance; Lady Naseby's -usually calm and unimpressionable face, so handsome and noble in its -contour, wore an expression of profound disdain and contempt; while -that of Lady Estelle was as pale as marble. She seemed to be icy cold; -her pink nostrils were dilated, her lips and eyelids were quivering; -but with hands folded before her, lest she should clench them and -betray herself, she listened to what passed between her mother and -their visitor. - -"It was, as you say, a strange scene, of course, Mr. Guilfoyle, the -woman fainting--" - -"Reclining." - -"Well, yes, reclining in the arms of Mr. Hardinge in that lonely -lane," said the Countess; "but we need refer to it no more. He must be -a very reckless person, as Pompon saw him take leave of this creature -with great tenderness, she says, at the door of that obscure inn at -Whitchurch; so that explains all." - -"Not quite," replied Guilfoyle. - -"Perhaps not; but then it is no affair of ours, at all events, I must -own that I always wondered what the Lloyds--Sir Madoc especially--saw -in that young man, a mere subaltern of the line!" - -"Precisely my view of the matter, Lady Naseby." - -"Besides, your little baronet people are great sticklers for rank and -dignity, and often affect a greater exclusiveness than those who rank -above them." - -"But as for this unfortunate woman," resumed Guilfoyle, who was loth -to quit the subject. - -"We have heard of her in our neighbourhood before," said Lady Naseby; -"at least, Pompon has. She is good to all, especially the poor." - -"Ah, doesn't care to hide her candle under a bushel, eh?" - -"What do you mean, Mr. Guilfoyle?" - -"Simply that vanity is often mistaken for generosity, profusion for -benevolence." - -"You are somewhat of a cynic, I know." - -"Nay, pardon me, I hope not." - -"She is too poorly clad in general, Pompon says, to be able to indulge -in profusion," continued Lady Naseby, while Lady Estelle glanced at -the speakers alternately, in silence and with apparent calmness. - -But Guilfoyle, who read her eyes and heart, and knew her secret -thoughts, gloated on the pain she was enduring. - -"No doubt the unfortunate creature is much to be pitied," said he; -"but when a woman has lost respect for herself, she cannot expect much -of it from others. The poor little soiled love-bird has probably left -some pretty semi-detached villa at Chertsey or St. John's Wood to -follow its faithless redcoat to Hampshire, and hence the touching -tableau in the lane," he added, with his mocking and strangely unreal -laugh. - -"Mr. Guilfoyle!" said the Countess, in a tone of expostulation, while -her daughter darted a glance of inexpressible scorn at him. But he -continued coolly, "Well, perhaps I should not speak so slightingly of -her, after what she has given herself out to be." - -"And what is that?" asked Lady Naseby. - -"Only--his wife." - -"His wife!" exclaimed Estelle, starting in spite of herself. "Yes, -Lady Estelle; but it may not be, nay, I hope is not, the case." - -"You should rather hope that it is so." - -"But we all know what military men are--never particular to a shade; -and though excuses must be made for the temptations that surround -them, and also for youth, I approve of the continental system, which -generally excludes subaltern officers from society." - -"Wife!" repeated Estelle; "O, it cannot be!" - -"What is it to _you_--to us?" asked mamma, with a slight asperity of -tone. - -"Well, wife or not, she certainly wears a wedding-ring, and he has -been more than once to visit her in that inn at Whitchurch. Of one -visit our mutual friend Mr. Sharpus is cognisant. If you doubt this, -ask him, and he will not contradict _me_." - -"I have not said that I doubt you, Mr. Guilfoyle," said Estelle, with -intense hauteur, while for a moment--but a moment only--her eyes -flashed, her breast heaved, her hands were clenched, a burning colour -suffused her face, and her feet were firmly planted on the carpet; yet -she asked quietly, "Why do we hear this scandalous story at all? What -is it to mamma--what to me?" - -"More, perhaps, than you care to admit," said he, in a low voice, as -the Countess rose to place Tiny in his mother-of-pearl basket. - -Guilfoyle at Craigaderyn had acted as eavesdropper, and on more than -one occasion had watched and followed, overseen and overheard us, and -knew perfectly all about our secret engagement, her mother's views and -opposition to any alliance save a noble or at least a moneyed one; and -of all the stories he had the unblushing effrontery to tell, the -present was perhaps the most daring. He had contrived, during the -short visit he had paid to Walcot Park, under the wing of Mr. Sharpus, -to let Estelle know by covert hints and remarks all he knew, and all -he might yet disclose to her mother, to the young Earl of Naseby, to -Lord Pottersleigh, Sir Madoc, and others; and feeling herself in his -power, with all her lofty spirit the poor girl cowered before him, and -he felt this instinctively, as he turned his green eyes exultingly -upon her. But for a delicate, proud, and sensitive girl to have the -secrets of her heart laid bare, and at the mercy of a man like this, -was beyond all measure exasperating. And this strange narrative of -his, coming after what she had seen, and all that Pompon with French -exaggeration had related, crushed her completely for the time. - -"I have another little item to add to our Hardinge romance," said he, -with his strange, hard, dry, crackling laugh, and a smile of positive -delight in his shifty green eyes, while he toyed with the long ears of -Tiny the shock, which had resumed its place in Lady Naseby's lap. "You -remember the locket with the initials 'H. H. G.' and the date 1st -September which Miss Dora Lloyd mentioned when we were at -Craigaderyn?" - -"I have some recollection of it," replied Lady Naseby, languidly. - -"Curiously enough, as I rode past the spot where you saw that touching -and interesting interview--the lane, I mean--I perceived something -glittering among the grass. Dismounting, I picked up that identical -locket, which doubtless the lady had dropped, thus losing it within a -few days of its bestowal, if we are to judge by the date." - -"And you have it?" - -"Here." - -Opening his leather portemonnaie, he drew from it a gold locket, to -which a black-velvet ribbon was attached, and said with the utmost -deliberation, "The initials represent those of Henry Hardinge and his -inamorata, and behold!" - -Pressing a spring, the secret of which he knew very well, the locket -flew open, and within it were seen the photograph of the pale woman -whom they saw in Craigaderyn church, and opposite to it one of _me_, -inserted by himself, pilfered from the album of Winifred Lloyd, as we -afterwards ascertained. - -"Aha! the moral Mr. Henry Hardinge with his _petite femme entretenue_, -as the French so happily term it." - -Lady Estelle was quite calm now in her demeanour, and she surveyed the -locket with a contemptuous smile; but her face was as white as marble. -She felt conscious that it was so, and hence sat with her back to the -nearest window, lest her mother should perceive that she was affected. - -Guilfoyle, smilingly, stood by her, stroking his dyed moustache. - -"This must be restored to its owner," said he. - -"Permit me to do so," said Lady Estelle. - -"You, Estelle--you!" exclaimed her usually placid mother, becoming -almost excited now; "why should you touch the wretched creature's -ornament?" - -"As an act of charity it should be restored to her, or to _him_," she -added, through her clenched teeth; and taking the locket, she left the -room for her own, ere her mother could reply; and there she gave way -to a paroxysm of tears, that sprang from sorrow, rage, and shame that -she had for a moment permitted herself to have been deluded by me, and -thus be placed in the power of Guilfoyle. Her lips, usually of a rosy -tint, were colourless now; her upper one quivered from time to time, -as she shuddered with emotions she strove in vain to repress; and her -proud hot blood flowed furiously under her transparent skin, as she -threw open her desk, and sought to apply herself to the task of -writing me that which was to be her first, her last, and only letter. -For her heart swelled with thoughts of love and disappointment, pride, -reproach, disdain, and hate, as she spoiled and tore up sheet after -sheet of note-paper in her confusion and perplexity, and at last -relinquished the idea of writing at all. - -Thus, while I was scheming how to expose Mr. Hawkesby Guilfoyle, and -have him cast forth from that circle in which he was an intruder, he -turned the tables with a vengeance, and provided me with a wife to -boot. But finding, or suspecting, that he was beginning to be viewed -with doubt, that very day, after having done all possible mischief, he -quitted Walcot Park with Lady Naseby's solicitor, who, strange to say, -seemed to be his most particular friend. He had made no impression -favourable to himself on the heart of Estelle; but he hoped that he -had succeeded in ruining me, as I could neither write nor clear myself -of an allegation of which I was then, of course, ignorant. She was -unjust to me; but she certainly--whatever came to pass in the gloomy -and stormy future--loved me _then_. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV.--BITTER THOUGHTS. - - -As yet I knew nothing of all that has been detailed in the foregoing -chapter, consequently the entire measure of my vengeance against -Guilfoyle was not quite full. I had, however, a revival of my old -doubts, anxiety, and perplexity, in not hearing from Walcot Park in -some fashion, by an invitation, or otherwise privately from Estelle -herself, as, by our prearrangement, there was nothing to prevent her -writing to me; and to these were added now a dread of what they had -seen on that unlucky evening, and the reasonable misconstructions to -which the scene was liable. More than one of my mess-room friends had -received cards of invitation from Lady Naseby; why then was I, whom -she had met so recently, apparently forgotten? - -After the relation of her story, I left Mrs. Guilfoyle in such -a state of mental prostration and distress, that I was not without -well-founded fears that she might commit some rash act, perhaps -suicide, to add to the vile complication of our affairs. Next day I -was detailed for guard, and could not leave the barracks, either to -consult with my new unhappy acquaintance, or for my accustomed canter -in the vicinity of Walcot Park. A presentiment that something -unpleasant would happen ere long hung over me, and a day and a night -of irritation and hot impatience had to be endured, varied only by the -exceedingly monotonous duties that usually occupy the attention of the -officer who commands a guard, such as explaining all the standing -orders to the soldiers composing it, inspecting the reliefs going out -to their posts and those returning from them, and going the round of -those posts by night; but on this occasion, the routine was varied by -a fire near Winchester, so we were kept under arms for some hours in a -torrent of rain, with the gates barricaded, till the barrack engines -returned. On the following morning, just when dismissing my old guard -after being relieved by the new one, I perceived a servant in the -well-known Naseby livery--light-blue and silver--ride out of the -barracks; and with a fluttering in my heart, that was born of hope and -apprehension, I hastened to my room. - -"Packet for you, sir," said my man Evans, "just left by a flunkey in -red breeches." - -"You mean a servant of Lady Naseby's." - -"I mean, sir," persisted Evans, "a flunky who eyed me very -superciliously, and seemed to think a private soldier as low and -pitiful as himself," added the Welshman, whom the pompous bearing of -the knight of the shoulder-knot had ruffled. - -"You were not rude to him, I hope." - -"O no, sir. I only said that, though the Queen didn't like bad -bargains, I'd give him a shilling in her name to play the triangles." - -"That will do; you may go," said I, taking from his hand a small -packet sealed in pink paper, and addressed to me by Lady Estelle; and -my heart beat more painfully than ever with hope and fear as I tore it -open. - -A locket dropped out--_the_ locket just described--in which I was -bewildered to find a likeness of myself, and with it the ring I had -placed on the hand of Estelle in Rhuddlan's cottage--the emerald -encircled by diamonds--on the morning after our escape from a terrible -fate! I have said that a shock awaited me at the barrack; but that the -locket should come to me, accompanied by Estelle's ring, so astonished -and perplexed me, that some time elapsed before I perceived there was -a little note in the box which contained them. - -It ran thus: - -"Lady E. Cressingham begs that Mr. Hardinge will return the -accompanying locket and ring to the lady to whom they properly -belong--she whom he meets in the lane near Walcot Park, and whom he -should lose no time in presenting to the world in her own character. -Farther communications are unnecessary, as Mr. Guilfoyle has explained -all, and Lady E. Cressingham leaves to-day for London." - -The handwriting was very tremulous, as if she had written when under -no ordinary excitement; and now, as the use to which the two episodes, -at the lane and the inn-door, had been put by the artful Guilfoyle -became plain to me, I was filled by a dangerous fury at the false -position in which they placed me with her I loved and with whom I had -been so successful. For a minute the room seemed to swim round me, -each corner in pursuit of the other. We had both been wronged--myself -chiefly; and though I knew that Guilfoyle had been at work, I could -not precisely know how; but I thought the Spartan was right when, on -being asked if his sword was sharp, he replied, "Yes, sharper even -than calumny!" This wretched fellow had daringly calumniated me, and -to clear that calumny, to have an instant interview with Estelle, -became the immediate and burning desire of my heart. I rushed to my -desk, and opened it with such impulsive fury that I severely injured -my arm, so recently broken--broken in her service--and as yet but -scarcely well. I spread paper before me, but my fingers were -powerless; if able to hold the pen, I was now unable to write, and the -whole limb was alternately benumbed and full of acute agony; and -though Hugh Price of ours was a very good fellow, I had no friend--at -least, none like Phil Caradoc--in the dépôt battalion in whom I could -confide or with whom consult, in this emergency. - -I despatched Evans for the senior surgeon, who alleged that the -original setting, dressing, and so forth of my fractured limb had been -most unsatisfactory; that if I was not careful, inflammation might set -in, and if so, that instant amputation alone could save my life. Being -almost in a fever, he placed me on the sick-list, with orders not to -leave my room for some days, and reduced me to claret-and-water. - -"A pleasant predicament this!" thought I, grinding my teeth. - -Estelle, through whom all this came to pass, lost to me, apparently -through no fault of my own, and I unable to communicate with her or -explain anything; for now she was in London, where I feared she might, -in pique or rage, take Pottersleigh, Naseby, or even, for all I knew, -accept Guilfoyle, a terrible compromise of her name. But she had -plenty of other admirers, and disappointed women marry every day in -disgust of some one. Next I thought of the regiment abroad wondering -"when that fellow Hardinge would join"--promotion, honour, profession, -and love in the balance against health, and all likely to be lost! - -"Rest, rest," said the battalion Sangrado, whom my condition rather -perplexed; "don't worry yourself about anything. Rest, mental and -bodily, alone can cure you." - -"It is a fine thing to talk," I muttered, while tossing on my pillow; -for I was confined to bed in my dull little room, and for three days -was left entirely to my own corroding thoughts. - -I had but one crumb of comfort, one lingering hope. She had not asked -me to return _her_ ring, nor did I mean to do so, if possible. Once -again my arm was slung in a black-silk scarf, which Estelle had -insisted on making for me at Craigaderyn. Alas! would the joys of that -time ever return to us again? I sent Evans, in uniform and not in my -livery, to Whitchurch with the locket, after extracting my likeness -therefrom; but he returned with it, saying that the lady had left the -inn for London, having no doubt followed her husband. I knew not -exactly of what I was accused--a _liaison_ of some kind apparently, of -which the strongest proofs had been put before the Cressinghams. If, -when able, I wrote to explain that the two meetings with Mrs. -Guilfoyle were quite fortuitous, would Estelle believe me? Without -inquiry or explanation, she had coldly and abruptly cast me off; and -it was terrible that one I loved so well should think evil or with -scorn of me. What would honest old Sir Madoc's view of the matter be, -and what the kind and noble-hearted Winifred's, who loved me as a -sister, if they heard of this story, whatever it was? - -Vengeance--swift, sudden, and sure--was what I panted for; and moments -there were when I writhed under the laws that prevented me from -discovering and beating to a jelly this fellow Guilfoyle, or even -shooting him down like a mad dog, though I would gladly have risked my -own life to punish him in the mode that was no longer approved of now -in England; and I pictured to myself views of having him over in -France, in the Bois de Boulogne, or on the level sands of Dunkirk, the -spire of St. Eloi in the distance, the gray sky above us, the sea for -a background, no sound in our ears but its chafing on the long strip -of beach, and his villainous face covered by my levelled pistol at ten -paces, or less--yea, even after I had let him have the first shot, by -tossing or otherwise. And as these fierce thoughts burned within me, -all the deeper and fiercer that they were futile and found no -utterance, I glanced longingly at my sword, which hung on the wall, or -handled my pistols with grim anticipative joy; and reflected on how -many there are in this world who, in the wild sense of justice, or the -longing for a just revenge on felons whom the laws protect, fear the -police while they have no fear of God, even in this boasted age of -civilisation; and I remembered a terrible _duel à la mort_ in which I -had once borne a part in Germany. - - -A July evening was closing in Altona, when I found myself in the -garden of Rainville's Hotel, which overlooks the Elbe. The windows of -the house, an edifice of quaint aspect, occupied successively in years -past by General Dumourier and gossiping old Bourienne, were open, and -lights and music, the din of many voices--Germans are always loud and -noisy--and the odour of many cigars and meerschaums, came forth, to -mingle with the fragrance of the summer flowers that decked the -tea-garden, the trees of which were hung with garlands of coloured -lanterns. A golden haze from the quarter where the sun had set -enveloped all the lazy Elbe, and strings of orange-tinted lights -showed here and there the gas-lamps of Hamburg reflected in its bosom. - -In dark outline against that western flush were seen the masts and -hulls of the countless vessels that covered the basin of the river and -the Brandenburger Hafen. Waiters were hurrying about with coffee, -ices, and confectionery, lager-beer in tankards, and cognac in crystal -cruets; pretty Vierlander girls, in their grotesque costume, the -bodice a mass of golden embroidery, were tripping about coyly, -offering their bouquets for sale; and to the music of a fine German -band, the dancing had begun on a prepared platform. There were -mingling lovely Jewesses of half-Teutonic blood, covered with jewels; -spruce clerks from the Admiralit-strasse, and stout citizens from the -Neuer-wall; officers and soldiers from the Prussian garrison; girls of -good style from the fashionable streets about the Alsterdamm, and -others that were questionable from the quarter about the Grosse -Theater Strasse. - -I was seated in an arbour with a young Russian officer named -Paulovitch Count Volhonski, who was travelling like myself, and whom I -had met at the table-d'hôte of the Rolandsburg, in the Breitestrasse. -As an Englishman, apt at all times to undervalue the Russian -character, I was agreeably surprised to find that this young captain -of the Imperial Guard could speak several European, and at least two -of the dead, languages with equal facility. He was a good musician, -sang well, and was moreover remarkably handsome, though his keen dark -eyes and strongly marked brows, with a most decided aquiline nose, -required all the softness that a mouth well curved and as delicately -cut as that of a woman could be, to relieve them, and something of -pride and hauteur, if not of sternness, that formed the normal -expression of his face. His complexion was remarkably pure and clear, -his hair was dark and shorn very short, and he had a handsome -moustache, well pointed up. We had frequented several places of -amusement together, and had agreed to travel in company so far as -Berlin, and this was to be our last night in Altona. The waiter had -barely placed our wine upon the table and poured it out, when there -entered our arbour, and seated himself uninvited beside us, a great -burly German officer in undress uniform, and who in a stentorian voice -ordered a bottle of lager-beer, and lighting his huge meerschaum -without a word or glance of courtesy or apology, surveyed us boldly -with a cool defiant stare. This was so offensive, that Volhonski's -usually pale face flushed crimson, and we instinctively looked at each -other inquiringly. - -The German next lay back in his seat, coughed loudly, expectorated in -all directions in that abominable manner peculiar to his country, -placed his heavy military boots with a thundering crash upon two -vacant chairs, drank his beer, and threw down the metal flagon roughly -on the table, eyeing us from time to time with a sneering glance that -was alike insulting and unwarrantable. But this man, whom we -afterwards learned to be a noted bully and duellist, Captain Ludwig -Schwartz, of the Prussian 95th or Thuringians, evidently wished to -provoke a quarrel with either or both of us, as some Prussian officers -and Hamburg girls, who were watching his proceedings from an alley of -the garden, seemed to think, and to enjoy the situation. But for their -presence and mocking bearing, Volhonski and I would probably, for the -sake of peace, have retired and gone elsewhere; however, their -laughter and remarks rendered the intrusive insolence of their friend -the more intolerable. It chanced that a little puff of wind blew the -ashes of Volhonski's cigar all over the face and big brown beard of -the German, who, while eyeing him fiercely, slowly extricated the pipe -from his heavy dense moustache, and striking his clenched hand on the -table so as to make everything thereon dance, he said, imperiously, -"The Herr Graf will apologise?" - -"For what?" asked Volhonski, haughtily. - -"For what!--der Teufel!--do you ask for what?" - -"Ja, Herr Captain." - -"For permitting those cigar ashes to go over all my person." - -"In the first place, your precious person had no right to be there; in -the second, appeal to the wind, and fight with it." - -"I shall not fight with _it!_" thundered the German; "and I demand an -instant apology." - -"Absurd!" replied Volhonski, coolly; "I have no apology to make, -fellow. Apologise to another I might; but certainly not to such as -you." - -"You dare to jest--to--to--to trifle with me?" spluttered the German, -gasping and swelling with rage. - -"I never jest or trifle with strangers; do you wish to quarrel?" - -"No, Herr Graf," sneered the German; "do you?" - -"Then how am I to construe your conduct and words?" - -"As you please. But know this, Herr Graf: that though I ever avoid -quarrelling, I instantly crush or repel the slightest appearance of -insult, and you have _insulted_ me." - -"Ja, ja!" muttered the German officers, in blue surtouts and brass -shoulder-scales, who now crowded about us. - -Volhonski smiled disdainfully, and drew from his pocket a -richly-inlaid card-case; then taking from it an enamelled card, with a -bow that was marked and formal, yet haughty, he presented it to -Captain Ludwig Schwartz, who deliberately tore it in two, and said, in -a low fierce voice, - -"Bah! I challenge you, Schelm, to meet me with pistols, or hand to -hand without masks, and without seconds, if you choose." - -"Agreed," replied Volhonski, now pale with passion, knowing well that -after such a defiance as that, and before such company, it would be a -duel without cessation, a combat _à la mort_. "Where?" he asked, -briefly. - -"The Heiligengeist Feld." - -"When?" - -"To-morrow at daybreak" - -"Agreed; till then adieu, Herr Captain;" and touching their caps to -each other in salute, they separated. - -Next morning, when the dense mists, as yet unexhaled by the sun, lay -heavy and frouzy about the margin of the Elbe, and were curling up -from the deep moats and wooded ramparts of the Holstein Thor of -Hamburg, we met on the plain which lies between that city and Altona; -it is open, grassy, interspersed with trees, and is named the Field of -the Holy Ghost. A sequestered place was chosen; Volhonski was attended -by me, Captain Schwartz by another captain of his regiment; but -several of his brother officers were present as spectators, and all -these wore the tight blue surtout, buttoned to the throat, with the -shoulder-scales, adopted by the Prussians before Waterloo; and they -wore through their left skirt a sword of the same straight and spring -shell-hilted fashion, used in the British service at Fontenoy and -Culloden, and retained by the Prussians still. The morning was chill, -and above the gray wreaths of mists enveloping the plain rose, on one -side, the red brick towers and green coppered spires of St. Michael, -St. Nicolai, and other churches. Opposite were the pointed roofs of -Altona, and many a tall poplar tree. Volhonski, being brave, polite, -and scrupulous in all his transactions, was naturally exasperated on -finding himself in this dangerous and unsought-for predicament, after -being so grossly and unwarrantably insulted on the preceding night. He -was pale, but assumed a smiling expression, as if he thought it as -good a joke as any one else to be paraded thus at daybreak, when we -quitted our hackney droski at the corner of the great cemetery and -traversed the field, luckily reaching the appointed spot the same -moment as our antagonists. - -We gravely saluted each other. While I was examining and preparing the -pistols, Volhonski gave me a sealed letter, saying, quite calmly, "I -have but one relation in the world--my little sister Valérie, now at -St. Petersburg. See," he added, giving me the miniature of a beautiful -young girl, golden-haired and dark-eyed; "if I am butchered by this -beer-bloated Teuton, you will write to her, enclosing this miniature, -my letter, and all my rings." - -I pressed his hand in silence, and handed our pistols for inspection -to the other second, a captain, named Leopold Döpke, of the Thuringian -Infantry. - -"Now, Herr Graf, we fight till one, at least, is killed," said -Schwartz, grimly. - -Volhonski bowed in assent. - -"Be quick, gentlemen," said the German officers; "already the rising -sun is gilding the vane of St. Michael's." - -Volhonski glanced at it earnestly, and his fine dark eyes clouded for -a moment. Perhaps he was thinking of his sister, or of how and where -he might be lying when the sun's rays were lower down that lofty brick -spire, which is a hundred feet higher than the cross of St. Paul's in -London. In the German fashion a circle was drawn upon the greensward, -on which the diamond dew of a lovely summer morning glittered. -Volhonski and Schwartz were placed within that circle, from which they -were not permitted to retire; neither were they to fire until the -signal was given. - -"Mein Herren," said Captain Döpke, who seemed to think no more of the -affair than if it had been a pigeon match, "when I give the signal by -throwing up my glove and uttering the word you may fire at discretion, -or as soon as you have your aim, and at what distance you please; but -it must be _within_ the circumference of this ring. The first who -steps beyond it falls by my hand, as a violation of the laws of the -duel." - -"Be quick," growled Schwartz; "for the night watch in St. Michael's -tower have telescopes, and the Burgher Guard are already under arms at -the Holstein Thor." - -Twelve paces apart within that deadly ring stood Volhonski and -Schwartz, facing each other. The former wore a black surtout buttoned -up to the throat; the latter his uniform and spike helmet. He untied -and cast aside his silver gorget, lest it might afford a mark for his -adversary's pistol. His face was flushed with cruelty, triumph, and -the lust of blood, that came from past successful duels. Volhonski -looked calm; but his eyes and heart were glowing with hatred and a -longing for a just revenge. - -"_Fire!_" cried Captain Döpke, as if commanding a platoon, and tossing -up his pipe-clayed glove. - -Both pistols exploded at the same instant, and Schwartz uttered a -cruel and insulting laugh as Volhonski wheeled round and staggered -wildly; his left arm was broken by a ball. - -"Fresh pistols!" cried Schwartz. - -"Is not this enough for honour?" said I, starting forward. "No--stand -back!" exclaimed Captain Döpke. - -"Ach Gott! Herr Englander, your turn will come next," thundered -Schwartz, as we gave them other pistols and proceeded deliberately to -reload the first brace, yet warm after being discharged. - -No word of command was expected now; both duellists aimed steadily. -Schwartz fired first and a terrible curse, hoarse and guttural, -escaped him, as his ball whistled harmlessly past the left ear of -Volhonski, whose face was now ghastly with pain, rage, and hatred. -Drawing nearer and nearer, till the muzzle of his pistol was barely -two feet from the forehead of Schwartz, he gave a grim and terrible -smile for a moment. We were rooted to the spot; no one stirred; no one -spoke, or seemed to breathe; and just as a cold perspiration flowed in -beadlike drops over the face of the merciless Schwartz; it seemed to -vanish with his spike helmet in smoke, as Volhonski fired and--blew -his brains out! We sprang into the droski, and I felt as if a terrible -crime had been committed when we drove at full speed across the -neutral ground, called the Hamburgerburg, which lies between the city -and the river gate of Altona, along a street of low taverns and -dancing-rooms; and there, when past the sentinels in Danish uniform, -the Lion of Denmark and the red-striped sentry boxes indicated that we -were safe within the frontier of Holstein. So intense were our -feelings _then_, that the few short fleeting moments crowded into that -short compass of time seemed as an age, so full were they of fierce, -exciting, and revolting thoughts; but these were past and gone; and -_now_, as I recalled this merciless episode, times there were when I -felt in my heart that I could freely risk my life in the same fashion -to kill Guilfoyle, even as Volhonski killed the remorseless German -bully Schwartz. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV.--SURPRISES. - - -Supposing her to have left Walcot Park, as her letter informed me, I -rode in that direction no more; and though I knew the family address -in London, I could neither write in exculpation of myself nor procure -leave to follow her. All furloughs were now forbidden or withdrawn, as -the new detachments for the East expected hourly the order to depart. -Thus I passed my days pretty much as one may do those which precede or -follow a funeral. I performed all my military duties, went to mess, -rose and retired to bed, mechanically, my mind occupied by one -thought--the anxious longing to do something by which to clear myself -and regain Estelle; and feeling in Winchester Barracks somewhat as -Ixion might have felt on his fabled wheel, or the son of Clymene on -his rock; and so I writhed under the false position in which another's -art and malice had placed me; writhed aimlessly and fruitlessly, save -that, although tied up by my promise of secrecy to Estelle, I had -written a full and candid detail of the whole affair to Sir Madoc, and -entreated his good offices for me. Vainly did Price, little Tom -Clavell (the 19th depôt had come in), Raymond Mostyn of the Rifles, -and other friends say, when noticing my preoccupation, "Come, old -fellow, rouse yourself; don't mope. Are you game for pool to-day?" - -"Pool with a recently-broken arm!" I would reply. - -"True--I forgot. Well, let us take Mostyn's drag to Southampton -to-morrow--it is Sunday, no drill going--cross to the Isle of Wight, -dine at the hotel, and with our field-glasses--the binoculars--see the -girls bathing at Freshwater." - -"I don't approve of gentlemen overlooking ladies bathing." - -"What the deuce do you approve of?" - -"Being let alone, Price; as the girls say to you, I suspect." - -"Not always--not always, old fellow," replied Hugh, with a very -self-satisfied smile, as he caressed and curled his fair moustache. - -"Nor the married ones either," added Mostyn, a tall showy officer in a -braided green patrol jacket; "for when you were in North Wales, -Hardinge, our friend Price got into a precious mess with a selfish old -sposo, who thought he should keep his pretty wife all to himself, or -at least from flirting with a redcoat." - -"Perhaps he was less irritated by the rifle green." - -"Come with me into the city," urged Clavell; "the Dean's lady gives a -kettledrum before mess, and I can take a friend." - -"Parish scandal, cathedral-town gossip, coffee, ices, and Italian -confectionery. Thanks, Tom, no." - -"I have met some very pretty girls there," retorted Clavell, "and it -is great fun to lean over their chairs and see them look up at one -over their fans shyly, half-laughing at, and half-approving of, the -balderdash poured into their ears." - -"A sensible way of winning favour and spending time." - -"I vote for the Isle of Wight," continued Clavell; "I saw la belle -Cressingham taking a header there the other day in splendid style. -Only fancy that high-born creature taking a regular header!" - -"_Who_ did you say?" said I, turning so suddenly that little Tom was -startled, and let the glass drop from his eye. - -"Lady Estelle Cressingham; you remember her of course. She had on a -most becoming bathing-costume; I could make that out with my glass -from the cliffs." - -"Clavell, she is in London," said I, coldly; "and moreover is unlikely -to indulge in headers, as she can't swim." - -"I know better, excuse me," said Mostyn, who, I knew, had dined but -lately at Walcot Park; "she told me that she had been recently -bathing, and had studied at the Ecole de Natation on the Quai d'Orsay -in Paris." - -"It is more than she ever told me," thought I, as my mind reverted to -our terrible adventure. I became silent and perplexed, and covertly -looked with rather sad envy on the handsome and unthinking Mostyn, who -had enjoyed the pleasure of seeing and talking to Estelle since I had -done so. - -"It is difficult," says David Hume, "for a man to speak long of -himself without vanity; therefore I will be _short;_" and having much -to narrate, I feel compelled to follow the example of the Scottish -historian, for events now came thick and fast. - -I had barely got rid of my well-meaning comrades, and was relapsing -into gloomy reverie in my little room, when I heard voices, and heavy -footsteps ascending the wooden stair that led thereto. Some one was -laughing, and talking to Evans in Welsh; till the latter threw open -the door, and, with a military salute, ushered in Sir Madoc Lloyd, -looking just as I had seen him last, save that the moors had embrowned -him, in his riding-coat, white-corded breeches, and yellow-topped -boots, and whip in hand, for his horse was in the barrack yard. - -"Welcome, Sir Madoc.--That will do, Evans; be at hand when I ring.--So -kind of you, this; so like you!" I exclaimed. - -"Not at all, not at all, Harry. So these are your quarters? Plain and -undecorated, certainly; boots, bottles, boxes, a coal-scuttle--her -Majesty's property by the look of it--a sword and camp-bed; humble -splendour for the suitor of an earl's daughter, and the rival of a -rich viscount. Ah, you sly dog, you devilish sly dog!" he added, as he -seated himself on the edge of the table, winked portentously, and -poked me under the small ribs with the shank of his hunting-whip, "I -suspected that something of this kind would follow that aquatic -excursion of yours; and Winifred says she always knew of it." - -"Winifred--Miss Lloyd!" said I, nervously. - -"Why didn't you speak to _me_, and consult with me, about the matter -when at Craigaderyn? I am certain that I should have made all square -with the Countess. Egad, Harry, I will back you to any amount, for the -sake of those that are dead and gone," he added, shaking my hand -warmly, while his eyes glistened under the shaggy dark brows that in -hue contrasted so strongly with the whiteness of his silky hair. - -"You got my letter, Sir Madoc?" - -"Yes, and I am here in consequence. It cut short my shooting, though." - -"I am so sorry--" - -"Tush; no apologies. The season opened gloriously; but I missed you -sorely, Harry, when tramping alone over turnip fields, through miles -of beans and yellow stubble, though I had some jolly days of it down -in South Wales. Lady Naseby-- - -"She knows nothing of the secret engagement?" said I, hurriedly and -anxiously. - -"Nothing as yet." - -"As yet! Must she be told?" - -"Of course; but I shall make all that right, by-and-by. She believes -now in the real character of her attaché, Mr. Guilfoyle, who intruded -himself among us, and who has disappeared. Your perfect innocence has -been proved alike to her and her daughter, and now you may win at a -canter. The photo of you in the locket was abstracted from Winifred's -album, and has _her_ name written on the back of it. You are to ride -over with me to Walcot Park, where I have left Winifred, as she -refused flatly to come to Winchester--why, I know not. She will afford -you an opportunity of slipping the ring again on your fair one's -finger, and doing anything else that may suggest itself at such a -time--you comprehend, eh? Winny bluntly asked Lady Naseby's permission -to invite you, as you were so soon to leave England." - -"The dear girl! God bless her!" - -"So say I. Lady Naseby said at first that though you had been -maligned, there had also been a _contretemps_ of which even her French -maid was cognisant; that she hated all _contretemps_ and so forth; but -Winny--you know how sweet the girl is, and how irresistible--carried -her point, so you spend this evening there. Tell Evans to have your -nag ready within the hour. That fellow is not forgetting his -mother-tongue among the Sassenachs. He comes from our namesake's -place, _Dolwrheiddiog_, 'the meadow of the salmon.' I know it well." - -"If I could but meet Guilfoyle--" I was beginning. - -"Forget him. I cannot comprehend how he found such favour in the sight -of Lady Naseby; but when I called him a thoroughbred rascal, she -quietly fanned herself, and fondling her beastly little cur said, 'My -dear Sir Madoc, this teaches us how careful we ought to be in choosing -our acquaintance, and how little we really know as to the true -character, the inner life and habits of our nearest friends. But our -mutual legal adviser Mr. Sharpus always spoke of Mr. Guilfoyle as a -man of the greatest probity, and of excellent means.' 'Probably,' said -I; 'but I never liked that fellow Sharpus; he always looked like a man -who has done something of which he is ashamed, and that is not the -usual expression of a legal face.'" - -So poor Winifred Lloyd had been my chief good angel; yet _she_ was the -last whom I should have chosen as ambassadress in a love affair of -mine. She was a volunteer in the matter, and a most friendly one to -boot. Were this a novel, and not "an owre true tale," I think I should -have loved Winny; for "how comes it," asks a writer, "that the heroes -of novels seem to have in general a bad taste by their choice of -wives? The unsuccessful lady is the one we should have preferred. -Rebecca is infinitely more calculated to interest than Rowena." - -My heart was brimming with joy, and with gratitude to Sir Madoc and -his elder daughter; the cloud that overhung me had been exhaled in -sunshine, and all again was happiness. I was about to pour forth my -thanks to my good old friend, whose beaming and rubicund face was as -bright as it could be with pleasure, when there came a sharp single -knock on the door of my room. - -"Come in!" said I, mechanically. - -My visitor was the sergeant-major of the dépôt battalion, a tall thin -old fellow who had burned powder at Burmah and Cabul, and who -instantly raised his hand to his forage-cap, saying, - -"Beg pardon, sir; the adjutant's compliments--the route has just come -for your draft of the Royal Welsh, and all the others, for the East." - -"Is this certain!" asked Sir Madoc, hurriedly. - -"Quite, sir; it will be in orders this evening. They all embark -to-morrow at midday." - -"Where?" asked I. - -"At Southampton, as usual. The first bugle will sound after _réveil_ -to-morrow." - -The door closed on my formal visitor, who left me a little bewildered -by this sudden sequel to the visit of Sir Madoc, who wrung my hand -warmly and said, - -"Heaven bless and protect you, Harry! I feel for you like a son of my -own going forth in this most useless war. And so we are actually to -lose you, and so soon, too!" - -"But only for a little time, I hope, Sir Madoc," said I, cheerfully, -thinking more of my early meeting with Estelle than the long -separation the morrow must inevitably bring about. I ordered Evans to -pack up and prepare everything, to leave my P.P.C. cards with a few -persons I named; and avoiding Price, Clavell, Mostyn, and others, rode -with Sir Madoc towards Walcot Park, as my mind somehow foreboded, amid -all my joy and excitement, for what I feared would be the _last_ time. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI.--WITHOUT PURCHASE. - - -Close to, and yet quietly secluded from, the mighty tide of busy -humanity that daily surges to and fro between the Bank and the Mansion -House, all up Cheapside and Cornhill, in a small dark court off the -latter, was the office of Messrs. Sharpus and Juggles, solicitors. The -brick edifice towered to the height of many stories; a score of names -appeared on each side of the doorway in large letters; and many long -dark passages and intricate stairs led to the two dingy rooms where -those human spiders sat and spun the webs and meshes of the law. Their -dens had a damp and mouldy odour; no ray from heaven ever fell into -them, but a cold gray reflected light came from the white encaustic -tiles, with which the opposite wall of the court was faced for that -purpose; and of that borrowed light even the lower room, where their -half-starved clerks worked into the still hours of the night--a -veritable cave of Trophonius, if one might judge by their sad, seedy, -and dejected appearance--was deprived from its situation; and in all -these courts and chambers gas was burned daily in those terrible -seasons when the London fogs assume somewhat the solidity and hue of -pea-soup. Mr. Sharpus sat in his private room, surrounded by boxes of -wood or japanned tin and ticketed dockets of papers, that were mouldy -and dirty--as their contents too probably were--while fly-blown -prospectuses, plans, and advertisements of lands, houses, and -messuages for sale, and so forth, covered the discoloured walls. - -Juggles, his partner, was a suave, slimy, and meekly-mannered man, -"with the eye of a serpent and the voice of a dove;" but our present -business is with the former, who was a thin round-shouldered -individual, with a cold keen face, an impending forehead, sunken dark -gray eyes, the expression of which varied between cunning and -solemnity, pride, vulgar assurance, and occasionally restlessness. -Shrewd of head and stony of heart, he was not quite the kind of man at -whose mercy one would wish to be. He had a hard-worked and sometimes -worried aspect; but now an abject white fear, with an unmistakably -hunted expression, came over his face, when one of the clerks from the -lower den ushered in, without much ceremony, Mr. Guilfoyle, who had in -his hand a sporting paper, which he was reading as he entered. - -"_You_ here again?" exclaimed Sharpus, laying down his pen, and -carefully closing the door. - -"Yes, by Jove, again!" replied Guilfoyle, with barely a nod, and -seating himself with his hat on. - -"So soon!" groaned Sharpus; and reseating himself, he eyed, with an -expression of haggard hate, Guilfoyle, who continued to read from the -paper hurriedly, excitedly, and half aloud, some report of a -steeplechase. - -"The Devil--threw his rider--remounted; at the next fence Raglan took -the lead, followed by Fairy and Beauty, and Beau, the Devil lying -next; last fence but one taken by the quintette almost simultaneously, -when Raglan, Beauty, and Beau came away together, the first-named -winning a very fine race by half a length--Beauty being third, and -close upon Beau, but Fairy was nowhere. D--nation! there is a pot of -money gone, or not won, which amounts to the same thing in the end!" -and crushing up the paper, he threw it on the writing-table of -Sharpus. - -"Wanting more money?" said the latter, in a hollow voice. - -"Precisely so; out at the elbows--in low water--phrase it as you will. -I have sold even my horse at last," replied the other, folding his -arms, and regarding the lawyer mockingly. - -"And the ring given you by--by the King of Bavaria?" said Sharpus, -with a sickly smile. - -"I retain but a paste imitation of that remarkable brilliant; and that -I may present you as a mark of my regard and esteem." - -"I thought you had made something by a mercantile transaction, as you -phrased it, when last on the Continent?" - -"So I did; 'the mercantile transaction' being nothing less than -breaking the bank at Homburg, by steadily and successfully backing the -red, and sending home all those who came for wool most decidedly -_shorn_." - -"You should have saved some of those ill-gotten gains for future -contingencies," said Sharpus. - -"How much easier it is to advise and to speculate than to act with -care and decision!" sneered Guilfoyle. - -"I pity your poor wife," said the lawyer, sincerely enough. - -"She has no documentary proof that she is such," replied Guilfoyle, -angrily. "Pshaw! what is pity? an emotion that is often at war with -reason and with sense, too; for a handsome face or a well-turned ankle -may make us pity the most undeserving object." - -The lawyer sighed, and at that moment sincerely pitied himself; for it -had chanced that, in earlier years, an intimacy with Guilfoyle led to -the latter discovering that which gave him such absolute power as to -reduce him--Sharpus--to be his very slave. This was nothing less than -the _forgery_ of a bill in the name of Guilfoyle; who, before -relinquishing the privilege of prosecution, on retiring the document, -had obtained a complete holograph confession of the act, which he now -retained as a wrench for money, and held over the head of Sharpus, -thereby compelling him to act as he pleased. After a minute's silence, -during which the two men had been surveying each other, the one with -hate and fear, the other with malignant triumph, Guilfoyle said, "I -did Lady Naseby, as you know, a service at Berlin, when at very low -water; being seen with her won me credit, which I failed not to turn -to advantage. I followed her and her daughter through all Germany--at -Ems, Gerolstein, Baden, and then to Wales, where I was in clover at -Craigaderyn. I was a fool to fly my hawks at game so high as the -peerage; and I feel sure it was that beast of a fellow Hardinge, of -the Royal Welsh, who blew the gaff upon me, and prevented me from -entering stakes, as I intended to do, for one of the daughters of that -horse-and-cow-breeding old Welsh baronet; and they are, bar one, the -handsomest girls in England." - -"And that one?" - -"Is Lady Estelle Cressingham." - -Even the ghastly lawyer smiled at his profound assurance. - -"Have you no remorse when you think of Miss Franklin?" - -"No more than you have, when you have sucked a client dry, and leave -him to die in the streets," replied Guilfoyle, with his strange dry -mocking laugh; "remorse is the word for a fool--the unpunished crime, -I have read somewhere, is never regretted. Men mourn the consequences, -but never the sin or a crime itself. As for Hardinge, d--n him!" he -added, grinding his teeth; "I thought to put a spoke in his wheel, by -passing off Georgette as his wife, but Taffy came to his aid, and the -true story was told; and yet, do you know, there were times when I -played my cards exceedingly well with the Cressinghams. Besides, you -always represented me to be a man of fortune." - -"I have invariably done so," groaned Sharpus. - -"And have stumped out pretty well to maintain the story, while hinting -of--" - -"Coal-mines in Labuan, shares in others in Mexico, and all manner of -things, to account for the sums wrung from me--from my wife and -children. But, God help me, I can do no more!" - -"Bah! what do they or you want with that villa at Hampstead? But you -are a good fellow, Sharpus; and, thanks to your assistance, I worked -the oracle pretty well at Walcot Park for Mr. Henry Hardinge." - -"Against him, you mean?" - -"Of course; but, unluckily, our story wouldn't stand testing." - -"Could you expect it to do so?" - -"But I put a hitch in his gallop there, anyhow. By Jove, I was a great -fool not to make love to the old woman, instead of her daughter." - -"Meaning Lady Naseby?" said Sharpus, with surprise. - -"So Burke and Debrett name her. She is just at that age--twice her -daughter's--when the soft sex become remarkably soft indeed, and apt -to make fools of themselves." - -"She would indeed have been one had she listened to you." - -"Thanks, old tape-and-parchment; I did not come here for a character, -but to show you the state of my cash-book." - -Again the lawyer groaned, and Guilfoyle laughed louder than ever. -Delight to have a lawyer under his heel rendered him merciless; but -even a worm will turn, so Sharpus said sternly, "How have you lived -since the last remittance--extortion?" - -"Call it as you will," replied the other, putting his glass in his -eye, and smilingly switching his leg with his cane; "I have lived as -most men do who live by their wits, and the follies, or it may be the -_crimes_--O, you wince!--of others; meeting debts and emergencies as -they come, content with the peace or action of the present, and never -regretting the past, or fearing the future! With the help of an ace, -king, and queen, when my betting-book or a stroke of billiards failed -me, and with your great kindness, my dear old Sharpus, I have, till -now, always kept my funds far above zero." - -"Your life is a great sham--a very labyrinth of deceit!" exclaimed the -lawyer, furiously. - -"And yours, friend Sharpus?" - -"Is spent in slaving for my family, and endeavouring to atone for, or -to buy the concealment of, one great error--the error that made -you--ay, men such as you--my master!" - -Guilfoyle laughed heartily, and said, - -"I require 600_l_. instantly!" - -"Not a penny--not another penny!" - -"We shall see. Sharpus, though a bad lot, I know that you are not the -utter rogue that most of your profession are--" - -"Leave my office, scoundrel, or I shall kill you!" said Sharpus, in a -low voice of concentrated passion, as he became deadly pale, and a -dangerous white gleam came into his stealthy restless eyes, which -seemed to search in vain for a weapon. - -"If I leave your office it will be for the purpose of laying before -the nearest police-magistrate a certain document you may remember to -have written; and I am so loth to kill the goose that lays my golden -eggs," continued the other, in his quiet mocking tone. "But remember, -Mr. Sharpus," he added, in a lofty and bullying manner, as he grasped -the shoulder of the listener, "that the forgery of a document is not -deemed an error in legal practice here, as in Spain or Scotland, -but a _crime_ meriting penal servitude; and shall I tell you what that -means--you, who have now wealth, ease, position, a handsome wife, and -several children? You will be torn from all these for ever, as a -felon!" - -Drops of perspiration poured over the poor wretch's temples as his -tormentor continued: "Think of being in Millbank, beside the muggy -Thames, and the years that would find you there, a bondsman and a -slave, who for the least misconduct would be lashed like a faulty -hound, and ironed in a blackhole. Hard work, aggravated by the -consciousness of infamy; clad in the gray livery of disgrace; your -name effaced from the Law List, and for it substituted the letter or -number on your prison garb!" - -"For God's sake, hush!" implored the wretched lawyer, in terror, lest -the speaker's voice might reach the room of Juggles, or the ears of -the clerks below; "hush, and I shall do all you wish." - -"Come--that is acting like a reasonable being." - -"Will 200_l_. do you--this time?" - -"Two hundred devils! I want 600_l_. at least." - -"I shall be ruined with my partner; he must know ere long where all -these moneys have gone." - -"That is nothing to me; tell him if you dare." - -Sharpus burst into tears, and said, piteously, - -"At present I can give but 200_l_.--the rest shall follow." - -"Well, you can do something else for me, and I may trouble you no -more." - -"How?" asked Sharpus, eagerly and incredulously, with a dreary and -bewildered air. - -"Get me some employment, where there is little to do; I hate -brain-work." - -"Employment!--where? with whom?" - -"Civil or military, I care not which." - -"Military! impossible--too old. Stay, I have it!" exclaimed the -lawyer; "you have been in the Militia, I know." - -"Three months in the Royal Diddlesex." - -"What say you to an appointment in Lord Aberdeen's new Land Transport -Corps? It will be easily got--a handsome uniform and great _éclat_, -though the officers are nearly all taken from the ranks. The duties -are simple enough--conveyance of baggage, and carrying off the wounded -_after_ an action." - -"Not to bury the dead?--ugly work that." - -"No, no." - -"By Jove, I'll go!" he exclaimed, as Sharpus filled up the cheque. - -Sharpus strove in vain to conceal his delight. - -"I have of course done a few things which would hardly bear the 'light -of the world's bull's-eye' turned upon them, but the Horse Guards know -nothing of them. You have noble and powerful clients, and can do this -easily for me. Bravo!" And they actually shook hands over the matter, -as if over a bargain. - -Sharpus lost no time in using the necessary influence, and--though not -exactly a cadet after Mr. Cardwell's heart--this commission was -decidedly one without purchase; and on the strength of having been -once in the boasted constitutional force, "Henry Hawkesby Guilfoyle, -gent., _late_ Lieutenant, Diddlesex Militia," appeared in the -_Gazette_ ere long, as one of twenty-four comets of the long-since -disbanded Land Transport Corps, for service in the Crimea. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII.--RECONCILIATION. - - -As Sir Madoc and I proceeded along the to me well-known Whitchurch -road, I asked myself mentally, could it really be that I was again -looking with farewell eyes on all this fair English scenery, and -perhaps for the last time; for our departure to the seat of war, where -we were to be face to face and foot to foot with an enemy, was very -different from other voyages to a peaceful British colony? Now, varied -by autumnal tints, brown, golden, or orange, I saw the long and shady -lane where Estelle had last seen me, and near it the low churchyard -wall, where our evil genius had rent away the locket from his wife. -Sir Madoc's eyes were turned chiefly to the tawny stubble-fields, and -he sighed with regret, as he saw the brown coveys of partridges -whirring up, that he had not his patent breech-loader in lieu of a -hunting-whip. - -"Estelle--Estelle!" thought I. "How many temptations in mighty -London, and in the country, too--in Brighton, that other London by the -sea, and wherever she may go--will beset one so noble and so -beautiful--allurements that may teach her to forget and banish from -her memory the poor Fusileer subaltern, to whom she seems as the -centre of the universe!" - -The evening was a lovely one, and the scenery was beautiful. Chestnuts -and oaks were, at every turn of the way we rode, forming natural -arches and avenues, beyond which were pleasant glimpses of quaint -cottages, whose walls and roofs were nearly hidden by masses of roses -and honeysuckle; short square village spires and ivy-covered -parsonages; widespreading pastures, where the sleepy cattle browsed -amid purple clover and golden cowslips, with the glory of the ruddy -sunset falling aslant upon them, while the ambient air was full of -earthy and leafy fragrance; for many fallen leaves, the earliest spoil -of autumn, lay with bursting cones in cool and sunless dells, or by -the wayside, where the fern and foxglove mingled under the old thick -hedgerows. And so I was looking, as I have said, on all this peaceful -scene, perhaps for the _last_ time; yet there was no sadness in my -heart, for the revulsion or change of feeling, from the gloom and -tumultuous anxiety of many, many days past, and even of that morning, -was great indeed to me, especially when we cantered through the -handsome iron gates of Walcot Park, the once suspicious keeper of -which gave me an unmistakable glance of recognition. I felt like one -in a dream as I threw my reins to a servant, and was led upstairs by -Sir Madoc. - -"Where is Lady Estelle?" he asked of another valet, to whom I gave my -sword in the hall. - -"In the front drawing-room." - -"Alone?" - -"I think so, sir." - -"All right, Harry!" - -But he suddenly affected to remember that he had something to say to -his own groom, and as he turned back, I was ushered into the long and -stately apartment. I had a dreamy sense of being amid many buhl tables -and glass shades, much drapery, and several mirrors that reproduced -everything, amid which I saw Estelle advancing cordially to meet me. -She had a bright smile in her face, and held out both her hands; but I -could scarcely speak. - -"Estelle," I whispered, "joy--joy! It is indeed joy, to see you once -again!" - -"Then you quite forgive me, dearest Harry?" - -"Forgive you? O Estelle!" I exclaimed, in a low and passionate voice, -as she turned up her adorable face to meet mine half-way. - -I knew from past experience that caresses from her meant much more -than they did from most women; for Estelle, though proud and reticent, -and apparently cold and calm, was reluctant to give and to accept -them; so now I felt all the truth and sincerity of this reunion. "A -lovers' quarrel is but love renewed;" we, however, had not quarrelled, -but been cruelly wrenched asunder by the art and cunning of another. - -"Are you on duty, Mr. Hardinge?" said a voice; and from a window where -she had been sitting, quite unseen and unnoticed by me, Winny Lloyd -came forth, looking, as I thought, a little paler and sadder than when -I had seen her last at Craigaderyn Court. - -"What makes you think I am on duty, dear Miss Lloyd?--or rather let me -say, my dear, dear good friend and guardian angel Winifred, to whose -intercession I owe all the happiness of a time like this," said I, -pressing her hand caressingly between both of mine. - -"Because you are in undress uniform, of course," said she, almost -petulantly. - -"I can wear no other costume now; we bid good-bye to mufti, the sable -livery of civilisation, to-morrow." - -"How?" - -"We march at daybreak." - -"For the East?" - -"Yes; for the East, at last." - -"So soon?" exclaimed both girls at once. - -"The order came within an hour or little more, when Sir Madoc was with -me." - -The eyes of the girls were full of sudden tears, and they gazed on me -with an honest emotion of tenderness and real interest, that, -considering the rare beauty and high position of both, were alike -flattering and bewildering; and I felt that this was one of those -moments when, to be a soldier or a sailor on the eve of departure to -the seat of war, was indeed worth something. - -And Winifred, the impulsive Welsh fairy, so fresh-hearted, so simple -in her motives, and sweet in her disposition, uttered something very -like a little sob in her slender white throat, adding apologetically -to Estelle, "We have been such old friends, Harry Hardinge and I." - -"You never wrote to me, Estelle," said I, softly, yet reproachfully. - -"I dared not; you remember our arrangement," she replied, with -hesitation. - -"Nor was I invited here, like Mostyn, Clavell, and others; thus I had -no opportunity of--" - -"I had no control, darling Harry, over mamma's dinner-list: I could -but suggest to mamma; and then there was that terrible story. But here -comes mamma!" - -And turning, I found myself face to face with the tall, handsome, -and stately Countess of Naseby, whom--nathless her chilling manner -and lofty presence--I hoped yet to hail as a very creditable -mother-in-law. - -I was on the eve of departure, to go where glory waited me. I might -cross her exclusive path no more; so my Lady Naseby seemed quite -disposed to bury the hatchet, and received me with that which was--for -her--unusual kindness, and an _enmpressement_ which made the eyes of -her daughter to sparkle with pleasure. A late dinner made a sad hole -in the time I had hoped to spend with Estelle; yet I had the pleasure -of sitting beside her--a pleasure that was clouded by the conviction -that my presence would soon be imperatively requisite at the barracks, -where so much was to be done ere morning, and that I should be -compelled to abridge even this, my farewell visit, to pleasant Walcot -Park, and all who were there. Fortunately, Lady Naseby went quietly to -sleep in her boudoir after dinner, with Tiny on her lap; Sir Madoc -obligingly went into the library to write; and Winifred suggested a -turn in the conservatory, where for a little time she adroitly left -Estelle and me together. - -There is no utility in dwelling on how we sealed our reconciliation -and renewed our troth, when once more I placed my ring upon her -finger; or in rehearsing the soft and tender words--perhaps (O -heaven!) the "twaddle"--we spoke for an indescribable few minutes, and -how each said to the other that our apparent separation had been as a -living death. But now all that misery was over; we loved each other -more than ever, and the grave alone could part us finally; words, the -prompting of the heart, came readily, till our emotions became too -deep, and she agreed that I should write to her boldly, "as ere long -mamma, through good Sir Madoc, must know all." And so we leaned -against a great flower-stand, almost hidden by gorgeous azaleas, our -hands tightly clasped in each other, eyes looking fondly into eyes, -and feeling that the depth of our tenderness formed for us one of -those few-and-far-between portions of existence when time seems to -stand still, when silence is made eloquent by the beatings of the -heart, when we almost forget we are mortal, and feel as if earth had -become heaven. From this species of happy trance we were roughly -roused by the crash of a great majolica vase containing a giant -cactus, and a voice exclaiming querulously, - -"God bless my soul!--Pardon me; I did not know any one was here." - -"The devil you didn't!" was my blunt rejoinder. - -And there, with gold glasses on his long aristocratic nose, and in his -richly-tasselled _robe de chamber_ and embroidered slippers, stood my -Lord Pottersleigh, whom I knew not to be at Walcot Park, as he had -been nursing his gout upstairs; and now I wished his lordship in a -hotter climate than the quarters of the 2nd West India for his -unwelcome interruption. Of what he had seen or what he thought I cared -not a rush, so far as _he_ was concerned; and a few minutes later saw -me, after a hurried farewell to all, with the pleasure of remembered -kisses on my lips, and my heart full of mingled joy and sadness, -triumph and prayerful hope for the perilous future, flying at full -gallop back to Winchester. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII.--ON BOARD THE URGENT. - - -"Weather bit your chain, and cast loose the topsails!" cried a hoarse -voice, rousing me from a reverie into which I had fallen--one of those -waking-dreams in which I am so apt to indulge. - -By this time the quarter-boats had been hoisted in, and the anchor got -up "reluctant from its oozy cave"--no slight matter in the great -troopship Urgent--when there was a stiff breeze even under the lee of -the Isle of Wight; and as her head pitched into the sea, the water -rushed through the hawse-holes, and the chain cables surged in such a -fashion as almost to start the windlass-barrel when it revolved -beneath the strength of many sturdy arms, and tough, though bending, -handspikes. Leaning over the taffrail, and looking at the dim outline -of the coast of Hampshire from St. Helen's Roads, to which two tugs -had brought us from the great tidal dock at Southampton to a temporary -anchorage, and seeing Portsmouth, with its spires and shipping steeped -in a golden evening haze, I recalled the events of the past bustling -day--could it be that only _a day_ had passed?--since "the first bugle -sounded after _réveil_," and all our detachments, five in number, -destined for the army of the East had paraded amid the gray light of -dawn, in the barrack-square at Winchester, in heavy marching order, -with packs, blankets, and kettles, and marched thence, their caps and -muskets decked with laurel-leaves, the drums and fifes playing many a -patriotic air, accompanied by the cheers of our comrades, and the -tears of the girls who were left behind us--the girls "who doat upon -the military." - -Yet so had we marched--the drafts of the Scots Royals and Kentish -Buffs, the two oldest regiments in the world, leading the way; then -came those of the 7th Fusileers, my own of the Royal Welsh, the 46th, -and the wild boys of the 88th bringing up the rear--to the railway -station, when they were packed in carriages, eight file to each -compartment--packed like sheep for the slaughter, yet all were singing -merrily, their spirits high though their purses were empty, the last -of their "clearings" having gone in the grog-shop and canteen over -night; and there by that railway platform many saw the last they were -to see, in this life, at least, of those they loved best on earth--the -wife of her husband, the parent of the child--separated all, with the -sound of the fatal drum in their ears, and the sadness of remembered -kisses on their lips, or tear-wetted cheeks, till, with a shriek and a -snort, the iron horse swept them away on his rapid journey. I caught -the enthusiasm of the brave fellows around me. It was impossible not -to do so; and yet, amid it all, there was the recollection of a -woman's face, so pale and beautiful, as I had seen it last (when -bidding a brief and formal farewell at the drawing-room door of Walcot -Park), with her mouth half open, her sorrowful eyes full of -earnestness, and the tender under lip clenched by the teeth above it, -as if to restrain emotion and repress tears--the face of Estelle -Cressingham. - -My heart and thoughts were with her, while mechanically I had, as in -duty bound, to see to the most prosaic wants of my detachment, -consisting of one officer (Hugh Price), two sergeants, and forty rank -and file of the Royal Welsh. To the latter were issued their coarse -canvas fatigue-frocks. I had to see their muskets racked, their berths -allotted, the messes and watches formed, the ammunition secured, and -fifty other things required by her Majesty's regulations. All baggage -not required for the voyage was sent below; and we heartily quizzed -poor Price, whose bullock trunks were alleged to contain only cambric -handkerchiefs, odd tiny kids, variously-tinted locks of hair, and -faded ribbons. But strict orders were issued concerning smoking, as we -had gunpowder in the lower hold; and a number of four-wheeled -hospital-waggons for the Land Transport Corps, grimly suggestive, as -each vehicle was divided into four compartments, fitted to receive -four killed or wounded men, on commodious stretchers, with -under-carriages, canopies, and medicine-chests. - -Some of my brother officers were glad enough, glory apart, to be -leaving Jews and lawyers, "shent. per shent." and legal roguery, -behind them. One of the former tribe, having followed Raymond Mostyn -concerning a bill discounted at only sixty per cent., came alongside, -insisting that the balance should be taken half in cash, and half in a -"warranted Correggio," with some villainous wine for the voyage, and -some jewelry "for the girls at Malta;" but he was swamped in his boat -under the counter, when the first mate unceremoniously cast loose the -painter, and sent old Moses--"Mammon incarnate"--to leeward, shrieking -and cursing in rage and terror. So my short reverie was completely -broken now, as the great ship, with her deck crowded by soldiers in -forage-caps and gray greatcoats, swayed round, and our skipper, an old -man-o'-war lieutenant, from the poop continued his orders with that -promptitude and tone of authority which are best learned under the -long pennant. - -"Make sail on her, my lads, with a will!" he cried. And the watch -rushed to the coils at the belaying-pins, aided by the soldiers told -off for deck duty. "Cast loose the topsails! hoist away, and sheet -home!" - -"Bear a hand, forecastle, there! cat and fish the anchor!" added the -first mate; and in a few minutes, with a heavy head sea--the same sea -where, by that shore now lessening in the distance, Danish Canute -taught his servile Saxon courtiers the lesson of humility--we bore -past Sandown Bay, with its old square fort of bluff King Harry's day -upon its level beach: and Portsmouth's spires and Selsey Point sunk -fast upon our lee, while our bugles were announcing sunset. And then -something of sadness and silence seemed to steal over the once noisy -groups, as they gathered by the starboard side, when we cleared the -Isle of Wight. When the yards were squared, more sail was made on the -Urgent; and before the north wind we stood down the Channel, and ere -the same bugles sounded again, for all save the deck-watches to -turn-in below, we were standing well over to the coast of France. The -white cliffs had melted into the world of waters, and we had bidden a -long good-night to dear old England. The twinkling light on St. -Catharine's Point lingered long at the horizon, and was watched by -many an eye, as Mostyn, Clavell, and I, with others, cigar in mouth, -walked to and fro on the poop, surmising what awaited us in the land -for which we were bound. - -As yet the land forces of the Allies had not come to blows with the -Russians; but the imperial fort and mole at Odessa (works constructed -at vast cost and care by Catharine and Alexander) had been destroyed, -and all their ships of war lying there had been burnt or sunk by the -Anglo-French fleet. The Russians had taken and burned our war-steamer -the Tiger, and cruelly bombarded Sinope. The Turks had driven them -across the Danube, and defeated them at Giurgevo, but had lost a -subsequent battle in Armenia. Napier had bombarded and destroyed the -forts upon the Aland Isles in the Baltic; and we on board the Urgent, -with many other successive drafts departing eastward, from every -British port south of Aberdeen, were full of ardour and of hope to be -in time to share in the landing that was to be made at _last_ upon the -coast of the enemy, though no one knew _where_. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX.--"ICH DIEN." - - -And now, while the stately troopship Urgent is passing under the guns -of old Gib, and ploughing the waters of the Mediterranean, I may -explain that which may have been a puzzle to the non-military -reader--the meaning of "the Red Dragon." In the breasts of all who -serve or have served in the army there exists an _esprit de corps_, a -filial attachment, to all that belongs to their regiment, to its past -history, its conduct in peace and war, its badges won in battle--those -honours which are the heraldry of the service, and connected with the -glory of the empire--in its officers and soldiers of all ranks. This -sentiment is more peculiar to some regiments, perhaps, than others, -especially those which, like the Scottish and Irish, have distinct -nationalities to represent and uphold; but to none is it more -applicable than the old Fusileers, whose motto is at the head of this -chapter. By _esprit de corps_ the good and brave are excited to fresh -feats of valour, and the evil-disposed are frequently deterred from -risking disgrace by a secret consciousness of the duty it inculcates, -and what is required of them by their comrades; for, like a Highland -clan, a regiment has its own peculiar annals and traditions. It is a -community, a family, a brotherhood, and should be the soldier's happy -though movable home, while a regiment great in history "bears so far a -resemblance to the immortal gods as to be old in power and glory, yet -to have always the freshness of youth." - -So it is and has been with mine, which was first embodied at Ludlow, -in Shropshire, in 1689, from thirteen companies of soldiers, raised -specially in Wales, under Lord Herbert, of Cherbury, whose cousin, -Colonel Charles Herbert, M.P. for Montgomery, was killed, at the head -of the Fusileers, in his buff coat and cuirass, at the battle of -Aughrim, after having led them through a bog up to the waist belt, -under a terrible fire from the Irish. His successor, the valiant Toby -Purcell, who had been major of the regiment, greatly distinguished -himself at the battle of the Boyne, and the huge spurs, worn by him on -that memorable occasion, are _still_ preserved in the corps, being -always in possession of the senior major for the time being. - -To attempt a memoir of the regiment would be to compile a history of -all the wars of Britain since the Revolution. Suffice it to say, that -on every field, in the wars of the Spanish Succession, those of -Flanders (where "our army swore so terribly"), at Minden, in America, -Egypt, and the ever-glorious Peninsula, the Welsh Fusileers have been -in the van of honour, and, like their Scottish comrades, might well -term themselves "second to none." - -Among the last shots fired _after_ Waterloo were those discharged by -the Fusileers, when, on the 24th of June, six days subsequent to the -battle, they entered Cambrai by the old breach near the Port du Paris. -As it is common for corps from mountainous districts to have some pet -animal--as the Highlanders often have a stag--as a fond symbol to -remind them of home and country, the regiment has the privilege of -passing in review preceded by a goat with gilded horns, adorned with -ringlets of flowers, and a plate inscribed with its badge. - -No record is preserved of the actual loss of the regiment at Bunker's -Hill, though the assertion of Cooper, the American novelist, that on -that bloody day "the Welsh Fusileers had not a man left to saddle -their goat," which went into action with them, would seem to be -corroborated by the fact that only _five_ grenadiers escaped; while -Mrs. Adams, in a letter to her husband, the future President of the -United States, says of that battle, "our enemies were cut down like -grass; _and but one officer of all the Welsh Fusileers remains to tell -his story_." When old Billy, the favourite goat of the 23rd, departed -this life in peace in the Caribbean Isles, whence he had accompanied -the regiment from Canada in 1844, her Majesty the Queen, on learning -that he was greatly lamented by the soldiers, sent to them, from -Windsor Park, a magnificent pair of the pure Cashmerian breed, which -had been presented to her by the Shah of Persia. On every 1st of -March, on the anniversary of their tutelary patron--St. David--the -officers give a splendid entertainment; and when the cloth is removed, -and the leek duly eaten, the first toast is a bumper to the health of -the Prince of Wales; the memory of old Toby Purcell is not forgotten, -and, as the order has it, the band plays "'The noble Race of Shenkin,' -while a drum-boy mounted on the goat, which is richly caparisoned for -the occasion, is led thrice round the table by the drum-major." - -At Boston, in 1775, a goat somewhat resented this exhibition, by -breaking away from the mess-room, and rushing into the barracks with -all his trappings on. There are few battlefields honourable to Britain -where the Welsh Fusileers have not left their bones. The colours which -wave over their ranks show a goodly list of hard-won honours--"bloody -and hard-won honours," says a writer. "Arthur himself, Cadwallader, -Glendower, and many an ancient Cambrian chief, might in ghostly -form--if ghosts can grudge--envy their bold descendants the fame of -these modern exploits, and confess that the lance and the corselet, -the falchion and the mace, have done no greater deeds than those of -the firelock and the buff-belt, the bayonet and sixty rounds of -ball-cartridge." On their colours are the two badges of Edward the -Black Prince--the Rising Sun and the Red Dragon; "a dragon addorsed -gules, passant, on a mountain vert," as the heralds have it. This was -the ancient symbol of the Cambrian Principality, with the significant -motto, _Ich dien_, "I serve." And now, at the very time the Urgent was -entering the Mediterranean, the regiment was on its way, with others, -to win fresh laurels by the shores of the Black Sea; and with his -horns gaily gilded, and a handsome, regimental, silver plate clasped -on his forehead, Cameydd Llewellyn, whilom the caressed pet of the -gentle Winny Lloyd, was landing with them at Kalamita Bay, and the -hordes of Menschikoff were pouring forward from Sebastopol.[2] - - - - -CHAPTER XXX.--NEWS OF BATTLE. - - -We came in sight of Malta at daybreak on the 28th of September, and -about noon dropped our anchor in the Marsamuscetta, or quarantine -harbour, where all ships under the rank of a frigate must go. This -celebrated isle, the master-key of the Mediterranean, the link that -connects us with Egypt and India, was a new scene to me. Mostyn and -some others on board the Urgent had been quartered there before, and -while I was surveying the vast strength of its batteries of white -sandstone, with those apparently countless cannon, that peer through -the deep embrasures, or frown _en barbette_ over the sea; the quaint -appearance of those streets of stairs, which Byron anathematised; the -singular architecture of the houses, so Moorish in style and aspect, -with heavy, overhanging balconies and flat roofs all connected, so -that the dwellers therein can make a common promenade of them; the -groups of picturesque, half-nude, and tawny Maltese; the monks and -clerical students in rusty black cloaks and triangular hats; the Greek -sailors, in short jackets and baggy blue breeches; the numbers of -scarlet uniforms, and those of the Chasseurs de Vincennes (for two -French three-deckers full of the latter had just come in); the naked -boys who dived for halfpence in the harbour, and jabbered a dialect -that was more Arabic than Italian--while surveying all this from the -poop, through my field-glass, Mostyn was pointing out to me the great -cathedral of St. John, some of the auberges of the knights, and -anticipating the pleasure of a fruit lunch in the Strada Reale, a -drive to Monte Benjemma, a dinner at Morell's, in the Strada Forni, a -cigar on the ramparts, and then dropping into the opera-house, which -was built by the Grand-master Manoel Vilhena, and where the best -singers from La Scala may be heard in the season; and Price of ours -was already soft and poetical in the ideas of faldettas of lace, black -eyes, short skirts, and taper ankles, and anticipating or suggesting -various soft things. While the soldiers clustered in the waist, as -thick as bees, the officers were all busy with their lorgnettes on the -poop, or in preparation for a run ashore, when the bells of Valetta -began to ring a merry peal, the ships in the harbour to show all their -colours, and a gun flashed redly from the massive granite ramparts of -St. Elmo, a place of enormous strength, having in its lower bastions a -sunk barrack, capable of holding two thousand infantry. - -"Another gun!" exclaimed little Tom Clavell, as a second cannon sent -its peal over the flat roofs, and another; "a salute, by Jove! What is -up--is this an anniversary?" - -It was _no_ anniversary, however, and on the troopship coming to -anchor in the crowded and busy harbour, and the quarantine boat coming -on board, we soon learned what was "up;" the news spread like -lightning through the vessel, from lip to lip and ear to ear; the hum -grew into a roar, and ended in the soldiers and sailors giving three -hearty cheers, to which many responded from other ships, and from the -shore; while the bands of the Chasseurs de Vincennes, on board the -three-deckers, struck up the "Marseillaise." - -News had just come in that four days ago a battle had been fought by -Lord Raglan and Marshal St. Arnaud at a place called the Alma in Crim -Tartary; that the allied troops after terrible slaughter were -victorious, and the Russians were in full retreat. That evening a few -of us dined at the mess of the Buffs, a battalion of which was -quartered in the castle of St. Elmo. The officers occupied one of the -knights' palaces--the Auberge de Bavière--near that bastion where the -Scottish hero of Alexandria is lying in the grave that so becomes his -fate and character. This auberge is a handsome building overlooking -the blue sea, which almost washes its walls; and there we heard the -first hasty details of that glorious battle, the story of which filled -our hearts with regret and envy that we had not borne a share in it, -and which formed a source of terrible anxiety to the poor wives of -many officers who had left them behind at Malta, and who could only -see the fatal lists after their transmission to London. We heard the -brief story of that tremendous uphill charge made by the Light -Division--the Welsh Fusileers, the 19th, 33rd, 88th, and other -regiments--supported by the Guards and Highlanders; that the 33rd -alone had _nineteen_ reliefs shot under their two colours, which were -perforated by sixty-five bullet-holes. We heard how Colonel Chesters -of ours, and eight of his officers, fell dead at the same moment, and -that Charley Gwynne, Phil Caradoc, and many more were wounded. - -"On, on, my gallant 23rd!" were the last words of Chesters, as he fell -from his horse. - -We heard how two of our boy ensigns, Buller and little Anstruther of -Balcaskie, were shot dead with the colours in their hands; how -Connelly, Wynne, young Radcliffe, and many more, all fell sword in -hand; how the regiment had fought like tigers, and that Sir George -Brown, after his horse was shot under him, led them on foot, with his -hat in his hand, crying, "Hurrah for the Royal Welsh! Come on, my -boys!" - -And on they went, till Private Evans planted the Red Dragon on the -great redoubt, where nine hundred men were lying dead. The heights -were taken by a rush, and the first gun captured from the Russians was -by Major Bell of ours, who brought it out of the field. A passionate -glow of triumph and exultation filled my heart; I felt proud of our -army, but of my regiment in particular, for the brave fellows of the -Buffs were loud in their commendations of the 23rd; proud that I wore -the same uniform and the same badges in which so many had perished -with honour. None but a soldier, perhaps, can feel or understand all -this, or that _esprit de corps_ already referred to, and which sums up -love of country, kindred, pride of self and profession, in one. But -anon came the chilling and mortifying thought that I enjoyed only -reflected honours. Why was I now seated amid the splendour and luxury -of a mess in the Auberge de Bavière? Why was I not yonder, where so -many had won glory or a grave? How provoking was the chance, the mere -chain of military contingencies, by which I had lost all participation -in that great battle, the first fought in Europe since Waterloo--this -Alma, that was now in all men's mouths, and in the heart of many a -wife and mother, fought and won while we had been sailing on the sea, -and while the unconscious folks at home throughout the British Isles -were going about their peaceful avocations; when thousands of men and -women, parents and wives, whose tenderest thoughts were with our -gallant little host, were ignorant that those they loved best on earth -perhaps were already cold, mutilated, and buried in hasty graves -beneath its surface, in a place before unheard of, or by them unknown. - -So great was the slaughter in my own regiment, that though I was only -a lieutenant, there seemed to be every prospect of my winning ere long -the huge spurs won by Toby Purcell at the Boyne Water; but my turn of -sharp service was coming; for, though I could not foresee it all then, -Inkermann was yet to be fought, the Quarries to be contested, the -Mamelon and Redan to be stormed, and Sebastopol itself had yet to -fall. Had I shared in that battle by the Alma, I might have perished, -and been lost to Estelle for ever; leaving her, perhaps, to be wooed -and won by another, when I was dead and forgotten like the last year's -snow. This reflection cooled my ardour a little; for love made me -selfish, or disposed to be more economical of my person, after my -enthusiasm and the fumes of the Buffs' champagne passed away; and now -from Malta I wrote the first letter I had ever addressed to her, full -of what the reader may imagine, and sent with it a suite of those -delicate and beautiful gold filigree ornaments, for the manufacture of -which the Maltese jewellers are so famed; and when I sealed my packet -at the Clarendon in the Strada San Paola, I sighed while reflecting -that I could receive no answer to it, with assurances of her love and -sorrow, until after I had been face to face with those same Muscovites -whom my comrades had hurled from the heights of the Alma. - -Three days after this intelligence arrived we quitted Malta, and had a -fair and rapid run for the Dardanelles. The first morning found us, -with many a consort full of troops, skirting, under easy sail, the -barren-looking isle of Cerigo--of old, the fabled abode of the goddess -of love, now the Botany Bay of the Ionians; its picturesque old town -and fort encircled by a chain of bare, brown, and rugged mountains, -whose peaks the rising sun was tipping with fire. As if to remind us -that we were near the land of Minerva, and of the curious Ascalaphus, - - - "Begat in Stygian shades - On Orphnè, famed among Avernal maids," - - -many little dusky owls perched on the yards and booms, where they -permitted themselves to be caught. Ere long the Isthmus of Corinth -came in sight--that long tract of rock connecting the bleak-looking -Morea with the Grecian continent, and uniting two chains of lofty -mountains, the classical names of which recalled the days of our -school-boy tasks; thence on to Candia, the hills of which rose so pale -and white from the deep indigo blue of the sea, that they seemed as if -sheeted with the snow of an early winter; but when we drew nearer the -shore, the land-wind wafted towards us the aromatic odour that arises -from the rank luxuriance of the vast quantity of flowers and shrubs -which there grow wild, and form food for the wild goats and hares. - -Every hour produced some new, or rather ancient, object of interest as -we ploughed the classic waters of the Ægean Sea, and no man among us, -who had read and knew the past glories, traditions, and poetry of the -shores we looked on, could hear uttered without deep interest the -names of those isles and bays--that on yonder plain, as we skirted the -mainland of Asia, stood the Troy of Priam; that yonder hill towering -in the background, a purple cone against a golden sky, was Mount Ida -capped with snow, Scamander flowing at its foot; Ida, where Paris, the -princely shepherd, adjudged the prize of beauty to Venus, and whence -the assembled gods beheld the Trojan strife; for every rock and peak -we looked on was full of the memories of ancient days, and of that -"bright land of battle and of song," which Byron loved with all a -poet's enthusiasm. Dusk was closing as we entered the Hellespont; the -castles of Europe and Asia were, however, distinctly visible, and we -could see the red lights that shone in the Turkish fort, and the -windmills whirling on the Sigean promontory, as we glided, with -squared yards, before a fair and steady breeze, into those famous -straits which Mohammed IV. fortified to secure his city and fleets -against the fiery energy of the Venetians; and now, as I do not mean -"to talk guide-book," our next chapter will find us in the land of -strife and toil, of battle and the pest; in that Crim Tartary which, -to so many among us, was to prove the land of death and doom. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXI.-UNDER CANVAS. - - -The 4th of October found me with my regiment (my detachment "handed -over," and responsibility, so far as it was concerned, past) before -Sebastopol, which our army had now environed, on _one_ side at least. -And now I was face to face with the Russians at last, and war had -become a terrible reality. Tents had been landed, and all the troops -were fairly under canvas. Our camp was strengthened by a chain of -intrenchments dug all round it, and connected with those of the -French, which extended to the sea on their left, while our right lay -towards the valley of Inkermann, at the entrance of which, on a chalky -cliff, 190 feet high at its greatest elevation, rose the city of -Sebastopol, with all its lofty white mansions, that ran in parallel -streets up the steep acclivity. In memory I can see it now, as I used -to see it then, from the trenches, the advanced rifle-pits, or through -the triangular door of my tent, with all its green-domed churches, its -great round frowning batteries, forts Alexander and Constantine and -others, perforated for cannon, tier above tier; and far inland -apparently, for a distance after even the suburbs had ceased, were -seen the tall slender masts of the numerous shipping that had taken -shelter in the far recesses of the harbour, nearly to the mouth of the -Tchernaya, from our fleets (which now commanded all the Black Sea). -And a pretty sight they formed in a sunny day, when all their white -canvas was hanging idly on the yards to dry. - -Nearer the mouth of the great harbour were the enormous dark hulls of -the line-of-battle ships--the Three Godheads of 120 guns, the -Silistria of 84, the Paris and Constantine, 120 each, and other -vessels of that splendid fleet which was soon after sunk to bar our -entrance. Daily the Russians threw shot and shell at us, while we -worked hard to get under cover. The sound of those missiles was -strange and exciting at first to the ears of the uninitiated; but -after a time the terrible novelty of it passed away, or was heard with -indifference; and with indifference, too, even those who had not been -at Alma learned to look on the killed and wounded, who were daily and -nightly borne from the trenches to the rear, the latter to be under -the care of the toil-worn surgeons, and the former to lie for a time -in the dead-tents. The siege-train was long in arriving. "War tries -the strength of the military framework," says Napier. "It is in peace -the framework itself must be formed, otherwise barbarians would be the -leading soldiers of the world. _A perfect army can only be made by -civil institutions_." Yet with us such was the state of the -"framework," by the results of a beggarly system of political economy, -that when war was declared--a war after forty years of peace--our -arsenals had not a sufficient quantity of shells for the first -battering-train, and the fuses issued had been in store rotting and -decaying since the days of Toulouse and Waterloo. This was but one -among the many instances of gross mismanagement which characterised -many arrangements of the expedition. And taking advantage of the -delays, nightly the Russians, with marvellous rapidity, were throwing -up additional batteries of enormous strength, mounted with cannon -taken from the six line-of-battle ships which, by a desperate -resolve of Prince Menschikoff's, were ultimately sunk across the -harbour-mouth, where we could see the sea-birds, scared by the adverse -cannonade, perching at times on their masts and royal-yards, which -long remained visible above the water. Occasionally our war-steamers -came near, and then their crews amused themselves by throwing shells -into the town. Far up the inlet lay a Russian man-of-war, with a -cannon ingeniously slung in her rigging. The shot from this, as they -could slue it in any direction, greatly annoyed our sappers, and -killed many of them, before one well-directed ball silenced it for -ever. - -Two thousand seamen with their officers, forming the Naval Brigade of -gallant memory, were landed from our fleet, bringing with them a -magnificent battering-train of ship-guns of the largest calibre; and -these hardy and active fellows lent most efficient aid in dragging -their ordnance and the stores over the rough and hilly ground that -lies between Balaclava and the city. They were all in exuberant -spirits at the prospect of a protracted "spree" ashore; for as such -they viewed the circumstance of their forming a part of the combined -forces destined to take Sebastopol, and they amused and astonished the -redcoats by their freaks and pranks under fire, and their ready -alacrity, jollity, and muscular strength. Guns of enormous weight and -long range were fast being brought into position; the trenches were -"pushed" with vigour; and now the work of a regular siege--the -consecutive history of which forms no part of my narrative--was begun -in stern earnest when the batteries opened on the 16th October. Our -armies were placed in a semicircle, commanding the southern side of -this great fortified city and arsenal of the Black Sea. They were in -full possession of the heights which overlook it, and were most -favourably posted for the usual operations of a siege, which would -never have been necessary had it been entered after Alma was won. A -deep and beautiful ravine, intersecting the elevated ground, extended -from the harbour of the doomed city to Balaclava, dividing the area of -the allied camp into two portions. The French, I have said, were on -the left, and we held the right. - -On the very day our batteries opened, I received the notification of -my appointment to a company. This rapid promotion was consequent to -the sad casualties of the Alma; and two days after, when the -trench-guards were relieved, and I came off duty before daybreak, I -crept back to my tent cold, miserable, and weary, to find my man -Evans--brother of the gallant private of the same name who planted the -Red Dragon on the great redoubt--busy preparing a breakfast for -_three_, with the information that Caradoc and Gwynne, who had been on -board the Hydaspes, an hospital ship for officers, had rejoined the -night before, and had added their repast to mine for the sake of -society. But food and other condiments were already scarce in the -camp, and tidings that they had come from Balaclava with their -haversacks _full_, caused more than one hungry fellow to visit my -humble abode, the canvas walls of which flapped drearily in the wind, -that came sweeping up the valley of Inkermann. Without undressing, as -the morning was almost in, I threw myself upon my camp-bed, which -served me in lieu of a sofa, and strove, with the aid of a plaid, a -railway-rug, and blanket, to get some warmth into my limbs, after the -chill of a night spent in the damp trenches; while Evans, poor fellow, -was doing his best to boil our green and ill-ground coffee in a -camp-kettle on a fire made of half-dried drift-wood, outside my tent, -which was pitched in a line with thousands of others, on the slope of -the hill that overlooked the valley where the Tchernaya flows. Though -the season was considerably advanced now, the days were hot, but the -nights were correspondingly chill; and at times a white dense fog came -rolling up from the Euxine, rendering still greater the discomfort of -a bell-tent, as it penetrated every crevice, and rendered everything -therein--one's bedding and wearing apparel, even that which was packed -in overlands and bullock-trunks--damp, while sugar, salt, and bread -became quite moist. Luckily, somehow it did not seem to affect our -ammunition. Then there came high winds, which blew every night, -whistling over the hill-tops, singing amongst the tent-ropes, and -bellowing down the valley of Inkermann. - -These blasts sometimes cast the tent-ropes loose by uprooting the -pegs, causing fears lest the pole--whereon hung the revolvers, swords, -pans, and kettles of the occupants--might snap, and compel them, when -hoping to enjoy a comfortable night's rest off duty, to come forth -shivering from bed to grope for the loosened pegs amid the muddy soil -or wet grass, and by the aid of a stone or a stray shot--if the mallet -was not forthcoming--to secure them once more. This might be varied by -a shower of rain, which sputtered in your face as you lay abed, till -the canvas became thoroughly wetted, and so tightened. Anon it might -shrink; then the ropes would strain, and unless you were in time to -relax them, down might come the whole domicile in a wet mass on those -who were within it. Now and then a random shot fired from Sebastopol, -or the whistling shell, with a sound like t'wit-t'wit-t'wit, -describing a fiery arc as it soared athwart the midnight sky on its -errand of destruction, varied the silence and darkness of the hour. -The clink of shovels and pickaxes came ever and anon from the -trenches, where the miners and working-parties were pushing their sap -towards the city. The sentinels walked their weary round, or stood -still, each on his post shivering, it might be, in the passing blast, -but looking fixedly and steadily towards the enemy. The rest slept -soundly after their day of toil and danger, watching, starvation, and -misery; forgetful of the Russian watchfires that burned in the -distance, heedless of the perils of the coming day, and of _where_ the -coming night might find them. And so the night would pass, till the -morning bugle sounded; then the stir and bustle began, and there was -no longer rest for any, from the general of the day down to the goat -of the Welsh Fusileers; the cooking, and cleaning of arms, parade of -reliefs for outpost and the trenches, proceeded; but these without -sound of trumpet or drum, as men detailed for such duties do -everything silently; neither do their sentries take any complimentary -notice of officers passing near their posts. Ere long a thousand white -puffs, spirting up from the broken ground between us and the city, -would indicate the rifle-pits, where the skirmishers lay _en perdue_, -taking quiet pot-shots at each other from behind stones, caper-bushes, -sand-bags, and sap-rollers; and shimmering through haze and smoke--the -blue smoke of the "villainous saltpetre"--rose the city itself, with -its green spires and domes, white mansions, and bristling batteries. - -And so I saw it through the tent-door as the morning drew on, and the -golden sunshine began to stream down the long valley of Inkermann, -"the city of caverns;" while our foragers were on the alert, and -Turkish horses laden with hay, and strings of low four-wheeled arabas, -driven by Tartars in fur skull-caps, brown jackets, and loose white -trousers, would vary the many costumes of the camp. And the morning -sunshine fell on other things which were less lively,--the long mounds -of fresh earth where the dead lay, many of them covered with white -lime dust to insure speedy decay. And then began that daily cannonade -against the city--the cannonade that was to last till we _alone_ -expended more than one hundred thousand barrels of gunpowder, and -heaven alone knows how many tons of shot and shell. - -Often I lay in that tent, with the roar of the guns in my ears, -pondering over the comfort of stone walls, of English sea-coal fires, -and oftener still of her who was so far away, she so nobly born and -rich, surrounded, as I knew she must always be, by all that wealth and -luxury, rank and station could confer; and I thought longingly, "O for -aunt Margaret's mirror, or Surrey's magic glass, or for the far-seeing -telescope of the nursery tale, that I might see her once again!" -Estelle's promises of writing to me had not been fulfilled as yet, or -her answers to my loving and earnest letters from Malta and the Crimea -had miscarried. - -"Welcome, Caradoc! welcome, Gwynne!" cried I, springing off the -camp-bed as my two friends entered the tent, of which I was the sole -occupant, as my lieutenant was on board the Hydaspes ill with fever, -and my ensign, a poor boy fresh from Westminster school, was under one -of the horrid mounds in the shot-strewn valley. - -"Harry, old fellow, how are you?--how goes it? Missed the Alma, eh?" -said they cheerfully, as we warmly shook hands. - -"All the better, perhaps," said Mostyn, who now joined us, while Price -and Clavell soon after dropped in also; so two had to sit on the -camp-bed, while the rest squatted on chests or buckets, and as for a -table, we never missed it. - -"And you were hit, Caradoc?" - -"In the calf of the left leg, Harry, prodded by the rusty bayonet of a -fellow who lay wounded on the ground, and who continued to fire -_after_ us when we had left him in the rear, till one of ours gave him -the _coup de grâce_ with the butt-end of his musket. Would you believe -it?--the goat went up hill with us, and I couldn't, even while the -bullets fell like hail about us, resist caressing it, for the sake of -the donor." - -"Poor Winny Lloyd!" - -"Why poor?" asked Phil. - -"Well, pretty, then. I saw her just before I left Southampton." - -"This goat seems to be the peculiar care of Caradoc," said Gwynne; "he -rivals its keeper, little Dicky Roll the drummer, in his anxiety to -procure leaves, and buds of spurge, birch, and bird-cherry for it." - -Phil Caradoc laughed, and muttered something about being "fond of -animals;" but a soft expression was in his handsome brown eyes, and I -knew he was thinking of sweet Winifred Lloyd, of his bootless suit, -and the pleasant woods of Craigaderyn. - -"And you, Charley, were hit, too? Saw your name in the _Gazette_," -said I. - -"A ball right through the left fore-arm, clean as a whistle; but it is -almost well." - -"And now to breakfast. Look sharp, Evans, there's a good fellow! A -morning walk from Balaclava to the front gives one an appetite," said -I. - -"Yes, that one may not often have, like us, the wherewith to satisfy. -An appetite is the most troublesome thing one can have in the vicinity -of Sebastopol," replied Phil. - -A strange-looking group we were when contrasted with our appearance -when last we met. - -Probably not one of us had enjoyed the luxury of a complete wash for a -week, and the use of the razor having long been relinquished, our -beards rivalled that of Carneydd Llewellyn in size, if not in hue. The -scarlet uniforms, with lace and wings[3] of gold, in which we had -landed, we had marched and fought and slept in for weeks, were purple, -covered with discolorations, and patched with any stuff that came to -hand. Our trousers had turned from Oxford gray to something of a red -hue, with Crimean mud. Each of us had a revolver in his sash (which we -then wore round the waist), and a canvas haversack or well-worn -courier-bag slung over his shoulder, to contain whatever he might pick -up, beg, borrow, or buy (some were less particular) in the shape of -biscuits, eggs, fowls, or potatoes. Caradoc carried a dead duck by the -legs as he entered, and Charley Gwynne had a loaf of Russian bread -hung by a cord over his left shoulder, like a pilgrim at La Scala -Santa; while Price had actually secured a lump of cheese from the wife -of a Tartar, a fair one, with whom the universal lover had found -favour when foraging in the lovely Baidar Valley. We were already too -miserable to laugh at each other's appearance, and our tatters had -ceased to be a matter of novelty. If such was the condition of our -officers, that of the privates was fully worse; and thanks to our -wretched commissariat and ambulance arrangements, the splendid -_physique_ of our men had begun to disappear; but their pluck was -undying as ever. - -On this morning we six were to have a breakfast such as rarely fell to -our lot in the Crimea; for Evans, my Welsh factotum and _fidus -Achates_, was a clever fellow, and speedily had prepared for us, at a -fire improvised under the shelter of a rock, a large kettle of -steaming coffee, which, sans milk, we drank from tin canteens, -tumblers, or anything suitable, and Gwynne's loaf was shared -fraternally among us, together with a brace of fowls found by him in a -Tartar cottage. "Lineal descendants of the cock that crew to Mahomet, -no doubt," said he; "and now, thanks to Evans, there they are, brown, -savoury, appetising, gizzard under one wing, liver under the -other--done to a turn, and on an old ramrod." - -And while discussing them, the events of the siege were also -discussed, as coolly as we were wont to do the most ordinary field -man[oe]uvres at home. - -"The deuce!" said I, "how the breeze comes under the wall of this -wretched tent!" - -"Don't abuse the tent, Harry," said Caradoc; "I am thankful to find -myself in one, after being on board the Hydaspes. It must be a -veritable luxury to be able to sleep, even on a camp-bed and alone, -after being in a hospital, with one sufferer on your right, another on -your left, dead or dying, groaning and in agony. May God kindly keep -us all from the 'bloody hospital of Scutari,' after all I have heard -of it!" - -"You were with us last night in the trenches, Mostyn?" said I. - -"Yes, putting Gwynne's Hythe theories into practice from a rifle pit. -I am certain that I potted at least three of the Ruskies as coolly as -ever I did grouse in Scotland. All squeamishness has left me now, -though I could not help shuddering when first I saw a man's heels in -the air, after firing at him. You will never guess what happened on -our left. A stout vivandière of the 3rd Zouaves, while in the act of -giving me a _petit verre_ from her little keg, was taken--" - -"By the enemy?" exclaimed Price. - -"Not at all--with the pains of maternity; and actually while the shot -and shell were flying over our heads." - -"And what were the trench casualties?" asked Gwynne. - -"About a hundred and twenty of all ranks, killed, wounded, and -missing. A piece more of the fowl--thanks." - -"A guardsman was killed last night, I have heard," said Hugh Price. - -"Yes; poor Evelyn of the Coldstreams; he was first blinded by dust and -earth blown into his eyes by the ricochetting of a 36-pound shot, and -as he was groping about in an exposed place between the gabions, he -fell close by me." - -"Wounded?" - -"Mortally--hit in the head; he' was just able to whisper some woman's -name, and then expired. He purchased all his steps up to the majority, -so there's a pot of money gone. I think I could enjoy a quiet weed -now; but, Clavell, there was surely an awful shindy in your quarter -last night?" - -"Yes," replied Tom, who, since he had been under fire, seemed to have -grown an inch taller; "a sortie." - -"A sortie?" said two or three, laughing. - -"Well, something deuced like it," said Tom, testily, as he stroked the -place where his moustache was to be. "I was asleep between the gabions -about twelve at night, when all at once a terrible uproar awoke me. -'Stand to your arms, men, stand to your arms!' cried our adjutant; -'the Russians are scouring the trenches!' I sprang up, and tumbled -against a bulky brute in a spike-helmet and long coat, with a smoking -revolver in his hand, just as a sergeant of ours shot him. It was all -confusion--I can tell you nothing about it; but we will see it all in -the _Times_ by and by. 'Sound for the reserves!' cried one. 'By God, -they have taken the second parallel!' cried another. 'Fire!' 'Don't -fire yet!' But our recruits began to blaze away at random. The -Russians, however, fell back; it might have been only a reconnoitring -party; but, anyhow, they have levanted with the major of the 93rd -Highlanders." - -"The deuce they have!" we exclaimed. And this episode of the major's -capture was to have more interest for me than I could then foresee. - -"These cigars, five in number," continued Tom, "were given to me by a -poor dying Zouave, who had lost his way and fallen among us. I gave -him a mouthful of brandy from my canteen, after which he said, Take -these, monsieur l'officier; they are all I have in the world now, and, -as you smoke them, think of poor Paul Ferrière of the 3rd Zouaves, -once a jolly student of the Ecole de Médecine, dying now, like a -beggar's dog!' he added, bitterly. 'Nay,' said I, 'like a brave -soldier.' 'Monsieur is right,' said he, with a smile. Our surgeons -could do nothing for him, and so he expired quite easily, while -watching his own blood gradually filling up a hole in the earth near -him!" - -"Well, the Crimea, bad as it is," said Caradoc, as he prepared and lit -one of the Frenchman's cigars, "is better than serving in India, I -think; 'that union of well-born paupers,' as some fellow has it, 'a -penal servitude for those convicted of being younger sons.'" - -"By Jove, I can't agree with you," said Mostyn, who had served in -India, and was also a younger son; "but glory is a fine thing, no -doubt." - -"Glory be hanged!" said Gwynne, testily; "a little bit of it goes a -long way with me." - -"See, there go some of the Naval Brigade to have a little ball -practice with a big Lancaster!" cried Tom Clavell, starting to the -tent-door. - -"Getting another gun into position apparently," added Raymond Mostyn. - -As they spoke, a party of seamen, whiskered and bronzed, armed with -cutlasses and pistols, their officers with swords drawn, swept past -the tent-door at a swinging trot, all singing cheerily a forecastle -song, of which the monotonous burden seemed to be, - - - "O that I had her, _O_ that I had her, - Seated on my knee! - O that I had her, _O_ that I had her, - A black girl though she be!" - - -tallying on the while to the drag-ropes of a great Lancaster gun, -which they trundled up the slope, crushing stones, caper-bushes, and -everything under its enormous grinding wheels, till they got it into -position; and a loud ringing cheer, accompanied by a deep and sullen -boom, ere long announced that they had slued it round and sent one -more globe of iron to add to the hundreds that were daily hurled -against Sebastopol. On this occasion the fire of this especial -Lancaster gun was ordered to be directed against a bastion on the -extreme left of the city, where the officer in command, a man of -remarkable bravery, who had led several sorties against us, seemed to -work his cannon and direct their fire with uncommon skill; and it was -hoped that we should ere long dismount or disable them, and if -possible breach the place. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXII.--IN THE TRENCHES. - - -It was while the infantry and Naval Brigade were still before -Sebastopol, toiling, trenching, and pounding with cannon and mortar at -all its southern side, we had our ardour fired, our enthusiasm -kindled, and our sorrow keenly excited by the tidings of that glorious -but terrible death ride, the charge of the six hundred cavalry at -Balaclava; and of how only one hundred and fifty came alive out of -that mouth of fire, the valley where rained "the red artillery"--the -13th Hussars were said to have brought only twelve men out of the -action, and the 17th Lancers twenty--and how nobly they were avenged -by our "heavies" under the gallant Scarlett; and of the stern stand -made against six thousand Russian horse by the "thin red line" of the -Sutherland Highlanders. - -On the day these tidings were circulated in the trenches by many who -had witnessed the events, we seemed to redouble our energies, and shot -and shell were poured with greater fury than ever on the city, while -sharper, nearer, and more deadly were the contests of man and man in -the rifle-pits between it and the trenches. Then followed the sortie -made by Menschikoff, supposing that most of the allied forces had been -drawn towards Balaclava--a movement met by the infantry and artillery -of the second division under Sir De Lacy Evans, and repulsed with a -slaughter which naturally added to the hatred on both sides; and -innumerable were the stories told, and authenticated, of the Russians -murdering our helpless wounded in cold blood. On the night of the 2nd -November I was again in the trenches opposite to the eastern flank of -Sebastopol, the whole regiment being on duty covering the batteries -and working-parties. - -The day passed as usual in exciting and desultory firing, the Russians -and our fellows watching each other like lynxes, and never missing an -opportunity for taking a quiet shot at each other. A strong battalion -of the former was in our front, lurking among some mounds and thick -_abattis_, formed of trees felled and pegged to the earth with their -branches towards us; and above the barrier and the broken ground that -lay between it and the advanced trench-ground, strewed with fragments -of rusty iron nails, broken bottles, and the other amiable contents of -exploded bombs, torn, rent, upheaved, or sunk into deep holes by the -explosion of mines and countermines, shells and rockets, we could see -their bearded visages, their flat caps and tall figures, cross-belted -and clad in long gray shapeless coats, as from time to time they -yelled and started up to take aim at some unwary Welsh Fusileer, -heedless that from some _other_ point some comrade's bullet avenged -him, or anticipated his fate. To attempt a description of the trenches -to a non-military reader, in what Byron terms "engineering slang," -would be useless, perhaps; suffice it to say that we were pretty -secure from round shot, but never from shells, the trenches or zigzags -being dug fairly parallel to the opposing batteries, with a thick bank -of earth towards Sebastopol, a banquette for our men to mount on when -firing became necessary. - -Near us was a battery manned by our Royal Artillery--the guns being -run through rude portholes made in the earthen bank, with the addition -of sand-bags, baskets, and stuffed gabions, to protect the gunners. -All was in splendid order there: the breeching-guns ever ready for -action; the sponges, rammers, and handspikes lying beside the wheels; -the shot piled close by as tidily as if in Woolwich-yard; the carbines -of the men placed in racks against the gabions; the officers laughing -over an old _Punch_, or making sketches, varied by caricatures of the -Russians, their men sitting close by in their greatcoats, smoking and -singing while awaiting orders, and listening with perfect indifference -to the casual dropping fire maintained by us against the enemy in the -abbatis or pits along our front, though almost every shot was the -knell of a human existence. - -Death and danger were now strangely familiar to us all, and we cared -as little for the _whish_ of a round bullet or the sharp _ping_ of the -Minie, while it cut the air, as for the deep hoarse booming of the -breaching-guns; it was the cry of "bomb!" from the look out men, that -usually made us start, and sprawl on our faces, or scamper away, for -shelter, to crouch with our heads stooped in our favourite or fancied -places of security among the gabions, till a soaring monster, with -death and mutilation in its womb, with its hoarse puffing that rose to -a whistle, concussed all the air by the crash of its explosion. - -Our men were all in their greatcoats, with their white belts outside; -and, save when a section or so started angrily to arms, as those -fellows in the abattis became more annoying, they sat quietly on the -ground or against the wall of the trench, smoking, chatting with -perfect equanimity, and occasionally taking a sip of rum or raki from -their canteens; for, after weeks and months of this kind of duty, -especially after the severity of the Crimean war set in, our older -soldiers seemed utterly indifferent as to whether they lived or died. - -All of them, even such boys as Tom Clavell, had been front to front -with death, again and again. Among ourselves, even, there was an -incessant scramble for food; hence in the expression of their -faces and eyes there was something hard, set, fierce, and -undefinable--half-wolfish at times, devil-may-care always; for in a -few weeks after the landing at Eupatoria, they had seen more and lived -longer than one can do in years upon years of a life of peace. - -"What do you see, Hugh, that you look so earnestly to the front?" I -asked of Price, who was lying on his breast with a rifle close beside -him, and his field-glass, to which his eyes were applied, wedged in a -cranny between two sand-bags. - -"A Russian devil has made a bolt out of the abattis into yonder hole -made by a shell." - -"And what of that?" - -"I am waiting to pot him, as he can't stay there long," replied Price, -usually the best of good-natured fellows, but now looking with a -tiger-like stare through the same lorgnette which he had used on many -a day at the Derby, and many a night at the opera; "there he comes," -he added. In a moment the Minie rifle, already sighted, was firmly at -the shoulder of Price, who fired; a mass like a gray bundle, with -hands and arms outspread, rolled over and over again on the ground, -and then lay still; at _another_ time it might have seemed most -terribly still! - -"Potted, by Jove!" exclaimed Hugh, as he restored the rifle to -Sergeant Rhuddlan, and quietly resumed his cigar. - -"A jolly good shot, sir, at four hundred yards," added the -non-commissioned officer, as he proceeded to reload and cap. - -At that time the life of a Russian was deemed by us of no more account -than that of a hare or rabbit in the shooting season; but, if reckless -of the lives of others, it must be remembered that we were equally -reckless of our own; and, with all its horrors, war is not without -producing some of the gentler emotions. Thus, even on those weary, -exciting, and perilous days and nights in the trenches, under the -influence of _camaraderie_, of general danger, and the most common -chance of a sudden and terrible death, men grew communicative, and -while interchanging their canteens and tobacco-pouches they were apt -to speak of friends and relations that were far away: the old mother, -whose nightly prayers went up for the absent; the ailing sister, who -had died since war had been declared; the absent wife, left on the -shore at Southampton with a begging-pass to her own parish; the little -baby that had been born since the transport sailed; the old fireside, -where their place remained vacant, their figure but a shadowy -remembrance; the girls they had left behind them; their -disappointments in life; their sorrows and joys and hopes for the -future; the green lanes, the green fields, the pleasant and familiar -places they never more might see: and officers and privates talked of -such things in common; so true it is that - - - "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." - - -On the 3rd of November, Caradoc and I were sitting in a sheltered -corner, between the gabions, chatting on some of the themes I have -enumerated, when a little commotion was observable among our men, and -we saw the adjutant and the major--the worthy holder of Toby Purcell's -spurs, he who had carried off the first gun at Alma, B-- of ours, -and who, since Colonel Chesters was killed, had commanded the -regiment--coming directly towards us. - -"What the deuce is up?" said I. - -"Their faces look important," added Caradoc. - -"Sorry to disturb you; not that there is much pleasure here, -certainly," said the major, smiling; "but the adjutant tells me that -you, Hardinge, are the first officer for duty." - -"We are all on duty," replied I, laughing; "if we are not, I don't -know what duty is. Well, major, what is to be done?" - -"You are to convey a message from Lord Raglan into Sebastopol." - -"To Sebastopol?" - -"Yes, to that pleasant city by the sea," said the adjutant. - -"To Prince Menschikoff?" - -"No," replied the major; "to the officer commanding the nearest post." - -"Under a flag of truce?" - -"Of course; it would be perilous work otherwise." - -"About what is the message?" - -"The capture of Major MacG--, of the 93rd, who was carried off by a -kind of sortie the other night, and who is supposed to have been -afterwards killed in cold blood." - -The seizure of the major of the Sutherland Highlanders, a brave old -fellow who had on his breast medals for Candahar, Afghanistan, and -Maharajapore, had created much interest in the army at this time, when -we so readily believed the Russians liable to commit atrocities on -wounded and prisoners. - -"Lord Raglan wishes distinct information on the subject," added the -adjutant, after a pause. - -"All right, I am his man," said I, starting up and looking carefully -to the chambers and capping of my Colt, ere I replaced it in its -pouch; and knocking some dust and mud off my somewhat dilapidated -regimentals, added, "now for a drummer and a flag of truce." - -"You are to go to the officer in command of that bastion on the -Russian left," said the major. - -"To that wasp of a fellow who is so active, and whose scoundrels have -killed so many of our wounded men, firing even on the burial parties?" - -"The same. You must be sharp, wary, and watchful." - -"His name?" - -"Ah, that you may perhaps learn, not that it matters much; even Lord -Raglan cannot know that; but, doubtless, it will be something like a -sneeze or two, ending in 'off' or 'iski.'" - -"Success, Harry!" cried Caradoc. - -A few minutes after this saw me issue from the trenches of the right -attack, attended by Dicky Roll, with his drum slung before him; in my -right hand I carried a Cossack lance, to which a white handkerchief of -the largest dimensions was attached to attract attention, as the -Russians were not particular to a shade as to what or whom they fired -on, and the cruel and infamous massacre of an English boat's crew at -Hango was fresh in the minds of us all; consequently I was not without -feeling a certain emotion of anxiety, mingled with ardour and joy at -the prospect of Estelle seeing my name in the despatches, as Dicky and -I now advanced into the broken and open ground that lay between our -parallel and the abattis, amid which I saw head after head appear, as -the white emblem I bore announced that _pro tem_, hostilities in that -quarter must cease, by the rules of war. - -Dicky Roll, who, poor little fellow, had been fraternally sharing his -breakfast and blanket with the goat, and did not seem happy in his -mind at our increasing proximity to "them Roosian hogres," as he -called them, beat a vigorous _chamade_ on his drum, and I waved my -impromptu banner. I was glad when a Russian drum responded, as flags -of truce had been more than once fired upon, on the miserable plea -that communications under them were merely designed for the purpose of -gaining intelligence, of reconnoitring Sebastopol and its outposts. -Hence our progress was watched with the deepest interest by the whole -regiment and others, all of whom were now lining the banquette of the -parallels, or clustering at the embrasures and fascines of the -breaching batteries. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIII.-THE FLAG OF TRUCE. - - -In the rifle-pits many of our men lay dead or dying, and a few paces -beyond them brought me among Russians in the same pitiable condition. -One, who had been shot through the chest, lay on his back, half in and -half out of his lurking hole; his eyes were glazing, bubbles of blood -and froth were oozing through his thick black moustaches, which were -matted by the cartridges he had bitten. Another was shot through the -lungs, and his breath seemed to come with a wheezing sound through the -orifice. - -There, too, lay the luckless Russian "potted" by Hugh Price. He was -one of the imperial 26th, for that number was on his shoulder-straps. -On his breast were several copper medals. Others who were able, taking -advantage of the cessation of hostilities, were crawling away on their -hands or knees towards the town or trenches, in search of water, of -succour, and of some kind friend to bind their wounds; and encouraged -by the lull in the firing, the little birds were twittering about -those ghastly pits in search of biscuit-crumbs or other food. - -The ground was studded thickly with rusty fragments of exploded -shells, nails, bottles, grape and canister shot; other places were -furrowed up, or almost paved with half-buried cannon-balls of every -calibre; and here and there, in the crater made by a mine, lay a -forgotten corpse in sodden uniform, gray faced with red; and yet -singularly enough, amid these horrors, there were springing through -the fertile earth many aromatic shrubs, and a vast number of the -_colchicum autumnale_, a beautiful blue crocus-like flower, with which -the Crimea abounds. - -The Russian drum, hoarse, wooden, and ill-braced, again sounded, and -mine replied; then we saw an officer coming towards us from the -entanglements of the abattis, with his sword sheathed and waving a -white handkerchief. He was a tall grim-looking man, of what rank I -could not determine, as all the enemy's officers in the field, from -the general down to the last-joined praperchick, or ensign, wore long, -ungraceful greatcoats of brownish gray cloth, having simply facings -and shoulder-straps. He carried a wooden canteen and an old battered -telescope, worn crosswise by two leather straps, and had several -silver medals, won doubtless in battle against Schamyl in Circassia. - -It is a common belief in England that every Russian gentleman speaks -French; but though he may do so better than another foreigner--for he -who can pronounce Muscovite "words of ten or twelve consonants apiece" -may well speak anything--it is chiefly the language of the court and -of diplomacy; and in this instance, when, after saluting each other -profoundly, and eyeing each other with stern scrutiny, I addressed the -officer in the language of our allies, he replied in German, which I -knew very imperfectly. - -I made him understand, however, that my message was for the officer in -command of the left bastion. - -He replied, that to be taken into Sebastopol, or even to be led -nearer, required that the eyes of myself and the drummer should be -blindfolded, to which I assented; and he proceeded carefully to muffle -Dicky Roll and me in such a manner as to place us in utter darkness. -He then gave me his arm, I took the drummer by the hand, and in this -grotesque fashion, which excited some laughter in the trenches, the -trio proceeded, stumbling and awkwardly, towards the city. - -I heard the increasing buzz of many voices around us, the unbarring of -a heavy wicket, the clatter of musket-butts on the pavement, and -occasionally a hoarse order or word of command issued in what seemed -the language of necromancy. Caissons, and wagons heavily laden, -rattled along the streets; I felt that I was _inside_ Sebastopol; but -dared not without permission unbind my eyes, save at the risk of being -run through the body by this fellow in the long coat, or made a -prisoner of war, and despatched towards Perecop with my hands tied to -the mane of a Cossack pony. - -The sensation and the conviction were most tantalising; but I was -compelled to submit, and knew that we were proceeding through the -thoroughfares of that place towards which I had daily turned my -field-glass with the most intense curiosity, and which we knew to be -one vast garrison rather than a town, with whole streets of barracks, -arsenals, and government houses. - -A change of sounds and of atmosphere warned me that we were within -doors. My guide withdrew the bandages, and then Dicky and I looked -around us, dazzled with light, after being in darkness for nearly half -an hour. I was in a large whitewashed room, plainly furnished, -uncarpeted, heated by a stove of stone in one corner, with an _eikon_ -in another. On the table of polished deal lay some books, a copy or -two of the _Invalide Russe_, the _Moskauer Zeitung_, Panaeff's -_Russian Snobs_, the vernacular for that familiar word being -_khlishch_. On the walls hung maps and documents--orders of the day, -perhaps--in Russian. - -Through the two large windows, which we were warned not to approach, I -obtained a glimpse of the hill on which the residence of Prince -Menschikoff was situated. On one side I saw that the streets ran in -parallel lines down to the water edge; on the other to where the new -naval arsenals lay, in the old Tartar town which was known by the name -of Achtiare in the days of Thomas Mackenzie, the Scoto-Russian admiral -who first created Sebastopol, and whose _khutor_, farm or forest for -producing masts, excited so much speculation among our Highland -Brigade. Everywhere I saw great cannon bristling, all painted -pea-green, with a white cross on the breech. - -The jingle of spurs caused me to turn, and Dicky to lift his hand to -his cap in salute. We saw a tall and handsome Russian officer, of -imposing appearance, enter the room. His eyes were dark, yet sharp and -keen in expression; he had black strongly-marked eyebrows and an -aquiline nose, with a complexion as clear as a woman's, a pretty ample -beard, and close-shorn hair. He, too, wore the inevitable greatcoat; -but it was open in this instance, and I could see the richly-laced -green uniform and curious flat silver epaulettes of the Vladimir -Regiment, with the usual number of medals and crosses, for all the -armies of Nicholas were well decorated. He bowed with great courtesy, -and said in French, - -"You have, I understand, a message for me from my Lord Raglan?" - -I bowed. - -"Before I listen to it you must have some refreshment; your drummer -can wait outside." - -I bowed again. A soldier-servant placed on the table decanters of -Crimskoi wine, with a silver salver of biscuits and pastilla, or -little cakes made of fruit and honey; and of these I was not loath to -partake, while the soldier in attendance led away Dicky Roll, who eyed -me wistfully, and said, as he went out, - -"For God's sake don't forget me, Captain Hardinge; I don't like the -look of them long-coated beggars at all." - -I was somewhat of Dicky's opinion; and being anxious enough to get -back to the trenches, stated briefly my message. - -"You have, I fear, come on a bootless errand," replied the Russian, -"as no officer of your army was, to my knowledge, either killed or -taken by us on the night in question; though certainly a man may -easily be hit in the dark, and crawl away to some nook or corner, and -there die and lie unseen. But the Pulkovnick Ochterlony, who keeps the -list of prisoners, will be the best person to afford you information -on the matter. Remain with me, and assist yourself to the Crimskoi, -while I despatch a message to him." - -He drew a glazed card from an embossed case, and pencilling a -memorandum thereon, sent his orderly with it, while we seated -ourselves, entered into conversation, and pushed the decanter -fraternally to and fro. - -"I have just come from hearing the Bishop of Sebastopol preach in the -great church to all the garrison off duty," said he, laughing; "and he -has been promising us great things--honour in this world, and glory in -the next--if we succeed in driving you all into the Euxine." - -"There are plenty of opportunities afforded here of going to heaven." - -"A good many, too, of going the other way; however, I must not tell -you all, or even a part, of what the bishop said. He did all that -eloquence could do to fire the religious enthusiasm--superstition, if -you will--of our soldiers and his language was burning." - -"Then you are on the eve of another sortie," said I, unwarily. - -"I have not said so," he replied, abruptly, while his eyes gleamed, -and handing me his silver cigar-case, on which was engraved a coronet, -we lapsed into silence. - -The sermon he referred to was that most remarkable one preached on the -evening of Saturday, the 4th of November, before one of the most -memorable events of the war. In that discourse, this Russian-Greek -bishop, with his coronal mitre on his head, glittering with precious -gems, a crozier whilom borne by St. Sergius in his hand, his silver -beard floating to his girdle over magnificent vestments, stood on the -altar-steps of the great church, and assured the masses of armed men -who thronged it to the portal that the blessing of God was upon their -forthcoming enterprise and the defence of the city; that crowns of -eternal glory awaited all those martyrs who fell in battle against the -heretical French and the island curs who had dared to levy war on holy -Russia and their father the Emperor. - -He told them that the English were monsters of cruelty, who tortured -their prisoners, committing unheard-of barbarities on all who fell -into their hands; that "they were bloodthirsty and abominable -heretics, whose extermination was the solemn duty of all who wished to -win the favour of God and of the Emperor." He farther assured them -that the British camp contained enormous treasures--the spoil of -India, vessels of silver and gold, sacks and casks filled with -precious stones--one-third of which was to become the property of the -victors; and he conjured them, by the memory of Michael and Feodor, -who sealed their belief in Christ with their blood, before the savage -Batu-Khan, by the black flag unfurled by Demetri Donskoi when he -marched against Mamai the Tartar, "by the forty times forty churches -of Moscow the holy," and the memory of the French retreat from it, to -stand firm and fail not; and a hoarse and prayerful murmur of assent -responded to him. - -My present host was too well-bred to tell all he had just heard, -whether he believed it or not. After a pause, "If another sortie is -made," said I, "the slaughter will be frightful." - -"Bah!" replied he, cynically, while tipping the white ashes from his -cigar, "a few thousands are not missed among the millions of Russia; I -presume we only get rid of those who are unnecessary in the general -scheme of creation." - -"Peasants and serfs, I suppose?" - -"Well, perhaps so--peasants and serfs, as you islanders suppose all -our people to be." - -"Nay, as you Russians deem them." - -"We shall not dispute the matter, please," said he, coldly; and now, -as I sat looking at him, a memory of his face and voice came over me. - -"Count Volhonski!" I exclaimed, "have you quite forgotten me and the -duel with the Prussian at Altona?" - -He started and took his cigar from his mouth. - -"The Hospodeen Hardinge!" said he, grasping my hand with honest -warmth; "I must have been blind not to recognise you; but I never -before saw you in your scarlet uniform." - -"It is more purple than scarlet now, Count." - -"Well, our own finery is not much to boast of, though we are in a -city, and you are under canvas. But how does the atmosphere of Crim -Tartary agree with you?" he asked, laughing. - -"A little too much gunpowder in it, perhaps." - -"I am sorry, indeed, to find that you and I are enemies, after those -pleasant days spent in Hamburg and Altona; but when we last parted in -Denmark--you remember our mutual flight across the frontier--you were -but a subaltern, a praperchick, a sub-lieutenant, I think." - -"I am a captain now." - -"Ah--the Alma did that, I presume." - -"Exactly." - -"You will have plenty of promotion in your army, I expect, ere this -war is ended. You shall all be promoted in heaven, I hope, ere holy -Russia is vanquished." - -"Well, Count, and you--" - -"I am now Pulkovnick of the Vladimir Infantry." - -"Did the Alma do that?" - -"No; the Grand-Duchess Olga, to whom the regiment belongs, promoted me -from the Guards, as a reward for restoring her glove, which she -dropped one evening at a masked ball given in the hall of St. Vladimir -by the Emperor; so my rank was easily won." - -A knock rang on the door; spurs and a steel scabbard clattered on the -floor, and then entered a stately old officer in the splendid uniform -of the Infantry of the Guard, the gilded plate on his high and -peculiarly-shaped cap bearing the perforation of more than one bullet, -and his breast being scarcely broad enough for all the orders that -covered it. He bowed to Volhonski, and saluted me with his right hand, -in which he carried a bundle of documents like lists. The Count -introduced him as "the Pulkovnick Ochterlony, commanding the -Ochterlony Battalion of the Imperial Guard." He was not at all like a -Russian, having clear gray eyes and a straight nose, and still less -like one did he seem when he addressed me in almost pure English. - -"I have," said he, "gone over all the lists of officers of the Allies -now prisoners in Sebastopol, or taken since the siege and sent towards -Yekaterinoslav, and can find among them no such name as that of Major -MacG--, of the 93rd Regiment of Scottish Highlanders. If traces of him -are found, dead or alive, a message to that effect shall at once be -sent to my Lord Raglan." - -"I thank you, sir," said I, rising and regarding him curiously; "you -speak very pure English for a Russian!" - -"I am a Russian by birth and breeding only; in blood and race I am a -countryman of your own." - -"Indeed!" said I, coldly and haughtily, "how comes it to pass that an -Englishman--" - -"Excuse me, sir," said he, with a manner quite as haughty as my own, -"I did not say that I was an Englishman; but as we have no time to -make explanations on the subject, let us have together a glass of -Crimskoi, and part, for the time, friends." - -His manner was so suave, his bearing so stately, and his tone so -conciliating--moreover his age seemed so great--that I clinked my -glass with his, and withdrew with Volhonski, who, sooth to say, seemed -exceedingly loath to part with me. - -"Who the deuce is that officer?" I asked. - -"I introduced him to you by name. He is the colonel of the Ochterlony -Battalion of the Guard, which was raised by his father, one of the -many Scottish soldiers of fortune who served the Empress Catharine; -and the man is Russian to the core in all save blood, which he cannot -help; but here is the gate, and you must be again blinded by Tolstoff. -Adieu! May our next meeting be equally pleasant and propitious!" - -As we separated, there burst from the soldiery who thronged near the -gates a roar of hatred and execration, excited doubtless by the -bishop's harangue; and poor Dicky Roll shrunk close to my side as we -passed out. The ancient Scoto-Muscovite, I afterwards learned, was -styled Ochterlony of Guynde, the soldiers of whose regiment had -enjoyed from his father's time the peculiar privilege of retaining and -wearing their old cap-plates, so long as a scrap of the brass -remained, if they had once been perforated by a shot in action; and it -is known that this identical old officer--who had some three or four -nephews in the Russian Guards--had been visiting his paternal place of -Guynde, in Forfarshire, but a few months before the war broke out. - -In a few minutes more, Dicky Roll and I found ourselves, with our eyes -unbandaged, once more in that pleasant locality midway between the -abattis and the trenches, towards which we made our way in all haste, -that I might report the issue of my mission concerning the Scotch -major, who, as events proved, was found alive and unhurt, luckily; and -the moment my white flag disappeared among the gabions--where all -crowded round me for news, and where I became the hero of an -hour--again the firing was resumed on both sides with all its former -fury, and the old game went on--shot and shell, dust, the crash of -stones and fascines, thirst, hunger, slaughter, and mutilation. That -the Russians had some great essay _in petto_, the words of Volhonski -left us no doubt, nor were we long kept in ignorance of what was -impending over us. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIV.--GUILFOYLE REDIVIVUS. - - -Quietly and before day dawned the trench-guards were relieved, and -we marched wearily back towards the camp. I had dismissed my company, -and was betaking me to my tent, threading my way along the streets -formed by those of each regiment, when an ambulance wagon, -four-wheeled and covered by a canvas hood, drew near. It was drawn by -four half-starved-looking horses; the drivers were in the saddles; and -an escort rode behind, muffled in their blue cloaks. It was laden, no -doubt, with boots warranted not to fit, and bags of green or unripe -coffee for the troops, who had no means of grinding it or of cooking -it, firewood being our scarcest commodity. An officer of the Land -Transport Corps, in cloak and forage-cap, was riding leisurely in rear -of the whole, and as he passed I heard him singing, for his own -edification, apparently: the refrain of his ditty was, - - - "Ach nein! ach nein! ich darf es nich. - Leb'wohl! Leb'wohl!" - - -"Heavens!" thought I, pausing in my progress, "can this be my -quondam acquaintance, the _attaché_ at the Court of Catzenelnbogen -here--_here_, in the Crimea!" - -"Can you direct me to the commissariat quarter of the Second -Division?" asked the singer, a little pompously. - -"By all the devils it is Guilfoyle!" I exclaimed. - -"Oho--You are Hardinge of the 23rd--well met, Horatio!" said he, -reining-in his horse, and with an air of perfect coolness. - -"How came _you_ to be here, sir?" I asked, sternly. - -"I question your right to ask, if I do not your tone," he replied; -"however, if you feel interested in my movements, I may mention that I -was going to the dogs or the devil, and thought I might as well take -Sebastopol on the way." - -"It is not taken yet--but you, I hope, may be." - -"Thanks for your good wishes," was the unabashed reply; "however, I am -wide enough awake, sir; be assured that I cut my eye-teeth some years -ago." - -To find that such a creature as he had crept into her Majesty's -service, even into such an unaristocratic force as the Land Transport -Corps, and actually wore a sword and epaulettes, bewildered me, -excited my indignation and disgust; and I felt degraded that by a -reflected light he was sharing our dangers, our horrors, and the -honours of the war. I had never seen his name in the _Gazette_, as -being appointed a cornet of the Transport Corps, and the surprise I -felt was mingled with profound contempt, and something of amusement, -too, at his _insouciance_ and cool effrontery. This made me partially -forget the rage and hatred he had excited in me by the mischievous -game he had played at Walcot Park, his plot to ruin me with Estelle -Cressingham--a plot from which I had been so victoriously -disentangled. Hence circumstance, change of position and place, -induced me to talk to the fellow in a way that I should not have done -at home or elsewhere. - -"How came you to deprive England of the advantages of your society?" I -asked, in a sneering tone, of which he was too well-bred not to be -conscious; so he replied in the same manner, - -"A verse of an old song may best explain it: - - - "'A plague on ill luck, now the ready's all gone, - To the wars poor Pilgarlick must trudge; - But had I the cash to rake on as I've done, - The devil a foot I would budge!' - - -"And so Pilgarlick is serving his ungrateful country," he added, with -the mocking laugh that I remembered of old. - -"You can actually laugh at your own--" - -"Don't say anything unpleasant," said he, shortening his reins; "I do -so, but only as Reynard, who has lost his brush, laughs at the more -clever fox who has kept his from the hounds," he added, with a glance -of malevolence. "So you were not at the Alma? Doubtless it was -pleasanter to break a bone quietly at home than risk all your limbs -here in action." - -Disdaining to notice either his sneer or the inference to be -drawn from his remark, I asked, "What has become of that unhappy -creature--your wife?" - -"As you call her." - -"Georgette Franklin--well?" - -"It matters little now, and is no business of yours." - -"That I know well--I only pitied her; but why do I waste words or time -with such as you?" - -"So you would like to know what has become of her, eh?" - -"Very much." - -"Well," said he, grinding his teeth with anger or hate, perhaps both, -"there is a den in the Walworth-road, above a rag, bone, and -old-bottle shop, the master of which was not unknown to the police, as -apt to be roaming about intent to commit, as no doubt he often did, -felony; for a few articles of bijouterie, such as a bunch of -skeleton-keys, a crowbar, a brace of knuckle-dusters, and a 'barker,' -with a piece of wax-candle, were found upon his person, after an -investigation thereof, suggestive that his habits were nocturnal, and -that the propensities of his digits were knavish; and the landlord of -this den gave her lodgings--and there she died, this Georgette -Franklin, in whom you are so interested--died not without suspicion of -suicide. Now are _you_ satisfied?" he added, holding a cigar between -the first and second fingers of his right hand, and gazing lazily at -the smoke wreaths as they curled upward in the chill morning air. - -There was something sublimely infernal--if I may be permitted the -paradox--in the gusto with which the fellow told all this, and in the -sneering expression of his face; and I could see his green eyes and -his white teeth glisten in the light of a great rocket--some secret -signal--that soared up from Fort Alexander, and broke with a thousand -sparkles, curving downward through the murky morning sky. - -"Pass on, sir," said I, sternly; "and the best I can wish you is that -some Russian bullet may avenge her and rid the earth of you." - -And with his old mocking laugh, he galloped after his wagon, as he -turned back in his saddle, "Compliments to old Taffy Lloyd, when you -write--may leave him my brilliant in my will if he behaves himself." - - - - -CHAPTER XXXV.--THE NIGHT BEFORE INKERMANN. - - -I told Phil Caradoc of the strange meeting with Mr. Hawkesby -Guilfoyle, and his emotions of astonishment and disgust almost -exceeded mine, though mingled with something of amusement, to think -that such a personage should be with the army before Sebastopol in any -capacity; and he predicted that he must inevitably do something that -would not add to the budding laurels of the Land Transport Corps, -which we scarcely recognised as a fighting force, though armed, of -course, for any sudden emergency. On this morning, the mail had come -in from Constantinople; but there was still no letter for me--no -letter from her with whom I had left my heart, and all its fondest -aspirations--yea, my very soul it seemed--in England, far away. - -Many mails had gone missing; and I strove to flatter and to console -myself by the vague hope, that the letters of Estelle were lying -perhaps in the Gulf of Salonica, or in the Greek Archipelago, rather -than adopt the bitter and wounding conviction that none were written -at all. I counted the days and weeks that had elapsed since our -detachments sailed from Southampton; the weeks had now become months; -we were in November; yet, save when once or twice I had seen her name -among the fashionable intelligence in a stray newspaper, I knew and -heard nothing of Estelle, of her whose existence and future I so -fondly thought were for ever woven up with mine. For a time I had been -weak enough to conceal from kind-hearted Phil Caradoc the fact that I -had not been getting answers to my letters; and often over a quiet -cigar and a bottle of Greek wine I have listened nervously to his -congratulations on my success and hopes, blended with his own personal -regrets that Winifred Lloyd could not love him. He had sent to her and -Dora, from Malta and from Constantinople, some of those beautiful -articles of bijouterie, which the shops of the former and the bazaars -of the latter can so exquisitely produce to please the taste of women, -and they had been accepted with "kindest thanks," a commonplace on -which poor Phil seemed to base some hope of future success. - -"Winifred Lloyd is very lovely," said I, as we sat in my tent that -night over a bottle of Crimskoi; "sweet and pure, happy in spirit, and -gentle in heart--all that a man could desire his wife and the mother -of his children to be." - -"But--" - -"But what, Phil?" said I, curtly. - -"She cannot love me, and she will never be mine," sighed Caradoc. - -"Never despair of that; we have to take Sebastopol yet; and that once -achieved, we shall all go merrily sailing home to England." - -"That I doubt much; some of the regiments here will be taken for the -Indian reliefs--our fighting here will count as service in Europe--but -surely the war cannot end with the fall of Sebastopol. A war between -three of the greatest countries in the world to dwindle down to the -somewhat ill-conducted siege of a fortified town would be absurd." - -"Ill-conducted, Phil?" - -"Of course.. We leave the city open for supplies of all kinds on the -Russian side, and have never, as we should have done, seized the -Isthmus of Perecop, and cut off the whole Crimea from the empire." - -"Errors perhaps; but by the way, Phil, have you still Miss Lloyd's -miniature about you?" - -"Yes." - -"Do let me have a look at it. I am an old friend, you know." - -"I gave her my solemn word that while I lived no man should look upon -it, Harry," said Phil, whose colour deepened. "When I am carried to -the dead-tent, if that day comes, or to the burial-trench, as many -better fellows have been, you may keep it or send it to her, which you -will, though I would rather it were buried with me." - -His eyes filled with tender enthusiasm, and his voice faltered with -genuine emotion as he spoke. - -"Pass the bottle, Phil, and don't be romantic--one more cigar is in -the box, and it is at your service," said I. - -But full of his own thoughts, which were all of her, Caradoc made no -immediate reply. He sat with his eyes fixed sadly on the glowing -embers of my little fire; for, thanks to the ingenuity of Evans, I had -actually a _fire_ in my tent. He had made an excavation in the earth, -with a flue constructed out of the fragments of tin ammunition boxes, -and the cases which had held preserved meat. This conveyed the smoke -underneath the low wall of the tent, outside of which he had erected -another flue some three feet high of the same materials, to which were -added a few stones and some mud. The smoke at times was scarcely -endurable, and made one's eyes to water; but I was not yet "old -soldier" enough to heat a cannon-ball to sleep with, so Evans' patent -grate had quite a reputation in the regiment, and added greatly to the -comfort, if such a term can be used, of my somewhat draughty abode. - -"Deuced hard lines, this sort of thing, Harry," said Caradoc, after a -pause, as, bearded and patched, unshaven and unkempt, we cowered over -the fire in our cloaks and wrappers; "I mean for men accustomed to -better things, especially to those of expensive tastes and extravagant -habits--your guardsman and man of pleasure, the lounger about town, -whose day was wont to begin about two P.M., and to end at four next -morning. Yet they are plucky for all that; by Jove! there is an amount -of mettle or stamina in our fellows such as those of no other nation -possess, the resolution to die game any way." - -I fully agreed with him; for among our officers I knew hundreds of -men, like Raymond Mostyn and others I could name, who were enduring -this miserable gipsy-like life, and who, when at home, had hunters and -harriers in the country, a house in town, a villa at St. John's Wood -or elsewhere, with a tiny brougham and tiger for some "fair one with -the golden locks," a yacht at Cowes, a forest in the Highlands, a box -at the Opera, a French cook, perhaps, and vines and pines and other -rarities from their own forcing-pits and hothouses, and who were now -thankful for a mouthful of rum and hard ship-biscuit and some -half-roasted coffee boiled in a camp-kettle; and for what, or to what -useful end or purpose, was all this being endured? Perhaps the -non-reception of letters from Estelle was making me cynical, and -leading me to deem the great god of war but a rowdy, and the goddess -his sister no better than she should be, glory a delusion and a humbug -after all. But just when Phil, as the night was now far advanced, was -muffling himself prior to facing the cold frosty blast that swept up -the valley of Inkermann, and proceeding to his own tent, which was on -the other flank of the regiment, the visage of Evans, red as a lobster -with cold, while his greatcoat was whitened with hoar-frost, appeared -at the piece of tied canvas, which passed muster as a door. - -"Letter for you, sir--an English one." - -"For me! how, at this hour?" I exclaimed, starting up. - -"It came by the mail this morning, sir; but was in the bag for the -88th. The address is almost obliterated, as you see, so the 88th -officers were tossing-up for it, when Mr. Mostyn--" - -"Pshaw! give me the letter," said I, impatiently. "It is from Sir -Madoc--_only_ Sir Madoc!" I added, with unconcealed disappointment; -and in proportion as my countenance lowered, Phil's brightened with -interest. - -I tore open what appeared to be a pretty long letter. - -"It seems to have a postscript," said Phil, lingering ere he went. - -"Kindest regards to Caradoc from Winny and Dora." - -"Is that all?" - -"All that seems to refer to you, Phil." - -Phil sighed, and said, - -"Well, a letter is an uncommon luxury here, so I shall not disturb -you. Good night, old fellow." - -"Good night; and keep clear of the tent-pegs." - -Again the canvas door was tied, and I was alone; so drawing the -lantern, that hung on the tent-pole, close to the empty flour-cask, -which now did duty as a table, I sat down to read the characteristic -epistle of my good old fatherly friend, Sir Madoc Lloyd, which was -dated from Craigaderyn Court. After some rambling remarks about the -war, and the mode in which he thought it should be conducted, and some -smart abuse of the administration in general, and Lord Aberdeen in -particular, over all of which I ran my eyes impatiently, at last they -caught a name that made my heart thrill, for this was the first letter -that had reached me from England. - -"Lady Estelle's admirer Pottersleigh has been raised to an -earldom--Heaven only knows why or for what--his own distinguished -services, he says. It was all in last night's _Gazette_--that her -Majesty had been pleased to direct letters patent, &c., granting the -dignity of Earl of the United Kingdom, unto Viscount Pottersleigh, -K.G., and the heirs male of his body (good joke that, Harry: reckoning -his chickens before they are hatched), by the name and title of -Aberconway, in the principality of Wales. For some weeks past he has -been at Walcot Park, with the Cressinghams--seems quite to live there, -in fact. He has been very assiduous in his attentions to a certain -young lady there; he always flatters her quietly, and it seems to -please her; a sure sign it would seem to me that she is not displeased -with the flatterer. People say it is old Lady Naseby whom he affects; -but I don't think so; neither does Winny. You will probably have heard -much of this kind of gossip from Lady Estelle herself. She certainly -got your Malta letter, and one from the camp before Sebastopol--so -Winny, who is in her confidence, told me. You only can know if she -replied--Winny rather thinks not; but I hope she may be faithful to -you as Oriana herself. - -"I heard all about poor Caradoc's affair from Dora; but Winny has -refused another offer of marriage--a most eligible one, too--from Sir -Watkins Vaughan; and since then he was nearly done for in another -fashion: for when he and I were cub-hunting last month near Hawkstone, -his horse, a hard-mouthed brute, swerved as we were crossing a fence, -and rolled over him; so between her blunt refusal and his ugly spill, -he is rather to be pitied. I don't understand Winny at all. I should -not like my girls to throw themselves away; but hay should be made -while the sun shines, and baronets are not to be found under every -bush. Beauty fades; it is but a thing of a season; and the most -blooming girl, in time, becomes passé and wrinkled, or it may be fat -and fusby, as her grandmother was before her. And then Sir Watkins -represents one of the best families in Wales, not so old as _us_ -certainly, but still he is descended in a direct line from Gryffyth -Vychan, who was Lord of Glyndwyrdwy in Merionethshire, in Stephen's -time." - -(Why should Winifred Lloyd refuse and refuse again thus? As certain -little passages between us in days gone by came flashing back to my -memory, I felt my cheek flush by that wretched camp-fire, and then I -thrust the thoughts aside as vanity.) - -"Poor Winny has not been very well of late," the letter proceeded. -"When she and Dora were decorating their poor mamma's grave, in the -old Welsh fashion, on Palm Sunday, at Craigaderyn church, I fear she -must have caught cold; it ended in a touch of fever, and I think the -dear girl grew delirious, for she had a strange dream about the ghost -of Jorwerth Du--you remember that absurd old story?--but the ghost was -_you_, and the red-haired daughter of the Gwylliad Cochion, who -spirited you away, was--whom think you?--but Lady Estelle! - -"We had a jolly shooting-season at Vaughan's place in South Wales. -With Don and our double-barrelled breech-loader we soon filled a -spring-cart, and brought it back in state, with all the hares and the -long bright tails of the pheasants hanging over it. Vaughan--who will -not relinquish his hope of Winny--and a lot of other fine fellows--old -friends, some of them--are coming to have their annual Christmas -shooting with me, and I have got two kegs of ammunition all ready in -the gun-room. How I wish you were to be with us, Harry! - -"Golden plover and teal, too, are appearing here now, and flocks of -white Norwegian pigeons in Scotland; all indications that we shall -have an unusually severe winter; so God help you poor fellows under -canvas in the Crimea! In common with all the girls in England, Winny -and Dora are busy making mufflings, knitted vests and cuffs, and so -forth for the troops; and I have despatched some special hampers of -good things, made up and packed by Owen Gwyllim and Gwenny Davis, the -housekeeper, for our own lads of the 23rd to make merry with at -Christmas, or on St. David's day." - -(The warm wrappers arrived for us in summer, and as for the "special -hampers," they were never heard of at all.) - -And so, with many warm wishes, almost prayers, for my preservation -from danger, and offers of money if I required it, the letter of my -kind old friend ended; but it gave me food for much thought, and far -into the hours of the chill night I sat and pondered over it. Why did -Winny refuse so excellent an offer as that of Sir Watkins, whom I knew -to be a wealthy and good-looking young baronet? I scarcely dared to -ask myself, and so, as before, dismissed _that_ subject. Why had not -Estelle's answers reached me, if she had actually written then? That -Lady Naseby had surreptitiously intercepted our correspondence, I -could not believe, though she might forbid it. Was my Lord -Pottersleigh, now Earl of Aberconway, at work; or had they, like many -others, perished at sea? Heaven alone new. His flatteries "pleased -her," his, the senile dotard! And he had taken up his residence at -Walcot Park; his earldom, too! I was full of sadness, mortification, -and bitter thoughts; thoughts too deep and fierce for utterance or -description. Could it be that the earldom and wealth on one hand were -proving too strong for love, with the stringent tenor of her father's -will on the other? - -At the opera and theatre I had seen Estelle's beautiful eyes fill with -tears, as she sympathised with the maudlin love and mimic sorrow, the -wrongs or mishaps, of some well-rouged gipsy in rags, some peasant in -a steeple-crowned hat and red bandages, some half-naked fisherman, -like Masaniello, and her bosom would heave with emotion and -enthusiasm; and yet with all this natural commiseration and -fellow-feeling, she, who could almost weep with the hero or heroine of -the melodrama, while their situation was enhanced by the effects of -the orchestra, the lime-light, and the stage-carpenter, was perhaps -casting me from her heart and her memory, as coolly as if I were an -old ball-dress! So I strove yet awhile to think and to hope that her -letters were with the lost mails at the bottom of the Ægean or the -Black Sea; but Sir Madoc's letter occasioned me grave and painful -doubts; and memory went sadly back to many a little but -well-remembered episode of tenderness, a word, a glance, a stolen -caress, when we rode or drove by the Elwey or Llyn Aled, in the long -lime avenue, in the Martens' dingle, and in the woods and gardens of -pleasant Craigaderyn. The wretched light in my lantern was beginning -to fail; my little fire had died quite out, and the poor sentry -shivering outside had long since ceased to warm his hands at the flue. -The tent was cold and chill as a tomb, and I was just about to turn -in, when a sound, which a soldier never hears without starting -instinctively to his weapons, struck my ear. - -A drum, far on the right, was beating _the long roll!_ Hundreds of -others repeated that inexorable summons all over the camp, while many -a bugle was blown, as the whole army stood to their arms. It was the -morning of the battle of Inkermann! - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVI.--THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER. - - -We had all long since forgotten the discomfort of early rising. In my -case I had never been to bed, so to buckle on my sword and revolver -was the work of one moment; in another I was threading my way among -the streets of tents, from which our men, cold, damp, pale, and -worn-looking, were pouring towards their various muster-places, many -of them arranging their belts as they hurried forward. - -"What is the row? what is up?" were the inquiries of all. - -But no one knew, and on all hands the mounted officers were riding -about and crying, - -"Fall in, 19th Regiment!" "Fall in, 23rd Fusileers!" and so on. "Stand -to your arms; turn out the whole; uncase the colours, gentlemen!" - -"It is gunpowder-plot day," cried a laughing aide-de-camp, galloping -past with such speed and recklessness that he nearly rode me down. - -It proved to be a sortie from Sebastopol, made chiefly by a new -division of troops brought up by forced marches from Bessarabia and -Wallachia, many of them in wagons, kabitkas, and conveyances of all -kinds; and all these men, to the number of many thousands, left the -beleaguered city inflamed by the sermon I have described, by harangues -of a similar kind, by the money or martyrdom they hoped to win, and -by a plentiful distribution of coarse and ardent raki; while to -Osten-Sacken, Volhonski, and other officers of rank, one of the Grand -Dukes held out threats of degradation and Siberia if we were not -attacked and the siege raised! All our men, without breakfast or other -food, got briskly under arms, by regiments, brigades, and divisions; -they were in their gray greatcoats, hence some terrible mistakes -occurred in the hurry and confusion; many of our officers, however, -went into action in _scarlet_, with their epaulettes on--most fatally -for themselves. All the bells in Sebastopol--and some of these were -magnificent in size and tone--rang a tocsin, while the troops -composing the sortie, at the early hour of three A.M., stole, under -cloud of darkness and a thick mist, into the ravines near the -Tchernaya, to menace the British right, our weakest point; and, -unknown to our out-guards, and generally unheard by them--though more -than one wary old soldier asserted that he heard "something like the -rumble of artillery wheels"--in the gloom and obscurity several large -pieces of cannon were got into position, so as completely to command -the ground occupied by us. Cautiously and noiselessly the masses of -Russian infantry had stolen on, the sound of their footsteps hidden by -the jangle of the bells, till they, to the number of more than 50,000 -men, were on the flank as well as in front of our line; and the first -indication we had of their close vicinity was when our outlying -pickets, amid the dense fog of that fatal November morning, found -themselves all but surrounded by this vast force, and fighting -desperately! - -Knapsacks were generally thrown aside, and the muskets of the pickets -were in some instances so wet by overnight exposure, that they failed -to explode, so others taken from the dead and wounded were substituted -for them. There was firing fast and furious on every hand; the -musketry flashing like red streaks through the gray gloom, towards the -head of the beautiful valley of Inkermann, even before our regiment -was formed and moved forward to the support of the pickets, who were -retreating towards a small two-gun battery which had been erected, but -afterwards abandoned during the progress of the siege. The great -Russian cannon now opened like thunder from those hills which had been -reached unseen by us, and then began one of the closest, because -confused, most ferocious, and bloody conflicts of modern times. The -Russian has certainly that peculiar quality of race, "which is -superior to the common fighting courage possessed indiscriminately by -all classes--the passive concentrated firmness which can take every -advantage so long as a chance is left, and die without a word at last, -when hope gives place to the sullen resignation of despair." - -Descriptions of battles bear a strong family likeness, and the history -of one can only be written, even by a participant, long after it is -all over, and after notes are compared on all sides; so to the -subaltern, or any one under the rank of a general, during its -progress, it is all vile hurly-burly and confusion worse confounded; -and never in the annals of war was this more the case than at -Inkermann. Though hidden by mist at the time, the scene of this -contest was both picturesque and beautiful. In the foreground, a -romantic old bridge spanned the sluggish Tchernaya, which winds from -the Baidar valley through the most luxurious verdure, and thence into -the harbour of Sebastopol between precipitous white cliffs, which are -literally honeycombed with chapels and cells: thus Inkermann is well -named the "City of the Caverns." These are supposed to have been -executed by Greek monks during the reigns of the emperors in the -middle ages, and when the Arians were persecuted in the Chersonesus, -many of them found shelter in these singular and all but inaccessible -dwellings. Sarcophagi of stone, generally empty, are found in many of -the cells, which are connected with each other by stairs cut in the -living rock, and of these stairs and holes the skirmishers were not -slow to avail themselves. Over all these caverns are the ivied ruins -of an ancient fort but whether it was the Ctenos of Chersonesus -Taurica, built by Diophantes to guard the Heruclean wall, or was the -Theodori of the Greeks, mattered little to us then, as we moved to get -under fire beneath its shadow; and now, as if to farther distract the -attention of the Allies from the real point of assault--which at first -seemed to indicate a movement towards Balaclava--all the batteries of -the city opened a fearful cannonade, which tore to shreds the tents in -the camp, and did terrible execution on every hand. Louder and louder, -deeper and hoarser grew the sounds of strife; yet nothing was seen by -us save the red flashes of the musketry, owing to the density of the -fog, and the tall brushwood through which we had to move being in some -places quite breast-high; and so we struggled forward in line, till -suddenly we found the foe within pistol-shot of us, and our men -falling fast on every side. Till now, to many in our ranks, who saw -these long gray-coated and flat-capped or spike-helmeted masses, the -enemy had been a species of myth, read of chiefly in the newspapers; -_now_ they were palpable and real, and war, having ceased to be a -dream, had become a terrible fact. Vague expectancy had given place to -the actual excitement of the hour of battle, the hour when a man would -reflect soberly if he could; but when every moment may be his last, -little time or chance is given for reflection. - -In this quarter were but twelve thousand British, to oppose the mighty -force of Osten-Sacken. Upon his advancing masses the brave fellows of -the 55th or Westmoreland Foot had kept up a brisk fire from the rude -embrasures of the small redoubt, till they were almost surrounded by a -force outnumbering them by forty to one, and compelled to fall back, -while the batteries on the hills swept their ranks with an iron -shower. But now the 41st Welsh, and 49th or Hertfordshire, came into -action, with their white-and-green colours waving, and storming up the -hill bore back the Russian hordes, hundreds of whom--as they were -massed in oblong columns--fell beneath the fatal fire of our Minie -rifles, and the desperate fury of the steady shoulder-to-shoulder -bayonet charge which followed it. - -On these two regiments the batteries from the distant slope dealt -death and destruction; again the Russians rallied at its foot, and -advanced up the corpse-strewn ground to renew an attack before which -the two now decimated regiments were compelled to retire. Their number -and force were as overwhelming as their courage, inflamed by raki and -intense religious fervour, was undeniable; for deep in all their -hearts had sunk the closing words of the bishop's prayer: "Bless and -strengthen them, O Lord, and give them a manly heart against their -enemies. Send them an angel of light, and to their enemies an angel of -darkness and horror to scatter them, and place a stumbling-block -before them to weaken their hearts, and turn their courage into -flight." And for a time the Russians seemed to have it all their own -way, and deemed their bishop a prophet. Our whole army was now under -arms, but upon our right fell the brunt of the attack, and old Lord -Raglan was soon among us, managing his field-glass and charger with -one hand and a half-empty sleeve. Under Brigadier-general Strangeways, -who was soon after mortally wounded, our artillery, when the mist -lifted a little, opened on the Russian batteries, and soon silenced -their fire; but the 20th and 47th Lancashire, after making a gallant -attempt to recapture the petty redoubt, were repulsed; but not until -they had been in possession of it for a few dearly-bought minutes, -during which, all wedged together in wild _mêlée_, the most hideous -slaughter took place, with the bayonet and clubbed musket; and the -moment they gave way, the inhuman Russians murdered all our wounded -men, many of whom were found afterwards cold and stiff, with hands -uplifted and horror in their faces, as if they had died in the act of -supplication. - -Driven from that fatal redoubt at last by the Guards under the Duke of -Cambridge, it was held by a few hundred Coldstreamers against at least -_six thousand_ of the enemy. Thrice, with wild yells the gray-coated -masses, with all their bayonets glittering, swept madly and bravely -uphill, and thrice they were hurled back with defeat and slaughter. -Fresh troops were now pouring from Sebastopol, flushed with fury by -the scene, and in all the confidence that Russia and their cause were -alike holy, that defeat was impossible, and the redoubt was -surrounded. - -Then back to back, pale with fury, their eyes flashing, their teeth -set, fearless and resolute, their feet encumbered with the dying and -the dead, fought the Coldstream Guardsmen, struggling for very life; -the ground a slippery puddle with blood and brains, and again and -again the clash of the bayonets was heard as the musket barrels were -crossed. Their ammunition was soon expended; but clubbing their -weapons they dashed at the enemy with the butt-ends; and hurling even -stones at their heads, broke through the dense masses, and leaving at -least one thousand Muscovites dead behind them, rejoined their -comrades, whom Sir George Cathcart was leading to the advance, when a -ball whistled through his heart, and he fell to rise no more. - -The combat was quite unequal; our troops began slowly to retire -towards their own lines, but fighting every inch of the way and -pressed hard by the Russians, who bayonetted or brained by the -butt-end every wounded man they found; and by eleven o'clock they were -close to the tents of the Second Division. - -The rain of bullets sowed thickly all the turf like a leaden shower, -and shred away clouds of leaves and twigs from the gorse and other -bushes; but long ere the foe had come thus far, we had our share and -more in the terrible game. Exchanging fire with them at twenty yards' -distance, the roar of the musketry, the shouts and cheers, the yells -of defiance or agony, the explosion of shells overhead, the hoarse -sound of the round shot, as they tore up the earth in deeper furrows -than ever ploughshare formed, made a very hell of Inkermann, that -valley of blood and suffering, of death and cruelty; but dense clouds -of smoke, replacing the mist, enveloped it for a time, and veiled many -of its horrors from the eye. - -Bathurst and Sayer, Vane and Millet of ours were all down by this -time; many of our men had also fallen; and from the death-clutch or -the relaxed fingers of more than one poor ensign had the tattered -colour which bore the Red Dragon been taken, by those who were fated -to fall under it in turn. I could see nothing of Caradoc; but I heard -that three balls had struck the revolver in his belt. Poor Hugh Price -fell near me, shot through the chest, and was afterwards found, like -many others, with his brains dashed out. In the third repulse of the -Russians, as we rushed headlong after them with levelled bayonets, I -found myself suddenly opposed by an officer of rank mounted on a gray -horse, the flanks and trappings of which were splashed by blood, -whether its own or that of the rider, I knew not. Furiously, by every -energy, with his voice, which was loud and authoritative, and by -brandishing his sword, he was endeavouring to rally his men, a mingled -mass of the Vladimir Battalion and the flat-capped Kazan Light -Infantry. - -"Pot that fellow; down with him!" cried several voices; "maybe he's -old Osten-Sacken himself." - -Many shots missed him, as the men fired with fixed bayonets, when -suddenly he turned his vengeance on me, and checking his horse for a -second, cut at my head with his sword. Stooping, I avoided his attack, -but shot his horse in the head. Heavily the animal tumbled forward, -with its nose between its knees; and as the rider fell from the saddle -and his cap flew off, I recognised Volhonski. A dozen of Fusileers had -their bayonets at his throat, when I struck them up with my sword, and -interceding, took him prisoner. - -"Allow me, if taken, to preserve my sword," said he, in somewhat -broken English. - -"No, no; by ----, no! disarm him, Captain Hardinge," cried several of -our men, who had already shot more than one Russian officer when in -the act of killing the wounded. - -He smiled with proud disdain, and snapping the blade across his knee, -threw the fragments from him. - -"Though it is a disgrace alike for Russian to retreat or yield, I -yield myself to you, Captain Hardinge," said he in French, and -presenting his hand; but ere I could take it, I felt a shot strike me -on the back part of the head. Luckily it was a partially spent one, -though I knew it not then. - -A sickness, a faintness, came over me, and I had a wild and clamorous -fear that all was up with me then; but I strove to ignore the emotion, -to brandish my sword, to shout to my company, "Come on, men, come on!" -to carry my head erect, soldierlike and proudly. Alas for human nerves -and poor human nature! My voice failed me; I reeled. "Spare me, -blessed God!" I prayed, then fell forward on my face, and felt the -rush of our own men, as they swept forward in the charge to the front; -and then darkness seemed to steal over my sight, and unconsciousness -over every other sense, and I remembered no more. - -So while I lay senseless there, the tide of battle turned in the -valley, and re-turned again. But not till General Canrobert, with -three regiments of fiery little Zouaves, five of other infantry, and a -strong force of artillery, made a furious attack on the Russian flank, -with all his drums beating the _pas de charge_. The issue of the -battle was then no longer doubtful. - -The Russians wavered and broke, and with a strange wail of despair, -such as that they gave at Alma, when they feared that the angel of -light had left them, they fled towards Sebastopol, trodden down like -sheep by the French and British soldiers, all mingled pell-mell, in -fierce and vengeful pursuit. By three in the afternoon all was over, -and we had won another victory. - -But our losses were terrible. Seven of our generals were killed or -wounded; we had two thousand five hundred and nine officers and men -killed, wounded, or missing; but more than fourteen thousand Russians -lay on the ground which had been by both armies so nobly contested, -and of these five thousand were killed. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVII.--THE ANGEL OF HORROR. - - -When consciousness returned, I found the dull red evening sun shining -down the long valley of Inkermann, and that, save moans and cries for -aid and water, all seemed terribly still now. - -A sense of weakness and oppression, of incapacity for action and -motion, were my first sensations. I feared that other shot must have -struck me after I had fallen, and that both my legs were broken. The -cause of this, after a time, became plain enough: a dead artillery -horse was lying completely over my thighs, and above it and them lay -the wheel of a shattered gun carriage; and weak as I was then, to -attempt extrication from either unaided was hopeless. Thus I was -compelled to lie helplessly amid a sickening puddle of blood, -enduring a thirst that is unspeakable, but which was caused by -physical causes and excitement, with the anxiety consequent on the -battle. The aspect of the dead horse, which first attracted me, was -horrible. A twelve-pound shot had struck him below the eyes, making a -hole clean through his head; the brain had dropped out, and lay with -his tongue and teeth upon the grass. The dead and wounded lay thickly -around me, as indeed they did over all the field. Some of the former, -though with eyes unclosed and jaws relaxed, had a placid expression in -their white waxen faces. These had died of gun-shot wounds. The -expressions of pain or anguish lingered longest in those who had -perished by the bayonet. Over all the valley lay bodies in heaps, -singly or by two and threes, with swarms of flies settling over them; -shakoes, glazed helmets, bearskin-caps, bent bayonets, broken muskets, -swords, hairy knapsacks, bread-bags, shreds of clothing, torn from the -dead and the living by showers of grape and canister, cooking-kettles, -round shot and fragments of shells, with pools of noisome blood, lay -on every hand. - -Truly the Angel of Horror, and of Death, too, had been there. I saw -several poor fellows, British as well as Russian, expire within the -first few minutes I was able to look around me. One whose breast bore -several medals and orders, an officer of the Kazan Light Infantry, -prayed very devoutly and crossed himself in his own blood ere he -expired. Near me a corporal of my own regiment named Prouse, who had -been shot through the brain, played fatuously for a time with a -handful of grass, and then, lying gently back, passed away without a -moan. A Zouave, a brown, brawny, and soldier-like fellow, who seemed -out of his senses also, was very talkative and noisy. - -"Ouf!" I heard him say; "it is as wearisome as a sermon or a funeral -this! Were I a general, the capture of Sebastopol should be as easy as -a game of dominoes.--Yes, Isabeau, ma belle coquette, kiss me and hold -up my head. Vive la gloire! Vive l'eau de vie! A bas la mélancolie! A -bas la Russe!" he added through his clenched teeth hoarsely, as he -fell back. The jaw relaxed, his head turned on one side, and all was -over. - -Of Volhonski I could see nothing except his gray horse, which lay -dead, in all its trappings, a few yards off; but I afterwards learned -that he had been retaken by the Russians on their advance after the -fall of poor Sir George Cathcart. - -There was an acute pain in the arm that had been -injured--fractured--when saving Estelle; and as a kind of stupor, -filled by sad and dreamy thoughts, stole over me, they were all of -her. The roar of the battle had passed away, but there was a kind of -drowsy hum in my ears, and, for a time, strangely enough, I fancied -myself with her in the Park or Rotten-row. I seemed to see the -brilliant scene in all the glory of the season: the carriages; the -horses, bay or black, with their shining skins and glittering -harness; the powdered coachmen on their stately hammer-cloths; the -gaily-liveried footmen; the ladies cantering past in thousands, so -exquisitely dressed, so perfectly mounted, so wonderful in their -loveliness--women the most beautiful in the world; and there, too, -were the young girls, whose season was to come, and the ample -dowagers, whose seasons were long since past, lying back among the -cushions, amid ermine and fur; and with all this Estelle was laughing -and cantering by my side. Then we were at the opera--another fantastic -dream--the voices of Grisi and Mario were blending there, and as its -music seemed to die away, once more we were at Craigaderyn, under its -shady woods, with the green Welsh hills, snow-capped Snowdon and -Carneydd Llewellyn, in the distance, and voices and music and -laughter--some memory of Dora's fête--seemed to be about us. So while -lying there, on that ghastly field of Inkermann, between sleeping and -waking, I dreamed of her who was so far away--of the sweet -companionship that might never come again; of the secret tie that -bound us; of the soft dark eyes that whilom had looked lovingly into -mine; of the sweetly-modulated voice that was now falling merrily, -perhaps, on other ears, and might fall on mine no more. And a vague -sense of happiness, mingled with the pain caused by the half-spent -shot and the wild confusion and suffering of the time, stole over me. -Waking, these memories became - - - "Sad as remembered kisses after death, - And sweet as those by hopeless _fancy_ feigned - On lips that are for others--deep as love, - Deep as first love, and wild with all regret, - O death in life--the days that are no more!" - - -From all this I was thoroughly roused by a voice crying, "Up, up, -wounded--all you who are able! Cavalry are coming this way--you will -be trod to death. Arrah, get out of _that_, every man-jack of yees!" - -The excited speaker was an Irish hussar, picking his way across the -field at a quick trot. - -It was a false alarm; but the rumble of wheels certainly came next -day, and an ambulance-wagon passed slowly, picking up the wounded, who -groaned or screamed as their fractured limbs were handled, and their -wounds burst out afresh through the clotted blood. I waved an arm, and -the scarlet sleeve attracted attention. - -"There is a wounded officer--one of the 23rd Fusileers," cried a -driver from his saddle. - -"Where?" asked a mounted officer in the blue cloak and cap of the Land -Transport Corps. - -"Under that dead horse, sir." - -"One of the 23rd; let us see--Hardinge, by all the devils!" said -the officer, who proved to be no other than Hawkesby Guilfoyle. -"So-ho--steady, steady!" he added, while secretly touching his horse -with the spurs to make it rear and plunge in three several attempts to -tread me under its hoofs; but the terrible aspect of the dead animal -smashed by the cannon-shot so scared the one he rode, that he bore on -the curb in vain. - -"Coward! coward!" I exclaimed, "if God spares me you shall hear of -this." - -"The fellow is mad or tipsy," said he; "drive on." - -"But, sir--sir!" urged the driver in perplexity. - -"Villain! you are my evil fate," said I faintly. - -"I tell you the fellow is mad--drive on, I command you, or by----, -I'll make a prisoner of you!" thundered Guilfoyle, drawing a pistol -from his holster, while his shifty green eyes grew white with -suppressed passion and malice; so the ambulance-cart was driven on, -and I was left to my fate. - -Giddy and infuriated by pain and just indignation, I lay under my cold -and ghastly load, perishing of thirst, and looking vainly about for -assistance. - -Scarcely were they gone, when out of the dense thick brushwood, that -grew in clumps and tufts over all the valley, there stole forth two -Russian soldiers, with their bayonets fixed, and their faces distorted -and pale with engendered fanaticism and fury at their defeat. There -was a cruel gleam in their eyes as they crept stealthily about. Either -they feared to fire or their ammunition was expended, for I saw them -deliberately pass their bayonets through the bodies of four or five -wounded men, and pin the writhing creatures to the earth. I lay very -still, expecting that my turn would soon come. The dead horse served -to conceal me for a little; but I panted rather than breathed, and my -breath came in gasps as they drew near me; for on discovering that I -was an officer, my gold wings and lace would be sure to kindle their -spirit of acquisition. I had my revolver in my right hand, and -remembered with grim joy that of its six chambers, three were yet -undischarged. Just as the first Russian came straight towards me, I -shot him through the head, and he fell backward like a log; the second -uttered a howl, and came rushing on with his butt in the air and his -bayonet pointed down. I fired both barrels. One ball took him right in -the shoulder, the other in the throat, and he fell wallowing in blood, -but not until he had hurled his musket at me. The barrel struck me -crosswise on the head, and I again became insensible. Moonlight was -stealing over the valley when consciousness returned again, and I felt -more stiff and more helpless than ever. Something was stirring near -me; I looked up, and uttered an exclamation on seeing our regimental -goat, Carneydd Llewellyn, quietly cropping some herbage among the -débris of dead bodies and weapons that lay around me. Like Caradoc, I -had made somewhat a pet of it. The poor animal knew my voice, and on -coming towards me, permitted me to stroke and pat it; and a strong -emotion of wonder and regard filled my heart as I did so, for it was a -curious coincidence that this animal, once the pet of Winifred Lloyd, -should discover me there upon the field of Inkermann. - -After a little I heard a voice, in English, cry, "Here is our goat at -last, by the living Jingo!" and Dicky Roll, its custodian--from whose -tent it had escaped, when a shot from the batteries broke the -pole--came joyfully towards it. - -"Roll, Dicky Roll," cried I, "for God's sake bring some of our -fellows, and have me taken from here!" - -"Captain Hardinge! are you wounded, sir?" asked the little drummer, -stooping in commiseration over me. - -"Badly, I fear, but cannot tell with certainty." - -Dicky shouted in his shrill boyish voice, and in a few minutes some of -our pioneers and bandsmen came that way with stretchers. I was -speedily freed from my superincumbent load, and very gently and -carefully borne rearward to my tent, when it was found that a couple -of contusions on the head were all I had suffered, and that a little -rest and quiet would soon make me fit for duty again. - -"You must be more than ever careful of our goat, Dicky," said I, as -the small warrior, who was not much taller than his own bearskin cap, -was about to leave me (by the bye, my poor fellow Evans had been cut -in two by a round shot). "But for Carneydd Llewellyn, I might have -lain all night on the field." - -"There is a date scratched on one of his horns, sir," said Roll; "I -saw it to-day for the first time." - -"A date!--what date?" - -"Sunday, 21st August." - -"Sunday, 21st August," I repeated; "what can that refer to?" - -"I don't know, sir--_do you?_" - -The drummer saluted and left the tent. I lay on my camp-bed weak and -feverish, so weak, that I could almost have wept; for now came -powerfully back to memory that episode, till then forgotten--the -Sunday ramble I had with Winifred Lloyd when we visited the goat, by -the woods of Craigaderyn, by the cavern in the glen, by the Maen Hir -or the Giant's Grave, and the rocking stone, and all that passed that -day, and how she wept when I kissed her. Poor Winifred! her pretty -white hand must have engraved the date which the little drummer -referred to--a date which was evidently dwelling more in her artless -mind than in mine. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVIII.--THE CAMP AGAIN. - - -After the living were mustered next morning, and burial parties -detailed to inter the dead, Caradoc and one or two others dropped into -my tent to share some tiffin and a cigar or two with me; for, as Digby -Grand has it, "whatever people's feelings may be, they go to dine all -the same." - -Poor Phil looked as pale and weary, if not more so, than I did. He was -on the sick-list also, and had his head tied up by a bloody bandage, -necessitated by a pretty trenchant sword-cut, dealt, as we afterwards -discovered on comparing notes, by Volhonski just before his recapture. - -"I was first knocked over by Cathcart's riderless horse--" - -"Poor old Cathcart--a Waterloo man!" said Gwynne, parenthetically. -"Well, Phil?" - -"It was wounded and mad with terror," continued Caradoc; "then the -splinter of a shell struck me on the left leg. Still I limped to the -front, keeping the men together and close to the colours, till that -fellow you call Volhonski cut me across the head; even my bearskin -failed to protect me from his sabre. Then, but not till _then_, when -blood blinded me, I threw up the sponge and went to the rear." - -"What news of our friends in the 19th?" I asked. - -"O, the old story, many killed and wounded." - -"Little Tom Clavell?" - -"Untouched. Had the staff of the Queen's colours smashed in his hands -by a grape shot. Tom is now a bigger man than ever," said Charley -Gwynne. "By the way, he was talking of Miss Dora Lloyd last night in -my bunk between the gabions, wondering what she and the girls in -England think of all this sort of thing." - -"Thank God, they know nothing about it!" said Caradoc, lighting a -fresh cigar with a twisted cartridge paper; "the hearts of some of -them would break, could they see but yonder valley." - -"Poor Hugh Price!" observed Charley, with a sigh and a grimace, for he -had a bayonet prod in the right arm; "he was fairly murdered in cold -blood by one of those Kazan fellows--brained clean by the heel of a -musket, ere our bandsmen could carry him off to the hospital tents; -but I am thankful the assassin did not escape." - -"How?" - -"He too was finished the next moment by Evan Rhuddlan." - -Other instances of assassination, especially by a Russian major, were -mentioned, and execrations both loud and deep were muttered by us all -at these atrocities, which ultimately caused Lord Raglan to send a -firm remonstrance on the subject to Sebastopol. - -"Is it true, Charley, that the Duke of Cambridge has gone on board -ship, sick and exhausted?" asked I. - -"I believe so." - -"And that Marshal Canrobert was wounded yesterday?" - -"Yes, and had his horse shot under him, too." - -"The poor Coldstreamers were fearfully cut up in the redoubt!" - -"I saw eight of their officers interred in one grave this morning, and -three of the Grenadier Guards in another." - -"Poor fellows!" sighed Caradoc; "so full of life but a few hours ago." - -For a time the conversation, being of this nature, languished; it was -the reverse of lively, so we smoked in silence. We were all in rather -low spirits. This was simply caused by reaction after the fierce -excitement of yesterday, and to regret for the friends who had -fallen--the brave and true-hearted fellows we had lost for ever. -Victorious though we were, we experienced but little exultation; and -from my tent door, we saw the burial parties, British and French, hard -at work in their shirt sleeves, interring the slain in great trenches, -where they were flung over each other in rows, with all their gory -clothing and accoutrements, just as they were found; and there they -lay in ghastly ranks, their pallid faces turned to heaven, the hope of -many a heart and household that were far away from that horrible -valley; their joys, their sorrows, their histories, and their passing -agonies all ended now, with no tears on their cheek save those with -which the hand of God bedews the dead face of the poor soldier. - -A ring or a watch, or it might be a lock of hair, taken, or perhaps -hastily shorn by a friendly hand from the head of a dead officer as he -was borne away to these pits--the head that some one loved so well, -hanging earthward heavily and untended--shorn for a widowed wife or -anxious mother, then at home in peaceful England, or some secluded -Scottish glen; and there his obsequies were closed by the bearded and -surpliced chaplain, who stood book in hand by the edge of the ghastly -trench, burying the dead wholesale by the thousand; and amid the boom -of the everlasting and unrelenting cannonade, now going on at the left -attack, might be heard the solemn sentences attuned to brighter hopes -elsewhere than on earth, where "Death seemed scoffed at and derided by -the reckless bully Life." - -"Here is an old swell, with no end of decorations," said a couple of -our privates, as they trailed past the body of a Russian officer, one -half of whose head had been shot away, and they threw him into a -trench where the gray-coats lay in hundreds. The "old swell" proved to -be the brave Pulkovnich Ochterlony of Guynde; he who had led his -regiment so bravely at Bayazid on the mountain slopes of the Aghri -Tagh in Armenia, when, in the preceding August, the Russians had -defeated the Turks, and laid two thousand scarlet fezzes in the dust. -The episode of meeting with Guilfoyle, his conduct after the action, -and the character he had borne as a civilian, formed a topic of -some interest for my friends, who were vehement in urging me to -denounce this distinguished "cornet" of the wagon-corps to the -commander-in-chief. And this I resolved to do so soon as I was -sufficiently recovered to write, or to visit Lord Raglan in person. - -But to take action in the matter soon proved impossible, as he was -taken prisoner the next day by some Cossacks who were scouting near -the Baidar Valley, and who instantly carried him off. Some there were -in the camp who gave this capture the very different name of wilful -desertion, from two reasons; first, he had been gambling to a -wonderful extent, and with all his usual success, so that he had -completely rooked many of his brother officers, nearly all of whom -were deserving men from the ranks; and second, that on the day after -he was taken, the Russians opened a dreadful fire of shot and shell on -one of our magazines, the exact _locale_ of which could only have been -indicated to them by some traitor safe within their own lines; and -none knew better than I the savage treachery of which he was capable. - -It was now asserted that we should not assault Sebastopol until the -arrival of fresh reinforcements, which were expected by the way of -Constantinople in a few weeks. There were said to be fifteen thousand -French, and our own 97th, or Earl of Ulster's, and 99th Lanarkshire -coming from Greece, with the 28th from Malta; but that we were likely -to _winter_ before the besieged city was now becoming pretty evident -to the Allies, and none of us liked the prospect, the French perhaps -least of all, with the freezing memories of their old Russian war and -the retreat from flaming Moscow still spoken of in their ranks; and -the cruel and taunting boast of the Emperor Nicholas concerning -Russia's two most conquering generals--January and February. - -So when the wood for the erection of huts began to arrive at -Balaclava, and the winter siege became a prospect that was inevitable, -I thought of having a wigwam built for myself and two other officers; -and confess that as the season advanced, some such habitation would -have been more acceptable than my bell-tent, which, like much more of -our warlike gear, had probably lain in some of John Bull's shabby -peace-at-any-price repositories since Waterloo, and was all decaying. -Hence the door was always closed with difficulty, especially on cold -nights, the straps being rotten and the buckles rusty. Add to this, -that our camp-bedding and clothes were alike dropping to pieces--the -result of constant wet and damp. Already no two soldiers in our ranks -were clad alike; they looked like well-armed vagrants, and wore -comically-patched clothing, with caps of all kinds, gleaned off the -late field or near the burial trenches. Some of the Rifles, in lieu of -dark green, were fain to wear smocks made by themselves from old -blankets, and leggings made of the same material or old sacking, and -many linesmen, who were less fortunate, had to content them with the -rags of their uniforms. Happy indeed were the Highlanders, who had no -trousers that wore out. Alas for those to whom a flower in the -button-hole, kid gloves, glazed boots, and Rimmel's essences, were as -the necessaries of life! But ere the wished-for materials for _my_ hut -arrived, circumstances I could little have foreseen found me quarters -in a very different place. Every other day I was again on duty in the -trenches, and without the aid of my field-glass could distinctly see -the dark groups of the enemy's outposts, extending from the right up -the valley of Inkermann, towards Balaclava. - -The rain rendered our nights and days in the trenches simply horrible; -as we had to shiver there for four-and-twenty hours, literally in mud -that rose nearly to our knees, and was sometimes frozen--especially -towards the darkest and earliest hours of the morning, when the cold -would cause even strong and brave fellows almost to sob with weakness -and debility, while we huddled together like sheep for animal warmth, -listening the while, perhaps, for a sound that might indicate a -Russian mine beneath us. Those who had tobacco smoked, of course, and -shared it freely with less fortunate comrades, who had none; and under -circumstances such as ours, great indeed was the solace of a pipe, -though some found their tobacco too wet to smoke; then the Russians -and the rain were cursed alike. The latter also often reduced the -biscuits in our havresacks to a wet and dirty pulp; but hunger made us -thankful to have it, even in that condition. - -"By Jove," one would say, "how the rain comes down! Awful, isn't it?" - -"Won't spoil our uniforms, Bill, anyhow." - -"No, lads, they are past spoiling," said I, and often had to add, -"keep your firelocks under your greatcoats, men, and look to your -ammunition." - -And such care was imperatively necessary, for on dark nights -especially we never knew the moment when an attempt to scour the -trenches might bring on another Inkermann. So we would sit cowering -between the gabions, while ever and anon the fiery bombs, often shot -at random, came in quick succession through the dark sky of night, -making bright and glittering arcs as they sped on their message of -destruction, sometimes falling short and bursting in mid-air, or on -the earth and throwing up a column of dust and stones, and sometimes -fairly into the trenches, scattering death and mutilation among us. -Erelong, as the season drew on, we had the snow to add to our -miseries, and for many an hour under the lee of a gabion I have sat, -half awake and half torpid, watching the white flakes falling, like -glittering particles, athwart the slanting moonlight on the pale and -upturned faces and glistening eyes of the dead, on their black and -gaping wounds, and tattered uniform; for many perished nightly in the -trenches, on some occasions over a hundred; and at times and places -their bodies were so frozen to the earth, that to remove or tear them -up was impossible, so they had to be left where they lay, or be -covered up _pro tem_, with a little loose soil, broken by a sapper's -pickaxe. And with the endurance of all this bodily misery, I had the -additional grief that no letters ever came from Estelle for me. My -dream-castle was beginning to crumble down. I began to feel vaguely -that something had been taken out of my life, that life itself was -less worth having now, and that the beauty of the past was fading -completely away. I had but one conviction or wish--that I had never -met, had never known, or had never learned to love her. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIX.--A MAIL FROM ENGLAND. - - -THE dreamy conviction or thought with which the last chapter closes, -proved, perhaps, but a foreshadowing of that which was looming in the -future. On the day after that terrible storm of wind, rain, and hail -in the Black Sea, when some five hundred seamen were drowned, and when -so many vessels perished, causing an immense loss to the Allies; a -terrific gale, such as our oldest naval officers had never seen; when -the tents in camp were uprooted in thousands, and swept in rags before -the blast; when the horses broke loose from their picketing-ropes, and -forty were found dead from cold and exposure; when every imaginable -article was blown hither and thither through the air; and when, -without food, fire, or shelter, even the sick and wounded passed a -night of privation and misery such as no human pen can describe, and -many of the Light Division were thankful to take shelter in the old -caverns and cells of Inkermann--on the 15th of November, the day -subsequent to this terrible destruction by land and water, there -occurred an episode in my own story which shall never be forgotten by -me. - -Singular to say, amid all the vile hurly-burly incident to the storm, -a disturbance increased by the roar of the Russian batteries, and a -sortie on the French, a mail from England reached our division, and it -contained one letter for me. - -Prior to my opening it, as I failed to recognise the writing, Phil -Caradoc (wearing a blanket in the fashion of a poncho-wrapper, a -garment to which his black bearskin cap formed an odd finish) entered -my tent, which had just been re-erected with great difficulty, and I -saw that he had a newspaper in his hand, and very cloudy expression in -his usually clear brown eyes. - -"What is up, Phil?" said; "a bad report of our work laid before the -public, or what?" - -"Worse than that," said he, seating himself on the empty flour-cask -which served me for a table. "Can you steel yourself to hear bad -news?" - -"From home?" I asked. - -"Well, yes," said he, hesitating, and a chill came over my heart as I -said involuntarily, - -"Estelle?" - -"Yes, about Lady Cressingham." - -"What--what--don't keep me in suspense!" I exclaimed, starting up. - -"She is, I fear, lost to you for ever, Hardinge." - -"Ill--dead--O, Phil, don't say dead!" - -"No, no." - -"Thank God! What, then, is the matter?" - -"She is--married, that is all." - -"Married!" - -"Poor Harry! I am deuced sorry for you. Look at this paper. Perhaps I -shouldn't have shown it to you; but some one less a friend--Mostyn or -Clavell--might have thrown it in your way. Besides, you _must_ have -learned the affair in time. Take courage," he added, after a pause, -during which a very stunned sensation pervaded me; "be a man; she is -not worth regretting." - -"To whom is she married?" I asked, in a low voice. - -"Pottersleigh," said he, placing in my hand the paper, which was a -_Morning Post_. - -I crushed it up into a ball, and then, spreading it out on the head of -the inverted cask, read, while my hands trembled, and my heart grew -sick with many contending emotions, a long paragraph which Phil -indicated, and which ran somewhat as follows, my friend the while -standing quietly by my side, manipulating a cheroot prior to lighting -it with a cinder from my little fire. The piece of fashionable gossip -was headed, "Marriage of the Right Hon. the Earl of Aberconway and the -Lady Estelle Cressingham;" and detailed, in the usual style of such -announcements, that, on a certain--I forget which day _now_--the -lovely and secluded little village of Walcot, in Hampshire, presented -quite a festive appearance in honour of the above-named event, the -union of the young and beautiful daughter of the late Earl of Naseby -to our veteran statesman; that along the route from the gates of -Walcot Park to the porch of the village church were erected several -arches of evergreen, tastefully surmounted by banners and appropriate -mottoes. Among the former "we observed the arms of the now united -noble houses of Potter and Cressingham, and the standards of the -Allies now before Sebastopol. The beautiful old church of Walcot was -adorned with flowers, and crowded to excess long before the hour -appointed. The lovely bride was charmingly attired in white satin, -elegantly trimmed with white lace, and wore a wreath of orange -blossoms on her splendid dark hair, covered with a long veil, _à la -juive_. The bridesmaids, six in number, were as follows:" but I omit -their names as well as the list of gifts bestowed upon the noble -bride, who was given away by her cousin, the young earl. "Lord -Aberconway, with his ribbon of the Garter, wore the peculiar uniform -of the Pottersleigh Yeomanry." - -"Rather a necessary addition," said Phil, parenthetically; "his -lordship could scarcely have figured in the ribbon alone." - -"--Yeomanry, of which gallant regiment he is colonel, and looked hale -and well for his years. After a choice _déjeûner_ provided for a -distinguished circle, the newly-wedded pair left Walcot Park, amid the -most joyous demonstrations, for Pottersleigh Hall, the ancestral seat -of the noble Earl, to spend the honeymoon." - -"A precious flourish of penny whistles!" said Phil, when I had read, -deliberately folded the paper, and thrust it into the fire, to the end -that I might not be troubled by the temptation to read it all over -again; and then we looked at each other steadily for a minute in -silence. Forsaken! I remembered my strange forebodings now, when I had -ridden to Walcot Park. They were married--married, she and old -Pottersleigh! My heart seemed full of tears, yet when seating myself -wearily on the camp-bed, I laughed bitterly and scornfully, as I -thought over the inflated newspaper paragraph, and that the _sangre -azul_ of the Earl of Aberconway must be thin and blue indeed, when -compared with the red blood of my less noble self. - -"Come, Harry, don't laugh--in that fashion at least," said Caradoc. -"I've some brandy here," he added, unslinging his canteen, "I got from -a confiding little vivandière of the 10th Regiment, Infanterie de -Ligne. Don't mix it with the waters of Marah, the springs of -bitterness, but take a good caulker neat, and keep up your heart. -_Varium et mutabile semper_--you know the last word is feminine. That -is it, my boy--nothing more. Even the wisest man in the world, though -he dearly loved them, could never make women out; and I fear, Harry, -that you and I are not even the wisest men in the Welsh Fusileers. And -now as a consolation, - - - "'And that your sorrow may not be a dumb one, - Write odes on the inconstancy of woman.'" - - -"I loved that girl very truly, very honestly, and very tenderly, -Phil," said I, in a low voice, and heedless of how he had been running -on; "and she kissed me when I left her, as I then thought and hoped a -woman only kisses _once_ on earth. In my sleep I have had a -foreshadowing of this. Can it be that the slumber of the body is but -the waking of the soul, that such thoughts came to me of what was to -be?" - -"The question is too abstruse for me," said Caradoc, stroking his -brown beard, which was now of considerable length and volume; "but -don't worry yourself, Harry; you have but tasted, as I foresaw you -would, of the hollow-heartedness, the puerile usages, the petty -intrigues, and the high-born snobbery of those exclusives 'the upper -ten thousand.' Don't think me republican for saying so; but 'there is -one glory of the sun and another of the moon,' as some one writes; -'and there is one style of beauty among women which is angelic, and -another which is _not_,' referring, I presume, to beauty of the -spirit. We were both fated to be unlucky in our loves," continued -Caradoc, taking a vigorous pull at the little plug-hole of his -canteen, a tiny wooden barrel slung over his shoulder by a strap; "but -do take courage, old fellow, and remember there are other women in the -world in plenty." - -"But not for me," said I, bitterly. - -"Tush! think of me, of my affair--I mean my mistake with Miss Lloyd." - -"But she never loved you." - -"Neither did this Lady Estelle, now Countess of Aberconway" (I ground -my teeth), "love you." - -"She said she did; and what has it all come to? promises broken, a -plight violated, a heart trod under foot." - -"Come, come; don't be melodramatic--it's d--d absurd, and no use. -Besides, there sounds the bugle for orders, and we shall have to -relieve the trenches in an hour. So take another cigar ere you go." - -"She never loved me--never! never! you are right, Phil." - -"And yet I believe she did." - -"Did!" said I, angrily; "what do you mean now, Caradoc? I am in no -mood to study paradoxes." - -"I mean that she loved you to a certain extent; but not well enough to -sacrifice herself and her--" - -"Don't say position--hang it!" - -"No--no." - -"What then?" I asked, impatiently. - -"Her little luxuries, and all that she must have lost by the tenor of -her father's will and her mother's bad will, or that she should have -omitted to gain, had she married you, a simple captain of the 23rd -Foot, instead of this old Potter--this Earl of Aberconway." - -"A simple captain, indeed!" - -"Pshaw, Harry, be a man, and think no more about the affair. It is as -a tale that is told, a song that is sung, a bottle of tolerable wine -that has become a marine." - -"_L'infidelité_ du _corps_, ou l'infidelité du _c[oe]ur_, I care not -now which it was; but I am done with her now and for ever," I -exclaimed, with a sudden gust of rage, while clasping on my sword. - -"Done--so I should think, when she is married." - -"But to such a contemptible dotard." - -"Well, there is some revenge in that." - -"And she could cast me aside like an old garment," said I, lapsing -into tenderness again; "I, to whose neck she clung as she did on that -evening we parted. There must have been some trickery--some treachery, -of which we are the victims!" - -"Don't go on in this way, like a moonstruck boy, or, by Jove, the -whole regiment will find it out; so calm yourself, for we go to the -front in an hour;" and wringing my hand this kind-hearted fellow, -whose offhand consolation was but ill-calculated to soothe me, left -for his own tent, as he had forgotten his revolver. - -I was almost stupefied by the shock. Could the story be real? I looked -to the little grate (poor Evans' contrivance) where the charred -remains of the _Morning Post_ still flickered in the wind. Was I the -same man of an hour ago? "The plains of life were free to traverse," -as an elegant female writer says, "but the sunshine of old lay across -them no longer. There were roses, but they were scentless--fruits, but -they were tasteless--wine, but it had lost its flavour. Well, every -created being must come to an hour like this, when he feels there is -nothing pleasant to the palate, or grateful to the sense, agreeable to -the ear, or refreshing to the heart; when man delights him not and -woman still less, and when he is sick of the dream of existence." - -To this state had I come, and yet I had neither seen nor heard the -last of her. - -"Estelle--Estelle!" I exclaimed in a low voice, and my arms went out -into vacancy, to fall back on the camp-bed whereon I reclined. -Abandoned for another; forgotten it might too probably--nay, must be. -I stared up, and looked from the triangular door of the tent over the -wilderness of zigzags, the sand-bags, and fascines of the trenches; -over the gun-batteries to the white houses and green domes of -Sebastopol, and all down the long valley of Inkermann, where the -graves of the dead lay so thick and where the Russian pickets were -quietly cooking their dinners; but I could see nothing distinctly. -The whole features of the scenery seemed blurred, faint, and blended, -for my head was swimming, my heart was sick, and all, all this was -the doing of Estelle! Did no memory of sweet Winifred Lloyd come -to me in my desolation of the heart? None! I could but think of the -cold-blooded treachery of the one I had lost. My letter! I suddenly -remembered it, and tore it open, thinking that the writer, whose hand, -as I have said, I failed to recognise, might cast some light upon the -matter; and to my increasing bewilderment, it proved to be from -Winifred herself. A letter from her, and to _me_; what could it mean? -But the first few words sufficed to explain. - -Craigaderyn, . . . . - -"My dear Captain Hardinge,--Papa has sprained his whip hand when -hunting with Sir Watkins Vaughan, and so compels me to write for him." -(Why should compulsion be necessary? thought I.) "You will, no doubt, -have heard all about Lady Estelle's marriage by this time. She was -engaged to Lord Pottersleigh _before_ she came here, it would seem, -and matters were brought to an issue soon after your transport sailed. -She wished Dora and me to be among her bridesmaids, but we declined; -nor would papa have permitted us, had we desired to be present at the -ceremony. She bade me say, if I wrote to you, that you must forgive -her, as she is the victim of circumstances; that she shall ever esteem -and love you as a brother, and so forth; but I agree with papa, who -says that she is a cold-hearted jilt, undeserving of any man's love, -and that he 'will never forgive her, even if he lived as long as -Gwyllim ap Howel ap Jorwerth ap Tregaian,' the Old Parr of Wales. - -"We are all well at Craigaderyn, and all here send you and Mr. Caradoc -kindest love. We are quite alone just now, and I often idle over my -music, playing 'The Men of Harlech,' and other Welsh airs to papa. -More often I wander and ride about the Martens' dingle, by Carneydd -Llewellyn's hut--you remember it?--by Glendower's oak, by the Elwey, -Llyn Aled, and the rocking stone, and think--think very much of you -and poor Mr. Caradoc, and all that might have been." (Pretty pointed -this--with which--Phil or me? Could I be uncertain?) "Next to hearing -from you, our greatest pleasure at Craigaderyn is to hear about you -and our own Welsh Fusileers, of whose bravery at Alma we are so justly -proud; so we devour the newspapers with avidity and too often with -sorrow. How is my dear pet goat?" - -And so, with a pretty little prayer that I might be spared, her letter -ended; and hearing the voices of the adjutant and sergeant-major, I -thrust it into my pocket, and set off to relieve the trenches, with -less of enthusiasm and more recklessness of life than ever before -possessed me, and without reflecting that I did not deserve to receive -a letter so kind and prayerful as that of the dear little Welsh girl, -who was so far away. It was cold that night in the trenches, nathless -the Russian _fire_--yea, cold enough to freeze the marrow in one's -bones; but my heart seemed colder still. In the morning, four of my -company were found dead between the gabions, without a wound, and with -their muskets in their hands. The poor fellows had gone to their last -account--slipt away in sheer exhaustion, through lack of food, warmth, -and clothing--and this was glory! - - - - -CHAPTER XL.--A PERILOUS DUTY. - - -I have said that, ere the regular hutting of the army for the winter -siege began, quarters were found for me by fate elsewhere; a -circumstance which came about in the following manner. All may have -heard of the famous solitary ride of Lieutenant Maxse of the Royal -Navy, to open a communication between headquarters and Balaclava; and -it was my chance to have a similar solitary ride to perform, but, -unfortunately, to fail in achieving the end that was in view. One -afternoon, on being informed by the adjutant of ours that I was wanted -at headquarters, I assumed my sword and sash--indeed, these -appurtenances were rarely off us--and putting my tattered uniform in -such order as the somewhat limited means of my "toilet-table" -admitted, repaired at once, and not without considerable surprise, and -some vague misgivings, to the house inhabited by Lord Raglan. I had -there to wait for some time, as he was busy with some of the -headquarter staff, and had just been holding a conference with certain -French officers of rank, who were accompanied by their aides and -orderlies. Among them I saw the fat and full-faced but soldier-like -Marshal Pelissier, the future Duc de Malakoff, with his cavalry escort -and banner; and grouped about the place, or departing therefrom, I saw -Chasseurs d'Afrique in sky-blue jackets and scarlet trousers; Imperial -Cuirassiers in helmets and corslets of glittering steel; French horse -artillery with caps of fur and pelisses covered with red braid. There, -too, were many of our own staff officers, with their plumed hats; even -the Turkish cavalry escort of some pasha, stolid-looking fellows in -scarlet fezzes, were there, their unslung carbines resting on the -right thigh; and I saw some of our Land Transport Corps, in red -jackets braided with black, loitering about, as if some important -movement was on the tapis; but whatever had been suggested, nothing -was fated to come of it. - -Through the buzz and Babel of several languages, I was ushered at -last, by an orderly sergeant, into the little dingy room where the -Commander-in-chief of our Eastern army usually held his councils or -consultations, received reports, and prepared his plans. The military -secretary, the chief of the staff, the adjutant-general, and some -other officers, whose uniforms were all threadbare, darned, and -discoloured, and whose epaulettes were tattered, frayed, and reduced -almost to black wire, were seated with him at a table, which was -littered with letters, reports, despatches, telegrams, and plans of -Sebastopol, with the zigzags, the harbour, the valley of the -Tchernaya, and of the whole Crimea. And it was not without an emotion -of interest and pleasure, that I found myself before our old and -amiable leader, the one-armed Lord Raglan--he whose kindly nature, -charity, urbanity, and queer signature as _Fitzroy Somerset_, when -military secretary, had been so long known in our army during the days -of peace; and to whom the widow or the orphan of a soldier never -appealed in vain. - -"Glad to see you, Captain Hardinge," said he, bowing in answer to my -salute; "I have a little piece of duty for you to perform, and the -chief of the staff" (here he turned to the future hero of the attack -on the Redan) "has kindly reminded me of how well you managed the -affair of the flag of truce sent to the officer on the Russian left, -concerning the major of the 93rd Highlanders." - -I bowed again and waited. - -"My personal aides," he continued, "are all knocked up or engaged -elsewhere just now, and I have here a despatch for Marshal Canrobert, -requiring an immediate answer, as there is said to be an insurrection -among the Polish troops within Sebastopol, and if so, you will readily -perceive the necessity for taking instant advantage of it. At this -precise time, the Marshal is at a Tartar village on the road to -Kokoz." (Here his lordship pointed to a map of the Crimea.) "It lies -beyond the Pass of Baidar, which you will perceive indicated there, -and consequently is about thirty English miles to our rear and right. -You can neither miss him nor the village, I think, by any possibility, -as it is occupied by his own old corps, the 3rd Zouaves, a French line -regiment, and four field guns. You will deliver to him this letter, -and bring me his answer without delay." - -"Unless I fail, my lord." - -"As Richelieu says in the play, 'there is no such word as fail!'" he -replied, smiling. "But, however, in case of danger, for there _are_ -Cossacks about, you must take heed to destroy the despatch." - -"Very good, my lord--I shall go with pleasure." - -"You have a horse, I presume?" - -"I had not thought of that, my lord--a horse, no; here I can scarcely -feed myself, and find no use for a horse." - -"Take mine--I have a spare one," said the chief of the staff, who was -then a major-general and C.B. He rang the hand-bell for the orderly -sergeant, to whom he gave a message. Then I had a glass or two of -sherry from a simple black bottle; Lord Raglan gave me his missive -sealed, and shook my hand with that energy peculiar to the one-armed, -and a few minutes more saw me mounted on a fine black horse, belonging -to the chief of the staff, and departing on my lonely mission. The -animal I rode--round in the barrel, high in the forehead, and deep in -the chest, sound on its feet and light in hand--was a thorough English -roadster--a nag more difficult to find in perfection than even the -hunter or racer; but his owner was fated to see him no more. - -I rode over to the lines of the regiment, to let some of our -fellows--who all envied me, yet wished me well--know of the duty -assigned me. What was it to me whether or not _she_ saw my name in -despatches, in orders, or in the death list? Whether I distinguished -myself or died mattered little to me, and less now to her. It was a -bitter conviction; so excitement and forgetfulness alike of the past -and of the present were all I sought--all I cared for. Caradoc, -however, wisely and kindly suggested some alteration or modification -in my uniform, as the country through which I had to pass was -certainly liable to sudden raids by scouting Cossacks. So, for my red -coat and bearskin, I hastily substituted the blue undress surtout, -forage cap, and gray greatcoat. I had my sword, revolver, and -ammunition pouch at my waist-belt. Perceiving that I was gloomy and -sullen, and somewhat low-spirited in eye and bearing, Caradoc and -Charley Gwynne, who could not comprehend what had "been up" with me -for some time past, and who openly assured me that they envied me this -chance of "honourable mention," accompanied me a little way beyond the -line of sentries on our right flank. - -"Au revoir, old fellow! Keep up your heart and remember all I have -said to you," were Phil's parting words, "and together we shall sing -and be merry. I hope to keep the 1st of March in Sebastopol, and there -to chorus our old mess room song;" and as he waved his hand to me, the -light-hearted fellow sang a verse of a ditty we were wont to indulge -in on St. David's-day, while Toby Purcell's spurs were laid on the -table, and the band, preceded by the goat led by the drum-major with a -salver of leeks, marched in procession round it: - - - "Then pledge me a toast to the glory of Wales-- - To her sons and her daughters, her hills and her vales; - Once more--here's a toast to the mighty of old-- - To the fair and the gentle, the wise and the bold; - Here's a health to whoever, by land or by sea, - Has been true to the Wales of the brave and the free!" - - -And poor Phil Caradoc's voice, carolling this local ditty, was the -last sound I heard, as I took the path that led first towards -Balaclava and thence to the place of my destination, while the sun of -the last day of November was shedding lurid and farewell gleams on the -spires and white walls of Sebastopol. Many descriptions have rendered -the name and features of Balaclava so familiar to all, with its old -Genoese fort, its white Arnaout dwellings shaded by poplars and other -trees, that I mean to skip farther notice of it, and also of the mud -and misery of the place itself--the beautiful and landlocked harbour, -once so secluded, then crowded with man-of-war boats and steam -launches, and made horrible by the swollen and sweltering carcasses of -hundreds of troop-horses, which our seamen and marines used as -stepping-stones when leaping from boat to boat or to the shore. Some -little episodes made an impression upon me, which I am unlikely to -forget, after approaching Balaclava by a cleft between those rocky -heights where our cavalry were encamped, and where, by ignominiously -making draught-horses of their troopers for the conveyance of planks, -they were busily erecting a town of huts that looked like a "backwood" -hamlet. A picturesque group was formed by some of the kilted Highland -Brigade, brawny and bearded men, their muscular limbs displayed by -their singular costume, piling a cairn above the trench where some of -their dead comrades lay, thus fulfilling one of the oldest customs of -their country--in the words of Ossian, "raising the stones above the -mighty, that they might speak to the little sons of future years." -Elsewhere I saw two Frenchmen carrying a corpse on a stretcher, from -which they coolly tilted it into a freshly dug hole, and began to -cover it up, singing the while as cheerily as the grave-digger in -_Hamlet_, which I deemed a striking proof of the demoralising effect -of war--for their comrade was literally buried exactly as a dog would -have been in England; and yet, that the last element of civilisation -might not be wanting, a gang of "navvies" were laying down the -sleepers for the first portion of the camp-railway, through the main -street of Balaclava, the Bella-chiare of the adventurous Genoese. - -Though I did not loiter there, the narrow way was so deep with mud, -and so encumbered by the débris and material of war, that my progress -was very slow, and darkness was closing in on land and sea when I -wheeled off to the left in the direction of Kokoz, after obtaining -some brandy from a vivandière of the 12th French Infantry--not the -pretty girl with the semi-uniform, the saucy smile, and slender -ankles, who beats the drum and pirouettes so prettily as the orthodox -stage vivandière--but a stout French female party, muffled in a -bloodstained Russian greatcoat, with a tawny imp squalling at her -back. I passed the ground whereon the picturesque Sardinian army was -afterwards to encamp, and soon entered the lovely Baidar valley. The -mountains and the dense forests made me think of Wales, for on my -right lay a deep ravine with rocks and water that reflected the stars; -on my left were abrupt but well-wooded crags, and I could not but look -first on one side, and then on the other, with some uneasiness; for -Russian riflemen might be lurking among the latter, and stray Cossacks -might come prowling down the former, far in rear of Canrobert's -advanced post at the Tartar village. A column such as he had with him -might penetrate with ease to a distance most perilous for a single -horseman; and this valley, lovely though it was--the Tempe of the -Crimea--I was particularly anxious to leave behind me. I have said -that I felt reckless of peril, and so I did, being reckless enough and -ready enough to face any danger in front; yet I disliked the idea of -being quietly "potted" by some Muscovite boor lying _en perdue_, -behind a bush, and then being brained or bayoneted by him afterwards; -for I knew well that those who were capable of murdering our helpless -wounded on the field, would have few compunctions elsewhere. -Reflection now brought another idea--a very unpleasant one--to mind. -Though I was in _rear_ of this French advanced post, there was nothing -to prevent Cossack scouts--active and ubiquitous as the Uhlans of -Prussia--from deeming me a spy and treating me as such, if they found -me there; for was not Major André executed most ignominiously by the -Americans on that very charge, though taken in the uniform of the -Cameronian regiment? - -Unfortunately for me, there were and are two roads through the Baidar -valley: one by the pass, of recent construction; and the other, the -ancient horse-road, which is old, perhaps, as the days of the Greeks -of Klimatum. A zigzag ascent, and a gallery hewn through the granite -rocks for some fifty yards or so, lead to a road from whence, by its -lofty position, the whole line of shore can be seen for miles, and the -sea, as I saw it then, dotted by the red top-lights of our men-o'-war -and transports. The other follows for some little distance, certainly, -the same route nearly, but comes ere long to the Devil's Staircase, -the steps of which are trunks of trees alternated by others hewn out -of the solid rock; and this perilous path lies, for some part of the -way at least, between dark, shadowy, and enormous masses of impending -cliffs, where any number of men might be taken by surprise. And -certainly I felt my heart beat faster, with the mingled emotions of -fierce excitement and stern joy, as I hooked my sword-hilt close up to -my waist-belt, assured myself that the caps were on my revolver, and -spurred my roadster forward. Darkness was completely set in now, and -before me there twinkled one solitary star at the distant end of the -gloomy and rocky tunnel through which I was pursuing my solitary way. - - - - -CHAPTER XLI.--THE CARAVANSERAI. - - -I pursued the old road just described, urging my horse to a trot where -I dare do so, but often being compelled--by the rough construction and -nature of the way, and at times by my painful doubts as to whether I -was pursuing the right one--to moderate his pace to a walk. -Frequently, too, I had to dismount and lead him by the bridle, -especially at such parts as those steps of wood and stone by the -Merdven or Devil's Staircase, when after passing through forests of -beech and elm, walnut and filbert trees, I found myself on the summit -of a rock, which I have since learned is two thousand feet above the -Euxine, and from whence the snow-capped summits of the Caucasus can be -seen when the weather is clear. Around me were the mountains of Yaila, -rising in peaks and cliffs of every imaginable form, and fragments of -rock like inverted stalactites started up here and there amidst the -star-lighted scenery. Anon the way lay through a forest entirely of -oaks, where the fallen leaves of the past year lay deep, and the heavy -odour of their decay filled all the atmosphere. The country seemed -very lonely; no shepherd's cot appeared in sight, and an intense -conviction of utter solitude oppressed me. Frequently I reined in my -horse and hearkened for a sound, but in vain. I knew a smattering of -Arabic and that polyglot gibberish which we call Hindostani, but -feared that neither would be of much service to me if I met a Tartar; -and as for a Greek or Cossack, the revolver would be the only means of -conferring with them. Once the sound of a distant bell struck my ear, -announcing some service by night in a church or monastery among the -hills; and soon, on my left, towered up the range of which -Mangoup-Kaleh is the chief, crowned with the ruins of a deserted -Karaite or Jewish tower, and which overlooks Sebastopol on one side, -and Sebastopol on the other. After a time I came to a place where some -buffaloes were grazing, beside a fountain that plashed from a little -archway into a basin of stone. This betokened that some habitation -must be in the vicinity; but that which perplexed me most, was the -circumstance that there the old road was crossed by another: thus I -was at a loss which to pursue. One might lead me to the shore of the -Black Sea; another back towards Sebastopol, or to the Russian pickets -in the valley of Inkermann; and the third, if it failed to be the way -to Kokoz, might be a path to greater perils still. - -While in this state of doubt, a light, hitherto unnoticed, attracted -my attention. It glimmered among some trees about a mile distant on my -left, and I rode warily towards it, prepared to fight or fly, as the -event might require. Other lights rapidly appeared, and a few minutes -more brought me before a long rambling building of Turkish aspect, -having large windows filled in with glass, a tiled roof, and broad -eaves. On one side was a spacious yard enclosed by a low wall, wherein -were several horses, oxen, and buffaloes tethered to the kabitkas or -quaintly-constructed country carts; on the other was a kind of open -shed like a penfold, where lighted lanterns were hanging and candles -burning in tin sconces; and by these I could perceive a number of -bearded Armenians and Tartars seated with chibouks and coffee before -them, chatting gaily and laughing merrily at the somewhat broad and -coarse jokes of a Stamboul Hadji, a pretended holy mendicant, whose -person was as unwashed and whose attire was as meagre and tattered as -that of any wandering Faquir I had ever seen in Hindostan. His beard -was ample, and of wonderful blackness; his glittering eyes, set under -beetling brows, were restless and cunning; his turban had once been -green, the sacred colour; and he carried a staff, a wallet, a -sandal-wood rosary of ninety-nine beads, and a bottle, which probably -held water when nothing stronger could be procured. The Tartars, six -in number, were lithe, active, and gaily-dressed fellows, with large -white fur caps, short jackets of red or blue striped stuff, and loose, -baggy, dark blue trousers, girt by scarlet sashes, wherein were stuck -their daggers and brass-butted pistols; for, though all civilians, -they were nevertheless well armed. - -The Armenians seemed to be itinerant merchants, or pedlars, as their -packages were close beside them; and two Tartar women--the wife and -daughter probably of the keeper of the khan--who were in attendance, -bringing fresh relays of coffee, cakes, and tobacco, wore each a white -feredji, which permitted nothing of their form to be seen, save the -sparkling dark eyes and yellow-booted feet, as it covered them so -completely that each looked like nothing else than a walking and -talking bundle of white linen. The whole group, as I came upon it thus -suddenly, when seen by the flickering light of the candles and -lanterns, had a very picturesque effect; but the idea flashed upon me, -that as all these men were, too probably, subjects of the Russian -empire, I ran some risk among them; and on my unexpected appearance -the Tartars started, eyed each other and me, in doubt how to act, and -instinctively laid hands on their weapons, like men who were wont to -use them. The Armenians changed colour and laid down their pipes, -fearing that I was but the precursor of a foraging party; and even the -Hadji paused in his story, and placed a hand under his short cloak, -where no doubt a weapon was concealed. All seemed doubtful what to -make of me. I heard "Bashi-bazouk" (Irregular) muttered, and "Frank," -too. My gray greatcoat enabled me, in their unprofessional eyes, to -pass for anything. If a Russian officer, they feared me; if one of the -Allies, I was the friend--however unworthy an instrument--of the -successor of Mahomet; one of those who had come to fight his battles -against the infidels of the Russian-Greek church; so either way I was -pretty secure of the Tartars' good will; and boldly riding forward, I -proceeded to "air" some of the Arabic I had picked up in the East, by -uttering the usual greeting; to which the keeper of the khan replied -by a low salaam, bending down as if to take the dust from my right -boot and carry it to his lips, while more than once he said, - -"_Hosh ghieldiniz!_" (_i. e_., Welcome!) - -Then a Tartar, as a token of goodwill, took a pipe from his mouth and -presented it to me, while another offered me sliced water-melon on an -English delph-plate. - -"_Aan coon slaheet nahss?_" (Have you any coppers?) whined the Hadji. - -I gave him a five-piastre piece, on which he salaamed to the earth -again and again, saying, - -"_Kattel herac! kattel herac!_" (Thank you, sir.) - -The meeting was a narrow escape, for I might have fallen among -Russians; but fortunately not one of their nation happened at that -moment to be about the place. I laid some money on the low board -around which they were seated, and asked for coffee and a chibouk, -which were brought to me, when I dismounted. However, I remained near -my horse, that I might vault into the saddle and be off on the -shortest notice. On inquiring if I was on the right road for Kokoz, -the host of the establishment shook his head, and informed me that I -was several versts to the left of it. I next asked whether there were -any Russian troops in the immediate neighbourhood. Still eyeing me -keenly and dubiously, several of the Tartars replied in the -affirmative; and the tattered Hadji, whose goodwill I had won by my -peace-offering, told me that a party of Cossacks were now hovering in -the Baidar Valley, the very place through which I had passed, and must -have to repass, unless for safety I remained with Canrobert's flying -column. But then my orders were to return with his answer, and without -delay. Here was a pleasant predicament! After mature consideration I -resolved to wait for daylight, when the Hadji promised to be my guide -to the Tartar village, where the Franks were posted, and which he led -me to understand was nearer the base of Mangoup-Kaleh than the town of -Kokoz; and in the meantime, he added, he should resume a story, in the -narration of which he had been interrupted by my arrival. This -announcement was greeted with a hearty clapping of hands; the women -came nearer; all adjusted themselves in attitudes of attention, for -oral storytelling is the staple literature of the East. Thus their -thoughts, suspicions, and conjectures were drawn from me; and as all -seemed good-humoured, I resolved to make the best of the situation and -remain passive and patient, though every moment expecting to hear the -clank of hoofs or the jingle of accoutrements, and to see the glitter -of Cossack lances; and while I sat there, surveying the singular group -of which I formed one, the quaint aspect of the caravanserai on one -side, the dark forest lands and starlit mountains on the other, my -thoughts, in spite of me, reverted to the news I had so lately -heard--to her I had now lost for ever, and who, in her splendid -English home, was far away from all such wild scenes and stirring -perils as those which surrounded me. - -The story told by the Hadji referred to a piece of court scandal, -which, had he related it somewhere nearer the Golden Horn, might have -cost him his head; and to me it became chiefly remarkable from the -circumstance that, soon after the Crimean War, a portion of it -actually found its way as news from the East into the London papers; -but all who heard it in the khan listened with eyes dilated and mouth -agape, for it was replete with that treachery and lust of cruelty -which are so peculiarly oriental. After extolling in flowing and -exaggerated terms the beauty of Djemila Sultana, whom he called the -third and youngest daughter of the Sultan Abdul Medjid, the Hadji told -us that he had been present when she was bestowed in marriage upon -Mahmoud Jel-al-adeen Pasha, to whom, notwithstanding the charms of -this royal lady, the possession of her hand was anything but enviable, -as oriental princesses usually treat worse than slaves their husbands, -leading them most wretched lives, in consequence of their tyrannical -spirit, their caprice, pride, and jealousy of other women. Now the -Sultana Djemila was no exception to this somewhat general rule, and -having discovered by the aid of her royal papa's chief astrologer, the -Munadjim Bashee, that her husband had purchased and secluded in a -pretty little kiosk near the waterside at Pera a beautiful Circassian, -whom he was wont to visit during pretended absences on military duty, -she found means to have the girl carried off, and ordered the Capi -Aga, or chief of the White Eunuchs, an unscrupulous Greek, to -decapitate her; an operation which he performed by one stroke of his -sabre, for the neck of the victim was very slender, and shapely as -that of a white swan. Not contented with this, she resolved still -farther to be revenged upon her husband the Pasha when he returned to -dinner. - -Seating herself in the divan-hanee while the meal of which the Pasha -was to partake alone--as women, no matter what their rank may be, -never eat with men in the East--was being spread, she rose up at his -entrance, and rendering the usual homage accorded by wives (much to -his astonishment), she then clapped her white hands, on which the -diamonds flashed, as a signal to serve up the dinner. Crushed and -abashed by a long system of domestic tyranny and despair, Mahmoud -Jel-al-adeen, who feared his wife as he had never feared the Russians, -against whom he had fought valiantly at Silistria, failed to perceive -the malignant light that glittered in the beautiful black eyes of -Djemila. But a fear of coming evil was upon him, as on that day, when -he had ridden past the great Arsenal, he had seen a crow fly towards -him; in the East an infallible sign of something about to befall him, -as it was a crow that first informed Adam that Abel was slain. - -"So I pray you, Djemila, neither to taunt nor revile me to-day," said -he, "for a strange gloom is upon me." - -She laughed mockingly, and Mahmoud shivered, for this laugh was often -the precursor of taunts that could never be recalled or forgotten, and -of having his beard rent, his turban knocked off, and his lips--the -same lips at whose utterance his brigade of three thousand Mahomediyes -trembled--beaten with the heel of her tiny slipper. But she began to -storm as was her wont; and then, while her husband's fingers went into -the pillau from time to time, there began their usual taunting -discussion, with quotations from the Koran, "which, as all the world -knows, or ought to know," continued the Hadji, "is the one and only -book for laws, civil, moral, religious, and domestic." - -"Doth not the Prophet say," she exclaimed, closing the slender tips of -her henna-dyed fingers, "in the fourth chapter entitled 'Women,' and -revealed at Mecca, act with equity towards them?" - -"Yes; but he adds, 'If ye act not with equity towards orphans of the -female sex, take in marriage such other as please you, two, three, or -four; but not more." - -"So--so; and your fancy was for a slave!" - -"_Was?_" stammered Mahmoud; then he added, defiantly, yet tremulous -with apprehension the while, "A Circassian, whose skin is as the egg -of an ostrich--her hair as a shower of sunbeams." - -"This to me!" she exclaimed; and starting from the divan, she smote -him thrice on the mouth with the heel of her embroidered slipper. - -The eyes of the Pasha flashed fire; yet remembering who she was, he -sighed and restrained his futile wrath, and said, - -"If you will quote the Prophet, remember that he says in chapter iv., -'Men shall have pre-eminence above women, because of those advantages -wherein God hath caused one of them to excel the other.'" - -Djemila laughed derisively and fanned herself. - -"Who dared to tell you of this slave girl?" asked Mahmoud, glancing -nervously at the pretty little slipper; "who, I demand?" - -"The wire of the Infidels, that passes over men's houses, and reveals -the secrets of all things therein--even those of the harem," said she, -laughing, but with fierce triumph now; "yea, telling more than is -known by the Munadjim Bashee himself." - -The Pasha knew not what to say to this; he quaffed some sherbet to -keep himself cool, and then ground his teeth, resolving, if he dared, -to have all the telegraph wires in his neighbourhood cut down; indeed, -about this time, such was the terror the Turks had of those mysterious -speaking wires, that in Constantinople, to prevent their destruction -as telltales, a few human heads were placed upon the supporting poles -by order of Stamboul Effendi, or chief of the police. - -"Thou shalt be stoned by order of my brother, and according to the -holy law!" said Djemila, her proud lips curling and quivering. - -"Woman, she is but a slave--an odalisque!" - -"Whom you would marry before the kadi?" - -"Yes," said Mahmoud, through his teeth, for his temper was rising -fast. - -"And you love her?" - -"Alas, yes--God and the Prophet alone know how well!" said the Pasha, -whose head drooped as he mentally compared the sweet gentleness of his -Circassian girl with the fiery fury of the royal bride he had been -compelled to espouse, as _a cheap reward_ for his military services. - -"_Chabauk!_" exclaimed Djemila. "Serve the next dish. Eat, eat, I say, -and no more of this!" - -The cover was removed by a trembling servant, and there lay before the -Pasha Mahmoud the head of the poor Circassian girl--the masses of -golden hair he had so frequently caressed, the eyes, now glazed, he -had loved to look on, and the now pale lips he had kissed a thousand -times in that lonely kiosk beside the sea. - -"There is your dessert--_alfiert olsun!_" (May it do you good!) -exclaimed Djemila, with flashing eyes and set teeth. - -Mahmoud, horror-struck, had only power to exclaim, as he threw his -hands and turned his eyes upward, "My love--my murdered love--_Allah -bereket versin!_" (May God receive your soul!) and then fell back on -his divan, and expired. - -As he had prior to this drunk some sherbet, it was whispered abroad, -ere long, that the poor Pasha had been poisoned; but as no examination -after death took place, the high rank of his wife precluding it, it -was given out that he had died of apoplexy. So he was laid in the -Place of Sleep, with his turban on, his toes tied together, and his -face turned towards Mecca, and there was an end of it with him; but -not so with the Capi Aga, whom the Sultan, for being guilty of obeying -Djemila's order to execute the odalisque, subjected to an old Turkish -punishment now, and long before that day, deemed as obsolete. He was -taken to the Sirdan Kapussi, or Dungeon Gate of Stamboul, close by the -Fruit Market, and placed in a vaulted room, where he was stripped of -all his clothes by the Capidgi Bashi, who then brought in a large -copper plate or table, supported by four pedestals of iron, and -underneath which was a grate of the same metal, containing a fire of -burning coals, at the sight of which a shriek of despair escaped the -miserable Greek. When the plate of copper had become quite hot, the -executioner took the turban-cloth of the doomed man, unwound it, and -placing it round his waist, by the aid of two powerful hamals had it -drawn tight, until his body was compressed into the smallest possible -place. Then by one blow of his sabre he slashed the hapless wretch in -_two_, and placing his upper half instantly upon the burning copper, the -hissing blood was staunched thereby, and he was kept alive, but in -exquisite torture, till the time for which he was ordained to endure -it was fulfilled. He was then lifted off, and instantly expired. - -Eagerly, with fixed eyes, half-open mouths, and in hushed silence, -forgetting even to smoke, and permitting their chibouks to die out, -his audience listened to this most improbable story, which the cunning -Hadji related with wonderful spirit and gesticulation; and so "having -supped full with horrors," at its close they showered coins--kopecs, -paras, and even English pennies--upon the narrator. The whole story -was a hoax, the Sultan having no such daughter as Djemila, the names -of the three sultanas being quite unlike it; but that made as little -difference then in Crim Tartary as it did afterwards nearer Cornhill; -and Charley Gwynne and others of ours to whom I mentioned it were wont -to call it "the bounce of the cold chop and the hot plate." - - - - -CHAPTER XLII.--THE TCHERNIMORSKI COSSACKS. - - -The night passed slowly with me in the khan. After the conclusion of -the Hadji's story, the travellers who were halting there coiled -themselves up to sleep, on the divan or on their carpets or felt mats; -but I was too much excited, too wakeful and suspicious of the honest -intentions of all about me, too anxious for dawn and the successful -completion of the important duty confided to me, to attempt following -their example, or even to allow that my horse should be unsaddled. I -simply relaxed his girths, and remained in the travellers' common -apartment, listening to every passing sound, and watching the sharp -oriental features of the black-bearded and picturesque-looking -sleepers by the smoky light of a solitary oil-lamp, which swung from a -dormant beam that traversed the apartment. The arched rafters of the -ceiling were painted in alternate stripes of white and black. There -was a fireplace or open chimney, where smouldered on the hearthstone a -heap of branches and dry fir-cones, the embers of which reddened and -whitened in the downward puffs of wind that eddied in the vent; and -round the walls were rows of shining tin plates, and under these were -other rows of white cloths, like towels in shape and size, but worked -and embroidered with gold thread, all made and prepared before -marriage by the Tartar hostess in her bridal days. All these quaint -objects appeared to recede or fade from my sight, and sleep was just -beginning to overpower me, when my sleeve was twitched by the Hadji, -who pointed to the snow-covered summits of the mountains then visible -from the windows, and becoming tipped with red light; and stiff and -weary I started up, to have my horse corned and watered for the task -of that day, the close of which I could little foresee. - -The wife of the Tartar placed before me, on a table only a foot high -and little more than a foot square, a large tin tray, containing some -hard boiled eggs, black rye bread, and a vessel filled with the sweet -juice of pears. It was a strange and humble repast, but proved quite -Apician to me after our mode of messing before Sebastopol. I had -barely ended this simple Tartar breakfast, when the Stamboul Hadji, -who was to be my guide to Canrobert's post near Kokoz, exclaimed, in a -startled voice, "_Allah kerim_--look!" - -I followed the direction indicated by his hand and dark, gleaming -eyes, and with emotions of a very chequered kind saw, through an open -window, "a clump of spears," as Scott would have called them; in -short, a party of Cossacks riding slowly and leisurely down the -mountain-path that led straight towards the house. In the eastern -sunlight the tips of their lances shone like fiery stars; but no other -appointments glittered about them; for unlike the gay light cavalry of -France and Britain, their uniforms are generally of the most plain and -dingy description. As yet they were about a mile distant, and if I -would escape them, there was not a moment to be lost. I rushed to my -horse, looked hastily but surely to bridle-bit, to saddle-girth, and -stirrup-leather; and without waiting for the Hadji, who, being afoot, -would only serve to retard my pace and lead to my capture, I gave some -money to the Tartar hostess, and galloped away, diving deep into the -forest, hoping that I had been as yet unseen, and should escape if -none of the people at the caravanserai betrayed me, either under the -inspiration of cowardice or malevolence. To avoid this party, who, it -would appear, were coming right along the road I should pursue, I rode -due eastward towards the ridge of Mount Yaila, which rose between me -and the Black Sea, and which extends from Balaclava nearly to Alushta, -a distance of fifty miles. - -The day was clear and lovely, though cold and wintry, as the season -was so far advanced, and I proceeded lightly along a narrow forest -path, the purely-bred animal I rode seeming scarcely to touch, but -merely to brush, the dewy grass with its small hoofs. The air was -loaded by the fragrance of the firs; here and there, between the dark -and bronze-looking glades, fell the golden gleams of the morning sun; -and at times I had a view of the sombre sea of cones that spread over -the hills in countless lines, and in places untrodden, perhaps, save -by the wolf and the badger; overhead the black Egyptian vulture -hovered in mid-air, the brown partridges whirred up before my horse's -feet, and the hare, too, fled from its lurking-place among the long -grass; but by wandering thus deviously in such a lonely place, though -I might avoid those ubiquitous Cossacks, who were scattered -"broadcast" over all Crim Tartary, I should never reach Kokoz, or -deliver that despatch, which, if taken by the enemy, I meant to -destroy. Once or twice I came upon some Tartar huts, whose occupants -seemed to be chiefly women--the men being all probably employed as -military wagoners, in the forest or afield; but they drew close their -yashmacs and shut their doors at my approach; so midday came on, and I -was still in ignorance of the route to pursue, and in a district so -primitive that, when the simple natives saw me scrape a lucifer-match -to light a cigar, they were struck dumb with fear and wonder. Vague, -wild, and romantic dreams and hopes came into my mind, that, if I -perished and my name appeared in the _Gazette_, Estelle would weep for -me; and in my absurd, most misplaced regard, and almost boyish -enthusiasm, I felt that I should cheerfully have given up the life God -gave me, for a tear from this false girl, could I be but certain that -she would have shed it. Ay, there was the rub! Would she shed it, or -the sacrifice be worth the return? - -"Bah!" thought I, as I bit my lip, and uttering something like a -malediction rode sullenly and madly on. - -"Why cling thus to the dead past?" thought I, after a time. "Pshaw! -Phil Caradoc was right in all he urged upon me. Yet that past is so -sweet--it was so brilliant and tender--that memory cannot but dwell -upon it with fondness and regret, with passion and bitterness." - -Pausing for nearly an hour, my whole "tiffin" being a damp cheroot, I -loosened my horse's girths for the time, and turned his quivering and -distended nostrils to the keen winter blast that blew from the Euxine, -and then I remounted. After wandering dubiously backward and forward, -and seeking to guide my motions by the sun, just as I was about to -penetrate into a narrow rocky defile, the outer end of which I hoped -would bring me to some proper roadway or place where my route could be -ascertained, the distant sound of a Cossack trumpet fairly in my -front, and responded to by another apparently but some fifty yards in -my rear, made me rein in my horse, while my heart beat wildly. - -"Cossacks again!" I exclaimed, for I was evidently between two -scouting parties, and if I escaped one, was pretty certain to be -captured by the other. - -Instinctively I guided my horse aside into a clump of wild pear-trees, -the now leafless stems and branches of which I greatly feared would -fail to conceal either it or me; but no nearer lurking place was nigh, -and there I waited and watched, my spirit galled and my heart swollen -with natural excitement and anxiety. Death seemed very close to me at -that moment; yet I sat in my saddle, revolver in hand, the blade of my -drawn sword in the same grasp with my reins, and ready for instant -use, as I was resolved to sell my life dearly. Preoccupied, I had been -unconscious for some time past that the cold had been increasing; that -the sun, lately so brilliant, had become obscured in sombre gray -clouds, and even that snow had begun to fall. Delicate and white as -floating swans'-down fell the flakes over all the scenery. On my -clothing and on my horse-furniture it remained white and pure; but on -the roadway I had to traverse it speedily became half-frozen mud. If I -escaped these scouting parties my horse-tracks might yet betray me, -and I thought vainly of the foresight of Robert Bruce when he fled -from London over a snow-covered country with his horse-shoes inverted. -If I escaped them! I was not left long in uncertainty of my fate in -that respect. - -Riding in double file, and led by an officer who wore the usual long -coat with silver shoulder-straps and a stiff flat forage-cap, a party -of forty Cossacks issued slowly from the defile. Their leader was -either a staff-officer or a member of some other force, as his uniform -was quite different from theirs, which declared them to be -Tchernimorski Cossacks, the tribe who inhabit the peninsula of Tamar, -and all the country between the Kuban and Asof, being literally the -Cossacks of the Black Sea, and natives of the district. They carried -their cartridges ranged across their breast in rows of tin tubes, _à -la Circassienne_, and were all bronzed, bearded, and rough-looking -men, whose whole bearing spoke of Crimean and Circassian service, of -hard outpost work among the wild Caucasus, of many a bloody conflict -with Schamyl--conflicts in which quarter was neither asked nor given! -I had never been quite so near those wild warriors of the Russian -steppes before, and have no desire ever to be so again, at least under -the same dubious circumstances. They wore little squab-shaped busbies -of brown fur; sheepskin shoubahs, or cloaks, over their coarse green -uniforms; and had trusses of straw and bags of corn so secured over -the shoulders and cruppers of their small shaggy horses, that but -little more of the latter were visible than their noses and tails. -They rode with their knees high and stirrup-leathers short, their -lances slung behind them, and carbines rested on the right thigh. -Captivity or escape, life or death, were in the balance as they slowly -rode onward; but favoured by the already failing light and the falling -snow, I am now inclined to think that my figure should have escaped -even their keen and watchful eyes, had not evil fortune caused my -horse, on discovering a mare or so among their cattle, after snuffing -the air with quivering nostrils, to whinny and to neigh! At that -moment we were not more than fifty yards apart. - -A shout, or rather a series of wild cries, escaped the Cossacks. I -pressed the spurs into the flanks of my gallant black horse, and he -sprang away with a wild bound; while the bullets from nearly twenty -carbines whistled past me harmlessly, thank heaven, and I rode -steadily away--away. I cared not in what direction now, so that the -more pressing danger was eluded, while cries and threats, and shot -after shot followed me; but I had no great fear of them so long as -they fired from the saddle, experience having taught me that even the -best-trained cavalry are but indifferent marksmen. Before me rose the -green ridge of Mount Yaila; the ground was somewhat open there, being -pastoral hill-slopes gradually culminating in those peaks, from -whence, in a clear day, the snow-clad summits of the Caucasus can be -discerned; and to reach a ravine or cleft in the hills before me, I -strained every effort of my horse, hoping, with the coming night, to -escape, or find some shelter by the seashore. - -The idea was vague, uncertain, and wild, I know; but I had no other -alternative save to halt, wheel about, and sell my life as best I -could at terrible odds; while to prevent me eluding them, the Cossacks -had gradually opened out their files into a wide semicircle, lest I -should seek to escape by some sudden flank movement; and all kept -their horses--wiry, fiery, and active little brutes--well in hand. -Their leader was better mounted and kept far in advance of -them--unpleasantly close on my flanks, indeed--but still his nag was -no match for the noble English horse I rode; and so as the blue -shadows lengthened and deepened in the snow-coated valley, I began to -breathe more freely, and to think, or hope, there was perhaps a chance -for me after all. Perhaps some of the Cossacks began to think so, for -they dismounted, and, while the rest kept fiercely and closely in -pursuit, levelled their carbines over their saddles, over each other's -shoulders, or with left elbow firmly planted on the knee, and thus -took quiet and deliberate pot-shots at me; and two had effect on the -hind legs of my horse, tending seriously to injure his speed and -strength; and as each ball struck him he gave a snort, and shivered -with pain and terror. On and on yet up the mountain valley! - -An emotion of mockery, defiance, and exultation almost filled me--the -exultation of the genuine English racing spirit--on finding that I was -leaving the most of them behind, and was already well through the -vale, or cleft, in the mountains, the slopes of which were then as -easy to traverse as if coursing on the downs of Sussex; and already I -could see, some three miles distant, the waters of the Euxine, and the -smoke of our war-steamers cruising off Yalta and Livadia. I looked -back. The Cossack leader was very close to me now, and five of his -men, all riding with lance in hand, as they had probably expended -their ammunition, were but a few horse-lengths behind him. I could -perceive that he had also armed himself with a lance, and felt assured -that in his rage at having had so long and futile a pursuit, he would -certainly not receive my sword, even if I offered it, as a prisoner of -war; so I resolved to shoot him as soon as he came within range of my -"Colt," the six chambers of which I had been too wary to discharge as -yet. - -Checking my panting and bleeding horse for a second or two, to let the -galloping Russian come closer, I fired at him under my bridle arm, and -a mocking laugh informed me that my Parthian shot had gone wide of its -mark. Not venturing to fire again, I continued to spur my black horse -on still; for now the friendly twilight had descended on the mountains -and the sea, whose waves at the horizon were yet reddened by the -farewell rays of the winter sun as he sank beyond them. Suddenly the -character of the ground seemed to change--vacancy yawned before me, -and I found myself within some twenty yards of a pretty high limestone -cliff that overhung the water! - -The hand of fate seemed on me now, and reining round my horse, I found -myself almost face to face with the leader of the Cossacks; and all -that passed after this occurred in shorter time than I can take to -write it. Uttering an exulting cry, he raised himself in his stirrups, -and savagely launched at me with all his force the Cossack spear. I -eluded it by swerving my body round; but it pierced deeply the off -flank of my poor horse, and hung dangling there, with the crimson -blood pouring from the wound and smoking upward from the snow. The -animal was plunging wildly and madly now, yet I fired the five -remaining pistol shots full at the Russian ere he could draw his -sword; and one at least must have taken effect somewhere, for he fell -almost beneath my horse's hoofs, and as he did so his cap flew off, -and I recognised Volhonski--whom, by a singular coincidence, I thus -again encountered--Count Volhonski, the Colonel of the Vladimir -Infantry! At the same moment I was fiercely charged by the five -advanced Cossacks, with their levelled lances, and with my horse was -literally hurled over the cliffs into the sea, the waves of which I -heard bellowing below me. - -Within the pace of one pulsation--one respiration--as we fell whizzing -through the air for some sixty feet together, I seemed to live all my -past life over again; but I have no language wherewith to express the -mingled bitterness and desolation that came over my soul at that time. -Estelle lost to me; life, too, it seemed, going, for I must be drowned -or taken--taken but to die. The remembrance of all I had loved and of -all who loved me; all that I had delighted in--the regiment, which was -my pride--my friends and comrades, and all that had ever raised hope -or fancy, or excited emulation--seemed lost to me, as the waves of the -Black Sea closed over my head, and I went down to die, my fate -unknown, and even in my grave, "unhousled, disappointed, unaneled." - -Even now as I write, when the danger has long since passed away, and -when the sun has shone again in all his glory on me, in my dreams I am -sometimes once more the desperate and despairing fellow I was then. - - - - -CHAPTER XLIII.--WINIFRED'S SECRET. - - -It was Christmas-eve at Craigaderyn as well as before Sebastopol, and -all over God's land of Christendom--the "Land of Cakes," perhaps, -excepted, as Christmas and all such humanising holidays were banished -thence as paganish, by the acts of her Parliament and her "bigots of -the Iron Time," as in England by Cromwell, some eighty years later, -for a time. A mantle of gleaming white covered all mighty Snowdon, the -tremendous abysses of Carneydd Llewellyn, and the lesser ranges of -Mynyddhiraeth. Llyn Aled and Llyn Alwen were frozen alike, and the -Conway at some of its falls exhibited a beard of icicles that made all -who saw them think of the friendly giant--old Father Christmas -himself! Deep lay the snow in the Martens' dingle and under all the -oaks of the old forest and chase; for it was one of those hearty old -English yules that seem to be passing away with other things, or to -exist chiefly in the fancy of artists, and which, with their -concomitants of cold without and warmth and glowing hospitality -within, seemed so much in unison with an old Tudor mansion like -Craigaderyn--a genuine Christmas, like one of the olden time, when the -yule-log was an institution, when hands were shaken and faces -brightened, kind wishes expressed, and hearts grew glad and kind. But -on this particular Christmas-eve Winifred and Dora were not at the -Court, but with some of their lady friends were busy putting the -finishing touches to the leafy decorations of the parish church, for -the great and solemn festival of the morrow, with foliage cut from the -same woods and places where the Druids procured similar decorations -for their temples, as it is simply a custom--an ancient usage--which -has survived the shock of invading races and changing creeds. - -The night was beautiful, clear, and frosty, and to those who journeyed -along the hard and echoing highway the square tower of the old church, -loaded alike by snow and ivy, could be seen to loom, darkly and huge, -against the broad face of the moon, that seemed to hang like a silver -shield or mighty lamp amid the floating clouds, and right in a cleft -between the mountains. The heavens were brilliant with stars; and -lines of light, varied by the tinting of heraldic blazons and quaint -scriptural subjects, fell from the traceried and mullioned windows of -the ancient church on the graves and headstones in the burial-place -around it; while shadows flitted to and fro within--those of the -merry-hearted and white-handed girls who were so cheerily at work, and -whose soft voices could be heard echoing under the groined arches in -those intervals when the chimes ceased in the belfry far above them. -Huge icicles depended from the wyverns and dragons, through whose -stony mouths the rain of fully five centuries had been disgorged by -the gutters of the old church, and being coated with snow, the -obelisks and other mementos of the dead had a weird and ghostlike -effect in the frosty moonlight. - -In the cosy porch of the church were Sir Madoc Lloyd and his hunting -bachelor friend, Sir Watkins Vaughan, each solacing himself with a -cigar while waiting for the ladies, to escort whom home they had -driven over from the Court after dinner in Sir Watkins' bang-up -dog-cart. While smoking and chatting (about the war of course, as no -one spoke of anything else then), they peeped from time to time at the -picturesque vista of the church, where garlands of ivy and glistening -holly, green and white, with scarlet berries, and masses of artificial -flowers, were fast making gay the grim Norman arches and sturdy -pillars, with their grotesque capitals and quaint details. Nor were -the tombs and trophies of the Lloyds of other times forgotten; so the -old baronet watched with a pleased smile the slender fingers of his -young daughter as they deftly wreathed with holly and bay the rusty -helmet that whilom Madoc ap Meredyth wore at Flodden and Pinkey, her -blue eyes radiant the while with girlish happiness, and her hair as -usual in its unmanageable masses rolling down her back, and seeming in -the lights that flickered here and there like gold shaded away with -auburn. - -The curate, a tall, thin, and closely-shaven man, in a "Noah's-ark -coat" with a ritualistic collar, stood irresolutely between the -sisters, though generally preferring the graver Winifred to the -somewhat hoydenish Dora, who insisted on appropriating his services in -the task of weaving and tying the garlands; but he was little more -than an onlooker, as the ladies seemed to have taken entire possession -of the church and reduced him to a well-pleased cipher. At last Sir -Watkins, a pleasant and gentlemanly young man, though somewhat of the -"horsey" and fox-hunting type, who had a genuine admiration for -Winifred, and had actually proposed for her hand (but, like poor Phil -Caradoc, had done so in vain), seemed to think that he was letting his -reverence have the ladies' society too exclusively, tossed his cigar -into the snow, entered the church, and joined them; while Sir Madoc -preferred to linger in the porch and think over the changes each of -those successive festivals saw, and of the old friends who were no -longer here to share them with him. - -"Here comes Sir Watkins, to make himself useful, at last!" said Dora, -clapping her hands, as she infinitely preferred the fox-hunter to the -parson. "I shall insist upon him going up the long ladder, and nailing -all those leaves over that arch." - -But Winifred, to whom his rather clumsy attentions, however quietly -offered, were a source of secret annoyance, drew nearer her female -friends, four gay and handsome girls from London, who were spending -Christmas at the Court (but have nothing else to do with our story), -and whose eyes all brightened as the young and eligible baronet joined -them. But for the charm which the presence of Winifred always had for -him, and the pleasure of attending on her and the other ladies, Sir -Watkins would infinitely have preferred, to a cold draughty church on -Christmas night, Sir Madoc's cosy "snuggery," or the smoking-room at -the Court, where they could discuss matters equine and canine, reckon -again how many braces of grouse, black-cock, and ptarmigan they lad -"knocked over" that day, or discuss the comparative merits of coursing -in well-fenced Leicestershire, and in Sussex, where the downs are all -open and free as the highway, or other kindred topics, through the -medium of hot brandy-and-water. - -"Now, Sir Watkins, here are my garlands and there is a ladder," said -Dora. - -"Any mistletoe among them, Miss Dora?" he asked, laughing. - -"No; we leave the arrangement of that mysterious plant to such Druids -as you; but here are some lovely holly-berries," said Dora, holding a -bunch over the head of one of her companions, and kissing her with all -that _empressement_ peculiar to young ladies. - -"By Jove," said the baronet, with a positive sigh, "I quite agree with -some fellow who has written that 'two women kissing each other is a -misapplication of one of God's best gifts.'" - -Glancing at Winifred, who looked so handsome in her cosy sealskin -jacket, with its cuffs and collar of silver-coloured grebe, the -bachelor curate smiled faintly, and said, while playing nervously with -his clerical billycock. - -"I do not plead for aught approaching libertinism, but I do think that -to kiss in friendship those we love seems a simple and innocent -custom. In Scripture we have it as a form of ceremonious salutation, -as we may find in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis, and in first -Samuel, where the consecration of the Jewish kings to regal authority -was sealed by a kiss from the officiator in the ceremony." - -"And we have also in Genesis the courtship of Jacob and the 'fair -damsel' Rachel," said Dora, looking up from her task with her bright -face full of fun, "wherein we are told that 'Jacob kissed Rachel, and -then lifted up his voice, and _wept_.' If any gentleman did so after -kissing me, I am sure that I should die of laughter." - -"We are having quite a dissertation on this most pleasant of civilised -institutions," said Sir Watkins, merrily, as he flicked away a cobweb -here and there with his silver-mounted tandem whip; "have you nothing -to say on the subject, Miss Lloyd--no apt quotation?" - -"None," replied Winifred, dreamily, while twirling a spray of ivy -round her white and tapered fingers. - -"None--after all your reading?" - -"Save perhaps that a kiss one may deem valueless and but a jest may be -full of tender significance to another." - -"You look quite _distraite_, Winny, dear, as you make this romantic -admission," said one of her friends. - -"Do I--or did I?" she asked, colouring. - -"Yes. Of what or of _whom_ were you thinking?" - -"Such a deuced odd theme you have all got upon!" said Sir Watkins, -perceiving how Winifred's colour had deepened at her own thoughts. - -"But how funny--how delightful!" exclaimed the girls, laughing -together; while Dora added, with something like a mock sigh, as she -held up a crape rose, - -"When last I wore this rose in my hair, I danced with little Mr. -Clavell--and he is spending his Christmas before Sebastopol! Poor dear -fellow--poor Tom Clavell!" - -Winifred's colour faded away, her usual calm and self-possessed look -returned; and, stooping down, she bent all her energies to weave an -obstinate spray of ivy round the carved base of a pillar, some yards -distant from the group. - -"Permit me to be your assistant, Miss Lloyd," said the baronet, in a -low voice and with an earnest manner. "Miss Dora must excuse me; but I -don't see the fun of craning my neck up there from the top of a -twelve-foot ladder." - -Winifred started a little impatiently, for as he stooped by her side, -his long fair whiskers brushed her brow. "Do I annoy you?" he asked, -gently. - -"O no; but I feel nervous to-night, and wish our task were ended." - -"It soon will be, if we work together thus. But you promised to tell -me, Miss Lloyd, why your old gamekeeper would not permit me to shoot -that hare in the Martens' dingle, to-day." - -"Need I tell you, Sir Watkins--a Welshman?" - -"You forget that my place is in South Wales, almost on the borders of -Monmouthshire, and this may be a local superstition." - -"It is." - -"Well, I am all attention," said he, looking softly down on the girl's -wonderfully thick and beautiful eyelashes. - -"The story, as I heard it once from dear mamma, runs thus: Ages ago, -there took shelter in our forests at Pennant Melangell, the daughter -of a Celtic king, called St. Monacella, to whom a noble had proposed -marriage; one whom she could not love, and could never love, but on -whom her father was resolved to bestow her." - -"By Jove!" commented Sir Watkins, while poor Winifred, feeling the -awkwardness of saying all this to a man she had rejected, became -troubled and coloured deeply; "and so, to escape her tormentors, she -fled to the wilderness." - -"Yes, and there she dwelt in peace for fifteen years, without seeing -the face of a man, till one day Brochwel, Prince of Powis, when -hunting, discovered her, and was filled with wonder to find in the -depth of the wild forest a maiden of rare beauty, at prayer on her -knees beside a holy well; and still greater was his wonder to find -that a hare his dogs had pursued had sought refuge by her side, while -they shrank cowering back with awe. Brochwel heard her story; and -taking pity, gave to God and to her some land to be a sanctuary for -all who fled there; she became the patron saint of hares, and for -centuries the forest there teemed with them; and even at this hour our -old people believe that no bullet can touch a hare, if any one cries -in time, 'God and St. Monacella be with thee!'" - -"A smart little nursery legend," said Sir Watkins, who perhaps knew it -well, though he had listened for the pure pleasure of having her to -talk to him, and him alone. - -"It is one of the oldest of our Welsh superstitions," said Winifred, -somewhat piqued by his tone. - -"Why are you so cross with me?" he asked, while venturing just to -touch her hand, as he tied a spray of ivy for her. "Cross--I, with -you?" - -"Reserved, then." - -"I am not aware, Sir Watkins, that I am either; but please don't begin -to revert to--to--" - -"The subject on which we spoke so lately?" - -"Yes." - -"Ah, Miss Lloyd--my earnest and loving proposal to you." - -"In pity say no more about it!" said Winifred, colouring again, but -with intense annoyance at herself for having drawn forth the remark. - -"Well, Miss Lloyd, pardon me; I am but a plain fellow in my way, and -your good papa understands me better than you do." - -"And likes you better," said she, smiling. - -"I am sorry to be compelled to admit that such is the case; but -remember the maxim of Henry IV. of France." - -"Why--the roses please--what was it?" - -"There are more flies caught by one spoonful of honey than by ten tuns -of vinegar." - -"Thanks, very much, for the maxim," replied Winifred, proudly and -petulantly; "but I hope I am not quite of the nature of vinegar, and I -don't wish to catch flies or anything else." - -It was now Sir Watkins' turn to blush, which he did furiously, for her -proud little ways perplexed him; but she added, with a laugh, - -"The base of the next pillar requires our attention, and then I think -the decorations are ended. Do let the cobwebs alone with your whip, -and assist me, if you would please me." - -"There is not in all the world a girl I would do more to please," said -Sir Watkins, earnestly, his blue eyes lighting up with honest -enthusiasm as he spoke in a low and earnest tone, "and I know that -there is not in all England another girl like you, Winifred: you quite -distance them all, and it is more than I can understand how it comes -to pass that those who--who--don't love you--" - -"Well, what, Sir Watkins?" - -"Can love any one else!" said he, confusedly, while smoothing his fair -moustache, for there was a quick flash in the black eyes of Winifred -Lloyd that puzzled him. In fact, though he knew it not, or was without -sufficient perception to be aware of it, this was an offhand style of -love-making that was infinitely calculated to displease if not to -irritate her. - -"You flatter me!" said she, her short upper lip curling with an -emotion of disdain she did not care at that moment to conceal. - -"Does it please you?" - -"No." - -"I am sorry for that, as we are generally certain of the gratitude at -least, if not the love, of those we flatter." - -Much more of this sort of thing, almost sparring, passed between them; -for Sir Watkins, piqued by her rejection of him, would not permit -himself again as yet to address her in the language of genuine -tenderness, and most unwisely adopted a manner that had in it a -_soupçon_ of banter. But Winifred Lloyd heard him as if she heard him -not: the memories of past days were strong at that time in her heart, -and glancing from time to time towards the old oak family pew, then -half lost in obscurity and gloom, she filled it up in fancy with the -figures of some who were far away--of Philip Caradoc and another; of -Estelle Cressingham, who, for obvious reasons of her own, had omitted -her and Dora from the Christmas circle at Pottersleigh House; and so, -while Sir Watkins continued to speak, she scarcely responded. The -girl's thoughts "were with her heart, and that was far away," to where -the lofty batteries of Sebastopol and the red-and-white marble cliffs -of Balaclava looked down upon the Euxine, where scenes of which her -gentle heart could form no conception were being enacted hourly; where -human life and human agony were of no account; and where the festival -of the Babe that was born at Bethlehem, as a token of salvation, -peace, and goodwill unto men, was being celebrated by Lancaster guns -and rifled cannon, by shot and shell and rockets, and every other -device by which civilisation and skill enable men to destroy each -other surely, and expeditiously. - -Just as some such ideas occurred to her she saw her father, followed -by old Owen Gwyllim, enter the church, and in the faces of both she -read an expression of concern that startled her; and from her hands -she dropped the ivy sprays and paper roses, which she was entwining -together. Sir Madoc held in his hand an open newspaper, with which the -old butler had just ridden over from the Court, and he silently -indicated a certain paragraph to the curate, who read it and then -lifted up his hands and eyes, as with sorrow and perplexity. - -"What the devil is up now?" asked Sir Watkins, bluntly; "no bad news -from the Crimea, I hope--eh?" - -"Very--very bad news! we have lost a dear, dear friend!" replied Sir -Madoc, letting his chin drop on his breast; while Sir Watkins, taking -the journal from his hand, all unconscious of error or misjudgment, -read aloud: - -"'It is now discovered beyond all doubt, by the Chief of the Staff, -that Captain Henry Hardinge, of the Royal Welsh Fusileers, whose -disappearance, when on a particular duty, was involved in so much -mystery, has been drowned in the Black Sea, by which casualty a most -promising young officer has been lost to her Majesty's service.'" - -"Drowned--Harry Hardinge drowned in the Black Sea!" exclaimed Dora, -with sudden tears and horror. - -"By Jove, the same poor fellow I met at your fête, I think--so sorry, -I am sure!" said Sir Watkins, with well-bred regret; "and see--I have -quite startled poor Miss Lloyd!" - -Winifred, who for a moment seemed turned to stone, covered her face -with her handkerchief, while her whole delicate form shook with the -sobs she dared not utter. - -Mothers, wives, and friends, the tender, the loving, and the true, had -all read, until their hearts grew sick and weary, of the perils and -sufferings of those who were before Sebastopol, as the horrors of the -Crimean winter, adding to those which are ever attendant on war, -deepened over them. And now here was one horror more--one that was -quite unlooked for in its nature, but which now came home to their own -hearts and circle. - -"Take me away, papa--take me home!" said Winifred, in a faint voice, -as she laid her face on his shoulder, for her tears were -irrepressible; and the tall, slender curate in the long coat--an -Oxonian, who chanted some portions of his church service, turned to -the east when he prayed, had an altar whereon were sundry brazen -platters, like unto barbers' basins, and tall candles, which (as yet) -he dared not light, and who secretly, but hopelessly, admired Winifred -in his inner heart--knew not what to think of all this sudden emotion; -but he kindly caressed her passive white hands between his own, and -whispered lispingly in her ear, that "the Lord loved those whom He -chastened--afflictions come not out of the ground--all flesh was -grass--that God is the God of the widow and fatherless--yet there were -more thorns than roses in our earthly path," with various other old -stereotyped crumbs of comfort. - -"To the Court--home!" cried Sir Madoc; "call round the carriages to -the porch, Owen, and let us begone." - -A few minutes after this they had all quitted the church, and were -being driven home in their close vehicle, Sir Watkins excepted, who -drove in his dog-cart, sucking a cigar he had forgotten to light, and -wondering what the deuced fuss was all about. Had Hardinge stood in -his way? If so, by Jove, there was a chance for him yet, thought the -good-natured fellow. In the dark depth of the large family carriage, -as it bowled along noiselessly by a road where the white mantle of -winter lay so deep by hill and wood that one might have thought the -Snow-King of the Norsemen had come again, Winifred could weep freely; -and as she did so, her father's arm stole instinctively and -affectionately round her. - -"Drowned," she whispered in his ear; "poor Harry drowned--and I loved -him so!" - -"It may all be some d--d mistake," sighed Sir Madoc, in sore grief and -perplexity. - -"But, O papa," whispered the girl, "I loved him so--loved him as -Estelle Cressingham never, never did!" - -"You, my darling?" - -"Yes, papa." - -"My poor pet! I suspected as much all along. Well, well, we are all in -the hands of God. It is a black Christmas, this, for us at -Craigaderyn, and I shall sorrow for him even as Llywarch Hen sorrowed -of old for all the sons he lost in battle. But what a strange fatality -to escape so narrowly at the Bôd Mynach, and then to be drowned in the -distant East!" - -And with a heart swollen alike by prayer and sorrow, the girl, whose -tender and long-guarded secret had at last escaped her in the shock of -grief, sat alone in her room that night, and heard the Christmas -chimes ringing out clearly and merrily to all, it seemed, but for her; -for those bells, those gladsome bells, which speak to every Christian -heart of bright hope here and brighter hope elsewhere, seemed to chime -in vain for Winifred Lloyd; so she thought in her innocent heart, "I -shall go to him yet, though he can never come back to me!" - - - - -CHAPTER XLIV.--THE CASTLE OF YALTA. - - -I presume that I need scarcely inform my reader that, notwithstanding -the predicament in which a preceding chapter left me, and the tenor of -that paragraph which caused such consternation among my warm-hearted -Welsh friends at Craigaderyn, I was _not_ drowned in the Black Sea, -though my dip in the waters thereof was both a cold and deep one. Such -fellows as I, are, perhaps, hard to kill--at least, I hope so. On -rising to the surface, I found myself minus forage-cap, sword, and -revolver, and also my horse, which, being sorely wounded, floated away -out of the creek into which we had fallen (or been hurled by the -Cossack lances), and the poor animal was helplessly drowned, without -making any attempt to swim landward. This was, perhaps, fortunate for -me, as the Cossacks saw it drifting in the moonlight, and continued to -fire at it with their carbines, leaving me to scramble quietly ashore -unnoticed and unseen. - -My swimming powers are very small; thus, when just about to sink a -second time, I was fortunate enough to grasp some sturdy juniper -bushes, that grew among the rocks and overhung the water. Aided by -these I gained footing on a ledge in safety, and remained there for a -few minutes, scarcely venturing to breathe, until all sounds ceased on -the cliffs above, and the flashing of the Cossacks' carbines, and -their wild hurrahs died away; and the moment I was assured of silence, -I proceeded steadily, but not without great difficulty, to climb to -the summit of the opposite side of the creek, my recently fractured -arm feeling stiff and feeble the while, three lance-prods bleeding -pretty freely, and my undress uniform wet, sodden, and becoming -powdered fast by the still falling flakes of snow. Even amid all that -bodily misery I thought more sorrowfully than bitterly of her I had -lost. - -"Estelle gone from me, a terrible death before me, either by capture -or privation," thought I. "What have I done, O God, to be dealt with -thus hardly?" - -Even mortification that I had failed in the execution of my once -coveted duty, existed no longer in my heart, at that time at least. At -last I gained the summit; the uprisen moon was shining on the -far-stretching Euxine, and casting a path of glittering splendour on -its waters, even to the foot of the cliffs on which I stood. On the -other side, to my comfort, the scouting Cossacks had entirely -disappeared. That Count Volhonski, once my pleasant companion in -Germany, and in whose way, coincidence and chance had so often cast -me, should have fallen by my hand, was certainly a source of deep -regret to me; but for a time only; a sense of my own pressing danger -soon became paramount to all minor considerations. Exposure to the -keen wind from the sea on ground so lofty, the night having closed in, -and the snow flakes falling, all rendered shelter, warmth, and dry -clothing, with dressing for the lance-thrusts, most necessary, if I -would save my life; and yet in seeking to obtain these, I ran the most -imminent risk of summarily losing it. - -I was, I knew, far in rear of the advanced line of all the Russian -posts, and was certain to fall, alive or dead, into their hands at -some time or other; so drawing Lord Raglan's despatch to Marshal -Canrobert from my breast-pocket--a piece of wet pulpy paper--I -destroyed and cast it away; an unwise proceeding, perhaps, as it was -the only credential I possessed to prove that I was not a--spy, but -simply an officer on duty, who had lost his way. The cliffs of marble -that bordered the shore were silent and lonely. The tall mountains of -the Yaila range, their sides bristling with sombre pines and rent by -old volcanic throes into deep chasms and rugged ravines of rock, rose -on my left; a little Tartar village, the feeble lights of which I -could discern, nestled at their base about a mile distant. Should I -endeavour to reach it, and risk or lose all at once? By this time I -had struck upon a path which soon led to a roadway between vineyard -walls, and ere long these were replaced by what appeared to be the -trees of a park, between the branches of which the moon and the stars -shone on the slanting snow-flakes and turned them to diamonds and -prisms. In summer, the cypress and olive, the pomegranate and laurel -trees, the quince and the Byzantine poplar, made all that road lovely. -Then it was dreary enough, especially to me. Anon I came to a stately -gate of elaborate cast-iron work, between two ornate pillars of the -native red-and-white marble, surmounted each by some heraldic design. -It stood invitingly open; the track of recent carriage-wheels lay -there; and beyond the now white sheet of snow that covered a spacious -park, there towered a handsome mansion, in that quaint and almost -barbaric style of architecture peculiar to the châteaux of the Crimea, -half Russian, half Turkish, with four domes, shaped like inverted -onions, but of clearly-burnished copper, surmounting four slender -tourelles, and under the broad cornices of which the pigeons--the holy -birds of Muscovy--were clustered in cooing rows. In front was a pretty -porch, under the open arches of which hung a large coloured lamp; -while many lights, all suggestive of heat and comfort, were gleaming -through the rich hangings of the windows on the snowy waste without. -It was evidently the country residence of some wealthy Russian -landholder, and there I felt more certain and safe in seeking shelter -than among the wood-cutting boors or Tartar herdsmen of the village; -yet my heart had more misgivings than hope as I approached it. - -If the Russians, even in time of peace, are ever suspicious of -strangers, how was I likely to be received there in time of war? -Should I fall among good Samaritans, kindly perhaps; if otherwise, I -might be accused of spying in an enemy's country, be hanged, shot, -knouted perhaps, and sent to Siberia, for my horrible surmises were -endless. But to remain where I was would be to die; so I boldly -approached, not the door, but a lower window that overlooked a -balustraded terrace on which a flood of light from within was falling. -Between hangings of pale blue satin laced with silver, and through the -double sashes of the windows, which were ornamented with false flowers -in the old Russian fashion, I perceived a handsome and lofty -apartment, the furniture of which was singularly elaborate and florid. -It seemed, with its drapery, sofas, fauteuils, statuettes under glass -shades, and its pretty watercolours hung on the wall, to be a tiny -drawing-room or ladies' boudoir; but on one side, built into the -partition and forming a part thereof, were the stone ribs of a -_peitchka_ or Russian stove, faced with brilliantly-coloured -porcelain. Through 'these ribs the light of a cheerful fire shone -across the softly carpeted floor; and above the stove was an _eikon_, -or Byzantine Madonna, with a bright metal halo like a gilt horseshoe -round the head; a little silver lamp hung before it. From this a tiny -jet of flame shot upward, while a golden tassel dangled below. - -In the foreground, between the window and the glowing wall-stove at a -table littered with books and needlework, were seated two ladies in -easy-chairs, their feet resting on tabourettes, as they cosily read by -the softened light of a great shaded lamp. One seemed young; the other -somewhat portly and advanced in years; and she wore a red -_sarafan_--the ancient Russian dress--a readoption about that time, -when our invasion of the Crimea acted as a powerful and angry -stimulant to the national enthusiasm of the whole empire; and at that -precise moment, I should have preferred to find this noble matron--for -such I had no doubt she was--in some dress nearer the Parisian mode. -However, in my then predicament I felt more disposed to trust to the -protection of women than of men, and so knocked gently, and then more -loudly, on the window. Both ladies started, laid down their books, and -rose. The double sashes and the false flowers placed between them -rendered my figure indistinct, if not invisible. They conferred for a -moment, and then, most fortunately for me, instead of summoning -assistance by furiously ringing the bell, or indulging in outcries, as -some ladies might have done in a land of well-ordered police, the -younger drew out a drawer, in which probably pistols lay; while the -elder boldly unclasped the sashes, threw them open, and then both -surveyed me with perplexity and with something of pity, too, as I was -bareheaded, unarmed, deadly pale, and covered with snow that in some -places was streaked with blood. The elderly lady, a keen-looking -woman, evidently with a dash of the nomadic Tartar in her blood, asked -me rather imperiously some questions in Russian--that language which -Golovine so rightly says "is altogether inaccessible to foreigners;" -but the other added, in softer French, - -"Who are you, and from whence do you come?" - -I replied that I was a British officer from the army before -Sebastopol, wounded and unhorsed in a recent skirmish with Cossacks; -that I had lost my way, and was literally perishing of cold, hunger, -and loss of blood. - -"How come you to be here, as you have no troops in this quarter?" -asked the young lady, to my surprise and pleasure, in English, which -she spoke fluently, but with a pretty foreign accent. - -"I lost my way, I have said, and being pursued have ridden far in a -wrong direction." - -"Far, indeed, from Sebastopol at least; do you know where you are, -sir?" - -"No." - -"This is Prince Woronzow's castle of Yalta." - -"Yalta!" - -"On the shore of the Black Sea," she added, smiling brightly at my -surprise. - -"Then I am more than thirty miles in _rear_ of the Russian posts in -the valley of Inkermann!" - -"Yes; and as a soldier, must know that you are in great danger of the -darkest suspicions if you are taken." - -"I am aware of that," said I, faintly, as a giddiness came over me, -and I leaned against the open sash of the window; "but I care not what -happens." - -The elder lady, who had a son with the army in Sebastopol, now said -something energetically, and in my favour apparently, and the other -added, softly and kindly, "Enter, sir, and we shall succour you." - -The closed sashes excluded the icy air, I felt myself within the warm -influence of the peitchka, and then the three smarting lance-wounds -began to bleed afresh. - -"Madame Tolstoff," said the younger lady, in French, "we must act -warily here, if we would prevent this poor fellow becoming a prisoner -of war, or worse. Bring here old Ivan Yourivitch the _dvornik_." - -This was the butler, but it also signifies "servant." - -"Can you trust him in this matter?" - -"In any matter, implicitly. His wife nursed me and my brother too. -There is a perilous romance in all this, and to his care I shall -consign our unfortunate visitor, who does seem in a very bad way." - -After a little explanation and some stringent directions, she confided -me to a white-headed butler, who wore a livery that looked like -semi-uniform, and he took me to his own rooms. He jabbered a great -deal in Russ, of which I knew not a word, but first he gave me a large -goblet of golden Crimskoi, the wine of the district. Then he exchanged -all my wet and sodden clothing for a suit which he selected from among -many in a large wardrobe: a caftan of dark green cloth, tied at the -waist by a scarlet sash; trousers also of dark green, with boots that -came half way up the calf of the leg. Under all I wore a soft red -shirt; and this attire I afterwards learned was the most thoroughly -national costume in Russia, being that of the Rifle Militia of the -Crown peasants--one worn by the Emperor himself on certain gala-days. -This old man, Ivan Yourivitch, also dressed tenderly the three -lance-prods, and though giddy and weak, I felt unusually comfortable -when he led me back to the presence of the two ladies, of whose names -and rank I was quite ignorant, while shrewdly suspecting that both -must be noble. Their mansion was evidently one of great magnificence, -and exhibited all that luxury in which the wealthier Russian nobles -are wont to indulge, displaying the extravagance and splendour of -petty monarchs. I saw there a broad staircase of Carrara marble, and -lackeys flitting about in the powdered wigs and liveries of the old -French court; apartments with tessellated floors and roofs of fretted -gold; furniture in ormolu and mother-of-pearl; hangings of silk and -cloth-of-gold; and in that castle of Yalta were ball, and card, and -tea rooms; a library, picture-gallery, and billiard-room; and -everywhere the aroma of exotic plants and perfumes; so I began to -flatter myself that I was quite as lucky as the Lieutenant of H.M.S. -Tiger, when _he_ fell into the hands of the Russians at Odessa in the -preceding May, and whose adventures made such a noise. When I rejoined -the ladies, they both laughed merrily at the rapid transformation -effected in my appearance; and the younger saying, "My brother's -shooting-clothes suit you exactly," relinquished her book, which, with -some surprise, I detected to be a Tauchnitz edition of "_Oliver -Twist!_" - -"In stumbling upon us here," she added, with great sweetness of -manner, "how fortunate it is that you lighted first on Madame Tolstoff -and myself, instead of any of our Tartar or Cossack servants!" - -"Fortunate indeed! I may truly bless my stars that I have fallen into -such gentle hands." - -"All Russians are not the barbarians you islanders deem them; yet you -deserve a heavier punishment than we shall mete out to you, for -venturing hither to fight against holy Russia and our father the -Czar." - -"May I ask if I have the honour of addressing any of the family of -Prince Woronzow!" - -"O, no!" she replied. "Madame Tolstoff's son is serving in Sebastopol; -my brother serves there also; and the kind Prince has merely given us -the use of this mansion, as he has done the more regal one at Alupka -to other ladies similarly situated; and now that you know our secret," -she added, archly, "pray what is yours?" - -"Secret!--I have none." - -"You were not--well, reconnoitring?" - -I coloured, feeling certain that she had substituted that word for one -less pleasant to military ears. - -"No, madam: while seeking to convey a despatch from Lord Raglan to -Marshal Canrobert I lost my way, fell among Cossacks, and am here." - -"When my brother arrives--we expect him ere long--we shall be -compelled to confide you to his care; meantime you are safe, and here -are refreshments, of which you seem sorely in need; and for greater -secrecy, Ivan Yourivitch will serve you here." - -"Who the deuce can this brother be of whom she talks so much, and -where can she have acquired such capital English?" were my surmises as -I seated myself at a side-table, and, with old Ivan standing towel in -hand at my back, fell _à la Cosaque_, on the good things before me, -with an appetite unimpaired by all that I had undergone. To the elder -lady's horror, I omitted previously to cross myself or turn towards -the _eikon_; but fragrant coffee made as only Orientals and -Continentals can make it, golden honey from the hills and woods of -Yaila, newly-laid eggs, salmon fresh from the Salghir, boar's ham from -the forests of Kaffa, and wine from Achmetchet, made a repast fit for -the gods--then how much so for a long-famished Briton! While I partook -of it the ladies conversed together in a low voice in Russian, seeming -to ignore my presence; for though full of natural female curiosity and -impatience to question me, they were too well-bred to trouble me just -then. Those who have starved as we starved in the Crimea can alone -relish and test the comforts of a good meal. You must sleep--or -doze--amid the half-frozen mud and ooze of the trenches, or in a cold -draughty tent, to know the actual luxury of clean sheets, a soft bed, -and cosy pillows. Hence it is, that though accustomed to "rough it" in -any fashion and degree, no one so keenly appreciates the warmth, the -food, and the genuine comforts of home as the old campaigner, or the -weather-worn seaman, who has perhaps doubled "the Horn," and known -what it is to hand a half-frozen topsail in a tempestuous night, with -his nails half torn out by the roots, as he lay out to windward. Yet -when I found myself in quarters so comfortable, hospitable, and -splendid, I could not but think regretfully of the regiment, of Phil -Caradoc, of Charley Gwynne, and others who were literally starving -before the enemy--starving and dying of cold and of hunger! - - - - -CHAPTER XLV.--EVIL TIDINGS. - - -I had now time amply to observe and to appreciate that which had -impressed me powerfully at first--the wonderful beauty of the lady who -protected me, and who spoke English with such marvellous fluency. If -the artist's pencil sometimes fails to convey a correct idea of a -woman's loveliness--more than all of her expression--a description by -mere ink and type can give less than an outline. In stature she was -fully five feet seven, full-bosomed and roundly limbed, and yet seemed -just past girlhood, in her twentieth or twenty-second year. Her skin -was fair, dazzlingly pure as that of any Saxon girl at home; while, by -strange contrast, her eyes were singularly dark, the deepest, -clearest, and most melting hazel, with soft voluptuous dreamy-looking -lids, and long black lashes. Her eyebrows, which were rather straight, -were also dark, while the masses of her hair were as golden in hue as -ever were those of Lucrezia Borgia; they grew well down upon her -forehead, and in the light of the shaded lamp by which she had been -reading, ripples of sheen seemed to pass over them like rays of the -sun. Her features were very fine, and her ears were white and delicate -as if formed of biscuit china, and from them there dangled a pair of -the then fashionable Schogoleff earrings of cannon-balls of gold. - -Her dress was violet-coloured silk, cut low but square at the neck, -with loose open sleeves, trimmed with white lace and ruches of white -satin ribbon, and its tint consorted well with the fair purity of her -complexion. Every way she was brilliant and picturesque, and seemed -one of those women whom a man may rapidly learn to love--yea, and to -love passionately--and yet know very little about. Once in a -lifetime a man may see such a face and such a figure, and never -forget them. The dame, in the red sarafan, was a somewhat plain but -pleasant-looking old Muscovite lady, whose angularity of feature and -general outline of face reminded me of a good-humoured tom cat; and -while playing idly with the leaves of her book, she regarded me with a -rather dubious expression of eye; for British prisoners did not quite -find themselves so much at home in Kharkoff and elsewhere, nor were -they so petted and fêted, as the Russian prisoners were at Lewes, -among the grassy downs of Sussex. My repast over, and the massive -silver tray removed by Ivan Yourivitch, a conversation was begun by -the younger lady saying, a little playfully, - -"You must give me your parole of honour, that you will not attempt to -leave this place in secret, or without permission." - -"From you?" - -"From me, yes." - -"Did not duty require it of me, I might never seek the permission, but -be too happy to be for ever your captive," said I, gallantly; but she -only laughed like one who was quite used to that sort of thing, and -held up a white hand, saying, - -"Do you promise?" - -"I do, on my honour. But will this pledge to a lady be deemed -sufficient?" - -"By whom?" - -"Well, say Prince Menschikoff." - -"We shall not consult him, unless we cannot help it; besides," she -added, with a proud expression on her upper lip, "what is he, though -Minister of Marine, Governor of Finland and Sebastopol, but the -grandson of a pastry-cook!" - -"Prince Gortchakoff, then?" - -"They are cousins; but do not take rank even in Russia with the old -families, like the Dolgourikis and others, who are nobles of the first -class." - -On the suggestion, apparently, of the elder lady, whom she named -Madame Tolstoff, she proceeded to ask me many questions, which I cared -not to answer, as they had direct reference to the strength of our -forces, and the plans and projects of the Allied Generals regarding -Sebastopol; and though my information was only limited to such as one -of subaltern rank could possess, I knew how artfully the most -important military and political secrets have been wormed from men by -women, and was on my guard. Her excellent English she accounted for by -telling me that in her girlhood she had an English governess. She told -me, among other things, that she had gone in her carriage, with -hundreds of other ladies from Sebastopol, Simpheropol, and Bagtchi -Serai (or "the Seraglio of Gardens"), to see the battle of the Alma. -It began quite like a _prasnik_ or holiday with them all, as they had -expected, among other marvels, to see St. Sergius, whose sacred image -was borne by the Kazan column, till the latter was routed by the -Highland Brigade, and bundled over the hill, image and all, though -Innocent, Archbishop of Odessa, in one of his sermons to the garrison -of Sebastopol (published in the _Russian Messenger_) confidently -predicted a fourth appearance of the patriotic saint on that occasion; -but my fair informant added, that when the fighting began, she had -driven away homeward in horror. - -She quizzed me a little about the small dimensions of the island in -which we dwelt, an island where the people elbowed each other for lack -of room; she asked me if it were really true that our soldiers were -sailors; and if it was also true that our Admiral in the Baltic always -carried a little sword under one arm, and a great fish under the -other, alluding to a popular Moscow caricature of Sir Charles Napier. -It was impossible not to laugh with her, for her charming tricks of -foreign manner, the arch smiles of her occasionally half-closed eyes, -and her pretty ways of gesticulation with the loveliest of white -hands, from which she had now drawn the gloves, were all very -seductive; moreover the Russians have a natural mode of imbuing with -heartiness every phrase and expression, however simple or merely -polite. She always spoke of the Czar with more profound awe and -respect than even Catholics do of the Pope, or Mahometans do of the -Sultan; but it should be borne in mind that in Russia, as Golovine -says, "next to the King of Heaven, the Czar is the object of -adoration. He is, in the estimation of the Russian, the representative -and the elect of God; so he is the head of his church, the source of -all the beatitudes, and the first cause of all fear. His hand -distributes as bounteously as his arm strikes heavily. Love, fear, and -humble respect are blended in this deification of the monarch, which -serves most frequently only to task the cupidity of some, and the -pusillanimity of others. The Czar is the centre of all rays, the focus -to which every eye is directed; he is the 'Red Sun' of the Russians, -for thus they designate him. The Czar is the father of the whole -nation; no one has any relation that can be named in the same day with -the Emperor; and when his interest speaks, every other voice is -hushed!" - -So, whenever this lady spoke of him, her eyes seemed to fill with -melting light, and her cheek to suffuse with genuine enthusiasm; and -as I listened to her, and looked upon her rare beauty, her singular -hair, her laughing lips; and her ease of manner that declared a -perfect knowledge of the world, I could not but confess that if there -is no absolute cure for a heart disappointed in love, there may be -found a most excellent _balm_ for it. I know not now all we talked of, -how much was said, and more left unsaid, for my new friend had all the -airs of a coquette, and could fill up her sentences in a very eloquent -fashion of her own, by a movement of the graceful hand, by the tapping -of a dainty foot that would peep out ever and anon from under her -violet-coloured skirt; with a blush, a smile, a drooping of the sunny -brown eyes! Had the wine, the golden Crimskoi, affected me, that, -while talking to the fair unknown, I seemed to tread on air; that -my love for Estelle--a love thrust back upon my heart--was -already--Heavens, already!--being replaced by an emotion of revenge -against her, and exultation that the dazzling Russian might love me in -her place? She was, indeed, gloriously beautiful; but, then, I have -ever been a famous builder of castles in the air, and I was in the -hands of one who felt her power and knew how to wield it. The Russian -women, it has been truly written, like the gentlewomen of other -European countries, who are reared in the lap of luxury, can employ -and practise all the accomplishments and seductive arts that most -enchant society, and employ them well! They have great vivacity of -mind, much grace of manner, and possess the most subtle and exquisite -taste in dress; yet the domestic virtues are but little cultivated -under the double-headed Eagle, and marriages are too often mere -matters of convenience; so there is little romance in the character, -and often much of intrigue in the conduct of the Russian lady. - -"I trust that your wounds are not painful?" said she, with tender -earnestness, after a short pause, during which she perceived me to -wince once or twice. - -"My immersion in salt water has made them smart, perhaps; and then the -blood I have lost has caused such a dimness of sight, that at times, -even while speaking with you, though I hear your voice, your figure -seems to melt from before me." - -"I am so deeply sorry to hear this; but a night's repose, and perhaps -the rest of to-morrow may, nay, I doubt not shall, cure you of this -weakness." - -"I thank you for your good wishes and intentions." - -"In that skirmish, fought single-handed by you against our Cossacks, -they thrust you into the water--actually into the sea?" - -"Yes; by the mere force of their charged lances--horse and man we went -over together; but not before I had shot their leader--a resolute -fellow--poor Volhonski!" - -At this name both ladies started and changed colour, though the -younger alone understood me. - -"_Whom_ did you say?" she asked, in a voice of terror, while trembling -violently. - -"Paulovitch Count Volhonski, a name well known in the Russian army, I -believe; he commanded the Vladimir regiment at the Alma and in -Sebastopol." - -"And he--he fell by _your_ hand?" - -"I regret to say that he did," I replied, slowly and perplexedly. - -"You know him, and are certain of this?" - -"Certain as that I now address you--most certain, to my sorrow." - -"_O Gospodi pomiloui!_"[4] she exclaimed, clasping her hands together, -and seeming now pale as the new-fallen snow; "my brother--my brother!" - -"Your _brother?_" I exclaimed, in genuine consternation. - -"Slain by you--your hand!" she wailed out, wildly and reproachfully. - -"O, it cannot be." - -"Speak--how?" She stamped her foot as she spoke, and no prettier foot -in all Russia could have struck the carpet with a more imperial air. -Her eyes were flashing now through tears; even her teeth seemed to -glisten; her hands were clenched, and I felt that she regarded me, for -the time, with hate and loathing. - -"He fell, and his horse, too--yet, now that I think of it," I urged, -"he may be untouched; and from my soul I hope that such may be the -case, for personally he is my friend." - -I felt deeply distressed by the turn matters had so suddenly taken; -while Madame Tolstoff, to whom she now made some explanation in -Russian, regarded me with fierce and undisguised hostility. - -"Then there is yet hope?" she asked, piteously. - -"That he may be simply wounded--yes." - -"For that hope I thank you, Hospodeen: a little time shall tell us -all." - -"I was attacked and outnumbered; my own life was in the balance, and I -knew him not, nor did he know me, until we were at close quarters, in -the moment of his fall. To defend oneself is a natural impulse; and it -has been truly said, that if a man armed with a red-hot poker were to -make a lunge even at the greatest philosopher, he would certainly -parry it, though he were jammed between two sacks of gunpowder. Then I -have the honour of addressing the Hospoza Valerie?" - -"Yes," she replied, with hauteur; "but who are you, that know _my_ -name?" - -"I am Captain Henry Hardinge, who--" - -"The Hospodeen Hardinge" (Hardin_ovitch_ she called it), "who so -greatly befriended my dear brother in Germany, and who saved his life -at Inkermann?" - -"The same." - -"I cannot receive you with joy; the present terrible tidings cloud all -the past. Yet I have promised to protect you," she added, giving me -both her hands to kiss, "and protected you shall be--even should my -dead brother be borne here to-night!" - -So the slender girl with the dark orbs and golden hair, she of whose -miniature I had custody for a little time on that memorable and -exciting morning in the Heiligengeist Feld at Hamburg, was now a -lovely woman in all the budded bloom of past twenty--a fair Russian, -with "more peril in her eyes than fifty of their swords!" - -I felt sincere sorrow for the grief and consternation I had so -evidently and so naturally excited, and I greatly feared that the -hostility of the elder lady, Madame Tolstoff, might yet work me some -mischief; though I knew not in what relation she could stand to -Volhonski, who, at Hamburg, had distinctly said that his sister -Valerie was the only one he had in the world. While I sat silently -listening, and not without an emotion of guiltiness in my heart, to -their sobs and exclamations of woe, uttered singly and together, the -rapid clatter of hoofs, partially muffled by the snow, was heard -without; bells sounded and doors were banged; and then Ivan -Yourivitch, his old wrinkled face full of excitement and importance, -entered the room unsummoned. My heart for a moment stood still. - -"What fresh evil tidings," thought I, "does this old Muscovite bring -us now?" - - - - -CHAPTER XLVI.--DELILAH. - - -Even while Ivan Yourivitch was conferring with his startled mistress, -I saw a tall figure in Russian uniform--the eternal long gray -greatcoat--appear at the room door, and I was instinctively glancing -round for some weapon wherewith to defend me, when to my astonishment -Volhonski entered, somewhat splashed with mud, certainly, and powdered -with snow, but whole and well, without a wound, and with a cry of joy -Valerie threw herself into his arms. Wholly occupied by his beautiful -sister, to whom he was tenderly attached, fully a minute elapsed -before he turned to address Madame Tolstoff and then me. Was it -selfishness, was it humanity, was it friendship, or what was the -sentiment that inspired me, and caused so much of genuine joy to see -Volhonski appear safe and untouched?--I, who from the trenches had -been daily wont to watch with grim satisfaction the murderous -"potting" of the Ruskies from the rifle-pits, and literal showers of -legs, arms, and other fragments of poor humanity, by their appearance -in the air, respond to the explosion of a well-directed shell! He now -turned to me with astonishment on recognising my face in that place, -and with the uniform of the Rifle Militia. - -"By what strange caprice or whirligig of fortune do I find you here?" -he exclaimed, as he took my hand, but certainly with a somewhat -dubious expression of eye; "you have not come over to us, I hope, as -some of our Poles have lately gone to you?" - -"No," I replied, almost laughing at the idea. "Don't mistake me; I -came here as a fugitive, glad to escape you and your confounded -Cossacks; but I thank God, Volhonski, that you eluded my pistol on the -cliffs yonder." - -"Then it was _you_, Captain Hardinge, whom I followed so fast and so -far from that khan on the Kokoz road? By St. George, my friend, but -you were well mounted! In our skirmish one of your balls cut my left -shoulder-strap, as you may see; the other shred away my horse's ear on -the off side, making him swerve round so madly that he threw me--that -was all. You, however, fell into the sea--" - -"And was soaked to the skin; the reason why, 'only for this night -positively,' as the play-bills have it, I appear in the uniform of the -Imperial Rifle Militia, after finding my way here by the happiest -chance in the world," I added, with a glance at his smiling sister. -"Marshal Canrobert--" - -"Has fallen back with his slender force from Kokoz. You had a despatch -for him, I presume, by what fell from you at the Tartar caravanserai?" - -"Precisely." - -"Ah, I thought as much." - -"I should not have been touring so far from our own lines else. It -concerned, I believe--if I may speak of it--an _émeute_ among the -Poles in Sebastopol." - -"A false rumour spread by some deserters; there was no such thing; and -be assured that our good father, the Emperor, is too much beloved, -even in Poland, to be troubled by disaffection again." - -Volhonski now threw off his great coat, and appeared in the handsome -full uniform of the Vladimir Infantry, on a lapel of which he wore, -among other orders, the military star of St. George the Victorious, -which is only bestowed by the Czar, for acts of personal bravery, like -our Victoria Cross. - -"How came you to know of me and of my despatch?" I inquired, while -Yourivitch replaced the wine and some other refreshments on the table. - -"I had Menschikoff's express orders to watch, with a sotnia of -Cossacks, Canrobert's flying column on the Kokoz road; and the Tartars -were prompt enough in telling me of _your_ movements--at least of the -appearance of an officer of the Allies, where, in sooth, he had no -right to be. But, my friend, you look pale and weary." - -"He has no less than three lance-wounds!" urged Valerie. - -"Three!" - -"In the arms and shoulder." - -"This is serious; but take some more of the Crimskoi--it is harmless -wine. Excuse me, Captain Hardinge, but of course you are aware how -dangerous it is for you to remain long here?" - -"I have no intention of remaining a moment absent from my duty, if I -can help it!" said I, energetically. - -"So we must get you smuggled back to your own lines somehow--unless -you consent to become a prisoner of war." - -"I have already given my parole of honour." - -"Indeed! to whom?" - -"To the Hospoza Volhonski," said I, laughing. - -"More binding, perhaps, than if given to me; yet as I don't wish to -avail myself of your promises to Valerie, but for the memory of past -times," he added, with a pleasant smile, "to see you safe among your -friends, I must contrive some plan to get you hence without delay." - -"Why such inhospitable haste?" asked Valerie. - -"Think of the peril to him and to us of being discovered here--and in -that dress, too!" - -"I fear I shall not be able to ride for days," said I, despondingly, -as sensations of lassitude stole over me. - -"I fear that with Valerie for your nurse, you may never return to -health at all," said Volhonski, laughing, as he knew well the -coquettish proclivities of his sister; "hence, to insure at least -convalescence, I must commit you to the care of old Yourivitch or -Madame Tolstoff." - -Joy for her brother's safe return made Valerie radiant and splendidly -brilliant; while some emotion of compunction for her temporary -hostility to me, led her to be somewhat marked in her manner, softly -suave; and this _he_ observed; for, after a little time, he said, -smilingly, - -"You and my Valerie seem to have become quite old friends already; but -remember the moth and the candle--_gardez-vous bien, mon camarade -Hardinge!_" - -"I don't understand you, Paulovitch," said Valerie, pouting. - -"As little do I," said I, colouring, for the Colonel's speech was -pointed and blunt, though his manner was scrupulously polite; but with -all that, foreigners frequently say things that sound abrupt and -strange to English ears. - -"This stupid soldier is afraid that, if left in idleness, you will -fall in love with Madame Tolstoff--or me," said Valerie; "he is -thinking of the Spanish proverb, no doubt--_Puerto abierto al santo -tiento_." - -"I am thinking of no such thing, and did but jest, Valerie," said her -brother, gravely, while he caressed her splendid hair. "Madame -Tolstoff, our dear friend, is an experienced chaperone; and beside -that, you are safe--set apart from the world--so far as concerns the -admiration of men." - -"That I never shall be, I hope!" said she, smiling and pouting again. - -By Jove, can it be that she is destined for a nunnery? What the deuce -can he mean by all these strange hints and out-of-place remarks? -thought I, and not without secret irritation. Perhaps the keen -Muscovite read something of this in my face, for he now clinked his -glass against mine, and filled it with beautifully golden-coloured -Château Yquem, bright, cool, and sparkling from its white crystal -flask; and to this champagne soon succeeded; unwisely for me, though -it was champagne in its best condition, that is, after being just six -years in bottle, as Yourivitch assured us; and now our conversation -became more gay and varied, and, as I thought, decidedly more -pleasant. He gave me some recent news from the immediate seat of war, -and from our own lines, that proved of interest to me. - -The Retribution man-of-war, with the Duke of Cambridge on board, was -said to have been lost, or nearly so, in the late great storm, which -the Russians naturally hoped would delay the arrival of transports -with reinforcements and supplies for the Allies; and he added that if -the generals of the latter "had but the brains to _cut off all -communication with Simpheropol, Sebastopol would surrender in three -days!_" He mentioned, also, that the Greeks at Constantinople had -taken heavy bets that it would not fall before Christmas, which seemed -likely enough, as Christmas was close at hand now; and that there was -a rumour to the effect that General Buraguay d'Hilliers--one of the -veterans of the retreat from Moscow--had landed at Eupatoria, and -given battle to General Alexander Nicolaevitch von Luders, and -defeated him with the 5th Infantry Corps of the Russian Army; a most -improbable story, as D'Hilliers was at that moment with his army in -the Aland Isles! And now Valerie, wearying of war and politics, -shrugged her pretty shoulders, and gradually led us to talk on other -topics. As she was well read and highly accomplished, there were many -subjects on which we could converse in common, as she was wonderfully -familiar with the best works of the English and French writers of the -day, and knew them quite as well as those of Tourguéneff, Panaeff, -Longenoff, Zernina, and others who were barely known to me by name. I -was afterwards to learn, too, that she was a brilliant musician; and -with all these powers of pleasing, was a Russian convent, with its -oppressive atmosphere of religion and austerity, to be her doom? -When I compared, mentally, the Russian with the English woman of -rank--Valerie with Estelle--I could see that the latter, with less of -a nervous temperament, was more quiet and unimpressionable, and with -all her beauty less attractive; the former was more coquettish and -seductive, more full of minute, delicate, and piquante graces--the -real graces that win and enslave; more mistress of those witching -trifles that at all times can inspire tenderness, provoke gallantry, -and awaken love. The brilliant Valerie would have shone in a crowded -_salon_, while Estelle Cressingham, with all her pale loveliness, -would simply have seemed to be the cold, proud, aristocratic belle of -an English drawing-room. - -Valerie was fascinating--she was magnetic--I know not how to phrase -it; and what now to me was Estelle--the Countess of Aberconway--that I -should shrink from drawing invidious comparisons? - -When I retired that night to a spacious and magnificent apartment, and -to a luxurious Russian couch, the pillows of which were edged with the -finest lace--ye gods! a laced pillow after mine in the camp, a -tent-peg bag stuffed with dirty straw--I was soon sensible of the -difference of sleeping indoors and within a house, after being under -canvas and accustomed so long to my airy tent. I felt as if stifling; -and to this was added the effect of the wines, of which, incited by -the hospitality of Volhonski, I had partaken too freely. I forgot all -about my promises to be up betimes, even before daybreak, in the -morning, and to ride with him as near to our posts as he dared -venture, to leave me in a place of safety; I forgot that if I remained -in secret at the castle or château of Yalta, the great danger and the -grave suspicion to which I subjected him, his sister, and all there; I -forgot, too, the risk I ran personally of being taken and shot as a -spy, perhaps, after short inquiry, or no inquiry at all. I thought -only of the brilliant creature whose voice seemed hovering in my ear, -and the remembered touch of whose velvet hand seemed still to linger -in mine. - -The more I saw of Valerie Volhonski, the more she dazzled, charmed, -and--must I admit it?--consoled me for the loss I had sustained in -England far away. She seemed quite aware of the admiration her beauty -excited--of the love that was inspiring me, and she seemed, I thought, -in my vanity, not unwilling to return it! Why, then, should I not ask -her to love me? What to us were the miserable ambitions of emperors -and sultans; the intrigues and treacheries of statesmen; the wars, the -battles, the difference of religion, race, and clime? And so, as the -sparkling cliquot did its work, I wove the shining web of the future, -and gave full reins to my heated fancy as the hours of the silent -night stole on. But the morning found me ill, feverish, decidedly -delirious; and Volhonski, to his great mortification, had to leave me -and ride off with his Cossacks, and reach Sebastopol by making a long -detour through that part of the country which we so stupidly left -_open_--round by Tepekerman and Bagtchi Serai, and thence by the -Belbeck into the Valley of Inkermann. I must have been in rather a -helpless condition for at least two days--days wherein the short -intervals of ease and sense seemed to me wearisome and perplexing -indeed; while to see Madame Tolstoff and old Ivan Yourivitch gliding -noiselessly about my room in fur slippers, caused me to marvel sorely -whether I was dreaming or awake; whether or not I was myself, or some -one else; for all about me seemed strange, unusual, and unreal. - -On the morning of the third day I was greatly better, and on passing a -hand over my head, found that my hair was gone--shorn to a crop of the -true military Russian pattern, doubtless by a doctor's order. Then I -saw Madame Tolstoff and Valerie Volhonski standing near and smiling at -my perplexity. - -"You miss your dark brown locks," said the latter, with one of her -most seducing smiles; "forgive me; but I am the Delilah who made a -Samson of you!" - - - - -CHAPTER XLVII.--VALERIE VOLHONSKI. - - -Though convalescent, I was still too feeble to think of saddle-work; -and the Hospoza Volhonski had no means of transmitting me otherwise -than mounted, or of having me--even when able to travel--guided to the -British camp, without aid from her brother, of whom we had no tidings -for weeks; so the time slipped away at Yalta pleasantly enough for me. -To conceal me entirely from all the visitors who came there was an -impossibility; thus, though dressed in plain clothes now, and -generally passing for a German shut out from business at Sebastopol, I -ran hourly risks of suspicion and discovery. Some of Volhonski's -abrupt and ill-judged remarks, or some perhaps of mine, which had -escaped me when delirious under the double effect of wound and wine, -rendered Valerie a little reserved in her demeanour towards me for the -first day or two after I was able to leave my room; but she was so -frank in nature and so gay in spirit, that this unusual mood rapidly -wore away. We had many visitors from the Valley of Inkermann and from -Sebastopol itself, as the city was left unblockaded on one side; and -the tidings they brought us--tidings which we eagerly devoured--varied -strangely. Once we were informed that it had been assaulted, and that -all the outworks were in the hands of the Allies; next we heard that -another Inkermann had been fought--that the Allies had been scattered -and the siege raised; that the Austrians had entered Bulgaria; that -torpedoes had blown up the sunken ships; and that the British fleet -was actually in the harbour, shelling the town and burning it with -rockets and red-hot shot. But all reports converged in one unvarying -tale--the dreadful sufferings of our soldiers among the snow in the -trenches, where young men grew gray, and gray-haired men grew white -with misery. And so the Christmas passed; and when the Russian bells -by hundreds rang the old year out from the spires, the forts, and the -ships that lay above the booms and bridge of boats, the new year's -morning saw the black cross of St. Andrew still waving defiantly on -the Mamelon, and Redan, and all the forts of Sebastopol. - -Once among our visitors came Prince Menschikoff himself, Valerie -advised my non-appearance, much to my relief; but I heard the din of -voices, the laughter, and the sound of music in the _salon_ or great -dining-room where a _déjeûner_ was served for him and his staff, while -the band of the Grand Duchess Olga's Hussars were stationed in the -marble vestibule, and played the grand national anthem of Russia and -Luloff's famous composition, _Borshoe zara brangie_--God save the -Emperor. After the Prince's departure we had the huge mansion entirely -to ourselves again, and any longings I might have to rejoin the Welsh -Fusileers and share the dangers they underwent, together with my -natural anxiety to hear of my friends in their ranks, I was compelled -to stifle and seek to forget, when tidings came that a great body of -Tchernimorski Cossacks had formed a temporary camp between Yalta and -the head of the long Baidar Valley, thus, while they remained, -completely cutting off all my chances of reaching either Balaclava or -the Allied camp; so there was nothing for me now but to resign myself -to a protracted residence in the same luxurious mansion with the -brilliant Valerie (and her watchful chaperone), with the somewhat -certain chance of losing my heart in the charms, of her society. -Madame Tolstoff assuredly kept guard over us with Argus eyes; but a -few of the devices in the heart that laugheth at locksmiths enabled me -to elude her at times; while, fortunately for me, the language we -spoke was perfectly unknown to her; yet "the Tolstoff," as I used to -call her, seemed, I knew not why, to exercise considerable control -over Valerie. In her youth she had been carried off by Schamyl's -mountaineers from a Russian outpost, and was a detained for three -years in the Caucasian chief's seraglio, where, with all my heart, I -wished her still. But while enjoying all the good things of this life -at Yalta--grapes, melons, and pineapples from Woronzow's hothouses at -Alupka, oysters from Hamburg, pickled salmon from Ladoga, sterlit from -the Volga, sturgeon from the Caspian Sea, reindeer's tongue from -Archangel, Crimean wines that nearly equalled champagne, imitation -Sillery from the Don, Cliquot, Burgundy, and Bordeaux,--I thought -often with compunction of the wretched rations and hard fare of our -poor fellows who were starving in the winter camp. Volhonski was -wealthy, and thus his sister and her attendants were able to command -every luxury. His rank was high, for he claimed, as usual with all the -Russian nobles of the first _tchinn_ or class, to be descended from -Ruric the Norman--Ruric of Kiev and Vladimir--who, more than a -thousand years ago, founded the dynasty by which Muscovy was governed -prior to the accession of the Romanoffs. All the best families in the -land boast of a descent from Gedemine the Lithuanian, or from this -Ruric and his followers; a weakness common also to the English -aristocracy, whose genealogical craze is a real or supposed descent -from those who were too probably the offscourings of Normandy. Beauty -belongs peculiarly to neither race nor nation; yet somehow Valerie -seemed to me, in her bearing and style, the embodiment of all that was -noble and lovely; and though always graceful, her air and sometimes -the carriage of her head seemed haughty--even defiant. - -In the many opportunities afforded by propinquity and close residence -together in the same house, and by our speaking a language which we -alone understood, I know not all I said to her then, nor need I seek -to remember it now; suffice it, that softly and imperceptibly the -sentiments of those who love are communicated and adopted; and so it -was with me. She was catching my heart at the rebound--at the -ricochet, as we might say in the trenches. I was beginning to learn -that there were other women who might love me--others whom I might -love, and who were not worshippers of Mammon, like--ah, well--Estelle -Cressingham. If Pottersleigh died or broke his old neck in the -hunting-field, where he sometimes rashly ventured, would Estelle--I -thrust her image aside, and turned all my thoughts to Valerie; yet my -second choice seemed, by the peculiarity of our circumstances, a more -ambitious one and more hopeless of attainment than the first. Daily, -however, I strove to win her heart and to inspire her with that pure -passion which, as a casuist affirms, can only be felt by the pure in -spirit, as all virtues are closely connected with each other, and the -tenderness of the heart is one of them. Was the devil at my elbow, or -my evil angel, if such things be, whispering in my ear? Or how was it, -that whenever I grew tender with Valerie, the image of Estelle came -revengefully, yet sadly, to memory, as of an idol shattered, but -certainly not by me? Oddly enough I still wore her ring on my -finger--the single pearl set in blue and gold enamel--a gift I had as -yet no means of restoring, and could not give away. "Have you ever -looked at a portrait till it haunted you?" asks a writer. "Have you -ever seen the painted face of one, it may be, who was an utter -stranger to you, yet that seemed to fill your mind with a sort of -recognition that sent you out over the sea of speculation, wondering -where you had seen it before, or when you would see it again? The eyes -talk to you and the lips tell you a dreamy story." - -Such, then, was the haunting character of the face of Valerie. Her -beauty and her graces of manner filled up all my thoughts, and her -strange dark eyes seemed to say that if it was impossible we had known -each other in the years that were past, we might be dear enough to -each other in the future; and I hoped in my heart that ours should be -one; thus yielding blindly to the influence, to the charm of her -presence and the whole situation. Once she was at the piano, and sang -to me with wonderful grace and brilliance "The Refusal," a Russian -gipsy song, in which a young man makes many desperate professions and -promises of love to a giddy young beauty, who laughs at them and -rejects him, because she values nothing so much as her own liberty. -When turning the leaves for her, the pearl ring of Estelle--a ring so -evidently that of a lady--caught her attention, and I saw Valerie's -colour heighten as she did so. I instantly drew it off; I felt no -compunction in doing so then, and said, "You admire this ring, -apparently?" - -"Nay--do not say so, please," said she, bending over the instrument; -"when a lady admires thus, it seems only another fashion of coveting." - -"In this instance that were useless," said I, laughing, "as the ring -is not mine to bestow; otherwise I should glory in your accepting it." - -"Is it your wife's?" - -"My wife's!" - -"Yes. Have you one in that wretched little island of yours?" she -continued, sharply. - -"No," I replied, delighted by this undisguised little ebullition of -jealousy. - -"To whom does it belong, then?" - -"The wife of another, to whom it shall be restored in England." - -"This is very strange--it has, then, a history?" said she, bending her -dark eyes on mine. - -"Yes." - -"And this history--what is it?" - -"I cannot--dare not tell you." - -"Indeed!" Her black lashes drooped for a moment, and she passed a -white hand nervously over her golden braids. "And wherefore?" - -"It would be to reveal the secrets of another." - -"Another whom you love?" she asked, hurriedly, while her teeth seemed -to glitter as well as her eyes, for her lips were parted. - -"No, no; on my honour, no!" said I, laying my right hand on my breast, -and feeling that then I spoke but the truth and without the -equivocation, to which her questions were forcing me. Then Valerie -seemed to blush with pleasure, and my heart beat lightly with joy. I -should certainly have done something rash; but the inevitable Madame -Tolstoff was in the room, embroidering a smoking cap for her son the -colonel, then in command of the 26th at Sebastopol; so I was compelled -to content myself by simply touching the hand of Valerie, and by -caressing it tenderly, while affecting to admire a beautiful opal ring -she wore, and urging her to continue her music. The whole episode -partook somewhat of the nature of a scene between us, and even the -usually self-possessed Valerie seemed a little confused, as she once -more laid her tapered fingers on the ivory keys. - -"I am very far from perfect in my music, or anything else, perhaps," -she said. - -"Do not say so," I whispered; "yet had you been more perfect than you -are, I think no other woman in this world would have had the chance of -a lover." - -"How--why?" - -"All men would be loving you, and you only." - -"This is more like the inflated flattery of a Frenchman than the -speech of a sober Briton," said Valerie, a little disdainfully. - -"Does it displease you?" - -"Yes, certainly." - -"Why?" - -"People don't love when they flatter," was the pretty pointed and -coquettish response, and preluded an air with a crash on the keys, -thus interrupting something I was about to say--heaven only knows -what--a formal declaration, I fear. - -"You admired my opal. Listen to the story of its _origin_; I doubt if -the story of your ring is half so pretty," said she. And then she sang -in English the following song, which she had been taught by her -governess, a song the author of which I have never been able to -discover; but then and there, situated as I was, the English words -came deliciously home to my heart, and I quote them now from memory:-- - - - "A dew-drop came, with a spark of flame - It had caught from the sun's last ray, - To a violet's breast, where it lay at rest, - Till the hours brought back the day. - With a blush and a frown a rose look'd down, - But smiled at once to view, - With its colouring warm, her own bright form - Reflected back by the dew! - Then a stolen look the stranger took - At the sky so soft and blue, - And a leaflet green, with its silvery sheen, - Was seen by the idler, too. - As he thus reclined, a cold north wind - Of a sudden blew around, - And a maiden fair, who was walking there, - Next morning _an opal_ found!" - - -I ventured to pat her shoulder approvingly. I glanced furtively round; -the Tolstoff had gone out of the room, and somehow my arm slipped -round Valerie, who looked up at me, smiling archly, yet she said, -firmly, - -"Pray don't." - -"How much longer am I to keep this silence?" I asked. - -"How--what silence?" - -"To be thus in suspense, Valerie," I added, lowering my voice and -bending my face towards her ear. - -Her smile passed away, her white lids drooped, and perplexity and -trouble stole over her eyes, as she drew her head back. - -"I do not know what you mean, or whither your conversation tends," she -said. - -"You know that I love you!" - -"No, I don't." - -"You must have seen it--must have guessed it--since the happy hour in -which I first saw you." - -"Do not speak to me thus, I implore you," said she, colouring deeply, -and covering her face with her beautiful hands. - -"Why, Valerie, dearest, dearest Valerie?" - -"I must not--dare not listen to you." - -"Dare not?" - -"I speak the truth," said she, and her breast heaved. - -"Will you marry me, Valerie?" - -"I cannot marry you." - -"Why?" - -"O heavens, don't ask me! But enough of this; and here comes Madame -Tolstoff, to announce that the _samovar_--the tea-urn--is ready." - -In my irritation I muttered something that she of the red _sarafan_, -Madame Tolstoff, would not wish graved on her tombstone, and resumed -my previous task of turning the leaves at the piano; but Valerie sang -no more then, and for two entire days gave me no opportunity of -learning why she had received my declaration in a manner so odd and -unexpected. I could but sigh and conjecture the cause, and recall the -words of her brother on the night he first met me at Yalta; and if it -were the case that a convent proved the only barrier, I was not -without hopes of smoothing all such scruples away. - - - - -CHAPTER XLVIII.--THE THREATS OF TOLSTOFF. - - -In the growth of my passion for Valerie I forgot all about the -probable opposition of her brother, the Count, to my wishes. Indeed, -he entered very little into my schemes of the future; for the perilous -contingencies of war caused life to be held by a very slight tenure -indeed; so we might never see him again, though none would deplore -more than I the death of so gallant a fellow. Then, in that instance, -did one so lovely as Valerie require more than ever a legitimate -protector, and who could be more suitable than I? I felt convinced at -that time, that those who loved Valerie once could never feel for -another as they had loved her. She was so full of an individuality -that was all her own. Was it the coquetry of her manner, the strange -and indescribable beauty of her dark eyes, the coils of her golden -hair, the smile on her lips, or the subtle magnetism the kisses of -those lips might possess, that entangled them? God knows, but I have -heard that those who loved her once were never quite the same men -again. If Valerie married me, with what pride and exultation should I -display her beauty, if occasion served, before Estelle and her dotard -Earl, as a bright being I had won from hearts that were breaking for -her, and as one who was teaching me fast to forget _her_, even as she -had forgotten me! A Russian wife, at that crisis of hostility and -hatred, seemed a somewhat singular alliance certainly; what would the -regiment say, and what would my chief friend old Sir Madoc, with all -his strong national prejudices, think? I should be pretty certain to -find the doors of Craigaderyn closed for long against me. These, -however, were minor considerations amid my dreams; for dreams they -were, and visions that might never be realised; _châteaux en Espagne_ -never, perhaps, to be mine! - -On the morning of the third day after the musical performance recorded -in the preceding chapter, Valerie met me, accompanied by Madame -Tolstoff. Her face wore a bright smile, and interlacing her fingers, -she raised her eyes to the _eikon_ above the fireplace, and said to -me, "O Hospodeen, have I not cause to thank Heaven for the news a -Cossack has just brought me, in a letter from Colonel Tolstoff?" - -"I hope so; but pray what is the news?" I. asked, while drawing nearer -her. - -"My brother Paulovitch has been taken prisoner by your people." - -"Call you that good news?" I asked, with surprise. - -"Yes, most happy tidings." - -"How?" - -"My brother will now be safe, and I hope that they will keep him so -till this horrible and most unjust war is over." - -"Unjust! how is it so?" I asked, laughing. - -"Can it be otherwise, when it is waged against holy Russia and our -good father the Czar?" - -I afterwards learned that Volhonski had been taken prisoner in that -affair which occurred on the night of Sunday, the 14th January, when -the Russians surprised our people in the trenches, and captured one -officer and sixteen men of the 68th, or Durham Light Infantry, into -whose hands Volhonski fell, and was disarmed and taken at once to the -rear. - -"I am so happy," continued Valerie, clapping her hands like a child, -"though it may be long, long ere I see him again, my dear Paulovitch! -He will be taken to England, of course." - -"Should you not like to join him there?" I asked, softly. "Yes, but I -cannot leave Russia." - -"Why?" - -"Do not ask me; but we may keep _you_ as a hostage for him," she -added, merrily; "do you agree?" - -"Can I do otherwise?" said I, tenderly and earnestly. - -"Of course not, while those Cossacks are in the Baidar Valley. Poor -Paulovitch! and this was his parting gift!" she continued, and drew -from her bosom--and none in the world could be whiter or more -lovely--a gold cross; and after kissing, she replaced it, looking at -me with a bright, coquettish, and most provoking smile, as it slipped -down into a receptacle so charming. "And dear Madame Tolstoff is so -happy, too, for her son arrives here to-morrow; he has been severely -bruised by the splinter of a shell in the Wasp Battery, and comes -hither to be nursed by us." - -I cannot say that I shared in "dear Madame's" joy on this occasion, -and would have been better pleased had Valerie seemed to be less -excited than she was. Moreover, I feared that the arrival of a Russian -officer as an inmate might seriously complicate matters, and -completely alter my position; and a pang seemed to enter my heart, as -I already began to feel with wretchedness that Valerie might soon be -lost to me. I had no time to lose if I would seek to resume the -subject of conversation on that evening when Madame Tolstoff arrived -just in time to interrupt us; but Valerie seemed studiously never to -afford me an opportunity of being with her alone. This was most -tantalising, especially now when a crisis in my affairs seemed -approaching. Moreover, I had already been at Yalta longer than I could -ever have anticipated. The love of the brother and sister for each -other was, I knew, strong and tender; could I, therefore, but persuade -her to escape--"to fly" with me, as novels have it--to our camp, now -that he was a prisoner, and probably _en route_ for England! A meagre -choice of comforts would await her in the allied camp; but in the -excess of my love, my ardour, and folly, I forgot all about that, and -even about the Cossacks who occupied the Pass of the Baidar Valley. - -It was not without emotions of undefined anxiety that on the following -day I heard from Ivan Yourivitch that Colonel Tolstoff had arrived, -and would meet me at dinner. The whole of that noon and afternoon -passed, but I could nowhere see Valerie; and on entering the room when -dinner was announced--a dinner _à la Russe_, the table covered with -flowers fresh from the conservatory--I was sensible that she received -me with an air of constraint which, in her, was very remarkable; while -something akin to malicious pleasure seemed to twinkle in the little -dark beadlike eyes of Madame Tolstoff as she introduced me to her son -the Colonel; at least, by his reception of me I understood so much of -what she said, for the old lady spoke in her native Russian. He was a -tall, grim-looking man, who, after laying aside the long military -_capote_, appeared in the dark green uniform of the 26th Infantry, -with several silver medals dangling on his well-padded breast. He had -fierce keen eyes, that seemed to glare at times under their bristling -brows; and he had an enormous sandy-coloured moustache, that appeared -to retain the blue curling smoke of his _papirosse_, or to emit it -grudgingly, as if it came through closely-laid thatch; a thick beard -of the same hue, streaked with grizzled gray hair, concealed a massive -jaw and most determined chin. He was huge, heavy-looking, and -muscular; and on seeing me, held out a strong, weather-beaten hand but -coldly and dryly, as he addressed me in German; and then we -immediately recognised each other, for he was the officer who -commanded the regiment which had occupied the abattis, and who -received me when I took the flag of truce into Sebastopol. Volhonski, -I have said, was a noble of the first class--that which traces -nobility back for a single century; but Tolstoff was only of the -second, or military class, being the son of a merchant, who after -serving eight years in the ranks as a _junker_, on being made an -officer becomes an hereditary noble, with the right to purchase a -landed estate. Tolstoff was quite lame--temporarily, however--by the -bruises his left leg had suffered from the explosion of a shell. He -spoke to me in bad and broken German, though I shall render his words -here in English. - -"So my friend Volhonski is taken prisoner?" said I. - -"Yes; less lucky than you, Herr Captain, who have to be taken yet," he -replied, tossing the fag end of his paper cigar into the _peitchka_. - -"It was in a sortie, I understand?" - -"A little one; his party was led astray by their guide towards the -trenches." - -"Their guide! could one be found?" - -"Yes; an officer who deserted to us." - -"An officer!" said I, with astonishment. - -"Yes; one who was a prime favourite with the Lord Raglan. Strange that -he should desert, was it not!" - -"With Lord Raglan!" I continued, more bewildered still. - -"The devil! You are strangely fond of repeating my words! Anyway he -wears a diamond ring that was given him by Lord Raglan for some great -service he performed; but as he is to be here to-night, you shall see -him yourself." - -Guilfoyle! The inevitable Guilfoyle and his ring! - -I could have laughed, but for rage at his cowardice, villainy, and -treachery, in actually acting as guide in that affair which caused a -loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners to our 68th Foot. However, -thought I, through my clenched teeth, I shall see him to-night. - -"Have you ever seen this officer?" I asked. - -"No; but he comes to Yalta with certain reports for my signature. I -doubt if Prince Woronzow, who is now Governor of Tiflis in Georgia, -knows who--_all_--honour his mansion by a residence therein. You have -made a longer visit among us this time than you did under the flag of -truce!" - -"Circumstances have forced me to do so, with what willingness you may -imagine," said I, justly displeased by his tone and tenor of his -speech, which seemed to class me with a rascal and a traitor like -Guilfoyle. "I was most fortunate, however, in finding my way here, -after escaping death, first at the hands of your Cossacks, and -afterwards in the sea." - -"Ah, they are troublesome fellows those Cossacks, and I fear you are -not quite done with them yet." - -"They, and your infantry, too, found us pretty well prepared on that -misty morning at Inkermann," said I, growing more and more displeased -by his tone and manner. - -"Well prepared! By----, I should think so; when people come on -frivolous errands with flags of truce, to see what an enemy is about -behind his own lines." - -I felt the blood rush to my temples, and Valerie, with a piteous -expression in her soft face, said something in Russian, and with a -tone of expostulation; to which the grim Pulkovnick made no response, -but sat silently making such a dinner as seemed to indicate that -rations had been scarce in Sebastopol, and keeping Ivan Yourivitch in -constant attendance, but chiefly on himself. I could see that the man -was a soldier, and nothing but a soldier, a Russian military tyrant in -fact, and felt assured that the sooner I was out of Yalta, and beyond -his reach--risking even the Cossacks in the Valley--the better for -myself. - -He was twice assisted by his amiable "mamma," to the _bativina_, i.e., -soup made of roasted beef cut into small pieces, with boiled beetroot, -spring onions, carraway-seeds, purée of sorrel, with chopped eggs and -kvass. He was thrice helped to stuffed carrots with sauce, to roast -mutton with mushrooms, and compote of almonds; and he drank great -quantities of hydromel flavoured with spices, and so fermented with -hops that it foamed up in the silver tankard and over his vast -moustache. But in the intervals during dinner, and often speaking with -his mouth very full, he related for the express behoof of his mother -and Valerie, a very strange incident, which they seemed implicitly to -believe, and which the latter politely translated for me. It was to -the effect, that on the night Volhonski was taken prisoner, one of his -officers, a man of noble rank, and major of the Vladimir Regiment, was -carried into Sebastopol mortally wounded in an attempt to rescue him; -and as he was dying, the host was borne to him under a canopy by -Innocent, Bishop of Odessa, in person. As the procession passed a -tratkir, or tea-house, some soldiers and girls were dancing there to -the sound of a violin; and though they heard the voices of the -chanters, and the occasional ringing of the sanctus bell, they ceased -not their amusement, neither did they kneel, so the host passed on; -but like those who were enchanted by hearing the wonderful flute of -the German tale, they could not cease dancing, neither could the -violinist desist from playing, and for six-and-thirty hours they -continued to whirl in a wild waltz--in sorrow and tears, a ghastly -band--till, exhausted and worn nearly to skeletons, they sank gasping -and breathless on the floor, where they were still lying, paralysed in -all their limbs, and hopelessly insane! - -Tolstoff seemed to hasten the ceremonies of the dinner-table to get -rid of the ladies; and the moment they rose he gave his mother some -_papirosses_, or cigarettes, to smoke, and then proceeded, leisurely, -to roll up one for himself, after pushing across the table towards me -the champagne, which he despised as very poor wine indeed. - -"Hah, Yourivitch!" said he, taking up a decanter, and applying his -somewhat snub nose thereto; "what is this? corn-brandy!" he added, -draining a glassful; "as it is good, I must have a glass;" so he took -a second of the fiery fluid. "O, now I feel another man, and being -another man, require another glass;" so he took a _third_. - -These additions to the hydromel did not seem to improve his temper, -and assuredly I would have preferred to follow the ladies to the -drawing-room, than to linger on with him - - - "In after-dinner talk - Across the walnuts and the wine," - - -but that I feared to offend the man unnecessarily. - -"Excuse me," said he, as he lay back in his seat, with his coat -unbuttoned, and proceeded, very coolly, to pick his teeth with one of -those small cross-hilted daggers, the slender blades of which are -about four inches long, and which are worn in secret by so many -Russian officers, and are all of the finest steel. After a pause, -during which he again dipped his long moustache in the foaming -hydromel, he said, - -"Though Volhonski told me about you, I scarcely expected, Herr -Captain, to have found you here _still_." - -"Where should I have gone--into the hands of the Cossacks, at Baidar?" - -"Towards Kharkoff, at all events." - -I coloured at this very pointed remark, as it was to that province in -the Ukraine that the Russians had transmitted many of the prisoners -taken during the war. - -"Here I felt myself on a special footing." - -"How, Herr Captain?" - -"As the guest of the Volhonskis," said I, sternly. - -"Though an enemy of Russia?" - -"Politically or professionally, yes: but I have the honour to be -viewed as a friend by the Count, and also by his sister." - -"Ah, indeed! I have heard as much. The Hospoza Valerie is, you see, -beautiful." - -"Wondrously so," said I, with fervour, glad that I could cordially -agree with this odious fellow in one thing at least. - -"Then beware," said Tolstoff, his face darkening; "for I don't believe -that much friendship can subsist between the sexes without its -assuming a warmer complexion." - -"Colonel Tolstoff!" - -"Besides, the Hospoza Valerie is a coquette--one who would flirt with -the tongs, if nothing better were at hand--so don't flatter yourself, -Herr Captain." - -I felt inclined to fling the decanter at his head; for in his tone of -mentor he far exceeded even Volhonski. - -"This is a somewhat offensive way to speak of a noble lady--the sister -of your friend," said I. - -"We shall dismiss that subject; and now for another," said he. "It -must be pretty apparent to you, Herr Captain, that you cannot remain -here, unparoled, in your present anomalous position." - -"I quite agree with you, and feel it most keenly; but I gave my parole -of honour to Valerie," I added, gaily and unwisely, for again the face -of Tolstoff lowered. - -"To let you remain or go free were treason to Russia and the Czar; you -must therefore be sent as a prisoner of war to Kharkoff, and--" - -"What then?" - -"Be treated there according to the report I shall transmit with your -escort." - -"What will Volhonski say?" - -"Just what he pleases; the Count is a prisoner now himself." - -I read some hidden meaning in his eyes, though he sat quietly cracking -walnuts and sipping his hydromel. - -"An officer on duty, I fall into the hands of an enemy--" I was -beginning passionately, when he interrupted me, and his eyes gleamed -as he said, - -"You had a despatch; I think you told Volhonski or his sister so?" - -"Yes, Colonel--a despatch for Marshal Canrobert." - -"Where is it?" - -"I destroyed it." - -"Bah!--I thought so," said he, scornfully. - -"On my honour, I did so, Colonel Tolstoff!" - -"Honour! ha, ha, you are a spy!" - -"Rascal!" I exclaimed, feeling myself grow white with passion the -while; "recall this injurious epithet, or--" - -"Or what? Dare you threaten me? I can pick the ace of hearts off a -card at twenty paces with a revolver, so beware; and yet I am not -obliged to meet any one who is amenable to the laws of war, and is in -a position so dubious as yours." - -I was choking with rage; yet a conviction that he spoke with something -of warrant, so far as appearances went, and of the absolute necessity -for acting with policy, if I would leave myself a chance of winning -Valerie and escape greater perils than any I had encountered, -compelled me to assume a calmness of bearing I was far from feeling. - -"Seek neither to threaten nor to trifle with me," said he, loftily and -grimly; "you may certainly know the common laws of war regarding the -retention of prisoners and the punishment of spies, but you know not -those of Russia. If I do not treat you as one of the latter, it is -because Volhonski is your friend; but I have it in my power, in -treating you as one of the former, to have you transmitted farther -than the Ukraine--to where you should never be heard of more. We are -not particular to a shade here," he continued, with a sneering smile; -"when the Emperor commanded a certain offender to be taken and -punished, the minister of police could not find the right individual. -What the deuce was to be done? Justice could not remain unsatisfied; -so, instead, he seized a poor German, who had just arrived and was -known to none. He slit his tongue, tore out his nostrils, sent him to -Siberia to hunt the ermine, and reported to the Czar that his orders -had been obeyed. So don't flatter yourself that any persons in office -among us would be very particular in analysing _any report_ that I may -transmit with you, a mere English captain!" - -And rising from the table with these ominous words, he bowed to the -_eikon_, crossed himself after the Greek fashion, inserted a -_papirosse_ into his dense moustache, and limped away, leaving me in a -very unenviable frame of mind. Already I saw Valerie lost to me! I -beheld myself, in fancy, marched into the interior of Russia under -armed escort, maltreated and degraded, with my hands tied to the mane -of a Cossack pony, or a foot chained to a six-pound shot; a secret -report transmitted with me--a tissue of malevolent lies--to be acted -upon by some irresponsible official with a crackjaw name; to be never -more heard of, my sufferings and my ultimate fate to be--God alone -knew what! - -I was weak enough to feel jealous of this ungainly Tolstoff--this -Muscovite Caliban--in addition to being seriously alarmed by his -threats, and enraged by his tone and bearing. Had Valerie ever viewed -him with favour? The idea was too absurd! If not, what right had _he_ -to advise me concerning her? But then she was so beautiful, one could -not wonder that he--coarse though he was--might love her in secret. - -Full of these and other thoughts that were vague and bitter, I quitted -the table just as Yourivitch was lighting the lamps, and wandered into -the long and now gloomy picture-gallery, one of the great windows of -which was open. Beyond it was a terrace, whereon I saw the figure of -Valerie. She was alone, and in defiance of all prudence and the -warning of Tolstoff, I followed her. - - - - -CHAPTER XLIX.--BETROTHED. - - -She seemed absorbed in thought as I drew near her, and did not -perceive my approach. She was leaning on the carved balustrade of the -terrace, and gazing at the sea and the scenery that lay below it, -steeped in the brilliance of a clear and frosty moonlight. The snow -had entirely departed from the vicinity of Yalta, though its white -mantle still covered all the peaks of the Yaila range of mountains. -About a mile distant on one side lay the town, its glaring -white-walled houses gleaming coldly in the moonshine. A beach was -there, with most civilised-looking bathing-machines upon it; for prior -to the war, Yalta had been the fashionable watering-place for the -ladies of Sebastopol, Bagtcheserai, and Odessa, who were wont there to -disport themselves in fantastic costumes, and take headers in the -Euxinus Pontus. On the other side were lovely valleys and hills, -covered with timber--pine-groves dark and huge as those that overhang -the fjords of Norway. - -In the distance lay the Black Sea--so called from the dark fogs that -so often cover it--sleeping in silver light, its waves in shining -ripples rolling far away round the points of Orianda and Maragatsch; -and Valerie, absorbed in thought, and her dark eyes fixed apparently -on that point where the starry horizon met the distant sea. - -She wore an ample jacket or pelisse of snow-white ermine lined with -rose-coloured silk, and clasped at the tender throat by a brooch which -was a cluster of bright amethysts. A kind of loose silken hood, such -as ladies when in full dress may wear in a carriage, was hastily -thrown over the masses of her golden hair, which formed a kind of soft -framework for her delicately-cut and warmly-tinted face, for the cold -air had brought an unwonted colour into her usually pale complexion. -Her eyes wore an expression of languor and anxiety. Heaven knows what -the girl was thinking of; but as she watched the shining sea I could -see her full pink nervous lips curling and quivering, as if with the -thoughts that ran through her impulsive mind. And this bright creature -might be mine! I had but to ask her, perhaps, and I had not so faint a -heart as to lose one so fair for the mere dread of asking her. Yet, as -I drew near, the reflection flashed upon my mind that for three days -at least she had purposely avoided me. Why was this? Had my love for -her been too apparent to others? had I underdone or overdone anything? -what had I omitted, or how committed myself? - -"Valerie!" said I, softly. - -She uttered a slight exclamation, as if startled, and then placing her -firm, cool, and velvet-like hands confidingly in mine, glanced -nervously round her, and more particularly up at the windows of the -house. - -"I would speak with you," said she, in a half whisper. - -"And I with you, Valerie. O, how I have longed for a moment such as -this, when I might again be with you alone!" - -"But we must not be seen together; and I have but that moment you have -so wished for to spare. Come this way--this way, quick; those -cypresses in the tubs will shield us from any curious eyes that may -lurk at yonder windows." - -"O, Valerie!" I sighed with happiness, and as I passed a hand -caressingly over her jacket of ermine I thought vengefully of -Tolstoft's dark hint about hunting that small quadruped in Siberia; -and then as I gazed tenderly into her dark and glittering eyes, I -could perceive that their long tremulous lashes were matted. - -"Tears--why tears, Valerie?" - -She spoke hurriedly. "I have most earnestly to apologise to you for -much that I heard the Pulkovnick say during dinner; it was indeed -horrid--all!" - -"Much that you have not heard was more horrid still." - -"It is unbearable! His wounds or bruises must have exasperated his -temper. Yet I cannot speak to him of that which I did not hear, as to -do so would appear too much as if you and I had some secret -confidences, and Madame Tolstoff, I fear, has hinted at something of -this kind already." - -"I asked you to marry me, dearest Valerie." - -"Yes--vainly," said she, with a half-smile on her partly-averted face. - -"Vainly--why?" - -"Do not press me to say why." - -"Could you love me, Valerie?" - -"I might." - -"Might, Valerie?" (I was never weary of repeating her sweet name; and -what meant this admission, if she declined me?) "You do not doubt my -love for you?" I urged. - -"No, though I fear it is but a passing fancy, born of idleness and the -ennui of Yalta." - -"Think you, Valerie, that any man could see, and only love you thus? O -no, no! But say that you will be mine--that you will come with me to -England, where your brother is, or soon shall be--to England, where -women are treated with a courtesy and tenderness all unknown in -Russia, and where the girl a man loves is indeed as an empress to him, -and has his fate in life in her own hands." - -"I don't quite understand all this--nor should I listen to it," said -she, looking me fully in the face, with calm confidence and something -of sadness; too. - -Her right hand was still clasped in mine, and as I pressed it against -my heart, I placed my left arm round her waist, modestly, tenderly, -and with a somewhat faltering manner; for she looked so stately, and -in her white ermine seemed taller and more ample than usual, a beauty -on a large scale and with "a presence." But starting back, she quickly -freed herself from my half-embrace, and said, "Captain Hardinge, you -forget yourself!" - -"Can it be that you receive my tenderness thus?" said I, -reproachfully, and feeling alike disappointed and crestfallen. "I love -you most dearly, Valerie, and implore you to tell me of my future, for -on your answer depends my happiness or misery." - -"I hope that I am the holder of neither. I did not ask you to love me; -and O, I would to Heaven that you had never come to Yalta--that we had -never, never met!" - -"Why--O, why?" I asked, imploringly. - -"Because I am on the very eve of being _married_." - -"Married!" I repeated, breathlessly; and then added passionately and -hoarsely, "To whom?" - -"Colonel Tolstoff, to whom I was betrothed in form by the Bishop of -Odessa." - -Her refusal was really a double-shotted one, and for a moment I was -stupefied. Then I said, in a voice I could scarcely have recognised as -my own, - -"It was to this tie, and not to a convent, that Volhonski alluded, -when hinting that you were set apart from the world?" - -"Yes. I thank you from my soul for the love you offer me, though it -fills me with distress. I pity you; but can do no more. Alas! you have -been here only too long." - -"Too long, indeed!" said I, sadly, while bending my lips to her hand; -and then hurrying into the house by the picture-gallery, she left -me--left me to my own miserable and crushing thoughts, with the -additional mortification of knowing that Madame Tolstoff, watchful as -a lynx, had overseen and overheard our interview from another angle of -the terrace, though she could not understand its nature; but of course -she suspected much, and was all aflame for the interests of her suave -and amiable son. - -However, this was not to be my last moment of tenderness with Valerie. -But I was left little time for reflection, as events were now to -succeed each other with a degree of speed and brevity equalled only by -the transitions and discoveries of a drama on the stage. - - - - -CHAPTER L.--CAUGHT AT LAST. - - -I re-entered the château feeling sad, irresolute, and crushed in -spirit. I had lost that on which I had set my heart, and at the hands -of Tolstoff, my rival, I might yet lose more, if his threats meant -anything--liberty, perhaps life itself. - -What, then, was to be done? I was without money, without arms, or a -horse. All these Valerie might procure for me; but how or where was I -to address her again? After the result of our last interview she would -be certain to avoid me more sedulously than ever. As I passed through -the magnificent vestibule, which was hung with rose-coloured lamps, -the light of which fell softly on the green malachite pedestals and -white marble Venuses, Dianas, and Psyches, which had no part of them -dressed but their hair, which was done to perfection, I met Ivan -Yourivitch, who made me understand that the officer whom the -Pulkovnick expected with certain papers from Sebastopol had arrived, -and was now in the dining-room; but the Pulkovnick had smoked himself -off to sleep, and must not, under certain pains and penalties, be -disturbed. Would I see him? And so, before I knew what to say, or had -made up my mind whether to avoid or meet the visitor, I was ushered -into the stately room, when I found myself once more face to face with -Mr. Hawkesby Guilfoyle! - -The ex-cornet of wagoners was clad now in the gray Russian military -capote, with a sword and revolver at his girdle. His beard had grown -prodigiously; but his hair--once so well cared for--was now very thin -indeed, and he did not appear altogether to have thriven in the new -service to which he had betaken himself. His aspect was undoubtedly -haggard. Suspected by his new friends (who urged him on duties for -which he had not the smallest taste), and in perpetual dread of -falling into the hands of the old, by whom he would be certainly -hanged or shot, his life could not be a pleasant one; so he had -evidently betaken himself to drink, as his face was blotched and his -eyes inflamed in an unusual degree. - -He was very busy with a decanter of sparkling Crimskoi and other good -things which the dvornick had placed before him, and on looking up he -failed to recognise me, clad as I was in a suit of Volhonski's plain -clothes, which were "a world too wide" for me; and no doubt I was the -last person in the world whom he wished or expected to see in such a -place and under such circumstances--being neither guest nor prisoner, -and yet somewhat of both characters. He bowed politely, however, and -said something in Russian, of which he had picked up a few words, and -then smiled blandly. - -"You smile, sir," said I, sternly; "but remember the adage, a man may -smile and smile, and be----" - -"Stay, sir!" he exclaimed, starting up; "this is intolerable! Who the -devil are you, and what do you mean?" - -"Simply that you are a villain, and of the deepest die!" - -His hand went from the neck of the decanter towards his revolver; then -he reseated himself, and with his old peculiar laugh said, while -inserting his glass in his right eye, - -"O, this beats cock-fighting! Hardinge of the Welsh Fusileers! Now, -where on earth did you come from?" - -"Not from the ranks of the enemy, at all events," I replied. - -His whole character--the wrongs he had tried to do me and had done to -many others; the artful trick he had played me at Walcot Park his -pitiless cruelty to Georgette Franklin; his base conduct to me when -helpless on the field of Inkermann; his guiding a sortie in the night; -his entire career of unvarying cunning and treachery--caused me to -regard the man with something of wonder, mingled with loathing and -contempt, but contempt without anger. He was beneath that. - -"So you are a prisoner of war?" said he, after a brief pause, during -which he had drained a great goblet of the Crimskoi--a kind of -imitation champagne. - -"What I am is nothing to you--my position, mind, and character are the -same." - -"Perhaps so," he continued; "but I think that the most contemptible -mule on earth is a fellow in whom no experience or time can effect a -change of mind, or cure of those narrow opinions in which he is first -brought up, as the phrase is, in that little island of ours." - -"So you have quite adopted the Russian idea of Britain?" said I, with -a scornful smile. - -"Yes; and hope to have more scope for my talents on the Continent than -I ever had there. I should not have left the army of my good friend -Raglan----" - -"Who presented you with that ring, eh?" - -"Had there not been the prospect of a row about a rooking one night in -camp, and a bill which some meddling fellow called a forgery. Bah! a -bad bill may be a very useful thing at times; it is like a gun -warranted to burst; but, as Lever says, you must always have it in the -right man's hands, when it comes for explosion. If you are a prisoner, -I am afraid that your chances of early seeing our dear mutual friends -in Taffyland--by the way, how _is_ old Sir Taffy?--are very slender, -if once you are sent towards the Ukraine," he went on mockingly, as he -lit a papirosse. "And so the fair Estelle threw you over, eh? Good -joke that! Preferred old Potter's company to yours, for the term of -his natural life? What a deuced sell! But what a touching picture of -love they must present--quite equal to Paul and Virginia, to Pyramus -and Thisbe!" - -At that moment, and while indulging in a loud and mocking laugh, his -countenance suddenly changed; he grew very pale, the glass fell from -his pea-green eye, and the lighted papirosse from his lips; all his -natural assurance and insouciance deserted him, and he looked as -startled and bewildered as if a cannon-shot had just grazed his nose. -I turned with surprise at this sudden change, and saw the face and -figure of Colonel Tolstoff, who had limped into the room and been -regarding us for half a minute unperceived. He stood behind me, grim -and stern as Ajax, and was gazing at Guilfoyle with eyes that, under -their bristling brows, glittered like those of a basilisk, and seemed -to fascinate him. - -"We have not met since that night at Dunamunde!" exclaimed Tolstoff, -in a voice of concentrated fury; "but, I thank God and St. Sergius, we -have met at last--yes, at last! And so you know each other--_you -two?_" he added, in German, while bestowing a withering glance on me. - -"Dunamunde!" said I, sternly, as the name of that place recalled -something of a strange story concerning Tolstoff told by Guilfoyle to -Lord Pottersleigh at Craigaderyn; "and you two would seem to have -known each other and been friends of old, that is, if you are the same -Count Tolstoff whom he saved from the machinations of a certain -Colonel Nicolaevitch, then commanding the Marine Infantry at Riga." - -"What rubbish is this you speak?" demanded the other, with angry -surprise; "there never was a _Count_ Tolstoff; and I am the Pulkovnick -Nicolaevitch Tolstoff who commanded in Dunamunde, and was custodian of -eighty thousand silver roubles, all government money. This ruffian was -my friend--my chief friend then, though of the gaming table; but he -joined in a plot, with others like himself, among whom was the Head of -the Police, to rob me. He admitted them masked into my rooms, when -they shot me down with my own pistols, and left me, with a broken -thigh, bound hand and foot and cruelly gagged, while they escaped in -safety across the Prussian frontier and got to Berlin, where they -started a gaming-house. But he is here--here in my power at last; and -sweetly and surely, I shall have such vengeance as that power gives -me. Ha! look at him, the speechless coward; he has no bones in his -tongue now!" he added, using a favourite Russian taunt. - -"All over--run to earth, by Jove!" muttered Guilfoyle, with trembling -lips, forgetting about the papers he had brought, his new character of -a Russian officer, and forgetting even to deny his identity; "I have -thrown the dice for the last time, and d--nation, they have turned up -aces!" - -Ivan Yourivitch and other Cossack servants, who had heard the loud -voice of Tolstoff raised in undisguised anger, now appeared, and -received some orders from him in Russian. In a moment they threw -themselves upon Guilfoyle, disarmed, stripped him of his uniform, and -bound him with a silken cord torn from the window-curtains. At first I -was not without fears that they meant to strangle him with it, so -prompt and fierce was their manner; but they merely tied his hands -behind him, and thrust him into a closet, the door of which was -locked, and the key given to the Pulkovnick. - -The latter, without deigning to take farther notice of me, turned on -his heel and limped away, muttering anathemas in Russian; and I felt -very thankful that he had not made me a close prisoner also, after the -humiliating fashion to which he had subjected the wretched Guilfoyle. -But he was not without secret and serious ulterior views regarding me. -All remained still now in the great mansion after this noisy and -sudden episode; and I heard no sound save once--the clatter of a -horse's hoofs, which seemed to leave the adjoining stable-yard and die -away, as I thought, in the direction of the Baidar Valley, where the -Cossacks lay encamped; and somehow my heart naturally connected these -circumstances and foreboded coming evil, as I sat alone in the recess -of a window overlooking the terrace, and the same moonlighted scenery -which Valerie had viewed from it so lately. - - - - -CHAPTER LI.--FLIGHT. - - -I was full of gloomy, perplexing, and irritating thoughts. - -"If I am to drag on my life for years perhaps as a Russian prisoner, -better would it have been, O Lord, that a friendly shot had finished -my career for ever. What have I now to live for?" I exclaimed, in the -bitterness of my heart, as I struck my hands together. - -"You speak thus--you so young?" said Valerie, reproachfully yet -softly, as she suddenly laid a hand on my shoulder, while her bright -eyes beamed into mine--eyes that could excite emotion by emitting it. - -"Life seems so worthless." - -"Why?" she asked, in a low voice. - -"Can you ask me after what passed between us the other evening, and -more especially on yonder terrace, less than an hour ago?" - -"But why is existence worthless?" - -"Because I have lost you!" - -(Had I not thought the same thing about Estelle, and deemed that "he -who has most of heart has most of sorrow"?) - -"This is folly, dear friend," said she, looking down; "I never was -yours to lose." - -"But you lured me to love you, Valerie; and now--now you would -cast--nay, you have cast--my poor heart back upon itself!" - -"I lured you?" asked the gentle voice; "O unjust! How could I help -your loving me?" - -"Perhaps not; nor could I help it myself." - -"Tell me truly--has this--this misplaced passion for me lured you from -one who loves you well at home perhaps?" - -"From no one," said I, bitterly. - -"Thank Heaven for that; and we shall part as friends any way." - -"As friends only?" - -"Yes." - -"But you will ever be more to me, Valerie." - -She shook her head and smiled. - -A desire for vengeance on Tolstoff, for his insulting bearing on one -hand, with, the love and admiration I had of herself on the other, and -the pictured triumph of taking her away from him, and by her aid and -presence with me reaching our camp in safety, all prompted me to urge -an elopement; nor could I also forget the coquettish admission that -she "might" love me; but just as I was about to renew my suit and had -taken possession of her hands, she withdrew them, and while glancing -nervously about her, informed me that the Pulkovnick had sent a -mounted messenger to the Baidar Valley for Cossacks, to escort me and -Guilfoyle to Kharkoff in the Ukraine; and when I remembered his -threats of probable ulterior measures, I felt quite certain that his -report would include us _both_, and thus be framed in terms alike -dangerous and injurious to me. - -"What is to be done, Valerie?" I asked, in greater perplexity. - -"If I cannot love, I can still serve you," said she, smiling with a -brightness that was cruel; "it is but just, in gratitude for the -regard you have borne me." - -"That I still bear you and ever shall, beloved Valerie!" said I, with -tremulous energy; "but to serve me--how?" - -"You must leave this place instantly, for in less than an hour the -Cossacks will be here, and Tolstoff may have you killed on the march; -the escort may be but a snare." - -"Then come--come with me--let us escape together!" - -"Impossible--you do but waste time in speaking thus." - -"Why--O why, Valerie, when you know that I love you?" - -"Race, religion, ties, all forbid such a step, even were I inclined -for it, which fortunately I am not," she replied, lifting for a -moment, as if for coolness, the rippling masses of her golden hair -from her white temples, and letting them fall again; "you might and -_must_ spare me more of this! Have I not told you it is useless to -speak of love to me, and wrong in me to listen to you?" - -"And since when have you been engaged to this" (bear, I was about to -say)--"to this man Tolstoff? And by what magic or devilry has he -taught you to love him?" - -"In what can either concern you, at such a time as this especially, -when you have not a moment to lose?" she asked, almost with -irritation. "But hush--O, hush! here is some one." - -At that moment Ivan Yourivitch, with excitement on his usually stolid -Russian visage, entered the room almost on tiptoe, and whispered -something to her in haste, while his eyes were fixed the while on me. - -"Ah!--thank you, Ivan, thank you--that is well!" she said, and turning -to me, she added, hurriedly and energetically, "If you would be free, -and choose, it may be, between liberty or death, you have not another -instant to lose! Ivan tells me that the crew of an English man-of-war -boat is at this moment filling casks with water at the well of St. -Basil on the beach yonder. Thrice has that ship been there for the -same purpose; and I was watching for her when you came to me on the -terrace, as I heard of her being off Alupka this morning." - -"Your thoughts, then, were of me?" said I, tenderly. - -"For you, rather; but away, and God be with you, sir!" - -I lifted the window softly, and across the moonlit park that stretched -away towards the seashore she pointed to where four tall cypresses -rose like dark giants against the clear and starry sky, and where, at -the distance of a mile or little more, the white marble dome of the -well could be distinctly seen between them, its polished surface -shining like a star above a sombre belt of shrubbery. - -"There is the sound of hoofs! The Cossacks, your escort, are coming -Away, sir; you cannot miss the well, though you may the boat!" said -Valerie, with her hands clasped and her dark eyes dilated; and as she -spoke the clank of galloping horses coming up the valley (and, as I -fancied, the cracking of the whips carried by the Cossacks at their -bridles) could be heard distinctly in the clear frosty air. - -"If I had but my sword and pistols!" said I, with my teeth clenched. - -"You do not require them. Farewell! - -"Adieu, Valerie--adieu!" - -I passionately kissed her lips and her cheek, too, ere she could -prevent me, waved my hand to old Yourivitch, vaulted over the window, -dropped from the balustrade of the terrace into the park, and at the -risk of being seen by some of the household crossed it with all the -speed I could exert in the direction that led to where I knew that the -well--a structure erected by Prince Woronzow--stood on a lonely part -of the shore. More than once did I look back at the lofty façade of -the beautiful château, with its four towers and onion-shaped domes of -shining copper, and all its stately windows that glittered in the -light of a cloudless moon; and just as I drew near the belt of -shrubbery, I could see the dark figures of mounted men encircling the -terrace! A fugitive, in danger of losing honour and life together! Was -this the end of my daydreams in Yalta? Once more I turned, and -hastened to where the four cypress-trees towered skyward. - -"Ahoy! who comes there?" cried a somewhat gruff voice, in English, -accompanied by the sound of a slap on the butt of a musket; and then -the squat sturdy figure of a seaman, posted as sentinel, appeared -among the bushes, with an infantry pouch, belts, and bayonet worn -above his short pea-jacket. - -"A friend!" I replied, mechanically, yet not without a glow of sincere -pleasure. - -"Stand there, till I have a squint at you," replied Jack, cocking his -musket and giving a glance at the cap; but I was too much excited to -parley with him, and continued to advance, saying, - -"I am an officer--Captain Hardinge, of the 23rd, a prisoner escaping -from the enemy." - -"All right, sir--glad to see you; heave ahead," he replied, half -cocking his piece again. - -"Who commands your party?" - -"Lieutenant Jekyll, sir," said the seaman, saluting now, when he saw -me fully in the moonlight. - -"Of what ship?" - -"The Southesk, sir, of twenty guns." - -"Let me pass to your rear. He must instantly shove off his boat, as -the Cossacks are within a mile of us--at yonder house." - -In a minute more I reached the party at the well, twelve seamen and as -many marines under an officer, who had a brace of pistols in his belt, -and carried his sword drawn. They were in the act of carrying the last -cask of water into a ship's cutter, which lay alongside a ridge of -rock that ran into the sea, forming a species of natural pier or -jetty, close by the white marble fountain. - -I soon made myself known, and ere long found myself seated among new -friends, and out on the shining water, which bubbled up at the bow and -foamed under the counter as the oarsmen bent to their task, and their -steadily and regularly feathered blades flashed in the silver sheen. -The shore receded fast; the belt of shrubs grew lower and lower; and -then the glittering domes of the distant mansion, which was ever in my -mind and memory to be associated with Valerie Volhonski, rose -gradually on our view, with the snow-clad range of Yaila in the -background. But all were blended in haze and distance by the time we -came sheering alongside H.M.S. Southesk, the water-tank of which had, -fortunately for me, been empty, thus forcing her crew to have recourse -to the well of St. Basil, by which circumstance I more than probably -escaped the fate that ultimately overtook, but deservedly, the -luckless Hawkesby Guilfoyle. - -In the morning, under easy sail and half steam, the ship was off -Balaclava, where I saw the old Genoese fort that commands its -entrance, the white houses of the Arnaouts shaded by tall poplars, and -the sea breaking in foam upon its marble bluffs; and there the captain -kindly put me ashore in the first boat that left the ship. - -It was not until long after the Crimean war, that by the merest -chance, through an exchanged prisoner--a private of our 68th -Foot--when having occasion to employ him as a commissionnaire in -London, I learned what the fate of Guilfoyle was. En route to -Kharkoff, he was run through the heart and killed by the lance of a -Cossack of his escort, who alleged that he was attempting to escape; -but my informant more shrewdly suspected that it was to obtain quiet -possession of his ring--the paste diamond which had figured so often -in his adventures, real and fictitious. - - - - -CHAPTER LII.--BEFORE SEBASTOPOL STILL. - - -On the 28th of March, I found myself once more in my old tent, and -seeking hard to keep myself warm at the impromptu stove, constructed -by my faithful old servant, poor Jack Evans. I was received with -astonishment, and, I am pleased to say, with genuine satisfaction by -the regiment, even by those who had flattered themselves that they had -gained promotion by my supposed demise. I was welcomed by all, from -the Lieutenant-colonel down to little Dicky Roll, the junior drummer, -and for the first day my tent was besieged by old friends. - -I had come back among them as from the dead; but more than one man, -whose name figured in the lists as missing, turned up in a similar -fashion during the war. My baggage had all been sent to Balaclava, the -railway to which was now partly in operation; my letters and papers -had been carefully sealed up in black wax by Philip Caradoc, and with -other private and personal mementos of me, packed for transmission to -Sir Madoc Lloyd, as my chief friend of whom he knew. Many came, I have -said, to welcome me; but I missed many a familiar face, especially -from among my own company, as the Fusileers had more than once been -severely engaged in the trenches. - -Caradoc had been wounded in the left hand by a rifle-ball; Charley -Gywnne greeted me with his head in bandages, the result of a Cossack -sabre-cut; Dynely, the adjutant, had also been wounded; so had Mostyn, -of the Rifles, and Tom Clavell, of the 19th, when passing through "the -Valley of Death." Sergeant Rhuddlan, of my company, had just rejoined, -after having a ball in the chest (even Carneydd Llewellyn had lost a -horn): all who came to see me had something to tell of dangers dared -and sufferings undergone. All were in uniforms that were worn to rags; -but all were hearty as crickets, though sick of the protracted siege, -and longing to carry Sebastopol with the cold steel. - -"How odd, my dear old fellow, that we should all think you drowned, -and might have been wearing crape on our sleeves, but for the lack -thereof in camp, and the fact that mourning has gone out of fashion -since death is so common among us; while all the time you have been -mewed up (by the Cossacks in the Baidar Valley) within some forty -miles of us; and so stupidly, too!" said Caradoc, as we sat late in -the night over our grog and tobacco in his hut. - -"Not so stupidly, after all," I replied, while freely assisting myself -to his cavendish. - -"How?" - -"There was _such_ a girl there, Phil!" I added, with a sigh. - -"Oho! where?" - -"At Yalta." - -"Woronzow's palace, or château?" - -"Yes; but why wink so knowingly?" - -"So, after all, you found there was balm in Gilead?" said he, -laughing. "You must admit then, if she impressed you so much, that -all your bitter regrets about a certain newspaper paragraph were a -little overdone, and that I was a wise prophet? And what was this -girl--Russian, Tartar, Greek, a Karaite Jewess, or what?" - -"A pure Russian." - -"Handsome?" - -"Beyond any I have ever seen, beautiful!" - -"Whew! even beyond _la belle_--" - -"There, don't mention her at present, please," said I, with a little -irritation, which only made him laugh the more. - -"If you were love-making at Yalta, with three lance-prods in you, -there was no malingering anyhow." - -"I should think not." - -"And so she was engaged to be married to that Russian bear, Tolstoff," -he added, after I had told him the whole of my affair with Valerie. - -"Yes," said I, with an unmistakable sigh. - -"I think we are both destined to live and die bachelors," he resumed, -in a bantering way; for though Phil had in these matters undergone, at -Craigaderyn and elsewhere, "the baptism of fire" himself, he was not -the less inclined to laugh at me; for of all sorrows, those of love -alone excite the risible propensities. - -"And so, Phil, the world's a kaleidoscope--always shifting." - -"Not always _couleur de rose_, though?" - -"And I am here again!" - -"Thank God!" said he, as we again shook hands, "Faith, Harry, you must -have as many lives as a cat, and so you may well have as many loves as -Don Juan; but, _entre nous_, and excuse me, she seems to have been a -bit of a flirt, your charming Valerie." - -"How--why do you think so?" - -"From all you have told me; moreover every woman to be attractive, -should be a little so," replied Caradoc, curling his heavy brown -moustache. - -"I don't think she was; indeed, I am certain she was not. But if this -be true, how then about Miss Lloyd; and she is attractive enough?" - -At the tenor of this retort Phil's face flushed from his Crimean beard -to his temples. - -"There you are wrong," said he, with the slightest asperity possible; -"she has not in her character a grain of coquetry, or of that which -Horace calls 'the art that is not to be taught by art.' She is a -pure-minded and warm-hearted English girl, and is as perfect as all -those wives and daughters of England, who figure in the volumes of -Mrs. Ellis; and in saying this I am genuine, for I feel that I am -praising some other fellow's bride--not mine, God help me!" he added, -with much of real feeling. - -"You have heard nothing of the Lloyds since I left you?" - -"Nothing." - -"Well, take courage, Phil; we may be at Craigaderyn one day yet," said -I; and he, as if ashamed of his momentary sentimental outburst, -exclaimed, with a laugh, - -"By Jove, now that I have heard all your amours and amourettes, they -surpass even those of Hugh Price." - -"Poor Hugh! his lieutenancy is filled up, I suppose?" - -"Yes--as another week would have seen your company, for we could not -conceive that you were a prisoner at Yalta. Awkward that would have -been." - -"Deucedly so." - -"But now you must console yourself, old fellow, by seeing what Madame -la Colonelle Tolstoff----" - -"Don't call her by that name, Phil--I hate to hear it!" - -"By what, then?" - -"Valerie--anything but the other." - -"Then what, as Mrs. Henry Hardinge, she might become, if all -this author (whose book I have been reading) says of the Russian -ladies be true." And drawing from his pocket a small volume, he gave -me the following paragraph to read, and I own it consoled me--a -_little:_-- - -"The domestic virtues are little known or cultivated in Russia, and -marriage is a mere matter of convenience. There is little of romance -in the character or conduct of the Russian lady. Intrigue and -sensuality, rather than sentiment or passion, guide her in her amours, -and these in after-life are followed by other inclinations. She -becomes a greedy gamester, and a great _gourmande_, gross in person, -masculine in views, a shrewd observer of events, an oracle at court, -and a tyrant over her dependents. There are, of course, exceptions to -this rule." - -"Ah, Valerie would be one of these!" - -"Perhaps--but as likely not," said Phil; "and on the whole, if this -traveller Maxwell is right, I have reason to congratulate you on your -escape. But we must turn in now, as we relieve the trenches an hour -before daybreak to-morrow; and by a recent order every man, without -distinction, carries one round shot to the front, so a constant supply -is kept up for the batteries." - -Soon after this, on the 2nd of April, a working party of ours suffered -severely in the trenches, and Major Bell, who commanded, was thanked -in general orders for his distinguished conduct on that occasion. As -yet it seemed to me that no very apparent progress had been made with -the siege. The cold was still intense. Mustard froze the moment it was -made, and half-and-half grog nearly did so, too. The hospital tents -and huts were filled with emaciated patients suffering under the many -diseases incident to camp life; and the terrible hospital at Scutari -was so full, that though the deaths there averaged fifty daily in -February, our last batch of wounded had to be kept on board-ship. - -Phil and I burned charcoal in our hut, using old tin mess-kettles with -holes punched in them. We, like all the officers, wore long Crimean -boots; but our poor soldiers had only their wretched ankle bluchers, -which afforded them no protection when the snow was heavy, or when in -thaws the mud became literally knee-deep; and they suffered so much, -that in more than one instance privates dropped down dead without a -wound after leaving the trenches. So great were the disasters of one -regiment--the 63rd, I think--that only seven privates and four -officers were able to march to Balaclava on the 1st of February; by -the 12th the effective strength of the brigade of Guards was returned -at 350 men; and all corps--the Highland, perhaps, excepted--were in a -similarly dilapidated state. - -The camp was ever full of conflicting rumours concerning combined -assaults, expected sorties, the probabilities of peace, or a -continuance of the war; alleged treasons among certain French -officers, who were at one time alleged to have given the Russians -plans of their own batteries; that Menschikoff was dead from a wound, -and also Yermiloff the admiral; that _General_ Tolstoff was now in -command of the left towards Inkermann. (If so, was Valerie now in -Sebastopol? How I longed for the united attack--the storm and capture -that might enable me to see her once again!) And amid all these varied -rumours there came one--carried swiftly by horsemen through Bucharest -and Varna--which reached us on the 7th of April, to the effect that -Nicholas the mighty Czar of All the Russias, had gone to his last -account; and I do not think it was a demise we mourned much. We sent -intelligence of it by a flag of truce to the Russians; but they -received it with scorn, as a "weak invention of the enemy." - -And now the snow began to wear away; the clouds that floated over the -blue Euxine and the green spires of Sebastopol became light and -fleecy; the young grass began to sprout, and the wild hyacinths, the -purple crocuses, and tender snowdrops, the violet and the primrose, -were blooming in the Valley of Death, and on the fresh mould that -marked where the graves of our comrades lay. - - - - -CHAPTER LIII.--NEWS FROM CRAIGADERYN. - - -It was impossible for me not to feel lingering in my heart a deep and -tender interest for Valerie. She had not deceived or ill-used me; we -had simply been separated by the force of circumstances; by her -previous troth to Tolstoff, whom I flattered myself she could not -love, even if she respected or esteemed him. - -That they were married by this time I could scarcely doubt, as she had -assured me that she was on "the very eve" of her nuptials (one of -those "marriages of convenience," according to Caradoc's book); and if -he held a command so high in Sebastopol, there was every reason to -conclude she must be with him. In the event of a general assault, I -was fully resolved to send my card to headquarters as a volunteer for -the storming column, though I knew right well that I dare not allow -myself to fall alive, into _his_ hands, at all events; thus the whole -situation gave me an additional and more personal interest in the fall -and capture of that place than, perhaps, inspired any other man in the -whole allied army. What if Tolstoff should be killed? This surmise -opened up a wide field for speculation. - -Any of those balls that were incessantly poured against the city might -send that amiable commander to kingdom come, and if Valerie were left -a widow--well, I did not somehow like to think of her as a widow, -Tolstoff's especially, yet I was exasperated to think of her, so -brilliant, so gentle, and so highly cultured, as the wife of one so -coarse and even brutal in bearing, and if he did happen to stand in -the way of a bullet, why should he not be killed as well as another; -and so I reasoned, so true it is, that "with all our veneering and -French polish, the tiger is only half dead in any of us." - -If I were again unluckily sent with a flag of truce into Sebastopol, -on any mission such as the burial of the dead and removal of the -wounded, or so forth, it would, I knew, be certainly violated by -Tolstoff, and myself be made prisoner for the affairs at Yalta. Then -if such a duty were again offered me, on what plea could I, with -honour, decline it? I could but devoutly hope that no such contingency -might happen for me again. - -Times there were when, brooding over the past, and recalling the -strange magnetism of the smile of Valerie, and in the touch of her -hand, the contour of her face, her wonderful hair, and pleading -winning dark eyes, there came into my heart the tiger feeling referred -to, the jealousy that makes men feel mad, wild, fit for homicide or -anything; and as hourly "human lives were lavished everywhere, as the -year closing whirls the scarlet leaves," I had--heroics apart--a -terrible longing to have my left hand upon the throat of Tolstoff, -with her Majesty's Sheffield regulation blade in the other, to help -him on his way to a better world. - -In these, or similar visions and surmises, I ceased to indulge when -with Caradoc, as he was wont to quiz me, and say that if I got a wife -out of Sebastopol, I should be the only man who gained anything by the -war, and even my gain might be a loss; that, like himself, I had twice -burned my fingers at the torch of Hymen, and that I should laugh at -the Russian episode or loving interlude, as he called it, as there -were girls in England whose shoe-strings he was sure she was not fit -to tie. Though she had rightly told me that my passion was but a -passing fancy, she knew not that it was one fed by revenge and -disappointment. - -"Lady Estelle may perhaps have destroyed your faith in women," added -Phil, "but any way she has not destroyed _mine_." - -"Have you still the locket with the likeness of Winifred Lloyd?" said -I. - -"Yes--God bless her--she left it with me," he replied, with a kindling -eye. How true Phil was to her! and yet she knew it not, and as far as -we knew, recked but little of the faith he bore her. - -On a Saturday night--the night of that 21st of April, on which we -captured the rifle-pits--as we sat in our hut talking over the affair, -weary with toil of that incessant firing to which the cannonading at -Shoeburyness is a joke, Phil said, - -"Let us drink 'sweethearts and wives,' as we used to do in the -transport." - -"Agreed," said I; and as we clinked our glasses together and exchanged -glances, I knew that his thoughts went back to Craigaderyn, even as -mine recurred to that moonlight night on the terrace at Yalta. - -"You remained with the burial party," said he, after a pause. - -"Yes, and I saw something which convinced me that the fewer tender -ties we fighting men have, the better for our own peace. An officer of -the 19th lay among the dead, a man past forty apparently. A paper was -peeping from the breast of his coat; I pulled it out, and it proved to -be a letter, received perhaps that morning--a letter from his wife, -thrust hastily into his breast, as we marched to the front. A little -golden curl was in it, and there was written in a child's hand, -'Cecil's love to dearest papa.' I must own that the incident, at such -a time and place, affected me; so I replaced the letter in the poor -fellow's breast, and we buried it with him. So papa lies in a -rifle-pit, with mamma's letter and little Cecil's lock of hair; but, -after all, king Death did not get much of him--the poor man had been -nearly torn to pieces by a cannon shot." - -"I saw you in advance of the whole line of skirmishers to-day, Harry, -far beyond the zigzags." - -"I was actually at the foot of the glacis." - -"The glacis--was not that madness?" exclaimed Phil. - -"The truth is, I did so neither through enthusiastic courage nor in a -spirit of bravado. I was only anxious to see if from behind the -sap-roller that protected me, my field-glass could enable me to detect -among the gray-coated figures at the embrasures, the tall person and -grim visage of old Tolstoff." - -"By Jove, I thought as much!" - -"But I looked in vain, and retired in crab-fashion, the bullets -falling in a shower about me the while." - -At that moment a knock rung on the door of the hut, and Sergeant -Rhuddlan, who acted as our regimental postman, handed a small packet -to me. - -"The second battalion of the Scots Royals, the 48th, and the 72nd -Highlanders have just come in, sir, from Balaclava, and have brought a -mail with them," said he, in explanation; and while he was speaking, -we heard the sound of drums and bagpipes, half drowned by cheers in -the dark, as those in camp welcomed the new arrivals from home, and -helped to get them tented and hutted. - -"From Craigaderyn!" said I, on seeing the seal--Sir Madoc's antique -oval--with the lion's head _erased_, as the heralds have it. - -I had written instantly to the kind old man on my return to camp, and -this proved to be the answer by the first mail. On opening the packet -I found a letter, and a cigar-case beautifully worked in beads of the -regimental colours, red, blue, and gold, with _my_ initials on one -side, and those of Winifred Lloyd on the _other_. Poor Phil Caradoc -looked wistfully at the work her delicate hands had so evidently -wrought--so wistfully that, but for the ungallantry of the proceeding, -I should have presented the case to him. However, he had the simple -gratification of holding it, while I read the letter of Sir Madoc, and -did so aloud, as being of equal interest to us both. It was full of -such warm expressions of joy for my safety and of regard for me -personally, that I own they moved me; but some passages proved a -little mysterious and perplexing. - -"Need I repeat to you, my dear Harry, how the receipt of your letter -caused every heart in the Court to rejoice--that of Winny especially? -She is more impressionable than Dora, less volatile, and I have now -learned _why_ the poor girl refused Sir Watkins, and, as I understand, -another." - -"That is me," said Phil, parenthetically. - -"But of that unexpected refusal of Sir Watkins Vaughan nothing can be -said here." - -"What on earth can he mean!" said I, looking up; "perhaps she has some -lingering compunction about you, Phil." - -"If so, she might have sent the cigar-case to me--or something else; -just to square matters, as it were." - -Remembering my old suspicions and fears--they were fears _then_--as I -drove away from Craigaderyn for Chester, I read the letter in haste, -and with dread of what it might contain or reveal; as I would not for -worlds have inflicted a mortification, however slight, on my dear -friend Caradoc, who gnawed the ends of his moustache at the following: - -"Young Sir Watkins had been most attentive to Winny during the past -season in town--that gay London season, which, notwithstanding the -war, was quite as brilliant as usual; when every one had come back -from the Scotch moors, from Ben Nevis, Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, and -everywhere else that the roving Englishman is wont to frequent, to -kill game, or time, or himself, as it sometimes happens. But Winny -won't listen to him, and I think he is turning his attention to Dora, -though whether or not the girl--who has another adorer, in the shape -of a long-legged Plunger with parted hair and a lisp--only laughs at -him, I can't make out. - -"Tell Caradoc, Gwynne, and other true-hearted Cymri in the Welsh -Fusileers, that when in London I attended more than one meeting, -inaugurating a movement to secure for Wales judges and counsel who -shall speak Welsh, and Welsh only. The meetings were failures, and the -d--d Sassenachs only laughed at us; but from such injustice, _Gwared -ni Argylywd daionus!_[5] say I. - -"And so poor Hugh Price of yours is gone. A good-hearted fellow, who -could do anything, from crossing the stiffest hunting country to -making a champagne cup, singing a love song or mixing a salad--one of -the old line of the Rhys of Geeler in Denbighshire. My God, how many -other fine fellows lie in that hecatomb in the Valley of Inkermann! -Sebastopol seems to be left quite open on one side, so that the -Russians may pour in stores and fresh troops, and go and come at their -pleasure? It is pleasant for tax-payers at home and the troops abroad -to think that things are so arranged in Downing-street, by my Lords -Aberdeen, Aberconway, and suchlike Whig incapables and incurables. - -"I fear your regimental dinner would be a scanty one on St. -David's-days." (On that day I had dined with Valerie, and forgot all -about the yearly festival of the Fusileers!) "I thought of it and of -you all--the more so, perhaps, that I had just seen the old colours of -the Royal Welsh in St. Peter's Church at Carmarthen." - -The old baronet, after a few Welsh words, of which I could make -nothing, rambled away into such subjects as mangold-wurzels and -subsoil, scab-and-foot rot, and food for pheasants, all of which I -skipped; ditto about the close of the hunting-season, which he and Sir -Watkins--Winny's admirer--had shared together; and how the rain had -deluged Salop, throwing the scent breast-high, so that in many a run -the fox and the hounds had it all to themselves, and that following -them was as bad as going all round the Wrekin to Shrewsbury, mere -brooks having become more than saddle-girth deep; moreover, the -mischievous, execrable, and pestilent wire fences were playing the -devil with the noble old sport of fox-hunting; then, with a few more -expressions of regard, and a hint about Coutts & Co., if I wanted -cash, his characteristic letter closed, and just when folding it, I -detected Master Phil Caradoc surreptitiously placing Winny's cigar -case very near his bushy moustache--about to kiss it, in fact. He grew -very red, and looked a little provoked. - -"So that is all Sir Madoc's news?" said he. - -"All--a dear old fellow." - -"To-morrow is Sunday, when we shall have the chaplain at the -drum-head, and be confessing that we have done those things which we -ought not to have done, and left undone those things which we ought to -have done, while the whistling dicks are bursting and the shot -booming, as the Ruskies seek to have a quiet shy at our hollow square, -and the Naval Brigade, with their long 'Lancasters,' are making, as -usual, the devil's own row against the Redan--so till then, adieu!" he -added, adopting a bantering tone, as men will at times, when ashamed -of having exhibited any emotion or weakness. - -Not long after this, with my company, I had to escort to Balaclava, -and to guard for some days, till embarked, some Russian prisoners, who -had been taken by the Turks in an affair between Kamara and the -Tchernaya, and who were afterwards transmitted to Lewes in Sussex; and -I had a little opportunity afforded me for studying their character -and composition; and brave though these men undoubtedly were, I felt -something of pity and contempt for them; nor was I mistaken, though -Prince Dolgorouki maintains, in _La Vérité sur la Russie_, that a -Muscovite alone can write on a Russian subject. A British soldier -never forgets that he is a citizen and a free-born man; but to the -Russian these terms are as untranslatable as that of _slave_ into the -Celtic. - -In the empire, when fresh levies are wanted, the chief of each village -makes a selection; the wretched serfs have then one side of the head -shaved, to prevent desertion, and, farther still, are manacled and -marched like felons to the headquarters of their regiment. There they -are stripped, bathed--rather a necessary ceremony--and deprived of all -they may possess, save the brass crosses and medals which are chained -round their neck--the holy amulet of the Russian soldier, and spared -to him as the only consolation of his miserable existence. He is -docile, submissive, and gallant, but supple, subservient, and cunning, -though his gallantry and courage are the result of dull insensibility, -tinged with ferocity rather than moral force. - -The recruit bemoans the loss of his beard, and carefully preserves it -that it may be buried with him, as an offering to St. Nicholas, who -would not admit him into heaven without it. Once enrolled--we cannot -say _enlisted_--he makes a solemn vow never to desert the colours of -his regiment, each of which has its own _artel_ or treasury, its own -chaplain, sacred banners, and relics. The pay of these warriors -averages about a halfpenny English per diem. Their food is of the most -wretched description, and it is known that when the troops of Suwarrow -served in the memorable campaign of Italy, they devoured with keen -relish the soap and candles wherever they went; but many of the -Russian battalions, and even the Cossack corps, have vocal companies -that sing on the march, or at a halt, where they form themselves into -a circle, in the centre of which stands the principal singer or -leader. And thus I heard some of these poor fellows sing, when I -halted them outside Balaclava, at a place where, as I remember, -there lay a solitary grave--that probably of a Frenchman, as it was -marked by a cross, had a wreath of immortelles upon it, and was -inscribed--alas for the superstitions of the poor human heart!--"the -last tribute of love." - -The snow and the rain had frittered it nearly away. - -Among my prisoners were four officers--dandies who actually wore -glazed boots, and were vain of their little hands and feet. I was more -than usually attentive to them for the sake of Valerie, and as they -certainly seemed--whatever the rank and file might be--thorough -gentlemen. One knew Volhonski, and all seemed to know Valerie, and had -probably danced--perhaps flirted--with her, for they had met at balls -in St. Petersburg. All knew Tolstoff, and laughed at him; but none -could tell me whether or not she and that northern bear were as yet -"one flesh," or married in _facie ecclesia_. - - - - -CHAPTER LIV.--THE ASSAULT. - - -It is the morning of Saturday, the 8th September, 1855. For a year now -the allied forces have been before Sebastopol; but the flag of St. -Andrew is still flying in defiance upon its forts, and on this -memorable morning the columns of attack are forming for the great -assault. In the preceding June, amid the din of the ceaseless -cannonade, poor Lord Raglan had passed away to a quieter world; and -the picturesque Sardinians, with their green uniforms, billycock hats, -and Bersaglieri plumes--each private a species of _Fra Diavolo_--had -come to aid us in the reduction of this place, the Gibraltar of the -Euxine. - -It was a cheerless morning. From the sea, a biting wind swept over the -land; clouds of white dust and dusky-brown smoke, that came from more -than one blazing street and burning ship--among the latter was a -two-decker, fired by the French rockets--rose high above the green -spires and batteries of Sebastopol, and overhung it like a sombre -pall, while shorn of its rays the sun resembled a huge red globe hung -in mid-air above us. Gradually it seemed to fade out altogether, and -then the whole sky became of a dull, leaden, and wintry gray. By this -time our epaulettes had entirely disappeared, and our uniforms were -hopeless rags; in some instances eked out by plain clothes, or -whatever one could pick up; and the government contractors had such -vague ideas of the dimensions of the human foot, that some of the -boots issued to the soldiers would not have fitted a child of ten -years old, and as they dared not throw away her Majesty's property, -many men went bare-footed, with their boots dangling from their -knapsack or waist-belt. - -"In our present toggery we may meet the Russians," said Dyneley, our -adjutant; "but I should scarcely like to figure in them before the -girls at Winchester, in 'the Row,' or at the windows of 'the Rag.'" - -In great masses, 30,000 Frenchmen were forming to assault the -Malakoff, with 5,000 Sardinians as supports. - -A long line of cavalry--Hussars with their braided dolmans, Lancers -with their fluttering banneroles, Dragoons with glittering helmets, -and all with loaded carbine on thigh, had been, from an early hour, -thrown to the front, to form a cordon of sentinels, to prevent -straggling; while a similar line was formed in our rear to keep back -idlers from Balaclava; yet to obtain glimpses of the impending attack, -groups of red-fezzed Turks, of picturesque-looking Eupatorians, and -fur-capped Tartars, began to cluster on every green knoll at a safe -distance, where, in their excitement, they jabbered and gesticulated -in a manner most unusual for people so generally placid and stolid. - -At half-past eleven A.M. the pipes of the Highland Brigade were -heard, as it marched in from Kamara, and got into position in reserve -of the right attack; and the fine appearance of the men of those -mountains--"the backbone of Britain," as Pope Sylvester called them of -old--elicited a hearty cheer from the Royal Welsh as they defiled -past, with all their black plumes and striped tartans waving in the -biting wind. - -During all the preceding day, the batteries had thundered in salvoes -against Sebastopol; and hence vast gaps were now visible in the -streets and principal edifices, most of which were half hidden in -lurid sheets of fire; and by the bridge of boats that lay between the -north and south side, thousands of fugitives, laden with their goods -and household lares, their children, sick, and aged, had been seen to -pour so long as light remained. - -Until the French began to move, the eyes of all in our division were -turned on our famous point of attack--the Redan; and I may inform the -non-military reader, that a _redan_ in field fortification means simply -an indented work with lines and faces; but this one resembled an -unfinished square, with two sides meeting at the salient angle in -front of our parallels, _i. e_., the trenches by which we had dug our -way under cover towards it. - -With a strong reinforcement, Nicholaevitch Tolstoff, now, as before -stated, a general, had entered the Redan by its rear or open face; and -since his advent, it had been greatly strengthened. In the walls of -the parapet he had constructed little chambers roofed with sacks of -earth, and these secure places rendered the defenders quite safe from -falling shells. In the embrasures were excavations wherein the gunners -might repose close by their guns, but ever armed and accoutred; and by -a series of trenches it communicated with the great clumsy edifice -known as the Malakoff Tower. - -By a road to the right, the Redan also communicated with the extensive -quadrangle of buildings forming the Russian barracks, one hundred -yards distant; and in its fear there lay the Artillery or Dockyard -Creek. The flat caps, and in other instances the round glazed helmets, -of the Russians and the points of their bayonets, bristling like a -hedge of steel, could be seen above the lines of its defence and at -the deeply-cut embrasures, where the black cannon of enormous calibre -peered grimly down upon us. - -Our arrangements were very simple. At noon the French were to attack -the Malakoff; and as soon as they fell to work we were to assault the -Redan, and I had volunteered for the scaling-ladder party, which -consisted of 320 picked men of the Kentish Buffs and 97th or Ulster -Regiment. - -In the trenches of our left attack could be seen the black bearskins -of our Brigade of Guards, and massed in dusky column on the hill -before their camp, their red now changed to a very neutral tint -indeed, were the slender battalions of the Third Division, motionless -and still, save when the wind rustled the tattered silk of the -colours, or the sword of an officer gleamed as he dressed the ranks. A -cross cannonade was maintained, as usual, between our batteries and -those of the enemy. The balls were skipping about in all directions, -and several "roving Englishmen," adventurous tourists, "own -correspondents," and unwary amateurs, who were there, had to scuttle -for their lives to some place of shelter. - -As I joined the ladder party, I could not help thinking of many a past -episode in my life: of Estelle, who had been false; of Valerie, who -was lost to me; and of the suspicion that Winifred Lloyd loved me. Ere -another hour, I might be lying dead before the Redan, and there forget -them all! Our covering party consisted of 200 of the Buffs and Rifles -under Captain Lewes; but alas for the weakness of our force, as -compared with thousands of men to oppose. The strength of the Second -Division detailed against the Redan consisted only of 760 men of the -3rd, 41st, and 62nd regiments, with a working party of 100 from the -Royal Welsh. The rest of Colonel Windham's brigade was in reserve. - -Brigadier Shirley, who was to command the whole, had been ill on -board-ship; but the moment the gallant fellow heard that an assault -was resolved on, he hastened to join us. Prior, however, to his -coming, Colonel Windham and Colonel Unett of the 29th were deciding -which of them should take precedence in leading the attack. They -coolly tossed up a shilling, and the latter won. Thus he had the -alternative of saying whether he would go first, or follow Windham; -but a glow spread over his face, and he exclaimed, - -"I have made my choice, and I shall be the _first_ man inside the -Redan!" - -However, it was doomed to be otherwise, as soon afterwards a ball from -the abattis severely wounded and disabled him. When we had seen that -our men had carefully loaded and capped and cast loose their -cartridges, all became very still, and there was certainly more of -thought than conversation among us. Many of the men in some regiments -were little better than raw recruits, and were scarcely masters of -their musketry drill. Disease in camp and death in action had fast -thinned our ranks of the carefully-trained and well-disciplined -soldiers who landed in Bulgaria; and when these--the pest and -bullet--failed, the treachery of contractors, and the general -mismanagement of the red-tapists, did the rest. Accustomed as we had -been to the daily incidents of this protracted siege, there was a -great hush over all our ranks; the hush of anticipation, and perhaps -of grave reflection, came to the lightest-hearted and most heedless -there. - -"What is the signal for us to advance?" I inquired. - -"Four rockets," replied Dyneley, our adjutant, who was on foot, with -his sword drawn, and a revolver in his belt. - -"There go the French to attack the tower!" cried Gwynne; and then a -hum of admiration stole along our lines as we saw them, at precisely -five minutes to twelve o'clock, "like a swarm of bees," issue from -their trenches, the Linesmen in kepis and long blue coats, the Zouaves -in turbans and baggy red breeches, under a terrible shower of cannon -and musketry, fiery in their valour, quick, ardent, and eager! They -swept over the little space of open ground that lay between the head -of their sap, and, irresistible in their number, poured on a sea of -armed men, a living tide, a human surge, section after section, and -regiment after regiment, to the assault. - - - "O'er ditch and stream, o'er crest and wall, - They jump and swarm, they rise and fall; - With _vives_ and _cris_, with cheers and cries. - Like thunderings in autumnal skies; - Till every foot of ground is mud, - With tears and brains and bones and blood. - Yet, faith, it was a grim delight - To see the little devils fight!" - - -With wonderful speed and force, their thousands seemed to drift -through the gaping embrasures of the tower, which appeared to swallow -them up--all save the dead and dying, who covered the slope of the -glacis; and in _two_ minutes more the tricolor of France was waving on -the summit of the Korniloff bastion! - -But the work of the brave French did not end there. From twelve till -seven at night, they had to meet and repulse innumerable attempts of -the Russians to regain what they had lost--the great tower, which was -really the key of the city; till, in weariness and despair, the latter -withdrew, leaving the slopes covered with corpses that could only be -reckoned by thousands. The moment the French standard fluttered out -above the blue smoke and grimy dust of the tower, a vibration seemed -to pass along all our ranks. Every face lit up; every eye kindled; -every man instinctively grasped more tightly the barrel of his musket, -or the blade of his sword, or set his cap more firmly on his head, for -the final rush. - -"The tricolor is on the Malakoff! By heavens, the French are in! -hurrah!" cried several officers. - -"Hurrah!" responded the stormers of the Light and Second Divisions. - -"There go the rockets!" cried Phil Caradoc, pointing with his sword to -where the tiny jets of sparkles were seen to curve in the wind against -the dull leaden sky, their explosion unheard amid the roar of musketry -and of human voices in and beyond the Malakoff. - -"Ladders, to the front! eight men per ladder!" said Welsford, of the -97th. - -"It is our turn now, lads; forward, forward!" added some one -else--Raymond Mostyn, of the Rifles, I think. - -"There is a five-pound note offered to the first man inside the -Redan!" exclaimed little Owen Tudor, a drummer of ours, as he slung -his drum and went scouring to the front: but a bullet killed the poor -boy instantly, and Welsford had his head literally blown off by a -cannon ball. - -In their dark green uniforms, which were patched with many a rag, a -hundred men of the Rifle Brigade who carried the scaling ladders -preceded us; and the moment they and we began to issue, which we did -at a furious run, with bayonets fixed and rifles at the short trail, -from the head of the trenches, the cannon of the Redan opened a -withering fire upon us. The round shot tore up the earth beneath our -feet, or swept men away by entire sections, strewing limbs and other -fragments of humanity everywhere; the exploding shells also dealt -death and mutilation; the grape and cannister swept past in whistling -showers; and wicked little shrapnels were flying through the air like -black spots against the sky; while, with a hearty and genuine English -"hurrah!" that deepened into a species of fierce roar, we swept -towards the ditch which so few of us might live to recross. - -Thick fall our dead on every hand, and the hoarse boom of the cannon -is sounding deep amid the roar of the concentrated musketry. Crawling -and limping back to the trenches for succour and shelter, the groaning -or shrieking wounded are already pouring in hundreds to the rear, -reeking with blood; and, within a minute, the whole slope of the Redan -is covered with our redcoats--the dead or the helpless--thick as the -leaves lie "when forests are rended!" - - - - -CHAPTER LV.--INSIDE THE REDAN. - - -One enormous cannon-shot that struck the earth and stones threw up a -cloud of dust which totally blinded the brave brigadier who led us; he -was thus compelled to grope his way to the rear, while his place was -taken by Lieutenant-colonel W. H. Bunbury of ours--a tried soldier, -who had served in the Kohat-Pass expedition five years before this, -and been Napier's aide-de-camp during the wars of India. The -Honourable Colonel Handcock, who led three hundred men of the 97th and -of the Perthshire Volunteers, fell mortally by a ball in the head. -Colonel Lysons of ours (who served in the Canadian affair of St. -Denis), though wounded in the thigh and unable to stand, remained on -the ground, and with brandished sword cheered on the stormers. - -The actual portion of the latter followed those who bore the scaling -ladders, twenty of which were apportioned to the Buffs; and no time -was to be lost now, as the Russians from the Malakoff, inflamed by -blood, defeat, and fury, were rushing down in hordes to aid in the -defence of the Redan. In crossing the open ground between our trenches -and the point of attack, some of the ladders were lost or left behind, -in consequence of their bearers being shot down; yet we reached the -edge of the ditch and planted several without much difficulty, till -the Russians, after flocking to the traverses which enfiladed them, -opened a murderous fusillade upon those who were crossing or getting -into the embrasures, when we planted them on the other side; and then -so many officers and men perished, that Windham and three of the -former were the only leaders of parties who got in untouched. - -The scene in the ditch, where the dead and the dying, the bleeding, -the panting, and exhausted lay over each other three or four deep, was -beyond description; and at a place called the Picket House was one -solitary English lady, watching this terrible assault, breathless and -pale, putting up prayers with her white lips; and her emotions at such -a time may be imagined when I mention that she was the wife of an -officer engaged in the assault, Colonel H----, whose body was soon -after borne past her on a stretcher. - -When my ladder was planted firmly, I went up with the stormers, men of -all regiments mixed pell-mell, Buffs and Royal Welsh, 90th and 97th. A -gun, depressed and loaded with grape, belched a volume of flame and -iron past me as I sprang, sword in hand, into the embrasure, firing my -revolver almost at random; and the stormers, their faces flushed with -ardour and fierce excitement, cheering, stabbing with the bayonet, -smashing with the butt-end, or firing wildly, swarmed in at every -aperture, and bore the Russians back; but I, being suddenly wedged -among a number of killed and wounded men, between the cannon and the -side of the embrasure could neither advance nor retire, till dragged -out by the strong hand of poor Charley Gwynne, who fell a minute -after, shot dead; and for some seconds, while in that most exposed and -terrible position, I saw a dreadful scene of slaughter before me; for -there were dense gray masses of the Russian infantry, their usually -stolid visages inflamed by hate, ferocity, by fiery _vodka_, and -religious rancour, the front ranks kneeling as if to receive cavalry, -and all the rear ranks, which were three or four deep, firing over -each other's heads, exactly as we are told the Scottish brigades of -the "Lion of the North" did at Leipzig, to the annihilation of those -of Count Tilly. - -We were fairly IN this terrible Redan; but the weakness of our force -was soon painfully apparent, and in short, when the enemy made a -united rush at us, they drove us all into an angle of the work, and -ultimately over the parapet to the outer slope, where men of the Light -and Second Divisions were packed in a dense mass and firing into it, -which they continued to do even till their ammunition became expended, -when fresh supplies from the pouches of those in rear were handed to -those in front. An hour and a half of this disastrous strife elapsed, -"the Russians having cleared the Redan," to quote the trite -description of Russell, "but not yet being in possession of its -parapets, when they made a second charge with bayonets under a heavy -fire of musketry, and throwing great quantities of large stones, grape -and small round shot, drove those in front back upon the men in rear, -who were thrown into the ditch. The gabions in the parapet now gave -way, and rolled down with those who were upon them; and the men in -rear, thinking all was lost, retired into the fifth parallel." - -Many men were buried alive in the ditch by the falling earth; Dora's -admirer, poor little Torn Clavell of the 19th, among others, perished -thus horribly. Just as we reached our shelter, there to breathe, -re-form, and await supports, I saw poor Phil Caradoc reel wildly and -fall, somewhat in a heap, at the foot of the gabions. In a moment I -was by his side. His sword-arm had been upraised as he was -endeavouring to rally the men, and a ball had passed--as it eventually -proved--through his lungs; though a surgeon, who was seated close by -with all his apparatus and instruments, assured him that it was not -so. - -"I know better--something tells me that it is all over with me--and -that I am bleeding internally," said he, with difficulty. "Hardinge, -old fellow--lift me up--gently, so--so--thank you." - -I passed an arm under him, and raised his head, removing at the same -time his heavy Fusileer cap. There was a gurgle in his throat, and the -foam of agony came on his handsome brown moustache. - -"I am going fast," said he, grasping my hand; "God bless you, -Harry--see me buried alone." - -"If I escape--but there is yet hope for you, Phil." - -But he shook his head and said, while his eye kindled, - -"If I was not exactly the first man _in_, I was not long behind -Windham. I risked my life freely," he added, in a voice so low that -I heard him with difficulty amid the din of the desultory fire, and -the mingled roar of other sounds in and around the Malakoff; "yet I -should like to have gone home and seen my dear old mother once again, -in green Llangollen--and _her_--she, you know who I mean, Harry. -But God has willed it all otherwise, and I suppose it is for the -best. . . . Turn me on my side . . . dear fellow--so. . . . I am -easier now." - -As I did what he desired, his warm blood poured upon my hand, through -the orifice in his poor, faded, and patched regimentals, never so much -as then like "the old red coat that tells of England's glory." - -"Have the Third or Fourth Division come yet? Where are the Scots -Royals?" he asked, eagerly, and then, without waiting for a reply, -added, very faintly, "If spared to see her--Winny Lloyd--tell her that -my last thoughts were of her--ay, as much as of my poor mother . . . and -. . . that though she will get a better fellow than I----" - -"That is impossible, Phil!" - -"She can never get one who . . . . who loves her more. The time is -near now when I shall be but a memory to her and you . . . . and to -all our comrades of the old 23rd." - -His lips quivered and his eyes closed, as he said, with something of -his old pleasant smile, - -"I am going to heaven, I hope, Harry--if I have not done much good in -the world, I have not done much harm; and in heaven I'll meet with -more red coats, I believe, than black ones . . . . and tell -her . . . tell Winny----" - -What I was to tell her I never learned; his voice died away, and he -never spoke again; for just as the contest became fiercer between the -French and the masses of Russians--temporarily released from the Redan -or drawn from the city--his head fell over on one side, and he -expired. I closed his eyes, for there was yet time to do so. Poor Phil -Caradoc! I looked sadly for a minute on the pale and stiffening face -of my old friend and jovial chum, and saw how fast the expression of -bodily pain passed away from the whitening forehead. I could scarcely -assure myself that he was indeed gone, and so suddenly; that his once -merry eyes and laughing lips would open never again. Turning away, I -prepared once more for the assault, and then, for the first time, I -perceived Lieutenants Dyneley and Somerville of ours lying near him; -the former mortally wounded and in great pain, the latter quite dead. - -My soul was full of a keen longing for vengeance, to grapple with the -foe once more, foot to foot and face to face. The blood was fairly up -in all our hearts; for the Russians had now relined their own -breastworks, where a tall officer in a gray capote made himself very -conspicuous by his example and exertions. He was at last daring enough -to step over the rampart and tear down a wooden gabion, to make a kind -of extempore embrasure through which an additional field-piece might -be run. - -"As you are so fond of pot-firing," said Colonel Windham to the -soldiers, with some irritation at the temporary repulse, "why the -deuce don't you shoot that Russian?" - -On looking through my field-glass, to my astonishment I discovered -that he was Tolstoff. Sergeant Rhuddlan of ours now levelled his rifle -over the bank of earth which protected the parallel, took a steady -aim, and fired. Tolstoff threw up his arms wildly, and his sword -glittered as it fell from his hand. He then wheeled round, and fell -heavily backward into the ditch--which was twenty feet broad and ten -feet deep--dead; at least, I never saw or heard of him again. - -Just as a glow of fierce exultation, pardonable enough, perhaps, at -such a time (and remembering all the circumstances under which this -distinguished Muscovite and I had last met and parted), thrilled -through me, I experienced a terrible shock--a shock that made me reel -and shudder, with a sensation as if a hot iron had pierced my left arm -above the elbow. It hung powerless by my side, and then I felt my own -blood trickling heavily over the points of my fingers! - -"Wounded! My God, hit at last!" was my first thought; and I lost much -blood before I could get any one, in that vile burly-burly, to tie my -handkerchief as a temporary bandage round the limb to stanch the flow. - -I was useless now, and worse than useless, as I was suffering greatly, -but I could not leave the parallel for the hospital huts, and remained -there nearly to dusk fell. Before that, I had seen Caradoc interred -between the gabions; and there he lay in his hastily-scooped grave, -uncoffined and unknelled, his heart's dearest longings unfulfilled, -his brightest hopes and keenest aspirations crushed out like his young -life; and the evanescent picture, the poor photo of the girl he had -loved in vain, buried with him; and when poor Phil was being covered -up, I remembered his anecdote about the dead officer, and the letter -that was replaced in his breast. - -Well, my turn for such uncouth obsequies might come soon enough now. -In the affair of the Redan, if I mistake not, 146 officers and men of -ours, the Welsh Fusileers, were killed and wounded; and every other -regiment suffered in the same proportion. - -The attack was to be renewed at five in the morning by the Guards and -Highlanders, under Lord Clyde of gallant memory, then Sir Colin -Campbell; but on their approaching, it was found that the Russians had -spiked their guns, and bolted by the bridge of boats, leaving -Sebastopol one sheet of living fire. Fort after fort was blown into -the air, each with a shock as if the solid earth were being split -asunder. The sky was filled with live shells, which burst there like -thousands of scarlet rockets, and thus showers of iron fell in every -direction. Columns of dark smoke, that seemed to prop heaven itself, -rose above the city, while its defenders in thousands, without beat of -drum or sound of trumpet, poured away by the bridge of boats. When the -last fugitive had passed, the chains were cut, and then the mighty -pontoon, a quarter of a mile in length, swung heavily over to the -north side, when we were in full possession of Sebastopol! - - - - -CHAPTER LVI.--A SUNDAY MORNING IN THE CRIMEA. - - -I must have dropped asleep of sheer weariness and loss of blood, when -tottering to the rear; for on waking I found the moon shining, and -myself lying not far from the fifth parallel, which was now occupied, -like the rest of the trenches, by the kilted Highlanders, whose bare -legs, and the word _Egypt_ on their appointments, formed a double -source of wonder to our Moslem allies, especially to the contingent -that came from the Land of Bondage. These sturdy fellows were -chatting, laughing, and smoking, or quietly sleeping and waiting for -their turn of service against the Redan, in the dark hours of the -morning. - -I had lain long in a kind of dreamy agony. Like many who were in the -Redan and in the ditch around it, I had murmured "water, water," often -and vainly. The loss of Estelle, or of Valerie, for times there were -when my mind wandered to the former _now_, the love of dear friends, the -death of comrades, honour, glory, danger from pillaging Russians or -Tartars, all emotions, in fact, were merged or swallowed up in the -terrible agony I endured in my shattered arm, and the still more -consuming craving for something wherewith to moisten my cracked lips -and parched throat. Poor Phil Caradoc had perhaps endured this before -me, while his heart and soul were full of Winifred Lloyd; but Phil, -God rest him! was at peace now, and slept as sound in his uncouth -grave as if laid under marble in Westminster Abbey. - -In my uneasy slumber I had been conscious of this sensation of thirst, -and had visions of champagne goblets, foaming and iced; of humble -bitter beer and murmuring water; of gurgling brooks that flowed over -brown pebbles, and under long-bladed grass and burdocks in leafy -dingles; of Llyn Tegid, deep and blue; of the marble fountain, with -the lilies and golden fish, at Craigaderyn. Then with this idea the -voice of Winifred Lloyd came pleasantly to my ear; her white fingers -played with the sparkling water, she raised some to my lips, but the -cup fell to pieces, and starting, I awoke to find a tall Highlander, -of the Black Watch, bending over me, and on my imploring him to get me -some water, he placed his wooden canteen to my lips, and I drank of -the contents, weak rum-grog, greedily and thankfully. - -It seemed strange to me that I should dream of Winifred, there and -then; but no doubt the last words of Caradoc had led me to think of -her. It is only when waking after long weariness of the body, and -over-tension of the nerves, the result of such keen excitement as we -had undergone since yesterday morning, that the full extremity of -exhaustion and fatigue can be felt, as I felt them then. Add to these, -that my shattered arm had bled profusely, and was still undressed. - -Staggering up, I looked around me. The moon was shining, and flakes of -her silver light streamed through the now silent embrasures of the -Redan, silent save for the groans of the dying within it. There and in -the ditch the dead lay thick as sheaves in a harvest-field--thick as -the Greeks, at Troy, lay under the arrows of Apollo. How many a man -was lying there, mutilated almost out of the semblance of humanity, -whose thoughts, when the death shot struck him down, or the sharp -bayonet pierced him, had flashed _home_, quicker than the electric -telegraph, yea, quicker than light, to his parents' hearth, to his -lonely wife, to the little cots where their children lay abed--little -ones, the memory of whose waxen faces and pink hands then filled his -heart with tears; how many a resolution for prayer and repentance if -spared by God; how many a pious invocation; how many a fierce -resolution to meet the worst, and die like a man and a soldier, had -gone up from that hell upon earth, the Redan--the fatal Redan, which -we should never have attacked, but should have aided the French in the -capture of the Malakoff, after which it must inevitably have fallen -soon, if not at once. - -Many of our officers were afterwards found therein, each with a hand -clutching a dead Russian's throat, or coat, or belt, their fingers -stiffened in death--man grasping man in a fierce and last embrace. -Among others, that stately and handsome fellow, Raymond Mostyn, of the -Rifles, and an officer of the Vladimir regiment were thus locked -together, the same grape-shot having killed them both. Some of our -slain soldiers were yet actually clinging to the parapet and slope of -the glacis, as if still alive, thus showing the reluctance with which -they had retired--the desperation with which they died. In every -imaginable position of agony, of distortion, and bloody mutilation -they lay, heads crushed and faces battered, eyes starting from their -sockets, and swollen tongues protruding; and on that terrible scene -the pale moon, "sweet regent of the sky," the innocent queen of night, -as another poet calls her, looked softly down in her glory, as the -same moon in England, far away, was looking on the stubble-fields -whence the golden grain had been gathered, on peaceful homesteads, old -church steeples and quiet cottage roofs, on the ruddy furnaces of the -Black country, on peace and plenty, and where war was unknown, save by -name. - -She glinted on broken and abandoned weapons; she silvered the upturned -faces of the dead--kissing them, as it were, for many a loving one who -should see them no more; and gemming as if with diamonds the dewy -grass and the autumnal wild-flowers; and there, too, amid that -horrible débris, were the little birds--the goldfinch, the tit, and -the sparrow--hopping and twittering about, too terrified to seek their -nests, scared as they were by the uproar of the day that was past. - -I felt sick at heart and crushed in spirit now. In the immediate -foreground the moonlight glinted on the tossing dark plumes, the -picturesque costume, and bright bayonets of the Highlanders in the -trenches. In the distance was the town; its ports, arsenals, barracks, -theatres, palaces, churches, and streets sheeted with roaring flames, -that lighted up all the roadstead, where, one after the other, the -Russian ships were disappearing beneath the waves, in that lurid glare -which tipped with a fiery gleam the white walls and spiked cannon of -the now abandoned forts. - -I began to creep back towards the camp, in search of surgical aid, and -on the way came to a place where, with their uniforms off, their -shirt-sleeves rolled up, their boxes of instruments open, lint and -bandages ready, three officers of the medical staff were busy upon a -group of wounded men, who sat or lay near, waiting their turn, some -impatiently, some with passive endurance, but all, more or less, in -pain, as their moans and sighs declared. - -"Don't bother about that Zouave, Gage," I heard one Æsculapius say, as -I came near, "I have overhauled him already!" - -"Is his wound mortal?" - -"Yes--brain lacerated. By Jove! here is an officer of the 23rd!" - -"Well, he must wait a little." - -So I sighed, and seated myself on a stone, and clenched my teeth to -control the agony I was enduring. The men who lay about us, with pale, -woe-begone visages and lack-lustre eyes, belonged chiefly to the -Light Division, but among them I saw, to my surprise, a Russian hussar -lying dead, with the blood dry and crusted on his pale blue and -yellow-braided dolman. How he came to be _there_, I had not the -curiosity to inquire. A mere bundle of gory rags, he seemed; for a -cannon-shot had doubled him up, and now his Tartar horse stood over -him, eyeing him wildly, and sniffing as if in wonder about his bearded -face and fallen jaw. - -The Zouave referred to was a noisy and loquacious fellow, -notwithstanding his perilous predicament. He had strayed hither -somehow from the Malakoff, and was mortally wounded, as the surgeon -said, and dying. A tiny plaster image of the blessed Virgin lay before -him; he was praying intently at times, but being fatuous, he wildly -and oddly mingled with his orisons the name of a certain Mademoiselle -Auréle, a _fleuriste_, with whom he imagined himself in the second -gallery of the Théâtre Français, or supping at the Barrière de -l'Etoile; anon he imagined they were on the Boulevardes, or in a café -chantant; and then as his mind--or what remained of it--seemed to -revert to the events of the day, he drew his "cabbage-cutter," as the -French call their sword-bayonet, and brandished it, crying, - -"Cut and hew, strike, mes camarades--frappez vite et frappez forte! -Vive la France! Vive l'Empéreur!" - -This was the last effort; a gush of fresh blood poured into his eyes, -and the poor Zouave was soon cold and stiff. In a kind of stupor I sat -there and watched by moon and lantern light the hasty operations: -bullets probed for and snipped out by forceps, while the patients -writhed and yelled; legs and arms dressed or cut off like branches -lopped from a tree, and chucked into a heap for interment. I shuddered -with apprehensive foreboding of what might ensue when my own turn -came, and heard, as in a dream, the three surgeons talking with the -most placid coolness about their little bits of practice. - -"Jones, please," said one, a very young staff medico, "will you kindly -take off this fellow's leg for me? I have ripped up his trousers and -applied the tourniquet--he is quite ready." - -"But must it come off?" asked Jones, who was patching up a bullet-hole -with lint. - -"Yes; gun-shot fracture of the knee-joint--patella totally gone." - -"Why don't you do it yourself, my good fellow?" asked the third, who, -with an ivory-handled saw between his teeth, was preparing to operate -on the fore-arm of a 19th man, whose groans were terrible. "Gage, did -you never amputate?" - -"Never on the living subject." - -"On a dead one then, surely?" - -"Often--of course.' - -"By Jove, you can't begin too soon--so why not now?" - -"I am too nervous--do it for me." - -"In one minute; but only this once, remember. Now give me your knife -for the flap; and look to that officer of the Welsh Fusileers--his -left arm is wounded." - -So while Dr. Jones, whom the haggard eyes of the man, whose limb was -doomed, watched with a terrible expression of anxiety, applied himself -to the task of amputation, the younger doctor, a hand fresh from -London, came to _me_. - -After ripping up the sleeve of my uniform, and having a brief -examination, which caused me such bitter agony that I could no longer -stand, but lay on the grass, he said, - -"Sorry to tell you, that yours is a compound fracture of the most -serious kind." - -"Is it reducible?" I asked, in a low voice. - -"No; I regret to say that your arm must come off." - -"My arm--must I lose it?" I asked, feeling keener anguish with the -unwelcome announcement. - -"Yes; and without delay," he replied, stooping towards his instrument -case. - -"I cannot spare it--I must have some other--excuse me, sir--some older -advice," I exclaimed, passionately. - -"As you please, sir," replied the staff-surgeon, coolly; "but we have -no time to spare here, either for opposition or indecision." - -The other two glanced at my arm, poked it, felt it as if it had been -that of a lay figure in a studio, and supported the opinion of their -brother of the knife. But the prospect of being mutilated, armless, -for life, and all the pleasures of which such a fate must deprive me, -seemed so terrible, that I resolved to seek for other advice at the -hospital tents, and towards them I took my way, enduring such pain of -body and misery of mind that on reaching them I should have sunk, had -brandy not been instantly given to me by an orderly. It was Sunday -morning now, and the gray light of the September dawn was stealing -over the waters of the Euxine, and up the valley of Inkermann. The -fragrant odour of the wild thyme came pleasantly on the breeze; but -now the rain was falling heavily, as it generally does after an -action--firing puts down the wind, and so the rain comes; but to me -then it was like the tears of heaven--"Nature's tear-drop," as Byron -has it, bedewing the unburied dead. A red-faced and irritable-looking -little Deputy Inspector of Hospitals, in a blue frogged surtout, -received me, and from him I did not augur much. The patients were -pouring in by hundreds, and the medical staff had certainly no -sinecure there. After I had been stripped and put to bed, I remember -this personage examining my wound and muttering, - -"Bad case--very!" - -"Am I in danger, doctor?" I inquired. - -"Yes, of course, if it should gangrene," said he, sharply. - -"I don't care much for life, but I should not like to lose my arm. Do -you think that--that--" - -"What?" he asked, opening his box of tools with _sangfroid_. - -"I shall die of this?" - -"Of a smashed bone?" - -"Yes." - -"Well, my dear fellow, not yet, I hope." - -"Yet?" said I, doubtfully. - -"Well, immediately, I mean. There is already much sign of -inflammation, and consequent chance of fever. The os humerus is, as I -say, smashed to pieces, and the internal and external condyles of the -elbow are most seriously injured. Corporal Mulligan, a basin and -sponge, and desire Dr.----" (I did not catch the name) "to step this -way." - -The corporal, a black-bearded Connaught Ranger, who had lost an eye at -Alma, brought what the surgeon required; he then placed a handkerchief -to my nostrils; there was a bubbling sensation in the brain, but -momentary, as the handkerchief contained chloroform; then something -peaceful, soporific, and soothing stole over me, and for a time I -became oblivious of all around me. - - - - -CHAPTER LVII.--IN THE MONASTERY OF ST. GEORGE. - - -To be brief, when the effect of the chloroform passed away, I became -sensible of a strange sensation of numbness about my left shoulder. -Instinctively and shudderingly I turned my eyes towards it, and found -that my left arm was--gone! Gone, and near me stood Corporal Mulligan -coolly wiping the fat little surgeon's instruments for the next case. -Some wine, Crimskoi, and water were given me, and then I closed my -eyes and strove, but in vain, to sleep and to think calmly over my -misfortune, which, for a time, induced keen misanthropy indeed. - -"Armless!" thought I; "I was pretty tired of life before this, and am -utterly useless now. Would that the shot had struck me in a more vital -place, and finished me--polished me off at once! That old staff -sawbones should have left me to my fate; should have let -mortification, gangrene, and all the rest of it, do their worst, and I -might have gone quietly to sleep where so many lay, under the crocuses -and caper-bushes at Sebastopol." - -"After life's fitful fever" men sleep well; and so, I hoped, should I. - -Such reflections were, I own, ungrateful and bitter; but suffering, -disappointment, and more than all, the great loss of blood I had -suffered, had sorely weakened me; and yet, on looking about me, and -seeing the calamities of others, I felt that the simple loss of an arm -was indeed but a minor affair. - -Close by me, on the hospital pallets, I saw men expiring fast, and -borne forth to the dead-pits only to make room for others; I saw the -poor human frame, so delicate, so wondrous, and so divine in its -organisation, cut, stabbed, bruised, crushed, and battered, in every -imaginable way, and yet with life clinging to it, when life had -become worthless. From wounds, and operations upon wounds, there was -blood--blood everywhere; on the pallets, the straw, the earthen floor, -the canvas of the tents, in buckets and basins, on sponges and towels, -and on the hands of the attendants. Incessantly there were moans and -cries of anguish, and, ever and anon, that terrible sound in the -throat known as the death-rattle. - -Sergeant Rhuddlan, Dicky Roll the drummer (the little keeper of the -regimental goat), and many rank and file of the old 23rd--relics of -the Redan--were there, and some lay near me. The sergeant was mortally -wounded, and soon passed away; the poor boy was horribly mutilated, a -grape shot having torn off his lower jaw, and he survived, to have -perhaps a long life of misery and penury before him; and will it be -believed that, through red-tapery and wretched Whig parsimony, two -hours before the attack on the Redan, the senior surgeon in the -Quarries was "run out" of lint, plasters, bandages, and every other -appliance for stanching blood? - -I heard some of our wounded, in their triumph at the general success -of the past day, attempting feebly and in quavering tones to sing -"Cheer, boys, cheer;" while others, in the bitterness of their hearts, -or amid the pain they endured, were occasionally consigning the eyes, -limbs, and souls of the Ruskies to a very warm place indeed. Estelle's -ring, which I had still worn, was gone with my unfortunate arm, and -was now the prize, no doubt, of some hospital orderly. Next day, as -the wounded were pouring in as fast as the dripping stretchers and -ambulances could bring them, I was sent to the monastery of St. -George, which had been turned into a convalescent hospital. The -removal occasioned fever, and I lay long there hovering between life -and death; and I remember how, as portions of a seeming -phantasmagoria, the faces of the one-eyed corporal who attended me, -and of the staff doctors Gage and Jones, became drearily familiar. - -This monastery is situated about five miles from Balaclava and six -from Sebastopol, near Cape Fiolente, and consists of two long ranges -of buildings, two stories in height, with corridors off which the -cells of the religious open. The chapel, full of hospital pallets, -there faces the sea, and the view in that direction is both charming -and picturesque. A zigzag pathway leads down from the rocks of red -marble, past beautiful terraces clothed with vines and flowering -shrubs, to a tiny bay, so sheltered that there the ocean barely -ripples on the snow-white sand. But then the Greek monks, in their -dark-brown gowns, their hair plaited in two tails down their back, -their flowing beards, with rosary and crucifix and square black cap, -had given place to convalescents of all corps, Guardsmen, Riflemen, -Dragoons, and Linesmen, who cooked and smoked, laughed and sang, -patched their clothes and pipe-clayed their belts, where whilom mass -was said and vespers chanted. Others were hopping about on crutches, -or, propped by sticks, dozed dreamily in the sunshine under shelter of -the wall that faced the sparkling sea--the blessed high road to old -England. - -My room, a monk's cell, was whitewashed, and on the walls were hung -several gaudy prints of Russian saints and Madonnas with oval shining -metal halos round their faces; but most of these the soldiers, with an -eye to improvement in art, had garnished with short pipes, moustaches, -and eyeglasses; and with scissors and paste-pot Corporal Mulligan -added other decorations from the pages of _Punch_. - -Sebastopol had fallen; "Redan Windham," as we named him, then a -Brigadier-general, was its governor; and by the Allies the place had -been plundered of all the flames had spared (not much certainly), even -to the cannon and church bells; and now peace was at hand. But many a -day I sighed and tossed wearily on my hard bed, and more wearily still -in the long nights of winter, when the bleak wind from the Euxine -howled round the monastery and the rain lashed its walls, though -Corporal Mulligan would wink his solitary eye, and seek to console me -by saying, - -"Your honour's in luck--there is no trinch-guard to-night, thank God!" - -"Nor will there ever be again for me," I would reply. - -The inspector of hospitals had informed me that, so soon as I could -travel, sick leave would be granted me, that I might proceed to -England; but I heard him with somewhat of indifference. Would Valerie -join her brother Volhonski at Lewes in Sussex, was, however, my first -thought; she would be free to do as she pleased now that the odious -Tolstoff--But _was_ he killed by Rhuddlan's bullet, or merely wounded, -with the pleasure of having Valerie, perhaps, for a nurse? He -certainly seemed to fall from the parapet as if he were shot dead. Why -had I not gone back and inspected the slain in the ditch of the Redan, -to see if he lay there? But I had other thoughts then, and so the -opportunity--even could I have availed myself of it--was gone for -ever. These calculations and surmises may seem very cool now; but to -us then human life, and human suffering, too, were but of small -account indeed. - -One evening the fat little staff surgeon came to me with a cheerful -expression on his usually cross face, and two packets in his hand. - -"Well, doctor," said I, with a sickly smile, but unable to lift my -head; "so I didn't die, after all." - -"No; close shave though. Wish you joy, Captain Hardinge." - -"Joy--armless!" - -"Tut; I took the two legs off a rifleman the other day close to the -tibia--ticklish operation, very, but beautifully done--and he'll -toddle about in a bowl or on a board, and be as jolly as a sand-boy. -Suppose _your_ case had been his?" - -"When may I leave this?" - -"Can't say yet awhile. You don't want to rejoin, I presume?" - -"Would to God that I could! but the day is past now When I do leave, -it will be by ship or steamer." - -"Unless you prefer a balloon. Well, it was of these I came to wish you -joy," said he, placing before me, and opening it (for I was unable to -do so, single-handed), the packet, which contained two medals; one for -the Crimea, with its somewhat unbecoming ribbon, and two clasps for -"Inkermann" and "Sebastopol." - -"They are deuced like labels for wine-bottles," said the little -doctor; "but a fine thing for you to have, and likely to catch the -eyes of the girls in England." - -"And this other medal with the pink ribbon?" - -"Is the Sardinian one, given by Victor Emanuel; and more welcome than -these perhaps, here is a letter from home--from England--for you; -which, if you wish, I shall open" (every moment I was some way thus -reminded, even kindly, of my own helplessness), "and leave you to -peruse. Good evening; I've got some prime cigars at your service, if -you'll send Mulligan to me." - -"Thanks, doctor." - -And he rolled away out of the cell, to visit some other unfortunate -fellow. The medals were, of course, a source of keen satisfaction to -me; but as I toyed with them and inspected them again and again, they -woke an old train of thought; for there was _one_, who had no longer -perhaps an interest in me (if a woman ever ceases to have an interest -in the man who has loved her), and who was another's now, in whose -white hands I should once with honest pride have laid them. Viewed -through that medium, they seemed almost valueless for a time; though -there was to come a day when I was alike vain of them--ay, and of my -empty sleeve--as became one who had been at the fall of Sebastopol, -the queen of the Euxine. - -"I fear I am a very discontented dog," thought I, while turning to the -letter, which proved to be from kind old Sir Madoc Lloyd. - -For months no letters had reached me, and for the same period I had -been unable to write home; so in all that time I had heard nothing -from my friends in England--who were dead, who alive; who marrying, or -being given in marriage. Sir Madoc's missive was full of kind thoughts -and expressions, of warm wishes and offers of service, that came to me -as balm, especially at such a time and in such a place. Poor Phil -Caradoc, and many others, were sorrowfully and enthusiastically -referred to. Sir Watkins Vaughan was still hovering about the girls, -"but with remarkable indecision apparently." The tall Plunger with the -parted hair had proposed to Dora, and been declined; for no very -visible reason, as he was a pleasant fellow with a handsome fortune. - -On an evening early in September, the very day that a telegram -announcing the fall of the Redan reached Craigaderyn, they were -dressing for a county ball at Chester--a long-looked-for and most -brilliant affair--when their sensibility, and fear that I might have -been engaged, made them relinquish all ideas of pleasure, and -countermand the carriage, to the intense chagrin of Sir Watkins and -also of the Plunger, who had come from town expressly to attend it. -Two day afterwards the lists were published, and the account of the -slaughter of our troops, and the death of so many dear friends, had -made Winifred positively ill, so change of air was recommended for -her, at Ventnor or some such place. - -A postscript to this, in Dora's rapid hand, and written evidently -surreptitiously (perhaps while Sir Madoc had left his desk for a -moment), added the somewhat significant intelligence, that "Winny had -wept very much indeed on reading the account of that horrible Redan" -(for Phil's death, thought I; if so, she mourns him too late!) "and -now declares that she will die an old maid." (It _is_ so!) "When that -interesting period of a lady's life begins," continued Dora, "I know -not; if unmarried, before thirty, I suppose; thus I am eleven years -off that awful period yet, and have a decidedly vulgar prejudice -against ever permitting myself to become one. Papa writes that Sir -Watkins is undecided; but I may add that I, for one, know that he is -_not_. Our best love to you, dear old Harry; but O, I can't fancy you -_without an arm!_" - -I was in a fair way of recovery now. The state I had been in so long, -within the four walls of that quaint little chamber--a state that -hovered between sense and insensibility, between sleeping and waking, -time and eternity--had passed away; and, after all I had undergone, it -had seemed as if - - - "Thrice the double twilight rose and fell, - About a land where nothing seemed the same, - At morn or eve, as in the days gone by." - - -This had all passed and gone; but I was weak as a child, and worn to a -shadow; and by neglect had become invested with hirsute appendages of -the most ample proportions. - -And so, without the then hackneyed excuse of "urgent private affairs," -on an evening in summer, when the last rays of the sun shone redly on -the marble bluffs and copper-coloured rocks of Cape Khersonese--the -last point of that fatal peninsula towards the distant Bosphorus--and -when the hills that look down on the lovely Pass of Baidar and the -grave-studded valley of Inkermann were growing dim and blue, I found -myself again at sea, on board the Kangaroo--a crowded transport (or -rather a floating hospital)--speeding homeward, and bidding "a long -good-night to the Crimea," to the land of glory and endurance. - -Sebastopol seemed a dream now, but a memory of the past; and a dream, -too, seemed my new life when I lay on my couch at the open port, and -saw the crested waves flying past, as we sped through them under sail -and steam. - -Onward, onward, three hundred miles and more across the Euxine, to -where the green range of the Balkan looks down upon its waters, and -where the lighthouses of Anatolia on one side, and those of Roumelia -on the other, guide to the long narrow channel of Stamboul; but ere -the latter was reached--and on our starboard bow we saw the white -waves curling over the blue Cyanean rocks, where Jason steered the -Argonauts--we had to deposit many a poor fellow in the deep; for we -had four hundred convalescent and helpless men on board, and only one -surgeon, with scarcely any medicines or comforts for them, as John -Bull, if he likes glory, likes to obtain it _cheap_. It was another -case of Whig parsimony; so every other hour an emaciated corpse, -rolled in a mud-stained greatcoat or well-worn blanket, without prayer -or ceremony of any kind, was quietly dropped to leeward, the 32-pound -shot at its heels making a dull plunge in that huge grave, the world -of water, which leaves no mark behind. - -I gladly left the Kangaroo at Pera, and, establishing myself at the -Hôtel d'Angleterre, wrote from thence to Sir Madoc that I should take -one of the London liners at Malta for England, and to write me to the -United Service Club in London; that all my plans for the future were -vague and quite undecided; but I was not without hope of getting some -military employment at home. The Frankish hotel was crowded by wounded -officers, also _en route_ for England or France, all in sorely faded -uniforms, on which the new Crimean medals glittered brightly. As all -the world travels nowadays, I am not going to "talk guide-book," or -break into ecstasies about the glories of Stamboul as viewed from a -distance, and not when floundering mid-leg deep in the mud of its -picturesque but rickety old thoroughfares; yet certainly the daily -scene before the hotel windows was a singular one; for there were -stalwart Turkish porters, veritable sons of Anak; stagey-looking -dragomen, with brass pistols and enormous sabres in wooden sheaths; -the Turk of the old school in turban, beard, slippers, and flowing -garments; the Turk of the new, whom he despised, close shaven, with -red fez and glazed boots; water-carriers; Osmanli infantry, solemn, -brutal, and sensual, jostled by rollicking British tars and merry -little French Zouaves; and for a background, the city of the Sultans, -with all its casements, domes, and minarets glittering in the -unclouded sunshine. - -Two light cavalry subs, who had ridden in the death ride at Balaclava, -and bore some cuts and slashes won therein, three others of the Light -Division, and myself, agreed to travel homeward together; and pleasant -days we had of it while skirting the mountainous isles of Greece, -Byron's - - - "Isles of Greece, where burning Sappho loved and sung," - - -and the tints of which seemed all brown or gray as we saw them through -the vapour exhaled in summer from the Ægean Sea, with their little -white villages shadowed by trees, their rocks like sea-walls, crowned -here and there by the columns, solitary and desolate, of some temple -devoted to the gods of other days--"a country rich in historic -reminiscence, but poor as Sahara in everything else." - -And so on by Malta and old Gib; and exactly fourteen days after -leaving the former we were cleaving the muddy bosom of Father Thames; -and that night saw me in my old room at "the Rag," with the dull roar -of mighty London in my ears; and after the rapid travelling I went to -sleep, as addled as a fly could be in a drum. - - - - -CHAPTER LVIII.--HOME. - - -The comfort and splendour of the fashionable club-house, the tall -mirrors, the gilded cornices, the soft carpets, the massive furniture, -the powdered and liveried waiters gliding noiselessly about, all -impressed me with a high sense of the intense snugness of England and -of _home_, after my airy tent, with its embankment of earth for -shelter, its smoky funnel of mess-tins, and the tiny trench cut round -it to carry away the rainwater. Then I was discussing a breakfast -which, after my Crimean experience, seemed a feast fit for Lucullus or -Apicius, and listening with something of a smile to the rather loud -conversation of some members of the club--wiry old Peninsulars, -Waterloo and India men, who were certain "the service was going to the -devil," and who drew somewhat disparaging comparisons between the way -matters had been conducted by our generals and those of the war under -Sir John Moore, Lynedoch, Hill, and "the Iron Duke;" and to me it -seemed that the old fellows were right, and that after forty years of -peace we had learned nothing new in the art of campaigning. - -"Captain Hardinge, a gentleman for you, sir," said a waiter, -presenting me with a card on a silver salver; and I had barely time to -look at it ere Sir Madoc Lloyd, in top-boots and corded breeches as -usual--his ruddy sunburnt face, his white hair and sparkling dark -eyes, in his cheery breezy way the same as ever--entered, hat and whip -in hand, and welcomed me home so warmly, that for a moment he drew -the eyes of all in the room upon us. He had breakfasted two hours -before--country time--and had a canter round the Park. He was in town -on Parliamentary business, but was starting that afternoon for -Craigaderyn. I should accompany him, of course, he added, in his -hearty impetuous way. Then ere I could speak,-- - -"God bless my soul!" he exclaimed. "Poor Harry! till I have seen you I -could not realise the idea of your being mutilated thus! No more -hunting, no more shooting, no more fishing----" - -"And no more dancing, the ladies would add," said I, smiling. - -"And no more soldiering." - -"Unless the Queen kindly permits me." - -"Gad! I think you have had enough of it!" - -"And--and Miss Lloyd and Dora?" - -"Are both well and looking beautiful. There are not many girls in -Wales like my girls. A seaside trip has brought back the bloom to -Winny's cheeks; and as for Dora, she never loses it." - -"And why did Miss Lloyd refuse an offer so eligible as that of Sir -Watkins Vaughan?" I asked, after a pause. - -"Can't for the life of me say," replied Sir Madoc, rubbing his chin, -and turning to the decanter as a waiter set some dry sherry and -biscuits before us. - -"And why would not my little friend Dora have her Guardsman?" - -"Can't say that, either. Perhaps she hated a 'swell' with an affected -'yaw-haw' impediment in his speech. Girls are so odd; but mine are -dear girls for all that. I'll telegraph to Owen Gwyllim to have the -carriage awaiting us at Chester; and we shall leave town before -luncheon-time, if you have no other plans or engagements." - -"I have neither; but--but, Sir Madoc, why so soon?" I asked, as -certain passages in my later visits to Craigaderyn gave me a twinge of -compunction. "Now that I think of it, I had an idea of taking a run -down to Lewes in Sussex," said I. - -"Lewes in Sussex--a dreary place, though in a first-rate coursing -country. I've ridden there with the Brighton Hunt. What would take you -there--before coming to us, at least?" - -I coloured a little, and said, - -"I have a friend there, among the Russian prisoners." - -"By Jove, I think you've had enough of those fellows! Nonsense, Harry! -We shall start without delay. Why waste time and money in London?" -said Sir Madoc, who never liked his plans or wishes thwarted. "I have -just to give a look at a brace of hunters at Tattersall's for Vaughan, -and then I am with you. Down there, with our fine mountain breezes, -our six-months' Welsh mutton, and seven-years' cliquot, we'll make a -man of you again. I can't get you an arm, Harry; but, by Jove, it will -go hard with us if we don't get you _two_ belonging to some one else!" - -I laughed at this idea; and so that evening saw me again far from -London, and being swept as fast as the express could speed along the -North-Western line towards Chester. I had quite a load of Russian -trophies--such were then in great request--for Sir Madoc: sabres, -muskets, and bayonets; glazed helmets of the 26th and Vladimir -Regiments, a Zouave trumpet (with a banner attached), trod flat as a -pancake under the feet of the stormers as they poured into the -Malakoff. There, too, were several rusty fragments of exploded -shells, hand-grenades, and the last cannon-shot fired from the Mamelon -Vert. For Winifred and Dora I had mother-of-pearl trunks of rare -essences and perfumes; slender gilt vials of attar of roses; -daintily-embroidered Turkish slippers, with turned-up toes, and -bracelets of rose-pearls from Stamboul; Maltese jewelry, lace, veils, -and as many pretty things as might have stocked a little shop in the -Palais Royal or the Burlington Arcade. - -The month was June, and my spirits became more and more buoyant, as in -the open carriage we bowled along between the green mountains and the -waving woodlands. Now the mowers, scythe in hand, were bending over -the fragrant and bearded grass; the ploughmen were turning up the -fallow soil; the squirrels were feasting in the blossom; the sheep -were being driven to fold; and the crow was flying aloft, ere he -sought his nest "in the rooky wood." It was a thorough English June -evening: the air pure, the sunshine bright, and casting the shadows of -the mountains far across the vales and fresh green meadows; the -blackbird, thrush, and linnet sang on every tree, and a glow of -happiness came over me; for all around the land looked so peaceful and -so lovely, the gray smoke curling up from copse and dingle to mark -where stood those "free fair homes of England," of which Mrs. Hemans -sang so sweetly. Sir Madoc was discoursing on the cultivation of -turnips and mangold wurzels, and on the mode of extirpating annual -darnel-grass, coltsfoot, wild charlock, and other mysterious plants to -me unknown; and I heard him as one in a dream, when we entered the -long lime avenue. - -How pleasant and picturesque looked the old house of the Tudor times -at the end of that long leafy vista, with all its tinted oriels, its -gilded vanes, and quaint stone finials! The woodbine, clematis, and -ivy, hops and honeysuckle, all blended in luxuriant masses, aspiring -to peep in at the upper windows. Craigaderyn, so redolent of fruit and -flowers, of fresh sweet air, of bright green leaves, of health and -every bracing element--a hearty old house, where for generations the -yule log had blazed, and the holly-branch and the mistletoe hung from -the old oak roof, when the snow lay deep on Carneydd Llewellyn; where -the boar's head was served up in state at Christmas, and at Michaelmas -the goose; where so many brides had come home happy, and so many old -folks, full of years and honour, gone to the vault of the old church -among the hills; where lay all the line of Lloyd, save the luckless -Sir Jorwerth Du; and where--. But here my somewhat discursive reverie -was interrupted by the carriage being pulled sharply up at the perron -before the entrance; and Owen Gwyllim, with his wrinkled face beaming, -and his white head glistening in the sunshine, hastened down to open -the door, arrange the steps, and shake the only hand the Russians had -left me. - -"Where are the young ladies?" asked Sir Madoc, impatiently glancing up -at all the windows. - -"Gone for a ride so far as Llandudno, with Miss Vaughan." - -"Alone?" - -"No, Sir Madoc, attended by Spurrit, the groom. They were gone before -your telegram arrived, but are to be back before the first bell rings -for dinner." - -And now, after a little attention to my toilet, I was ushered into the -drawing-room, every object in which was so familiar to me; and seating -myself in the corner of an oriel, I gave way to a long train of deep -thought; for I was left quite alone just then, as Sir Madoc found -letters of importance awaiting him; and now, induced by the heat of -evening, the stillness broken only by the tinkle of a sheep-bell and -the hum of the bees at the open window, and by the length and rapidity -of my journey, I actually dozed quietly off to sleep. - - - - -CHAPTER LIX.--"A DREAM WHICH WAS NOT ALL A DREAM." - - -Brief though my nap of "forty winks," I had within it a little dream, -induced, no doubt, by my return to Wales, and by my surroundings, as -it was of Winifred Lloyd, of past tenderness, and our old kind, -flirting, cousinly intercourse, before _others_ came between us; for -Winifred had ever been as a sister to me, and dearer, perhaps. Now I -thought she was hanging over me with much of sorrowful yearning in her -soft face, and saying, - -"Papa will not be here for an hour, perhaps, and for that hour I may -have him all to myself, to watch. Poor Harry, so bruised, so battered, -and so ill-used by those odious wretches!" - -Her lips were parted; her breath came in short gasps. - -Was it imagination or reality that a kiss or a tress of her hair -touched my cheek so lightly? There was certainly a tear, too! - -I started and awoke fully, to see her I dreamt of standing at the side -of my chair, with one hand resting on it, while her soft eyes regarded -me sadly, earnestly, and--there is no use evading it--lovingly. She -wore her blue riding-habit, her skirt gathered in the hand which held -her switch and buff gauntlets; and though her fine hair was -beautifully dressed under her riding-hat, one tress _was_ loose. - -"Dear Winifred, my appearance does not shock you, I hope?" said I, -clasping her hand tenderly, and perhaps with some of that energy -peculiar to those who have but one. - -"Thank Heaven, it is no worse!" she replied; "but, poor Harry -Hardinge, an arm is a serious loss." - -"Yet I might have come home, like _Le Diable Boiteux_, on two wooden -stumps, as Dora once half predicted; but even as it is, my -round-dancing is at an end now. By the way, I have a sorrowful message -for you." - -"Then I don't want to hear it. But from whom?" - -"One who can return no more, but one who loved you well--Phil -Caradoc." - -A shade of irritation crossed her face for a moment; and then, with -something of sorrow, she asked, - -"And this message?--poor fellow, he fell at the Redan!" - -"His last thoughts and words were of you, Winny--amid the anguish of a -mortal wound," said I; and then I told her the brief story of his -death, and of his interment in the fifth parallel. Her eyes were very -full of tears; yet none fell, and somehow my little narrative failed -to excite her quite so much as I expected. - -"Did you not love him?" - -"No," she replied, curtly, and gathering up the skirt of her habit -more tightly, as if to leave me. - -"Did you never do so?" - -"Why those questions?--never, save as a friend--poor dear Mr. Caradoc! -But let us change the subject," she added, her short lip quivering, -and her half-drooped eyelids, too. - -I was silent for a minute. I knew that, with a knowledge of the secret -sentiment which Winifred treasured in her heart for myself, I was -wrong in pursuing thus the unwelcome theme of Caradoc's rejection; -moreover, there are few men, if any, who would not have felt immensely -flattered by the preferences of a girl so bright and beautiful, so -soft and artless, as Miss Lloyd; and I found myself rapidly yielding -to the whole charm of the situation. - -"How odd that you should have returned on my birthday!" said she, -playing with her jewelled switch, and permitting me to retain her -ungloved hand in mine. - -"Your birthday." - -"Yes; I am just twenty-three." - -"The number of the old corps, Winifred--the number, see it when he -may, a soldier never forgets." - -"But I hope you have bidden good-bye to it for ever." - -"Too probably; and you cannot know, dear Winifred, how deep is the -pleasure I feel in being here again, after all I have undergone--here -in pleasant Craigaderyn; and more than all with you--hearing your -familiar voice, and looking into your eyes." - -"Why?" she asked, looking out on the sunlit chase. - -"Can you ask me why, when you know that I love you, Winny, and have -always loved you?" - -"As a friend, of course," said she, trembling very much; "yes--but -nothing more." - -"I repeat that I love you tenderly and truly; have I not ever known -your worth, your goodness--" - -"Is this true, Harry Hardinge?" she asked, in a low voice, as my arm -encircled her, and she looked coyly but tremblingly down. - -"True as that God now hears us, my darling, whom I hope yet to call my -wife!" - -"O, say it again and again, dear Harry," said she, in a low voice like -a whisper; "I did so doubt it once--did so doubt that you would ever, -ever love me, who--who--loved you so," she continued, growing very -pale. "It may be unwomanly in me to say this, Harry; but I am not -ashamed to own it now." - -"To a poor cripple, a warlike fragment from the Crimea," said I, with -a smile, as caressingly I drew her head down on my shoulder; and while -I toyed with her dark-brown hair, and gazed into her tender -violet-coloured eyes, I thought, "How can a man love any but a woman -with eyes and hair like Winny's?" - -(At that moment I quite forgot how fatuously I had worshipped the -thick golden tresses, the snow-white skin, and deep black eyes of -Valerie. And it was for _me_ that Winny had declined poor Phil, Sir -Watkins, and some one else! O, I certainly owed her some reparation!) - -"Bless you, darling, for your love," said I; "and I think our marriage -will make good Sir Madoc so happy." - -"You were ever his favourite, Harry." - -"And you have actually loved me, Winny--" - -"Ever since I was quite a little girl," she replied, in a low voice, -while blushing deeply now. - -"Ah, how blind I have been to the best interests of my heart! I always -loved you, Winifred; but I never knew how much until now." - -"I am sure, Harry, that I--that I shall--" - -"What, love?" - -"Make you a very, very good little wife, and be so kind to you after -all you have undergone." - -As she said this, with something between coyness and artlessness that -proved very bewitching, I pressed her close to me, and there flashed -upon my memory the dream of her, as I lay wounded and athirst near the -ditch of the Redan, and also the singular coincidence of her pet goat -leading to my discovery when lying half buried under the dead horse -and cannon-wheel on the field of Inkermann. - -"Papa and Dora," said she, in a low broken voice, "on that day when my -great grief came--" - -"Which grief?" - -"The tidings of your being drowned," she continued, weeping at the -recollection, "and when I let out the long-hidden secret of my heart, -told me not to weep for you, Harry; that you were far happier -elsewhere than on earth; that you were in Heaven; and poor papa said -over and over again the Welsh prayer which ends Gogoniant ir Tad, ac -ir Mab, ac ir Yspryd Glan." - -"What on earth is all that!" I asked, smiling. - -"Glory to the Father, the Son, and so on. Well, Harry, it was all in -vain. I felt that in losing you I had lost the desire of my eyes, the -love of my girl's heart--for I always did love you, and I care not to -tell you so openly again," she added, as the tender arms went round -me, and the loving lips sought mine. "My crave for news from the seat -of war, and the terror with which I read those horrible lists, Harry, -are known to myself only; yet why should I say so? many others, whose -dearest were there, must have felt and endured as I did." - -"All that is over now, pet Winny." - -"And you are here with us again, Harry." - -"And am yours--yours only!" - -"But there is the bell to dress for dinner, Harry--and here come Dora -and Gwenny Vaughan," she added, giving a hasty smooth to her hair, -which somehow had been a little rumpled during the preceding -conversation. - -The two girls came in for a minute or so, in their hats and riding -habits; the last-named was a very beautiful and distinguished-looking -blonde, who could talk about hunting like an old whipper-in, and who -received me with kind interest, while Dora did so with her usual -gushing _empressement_. - -The dinner, which came subsequently in due course, was rather a tame -affair to Winny and me, when contrasted with our recent interview in -the drawing-room; but the tender secret we now shared, and the perfect -consciousness that no obstacle existed to our marriage, made us both -so radiantly happy, that Sir Madoc's rubicund face wore a comical and -somewhat perplexed expression, till we had our postprandial cigar -together in the conservatory. So the whole affair came about in the -fashion I have narrated; yet but a day or two before, I had been -affecting a desire to visit the Russian prisoners at Lewes! - -At table, of course, I required much assistance, and though I urged -that Owen Gwyllim or one of the footmen should attend me, there was -often a friendly contention among the three girls to cut my food for -me, as if I were a great baby; and like something of that kind, I was -flattered, petted, and made much of; and there was something so -pleasant in being thus made a fuss with, and viewed as a "Crimean -hero," that I scarcely regretted the bones I had left at the Redan. - -"And so, poor Harry," said Dora, after hearing the story of that -affair, "you had no brave beautiful Sister of Mercy to nurse you?" - -"No; I had only Corporal Mulligan, a true and brave-hearted Irishman, -who lost an eye at Alma; and a kind-hearted fellow he was!" - -Winifred did not talk much; but in her place as hostess seemed -brilliantly happy, and quite her old self. We had all a thousand -things to talk of, to tell, and to ask each other; and the fate of -that strange creature Guilfoyle, or rather the mystery which then -attended it, excited almost the commiseration of Sir Madoc, who, once -upon a time, was on the point of horse-whipping him. On certain points -connected with my residence at Yalta, I was, of course, as mute as a -fish. - -Of Caradoc he spoke with genuine sorrow--the more so, as he was the -last of an old, old Welsh line. - -"Poor fellow!" said he; "Phil was a man of whom we may say that which -was averred of Colonel Mountain, of the Cameronians, 'that though he -were cut into twenty pieces, yet every piece would be a gentleman!'" - -Over our cigars, I told Sir Madoc all that had passed between Winifred -and me, and begged his approbation; and I have no words to express how -enthusiastic the large-hearted and jolly old man became; how rejoiced, -and how often he shook my hand, assuring me that he had ever loved me -quite as much as if I had been a son of his own; that his Winny was -one of the best girls in all Wales--true as steel, and one who, when -she loved, did so for ever. - -"I thank Heaven," he added, "you didn't get that slippery eel, my Lady -Aberconway!" - -"So do I, now, Sir Madoc," was my earnest response. - -But I had not yet seen quite the last of Estelle Cressingham. - -Of her Winifred must, at times, have been keenly and bitterly jealous, -yet she was too gentle, too ladylike and enduring, to permit such an -emotion to be visible to others. - - - - -CHAPTER LX.--A HONEYMOON. - - -And so it came to pass, as perhaps Sir Madoc had foreseen, by the -doctrine of chances, and without any romance or sensationalism, that -in the bright season of summer, Winifred and I--after a short -engagement, and many a delicious ramble by the Elwey and Llyn Aled, in -the Martens' dingle and by the old rocking-stone--were married in -Craigaderyn Church, by her secret admirer, the tall pale curate in the -long, long coat, "assisted" by another (as if aid in such cases were -necessary); and amid the summer sounds that came floating through the -open porch and pointed windows, with the yellow flakes of hazy -sunshine, when I heard the voice of the pastor uniting us, I -remembered the Sunday we were all last in the same place, and the -daydreams in which I had indulged during the prosy sermon, when I -fancied the same solemn service being said, and when, by some magic, -the image of Winifred _would_ ever come in the place of another. - -Sir Watkins Vaughan, a purpose-like and gentlemanly young fellow, a -prime bat and bowler, a good shot and good horseman, a thorough -Englishman and lover of all field sports, and who acted as my -groomsman, was so intent on looking at Dora--radiant in white crape -and tulle as one of her sister's bridesmaids--that he made, as he -said, "a regular mull" of drawing off my glove, an office which I -could not have done for myself. - -At last the whole was over; the golden hoop had been slid on the -slender figure of a tremulous little hand; we were made one "till -death do us part;" and after the usual kisses and congratulations, -came forth into the glorious sunshine, while overhead the marriage -chimes rang merrily in the old square tower which Jorwerth ap Davydd -Lloyd had founded in honour of St. David five hundred years ago. Then -came the cheers in the churchyard--cheers that might wake the dead -below the green turf; the guttural Celtic voices of the tenants and -peasantry, the general jollity, with much twangle-dangling of harps -borne by certain itinerant and tipsy bards, attracted thither by the -coin and the well-known Cymric proclivities of Sir Madoc; and loud on -all hands were praises of the beauty of the _Briodasferch_ (Welsh -euphony for bride), with prayers for her future happiness, as we drove -away to luncheon. - -All the household held high festival. Owen Gwyllim wept in his glee, -and drank our healths in mulled port with Mrs. Davis (for whom he had -a tenderness) in her room; and Bob Spurrit and Morgan Roots, and all -the valets and gamekeepers, did ditto with mulled ale in the -"servants' 'all," while we, leaving all to feast and speechify at -Craigaderyn, were speeding, as fast as four horses could take us, to -hide our blushes at Brighton. . . . After the stormy life I had led -how sweet and blessed were home-rest with Winifred! No tempests of -thought, of pique or jealousy, of disappointment or bitterness, -agitated me now. It was all like first love, and calmly as the summer -gloaming among the mountains, the joyous time glided away with us. I -felt how truly she had clung to me, and loved me as only those who -have long been loved in secret, and whose value, to the heart at -least, has been ascertained, by having been to all appearance lost in -life, and lost in death, too--for had I not been so to her?--and been -mourned for as only the dead, who can return no more, are mourned. Yet -I had survived all the perils of war, and her arms were round me now. - -How strange it seemed, that I should once have been so indifferent to -all the graces of her mind and person; that I had been wont to quiz -poor Caradoc about her, and had more than once actually suggested that -he should "propose;" and so, when I looked into her tender and loving -eyes, I recalled her words on that day when, on a time that seemed so -long ago, we had a ramble by the rocking-stone, and when she said, -"the eye may be pleased, the vanity flattered, and ambition excited by -a woman of beauty, especially if she is one of rank; yet the heart may -be won by one her inferior." But I considered my little wife inferior -to none and second to none. After all my wild work in the field and -trenches, there was something wonderfully refreshing, bewitching, and -attractive in having her hovering and gliding about me, and all her -sweet companionship; and it was _so_ delightful and novel to have -those quick and white and fairy-like fingers to adjust one's necktie, -to settle one's collar, and give, perhaps, just a finishing touch with -a carved ivory brush to the back-parting of one's hair. It _had_ -seemed odd to me, at first, those bracelets, tiny rings, and hair-pins -at times on my toilet table; and equally odd to her my collars, ties, -studs, and razors sometimes left on hers; and we were laughing and -chatting merrily of this community in matters one lovely morning at -Brighton, when the sun was shining on the sea, that was dotted by a -thousand pleasure-boats, and was all rippling in golden light from the -snow-white cliffs of Beachy Head to Selsea Bill, and while the merry -voices of children came pleasantly on the warm air from the Marine -Parade, as we were seated at breakfast with the hotel windows open. - -Winifred was looking as only a young bride in her first bloom can -look. She was more radiant than she had ever seemed even at -Craigaderyn; and through the frills of her morning dress, a marvel of -white lace and millinery, her slender throat and delicate arms, -without necklet or bracelet, were seen to perfection, and I thought -she never seemed so charming, as she sat smiling at me over the silver -urn. Thus one quite forgot the fragrant coffee, the French rolls that -lay cosily hidden in the damask napkin, the dainty fresh eggs, the -game-pie, the ham done up in Madeira, and as for the well-aired -morning papers, they were never thought of at all. On the morning in -question my valet, Lance-corporal Mulligan, entered the room with our -letters on a salver. I had picked up the poor fellow by the merest -chance one night at the Brighton Theatre, where he had been receiving, -as a super and sham soldier in a suit of tin armour, one shilling per -night, exactly what he got from her Majesty's most liberal government -for risking his life night and day as a real one; and so, minus an -eye, he had betaken himself, after fighting at Alma and storming the -Redan, to figuring at the Battle of Bosworth and marching to -Dunsinane. So he came to me gladly, while his Biddy and a chubby Pat, -born under canvas among the tents of the Connaught Rangers, were -snugly located in one of the gate-lodges at Craigaderyn. - -Erect as a pike he marched up to the table and laid the letters before -Winny, all save one, which he handed to me. It was oblong, official, -and inscribed "On her Majesty's Service," words at the sight of which -his solitary eye brightened, while he regarded them with respect, as -an Osmanli might the cipher of the Sultan; and then he stood at -"attention," lingering by, napkin in hand, to hear what the contents -were. They were, as usual in such communications from the Horse -Guards, very brief, but not the less gratifying. The Military -Secretary had the honour to inform me that her Majesty had been -graciously pleased to signify her intention of conferring the new -order of merit, entitled the Victoria Cross, on certain officers, -seamen, and soldiers, for acts of bravery during the late war; -that my name was on the list for it, on the recommendation of -Brigadier-general Windham, as a reward for volunteering with the -ladder party at the storming and capture of the Redan on the 8th -September; and that my presence was required at a parade before her -Majesty, on a certain day named. - -"That is all, Mulligan--you may go," said I, and he wheeled about -sharply, as if on a pivot, and stalked out; while Winny kissed me, ran -her white fingers caressingly through my hair, her face beaming with -delight. - -"But, Winny, by Jove, I've done nothing to deserve this. I only -tumbled into an embrasure of the Redan, to be tumbled out again," said -I; "and I got jambed among the dead." - -"Nothing, darling--do you call that nothing?" she exclaimed. "O, this -is indeed delightful--a real decoration! How proud I am of you! and -yet--and yet--I am loth to leave Brighton for town. We are so happy -here; we have been so jolly, Harry." - -"But, Winny, we shall return; we have 'done' the pier, the parade, and -the pavilion, again and again." - -"Have you wearied?" - -"When with _you!_" - -"And I with you, Harry! But I am so happy that I fear at times such -happiness cannot last." - -"Town will be a pleasant change for a time; and then the spectacle in -the Park will be most brilliant, and--all the world of fashion will be -there." - -"And one, perhaps, whom--I don't wish to see," said she, pouting. - -"One--who?" - -"Lady Aberconway will be there, no doubt," she replied, with a little -nervous laugh. - -"What of that, in the world of London? And what now is Es--the -Marchioness of Aberconway, or Aber-anything-else, to me, Winny, -darling?" - -"Nothing now, of course--but--but--" - -"But what?" - -"I cannot forget that she _has been_ something to you." - -"Never what you are now," said I, clasping her to my breast with one -arm, and kissing her on the eyes and hair. - -"You pet me too much, Harry, and I fear will quite spoil me," said -she, laughing merrily again. - -"Who could live with you and not pet you? Would you have me to wrap -myself up in a toga, a mantle of marital dignity, and remain solemnly -on a pedestal like an armless statue, for my little wife to worship? -But there was something in one of your letters that made you laugh?" - -"It is from Dora." - -"And her news?" - -"Is that she has accepted Vaughan." - -"I am so glad to hear it! Then we shall have another marriage, and -more feasting and harping at Craigaderyn?" - -"Yes; about the middle of August, or after the grouse-shooting begins, -as dear papa would date it." - - - - -CHAPTER LXI.--"FOR VALOUR." - - -It was in the height of the gay London season that this interesting -ceremony, which formed the last scene connected with the Crimean -War--the last chapter in its glorious yet melancholy history--was to -be closed under the auspices of Royalty on a day in June, when the air -was clear, bright, and sunny, the sky without a cloud. The place -selected for the celebration, though perhaps not the most suitable in -London, was appropriate enough, by its local and historical -associations; and Hyde Park seemed beautiful and stirring when viewed -through the mellow haze of the midsummer morning, with its long rows -of trees and far expanse of green grass, on which the masses of -cavalry and infantry, chiefly of the Household Brigade, were ranged, -their arms and gay appointments flashing and glittering in the sun, -and the mighty assemblage of fashionables, in splendid carriages, on -horseback, or on foot--such an assemblage as London alone can -produce--with the bronze Achilles, the trophy of another and far more -glorious war, towering over all. - -There were present not less than a hundred thousand of the -sight-loving Londoners, full of generous enthusiasm. A grand review -formed a portion of the programme; but as such displays are all alike, -I shall skip that part of the day's proceedings; though there were -present the 79th Highlanders, whom I had last seen in the trenches -before the Redan, preparing for the final assault at daybreak; the -19th, that with the 23rd went side by side in the uphill charge at -Alma; the showy 11th Hussars in blue with scarlet pelisses, who had -ridden in the terrible death ride at Balaclava; and with glittering -brass helmets the gallant Enniskillens, who, with the Greys, had -followed Scarlett in the task of avenging them. And there, too, -commanding the whole, in his plumed bonnet and tartan trews, was old -Colin Campbell, riding as quietly and as grimly, amid the youth, rank, -and beauty of London, as when he brought his Highland Brigade in -stately échelon of regiments along the green slopes of the Kourgané -Hill, and heard the gray Kazan columns, ere they fled, send up their -terrible wail to heaven, that "the angel of Death had come!" This -veteran soldier, who had carried the colours of the 9th Regiment under -Moore at Corunna, looked old now, worn, and service-stricken, yet he -had the wars of the Indian Mutiny before him still. By his side rode -the hero of Kars in artillery uniform, and that brilliant Hussar -officer, the Earl of Cardigan, mounted on the same horse he had ridden -at Balaclava. The royal stand, as yet empty, was elaborately -decorated; gilded chairs of state were placed within it; and in front, -covered with scarlet cloth, was a table whereon lay sixty-two of those -black crosses, cast from Russian cannon, rude in design, but named -after her Majesty, and inscribed "For Valour"--sixty-two being the -number who, on that day, were to receive them. - -We, "the observed of all observers," had not as yet fallen in, so I -lingered near the stand, where Winifred, Dora, and Gwenny Vaughan, and -many other ladies were seated, and seeking, by the aid of parasol and -fan, to shield themselves from the heat of the sun, and using their -lorgnettes freely in looking for friends among the crowd, and in -watching the proceedings, chatting and laughing gaily the while, with -all the freedom of happy and heedless girls; for the troops were -"standing at ease," and her Majesty had not yet come. Winifred was -looking charming in her bridal bonnet, charming amid the loveliest -women in the world--and they were there by thousands; for she had the -beauty of perfect goodness, and of the purest and gentlest attributes -of woman-kind; for she was an artless and generous creature, too -simpleminded at times, even in this cold-blooded and well-bred age, to -have the power of concealing her emotions. - -I wore my old and faded red coat of the Welsh Fusileers for the _last_ -time; and though there was something sad in the conviction that it was -so, I never felt so proud of it, or of my looped-up sleeve, as on that -day in Hyde Park. I felt that my occupation was gone, and that any -other was unsuited to me, for "it is the speciality of a soldier's -career, that it unfits most men for any other life. They cannot throw -off the old habitudes. They cannot turn from the noisy stir of war to -the tame quiet of every-day life; and even when they fancy themselves -wearied and worn out, and willing to retire from the service, their -souls are stirred by every sound of the distant contest, as the -war-steed is roused by the blast of a trumpet." Often in fancy before -this, for I was ever addicted to daydreams, I had pictured some such -fête, some such ceremony, some such reward, for all our army had -endured in Bulgaria, and done by the shores of the Black Sea; but the -reality far exceeded all I had ever imagined. In my school-days, how I -had longed, with all a boy's ardour, to fight for my country and -Queen! Well, I _had_ fought--not for either, certainly, but for the -lazy, wretched, and contemptible Turks--and her royal hand was about -to reward me, by placing an order on my breast. - -The longing, the wild desire to achieve, to do something great, or -grand, or dashing, had ever since those school-boy days been mine; now -that mysterious "something" was achieved, and I was about to be made a -V.C. before that vast multitude, and more than all, beneath the soft -kind eyes of one who loved me more than all the world. - -"Who the dooce is that handsome woman, on whom----" (I failed to catch -the name) "of ours is so devilish spooney?" I heard one tall Plunger, -in a marvellously new panoply, lisp to another, as he checked his -beautiful black horse for a moment in passing. - -"What! can it be possible you don't know? It is the talk of all town," -replied the other, laughing, and in a low tone; "she is Lady -Aberconway, old Pottersleigh's wife--a more ill-mated pair don't exist -in Europe, by Jove!" - -"So she has found consolation?" - -"Rather." - -And the two glittering warriors with black boots, shining -breastplates, and fly-away whiskers, winked to each other knowingly, -and separated. - -I looked in the direction they had indicated. Close by me an officer -of the Oxford Blues, with his horse reined in close to the stand, was -engaged in a conversation, by turns gay and animated, or low and -confidential, with--Estelle! She was seated near her mother, Lady -Naseby, who looked as impassible and passionless as ever, with her -cold and imperious dignity of face and manner, and her odious white -shock, now somewhat aged and wheezy, in her lap. - -"Love," it is said, "is hard as any snake to kill." Perhaps so; but I -could regard her daughter now without any special throb of my pulse, -or thrill in my heart. - -Still I could not but confess that her high class of beauty, in style, -polish, and finish, was wonderful, and when in repose, cold and -aristocratic to a degree. She had achieved already that which has been -justly described as "that queenly standard women so often attain after -marriage, while losing none of their early charms," unless I except a -little heartless flippancy of manner in the conversation, which, as I -was pressed near her by the crowd, I was compelled to overhear. Her -toilette was as perfect as lace, tulle, and flowers could make it. How -often had I gazed tenderly and passionately on that face, so false and -yet so fair, and kissed it on lips, and eyes, and cheek! and now it -was turned, smilingly, laughingly, and, I am sorry to add, lovingly, -to the boyish and insipid face of that long-legged, curled, and -pomatumed Guardsman, who had "never set a squadron in the field," nor -smelt powder elsewhere than at Wormwood Scrubs or Bushey Park. - -I turned from her with something of sublime contempt, and yet, odd to -say, I felt a nervous twinge, as if in the arm that was now no longer -in my sleeve, when her voice reached me; but after all that had come -and gone, that voice could find no echo now in my heart. Sweetly -modulated it was still, but seemed to me only "low and clear as the -song of a snake-charmer." - -"It will be the ball of the season--you will be there, of course?" she -asked. - -"Only if _you_ go, Lady Aberconway--not unless," replied the trooper, -in a low tone; "what or who else should take me there?" - -"So they have made your uncle a K.C.B." - -"Yes--and somebody is going to marry him on Tuesday at eleven in -Hanover-square." - -"And your brother is coming up for his little exam. I have heard -also." - -"Yes--at Woolwich. The idea of any fellow fancying the Artillery!" - -"Is he handsome--is he anything like _you?_" Then, without waiting for -a reply to these important queries, she suddenly said, "Gracious, -mamma, there is another poor creature without an arm!" - -"Poor deyvil--so there is," drawled her male friend, and then I knew -by these flattering remarks that their august regards were turned on -me; but my bushy Crimean beard, my empty sleeve, and, as yet, rather -pale cheek, and moreover my face being half averted, prevented Estelle -from recognising me; or it might be, that I dwelt but little in her -memory. - -"What is that officer's regiment?" she asked, adding doubtfully, "he -is an officer, isn't he--but his uniform is deplorable!" - -"Twenty-third--Welsh Fusileers." - -"Ah, indeed!" - -I now turned fully round; for a moment our eyes met, and then I moved -back to where Winifred sat. Estelle eyed me keenly enough now, and -fanned herself, as I thought, with a little air of vexation, from time -to time. Yet that was not flattering; for I knew that though a woman -may forget, she does not like the idea of being forgotten, or that -even when flirting with another, her empire over an old lover's heart -is at an end. - -She had deteriorated in style, and her tone of flippancy was not that -of the Estelle I had once loved; and as for the boy Guardsman, with -whom gossip was already linking her name, poor fool! his love for her -and her extravagance soon ruined him. Bills were dishonoured thick and -threefold; cent. per cent., London, and Judea between them cleaned him -out. A meeting of the Guards' Club passed such resolutions that he was -compelled to begin the sliding scale--from "the Guards to Line, and -from thence to the devil," as the phrase is--and to recruiting for -H.M. 2nd West India Regiment in Sierra Leone, where drink and fever -finished him; and he lies now by the bank of the Bunce river, as -completely forgotten by Estelle as if he never had been. - -"Do you see who is there, Harry?" asked Winifred, with a rather -agitated voice. - -"Yes; what of it, little one?" - -"Only that I--hate her!" - -"Why?" - -"For her treatment of you." - -"How odd!" said I, laughing; "had it been otherwise, Winny, we should -not have had our delightful little trip to Brighton. Think of that, my -British matron!" - -"I am not a matron yet, but only your bride; the honeymoon is not yet -over, sir." - -"Thank God you are so, darling! What an escape I have had from being -in old Pottersleigh's place! But there sound the trumpets, and I must -fall in--fall in for the last time." - -And as drum and bugle sounded on all sides, and the arms flashed in -the sunshine when the order was given to "shoulder," a brightness -seemed to pass over all the eyes and expectant faces in the grand -stand. The Queen had come, and all that passed subsequently was like a -dream to me then, and is more so now. The sixty-two officers and men -who were to receive the cross (and twelve of whom belonged to the -navy) were all, irrespective of rank, marshalled according to the -number of their regiment under Lieutenant John Knox, of the Rifles, -who, like myself, had an empty sleeve. The braided breast of his -dark-green uniform seemed ablaze with medals, for he had been with the -ladder party in the attack on the Redan, where he lost an arm by a -grape-shot. There were but two officers of the 23rd to win the -decoration, and we were posted between two privates of the 19th, and -two of the 34th; but all passed the royal stand in single file. I had -never seen the Queen hitherto, and suddenly I found myself before -her--a smiling-faced, graceful, though stout little lady, in a low -hat, adorned with a beautiful plume, and wearing a scarlet tunic and -blue skirt; and I certainly felt my heart vibrate, as with her own -hands she pinned the decoration on my breast--vibrate with a flush of -pride and joy only to be felt at such a time and at such a ceremony; -and yet amid it all I thought of the dear little wife who, with her -eyes dim with tears of happiness, was watching me. I then passed on, -giving place to a lame private of the 34th Foot, the Prince Consort -saluting each recipient as they passed him--many slowly, painfully, -and with difficulty; for some poor maimed and haggard-faced fellows -were hobbling on sticks and crutches, and some, like the gallant Sir -Thomas Trowbridge, who had lost both legs, were wheeled to the very -feet of the Queen in Bath-chairs. At last all was over--this closing -episode of our war in the Crimea; and as we drove from the crowded -park to get the train for Brighton--the honeymoon was not yet -finished--I had forgotten all about Estelle and her Plunger; and I -thanked God in my heart that I was not lying where so many lay in the -land we had left, and for the tender and true-hearted wife He had -given me, as I laughingly hung round her pretty neck the black-iron -order of valour--the Victoria Cross. - -Fifteen years have passed since that auspicious day. And now, as I -write these closing lines, I can see, through the lozenged and -mullioned windows of the library, the old woods of Craigaderyn tossing -their leafy branches on the evening wind, and the sunset lingering -redly on the lofty peaks of Snowdon and Carneydd Llewellyn. Old Sir -Madoc--too old now to back even his most favourite hunter--is sitting -yonder in the sunshine, looking dreamily down the far-stretched vista -of the chase to where the bright sea is rippling in the distance. - -The flowers are blooming as gaily on the terrace as they did on the -day of Dora's fête, and she has long been _Aunt_ Vaughan; for at -Craigaderyn there are little ones now--a violet-eyed Winifred, who -scampers through the park on a Welsh pony; a dark-haired Madoc, who -can almost handle a gun; and a golden-curled Harry to run after the -tossing leaves, to shout to the deer and hare as they lurk among the -fern; to seek for birds' nests among the shrubbery; to grab at the -gold fish in the fountain with his fat little fists; to clamber about -Sir Madoc's chair and knees; to ride on the backs of Owen Gwyllim and -old Corporal Mulligan, and in whom we see mamma's eyes, papa's -expression--nods, winks, and blinks, and so forth, all so exactly -reproduced and blended, that our best friends don't know which of us -he most resembles; so "Time, the avenger" of all things, has brought -nothing but joy and happiness to us at Craigaderyn. - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 1: Without God, without everything.] - -[Footnote 2: The artillery of the Prussian Guard have also had -constantly a goat, its neck encircled by a beautiful collar, and one, -named by the soldiers "Herr Schneider," accompanied them in every -battle, from the war which broke out in 1866 till the peace in 1870. -He always marched with the men of the first gun. At Köninghof, Herr -Schneider was left in the rear, tied to a powder caisson; but he broke -loose, came to the front at full gallop, and was recaptured under -fire; the soldiers afterwards attached to his collar a copper medal, -made from a pan found among the captured cooking utensils of General -Coronini. His death was formally announced by the artillery of the -Guard in the Berlin _Vossische Zeitung_.] - -[Footnote 3: Fusileer regiments did not then wear epaulettes.] - -[Footnote 4: May God preserve us!] - -[Footnote 5: Good Lord deliver us.] - - - -THE END. - - - -******************** -BILLING, PRINTER. 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A Novel.</title> -<meta name="Author" content="James Grant"> - -<meta name="Publisher" content="George Routledge and Sons"> -<meta name="Date" content="1848"> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> -<style type="text/css"> -body {margin-left:10%; - margin-right:10%; background-color:#FFFFFF;} - - -p.normal {text-indent:.25in; text-align: justify;} -.center {margin: auto; text-align:center; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt} - - - -p.right {text-align:right; margin-right:20%;} - -p.continue {text-indent: 0in; margin-top:9pt;} -h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 {text-align: center;} - -span.sc {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:110%;} -span.sc2 {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:90%;} - -hr.W10 {width:10%; color:black; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt} - -hr.W20 {width:20%; color:black; margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt} - -hr.W50 {width:50%; color:black;} -hr.W90 {width:90%; color:black;} - -p.hang1 {margin-left:3em; text-indent:-3em;} -p.hang2 {margin-left:3em; text-indent:0em;} - - -.poem0 { - margin-top: 24pt; margin-left: 0%; - margin-right: 0%; text-align: left; - margin-bottom: 24pt; font-size:90%} - -.poem1 { - margin-top: 24pt; margin-left: 2em; - margin-right: 10%; text-align: left; - margin-bottom: 24pt; font-size:90%} - -.t0 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0em; margin-right:0em;} -.t1 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:1em; margin-right:0em;} -.t2 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:2em; margin-right:0em;} -.t3 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:3em; margin-right:0em;} -.t4 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:4em; margin-right:0em;} -.t5 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:5em; margin-right:0em;} -</style> -</head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Under the Red Dragon, by James Grant - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Under the Red Dragon - A Novel - -Author: James Grant - -Release Date: January 2, 2017 [EBook #53874] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER THE RED DRAGON *** - - - - -Produced by Charles Bowen from page scans provided by -Google Books (Cornell University Library) - - - - - - -</pre> - - - -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Notes:<br> -1. Page scan source: Google Books<br> -https://books.google.com/books?id=bZ4xAQAAMAAJ<br> -(Cornell University Library)</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h3>UNDER THE RED DRAGON.</h3> -<br> -<br> -<h4>A Novel.</h4> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4>By JAMES GRANT,</h4> - -<h5>AUTHOR OF "THE ROMANCE OF WAR," "ONLY AN ENSIGN," ETC.</h5> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><span style="font-size:smaller">LONDON:</span><br> -GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS,<br> -<span style="font-size:smaller">THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE.<br> -NEW YORK: 416, BROOME STREET.<br> -1873.</span></h4> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<table cellpadding="10" style="width:90%; margin-left:5%; font-weight:bold"> -<colgroup><col style="width:25%; vertical-align:top; text-align:right"><col style="width:75%; vertical-align:top; text-align:left"></colgroup> -<tr> -<td colspan="2"><h3>CONTENTS</h3></td> -</tr><tr> -<td>CHAPTER</td> -<td> </td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_01" href="#div1_01">I.</a></td> -<td>THE INVITATION.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_02" href="#div1_02">II.</a></td> -<td>THE MOTH AND THE CANDLE.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_03" href="#div1_03">III.</a></td> -<td>BY EXPRESS.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_04" href="#div1_04">IV.</a></td> -<td>WINNY AND DORA LLOYD.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_05" href="#div1_05">V.</a></td> -<td>CRAIGADERYN COURT.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_06" href="#div1_06">VI.</a></td> -<td>THREE GRACES.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_07" href="#div1_07">VII.</a></td> -<td>PIQUE.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_08" href="#div1_08">VIII.</a></td> -<td>SUNDAY AT CRAIGADERYN.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_09" href="#div1_09">IX.</a></td> -<td>THE INITIALS.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_10" href="#div1_10">X.</a></td> -<td>A PERILOUS RAMBLE.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_11" href="#div1_11">XI.</a></td> -<td>THE FETE CHAMPETRE.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_12" href="#div1_12">XII.</a></td> -<td>ON THE CLIFFS.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_13" href="#div1_13">XIII.</a></td> -<td>A PROPOSAL.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_14" href="#div1_14">XIV.</a></td> -<td>THE UNFORESEEN.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_15" href="#div1_15">XV.</a></td> -<td>WHAT THE MOON SAW.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_16" href="#div1_16">XVI.</a></td> -<td>THE SECRET ENGAGEMENT.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_17" href="#div1_17">XVII.</a></td> -<td>WHAT FOLLOWED IT.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_18" href="#div1_18">XVIII.</a></td> -<td>GUILFOYLE.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_19" href="#div1_19">XIX.</a></td> -<td>TWO LOVES FOR ONE HEART.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_20" href="#div1_20">XX.</a></td> -<td>FEARS.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_21" href="#div1_21">XXI.</a></td> -<td>GEORGETTE FRANKLIN.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_22" href="#div1_22">XXII.</a></td> -<td>GEORGETTE FRANKLIN'S STORY.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_23" href="#div1_23">XXIII.</a></td> -<td>TURNING THE TABLES.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_24" href="#div1_24">XXIV.</a></td> -<td>BITTER THOUGHTS.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_25" href="#div1_25">XXV.</a></td> -<td>SURPRISES.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_26" href="#div1_26">XXVI.</a></td> -<td>WITHOUT PURCHASE.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_27" href="#div1_27">XXVII.</a></td> -<td>RECONCILIATION.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_28" href="#div1_28">XVIII.</a></td> -<td>ON BOARD THE URGENT.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_29" href="#div1_29">XXIX.</a></td> -<td>"ICH DIEN."</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_30" href="#div1_30">XXX.</a></td> -<td>NEWS OF BATTLE.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_31" href="#div1_31">XXXI.</a></td> -<td>UNDER CANVAS.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_32" href="#div1_32">XXXII.</a></td> -<td>IN THE TRENCHES.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_33" href="#div1_33">XXXIII.</a></td> -<td>THE FLAG OF TRUCE.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_34" href="#div1_34">XXXIV.</a></td> -<td>GUILFOYLE REDIVIVUS.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_35" href="#div1_35">XXXV.</a></td> -<td>THE NIGHT BEFORE INKERMANN.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_36" href="#div1_36">XXXVI.</a></td> -<td>THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_37" href="#div1_37">XXXVII.</a></td> -<td>THE ANGEL OF HORROR.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_38" href="#div1_38">XXXVIII.</a></td> -<td>THE CAMP AGAIN.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_39" href="#div1_39">XXXIX.</a></td> -<td>A MAIL FROM ENGLAND.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_40" href="#div1_40">XL.</a></td> -<td>A PERILOUS DUTY.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_41" href="#div1_41">XLI.</a></td> -<td>THE CARAVANSERAI.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_42" href="#div1_42">XLII.</a></td> -<td>THE TCHERNIMORSKI COSSACKS.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_43" href="#div1_43">XLIII.</a></td> -<td>WINIFRED'S SECRET.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_44" href="#div1_44">XLIV.</a></td> -<td>THE CASTLE OF YALTA.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_45" href="#div1_45">XLV.</a></td> -<td>EVIL TIDINGS.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_46" href="#div1_46">XLVI.</a></td> -<td>DELILAH.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_47" href="#div1_47">XLVII.</a></td> -<td>VALERIE VOLHONSKI.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_48" href="#div1_48">XLVIII.</a></td> -<td>THE THREATS OF TOLSTOFF.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_49" href="#div1_49">XLIX.</a></td> -<td>BETROTHED.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_50" href="#div1_50">L.</a></td> -<td>CAUGHT AT LAST.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_51" href="#div1_51">LI.</a></td> -<td>FLIGHT.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_52" href="#div1_52">LII.</a></td> -<td>BEFORE SEBASTOPOL STILL.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_53" href="#div1_53">LIII.</a></td> -<td>NEWS FROM CRAIGADERYN.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_54" href="#div1_54">LIV.</a></td> -<td>THE ASSAULT.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_55" href="#div1_55">LV.</a></td> -<td>INSIDE THE REDAN.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_56" href="#div1_56">LVI.</a></td> -<td>A SUNDAY MORNING IN THE CRIMEA.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_57" href="#div1_57">LVII.</a></td> -<td>IN THE MONASTERY OF ST. GEORGE.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_58" href="#div1_58">LVIII.</a></td> -<td>HOME.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_59" href="#div1_59">LIX.</a></td> -<td>"A DREAM WHICH WAS NOT ALL A DREAM."</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_60" href="#div1_60">LX.</a></td> -<td>A HONEYMOON.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_61" href="#div1_61">LXI.</a></td> -<td>"FOR VALOUR."</td> -</tr></table> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h3>UNDER THE RED DRAGON.</h3> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_01" href="#div1Ref_01">CHAPTER I.--THE INVITATION.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">"And <i>she</i> is to be there--nay, is there already; so one more chance -is given me to meet her. But for what?--to part again silently, and -more helplessly bewitched than ever, perhaps. Ah, never will she learn -to love me as I love her!" thought I, as I turned over my old friend's -letter, not venturing, however, to give utterance to this aloud, as -the quizzical eyes of Phil Caradoc were upon me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A penny for your thoughts, friend Harry?" said he, laughing; "try -another cigar, and rouse yourself. What the deuce is in this letter, -that it affects you so? Have you put a pot of money on the wrong -horse?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Been jilted, had a bill returned, or what?" suggested Gwynne.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Neither, fortunately," said I; "it is simply an invitation from Sir -Madoc Lloyd, which rather perplexes me."</p> - -<p class="normal">At this time our regiment was then in the East, awaiting with the rest -of the army some movement to be made from Varna, either towards -Bessarabia or the Crimea--men's minds were undecided as to which, -while her Majesty's Ministers seemed to have no thought on the -subject. Our depôt belonged to the provisional battalion at -Winchester, where Caradoc, Gwynne, two other subalterns, and I, with -some two hundred rank and file, expected ere long the fiat of the -fates who reign at the Horse Guards to send us forth to win our -laurels from the Russians, or, what seemed more probable, a grave -where the pest was then decimating our hapless army, in the beautiful -but perilous vale of Aladdyn, on the coast of Bulgaria. We had -just adjourned from mess, to have a quiet cheroot and glass of -brandy-and-water in my quarters, when I received from my man, Owen -Evans, the letter the contents of which awakened so many new hopes and -tantalising wishes in my heart, and on which so much of my fate in the -future might hinge.</p> - -<p class="normal">The bare, half-empty, or but partially-furnished single room accorded -by the barrack authorities to me as a subaltern, in that huge square -edifice built of old by Charles II. for a royal residence, seemed by -its aspect but little calculated to flatter the brilliant hopes in -question. Though ample in size, it was far from regal in its -appurtenances--the barrack furniture, a camp-bed, my baggage trunks -piled in one corner, swords and a gun-case in another, books, empty -bottles, cigar-boxes, and a few pairs of boots ostentatiously -displayed in a row by Evans, making up its entire garniture, and by -very contrast in its meagreness compelling me to smile sadly at myself -for the ambitious ideas the letter of my old friend had suggested; and -thus, for a minute or so ignoring, or rather oblivious of, the -presence of my two companions, my eye wandered dreamily over the -far-extended mass of old brick houses and the gray church towers of -the city, all visible from the open window, and then steeped in the -silver haze of the moonlight.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sipping their brandy-and-water, each with a lighted cheroot between -his fingers, their shell-jackets open, and their feet unceremoniously -planted on a hard wooden chair, while they lounged back upon another, -were Phil Caradoc and Charley Gwynne. The first a good specimen of a -handsome, curly-haired, and heedless young Englishman, who shot, -fished, hunted, pulled a steady oar, and could keep his wicket against -any man, while shining without effort in almost every manly sport, was -moreover a finished gentleman and thorough good fellow. Less -fashionable in appearance and less dashing in manner, though by no -means less soldier-like, Gwynne was his senior by some ten years. He -was more grave and thoughtful, for he had seen more of the service and -more of the world. Already a gray hair or so had begun to mingle with -the blackness of his heavy moustache, and the lines of thought were -traceable on his forehead and about the corners of his keen dark-gray -eyes; for he was a hard-working officer, who had been promoted from -the ranks when the regiment lay at Barbadoes, and was every inch a -soldier. And now they sat opposite me, waiting, with a half-comical -expression, for farther information as to their queries; and though we -were great friends, and usually had few secrets from each other, I -began to find that I had <i>one</i> now, and that a little reticence was -necessary.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You know Sir Madoc's place in North Wales?" said I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of course," replied Caradoc; "there are few of ours who don't. Half -the regiment have been there as visitors at one time or other."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, he wishes me to get leave between returns--for even longer if I -can--and run down there for a few weeks. 'Come early, if possible,' he -adds; 'the girls insist on having an outdoor fête, and a lot of nice -folks are coming. Winny has arranged that we shall have a regimental -band--the Yeomanry one too, probably; then we are to have a Welsh -harper, of course, and an itinerant Merlin in the grotto, to tell -every one's fortune, and to predict your promotion and the C.B., if -the seer remains sober. While I write, little Dora is drawing up a -programme of the dances, and marking off, she says, those which she -means to have with <i>you</i>.'"</p> - -<p class="normal">Here I paused; but seeing they expected to hear more, for the writer -was a friend of us all, I read on coolly, and with an air of as much -unconsciousness as I could assume:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lady Estelle Cressingham is with us--by the way, she seems to know -you, and would, I think, like to see more of you. She is a very fine -girl, though not pure Welsh; but that she cannot help--it is her -misfortune, not her fault. We have also a fellow here, though I don't -quite know how he got introduced--Hawkesby Guilfoyle, who met her -abroad at Ems, or Baden-Baden, or one of those places where one meets -everybody, and he seems uncommonly attentive--so much so, that I -wonder her mother permits it; but he seems to have some special power -or influence over the old lady, though his name is not as yet, or ever -likely to be, chronicled by Burke or Debrett. In lieu of the goat -which your regiment lost in Barbadoes, Winifred has a beautiful pet -one, a magnificent animal, which she means to present to the Welsh -Fusileers. Tell them so. And now, for yourself, I will take no -refusal, and Winny and Dora will take none either; so pack your traps, -and come off so soon as you can get leave. You need not, unless you -choose, bring horses; we have plenty of cavalry here. Hope you will be -able to stay till the 12th, and have a shot at the grouse. Meanwhile, -believe me, my dear Hardinge, yours, &c., Madoc Meredyth Lloyd.'"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Kindly written, and so like the jolly style of the old Baronet," said -Gwynne. "I have ridden with him once or twice in the hunting-field--on -a borrowed mount, of course," added poor Charley; who had only his -pay, and, being an enthusiast in his profession, was no lounger in the -service.</p> - -<p class="normal">"But what is there in all this that perplexes you?" asked Caradoc, -who, I suppose, had been attentively observing me. As he spoke, I -coloured visibly, feeling the while that I did so.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The difficulty about leave, perhaps," I stammered.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You'll go, of course," said Caradoc. "His place--Craigaderyn -Court--is one of the finest in North Wales; his daughters are indeed -charming; and you are certain to meet only people of the best style -there."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yet he seems to doubt this--what is his name?--Guilfoyle, however," -said I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What of that? One swallow--you know the adage. I should go, if I had -the invitation. His eldest daughter has, I have heard, in her own -right, no end of coal-mines somewhere, and many grassy acres of dairy -farms in the happy hunting-grounds of the midland counties."</p> - -<p class="normal">"By Jove," murmured Gwynne, as he lit a fresh cigar; "she should be -the girl for me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But I have another inducement than even the fair Winny," said I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oho! Lady--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sir Madoc," said I hastily, "is an old friend of my family, and -having known me from infancy, he almost views me as a son. Don't -mistake me," I added, reddening with positive annoyance at the hearty -laugh my admission elicited; "Miss Lloyd and I are old friends too, -and know each other a deuced deal too well to tempt the perils of -matrimony together. We have no draughts ready for the East, nor will -there be yet awhile; even our last recruits are not quite licked into -shape."</p> - -<p class="normal">"No," sighed Gwynne, who had a special charge of the said "licking -into shape."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And so, as the spring drills are over, I shall try my luck with old -R----."</p> - -<p class="normal">The person thus bluntly spoken of was the lieutenant-colonel of the -depôt battalion--one who kept a pretty tight hand over us all in -general, and the subalterns in particular.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Stay," I exclaimed suddenly; "here is a postscript. 'Bring Caradoc of -yours with you, and Gwynne, too, if you can. Winny has mastered the -duet the former sent her, and is anxious to try it over with him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Caradoc will only be too happy, if the genius who presides over us in -the orderly-room is propitious," said Phil, colouring and laughing.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thank Sir Madoc for me, old fellow," said Gwynne, half sadly. "Tell -him that the Fates have made me musketry instructor, and that daily I -have that</p> - -<div class="poem1"> -<p class="t2" style="text-indent:-8px">'Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,<br> -To teach the young idea how to <i>shoot</i>'--</p> -</div> - -<p class="continue">to set up Taffy and Giles Chawbacon in the Hythe position, and drill -them to fire without closing both eyes and blazing in the air."</p> - -<p class="normal">"'In the lawn,' adds Sir Madoc, 'we are to have everything--from -waltzing to croquet (which, being an old fellow, and being above -insteps and all that sort of thing, I think the slowest game known), -and from cliquot and sparkling hock to bottled stout and bitter -beer--unlimited flirtation too, according to that wag, Dora.'"</p> - -<p class="normal">"A tempting bill of fare, especially with two such hostesses," said -Gwynne; "but for me to quit Winchester is impossible. Even the stale -dodge of 'urgent private affairs' won't serve me. Such droll ideas of -the service old Sir Madoc must have, to think that three of us could -leave the depôt, and all at once too!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I shall try my luck, however."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And I too," rejoined Caradoc. "I am entitled to leave. Price of ours -will take my guards for me. Wales will be glorious in this hot month. -I <i>did</i> all the dear old Principality last year--went over every foot -of Snowdonia, leaving nothing undone, from singing 'Jenny Jones' to -dancing a Welsh jig at a harvest-home."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But you didn't go over Snowdonia with such a girl as Winifred Lloyd?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, certainly," said he, laughing, and almost reddening again. -"Nature, even in my native Wales, must be more charming under such -bright auspices and happy influence. So Wales be it, if possible. -London, of course, is empty just now, and all who can get out of it -will be yachting at Cowes, shooting in Scotland, fishing in Norway, -backing the red at Baden-Baden, climbing the Matterhorn, or, it may -be, the Peter Botte; killing buffaloes in America, or voyaging up the -Nile in canoes. Rotten-row will be a desert, the opera a place of -silence and cobwebs; and the irresistible desire to go somewhere and -be doing something, no matter what, which inspires all young Britons -about this time, renders Sir Madoc's invitation most tempting and -acceptable."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Till the route comes for the East," said I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Potting the Ruskies, and turning my musketry theory into practice, -are likely to be my chief relaxations and excitement," said Gwynne, -with a good-natured laugh, as he applied his hand to the brandy -bottle. "At present I have other work in hand than flirting with -countesses, or visiting heiresses. But I envy you both, and heartily -wish you all pleasure," he added, as he shook hands and left us early, -as he had several squads to put through that most monotonous of all -drill (shot drill perhaps excepted)--a course of musketry--betimes in -the morning.</p> - -<p class="normal">We knew that Gwynne, who was a tall, thin, close-flanked, and square -shouldered, but soldier-like fellow, had nothing but his pay; and -having a mother to support, he was fain to slave as a musketry -instructor, the five shillings extra daily being a great pecuniary -object to him. He was very modest withal, and feared that, nathless -his red coat and stalwart figure, his chances of an heiress, even in -Cottonopolis, were somewhat slender.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_02" href="#div1Ref_02">CHAPTER II.--THE MOTH AND THE CANDLE.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Philip Caradoc, perceiving that I was somewhat dull and disposed to -indulge in reverie, soon retired also, and we separated, intending to -mature our plans after morning parade next day, as I knew that -secretly Caradoc was very much attached to Winifred Lloyd, though that -young lady by no means reciprocated his affection. But I, seized by an -irresistible impulse, could not wait for our appointed time; so, the -moment he was gone, I opened my desk, wrote my application for leave, -and desiring Evans to take it to the orderly-room among his first -duties on the morrow, threw open a second window to admit the soft -breeze of the summer night, lit another cigar, and sat down to indulge -in the train of thought Sir Madoc's unexpected letter had awakened -within my breast.</p> - -<p class="normal">Yet I was not much given to reflection--far from it, perhaps; and it -is lucky for soldiers that they rarely indulge much in thought, or -that the system of their life is apt to preclude time or opportunity -for it. I had come home on a year's sick-leave from the West Indies, -where the baleful night-dews, and a fever caught in the rainy season, -had nearly finished my career while stationed at Up Park Camp; and -now, through the friendly interest of Sir Madoc, I had been gazetted -to the Welsh Fusileers, as I preferred the chances of the coming war -and military service in any part of Europe to broiling uselessly in -the land of the Maroons. Our army was in the East, I have said, -encamped in the vale of Aladdyn, between Varna and the sea. There -camp-fever and the terrible cholera were filling fast with graves the -grassy plain and all the Valley of the Plague, as the Bulgarians so -aptly named it; and though I was not sorry to escape the perils -encountered where no honour could be won, I was pretty weary of the -daily round at Winchester, of barrack life, of in-lying pickets, -guards, parades, and drill. I had been seven years in the service, and -deemed myself somewhat of a veteran, though only five-and-twenty. I -was weary too of belonging to a provisional battalion, wherein, beyond -the narrow circle of one's own depôt, no two men have the slightest -interest in each other, or seem to care if they ever meet again, the -whole organisation being temporary, and where the duties of such a -battalion--it being, in effect, a strict military school for training -recruits--are harassing to the newly-fledged, and a dreadful bore to -the fully-initiated, soldier. So, till the time came when the order -would be, "Eastward, ho!" Sir Madoc had opportunely offered me a -little relaxation and escape from all this; and though he knew it not, -his letter might be perhaps the means of doing much more--of opening -up a path to happiness and fortune, or leaving one closed for ever -behind me in sorrow, mortification, and bitterness of heart.</p> - -<p class="normal">Good old Sir Madoc (or, as he loved to call himself, Madoc ap Meredyth -Lloyd) had in his youth been an unsuccessful lover of my mother, then -the pretty Mary Vassal, a belle in her second season; and now, though -she had long since passed away, he had a strong regard for me. For her -sake he had a deep and kindly interest in my welfare; and as he had no -son (no heir to his baronetcy, with all its old traditional honours,) -he quite regarded me in the light of one; and having two daughters, -desired nothing more than that I should cut the service and become one -in reality. So many an act of friendship and many a piece of stamped -paper he had done for me, when in the first years of my career, I got -into scrapes with rogues upon the turf, at billiards, and with those -curses of all barracks, the children of Judea. Had I seen where my own -good fortune really lay, I should have fallen readily into the snare -so temptingly baited for me, a half-pennyless sub.; for Winifred Lloyd -was a girl among a thousand, so far as brilliant attractions go, and, -moreover, was not indisposed to view me favourably (at least, so my -vanity taught me). But this world is full of cross purposes; people -are too often blind to their profit and advantage, and, as Jaques has -it, "thereby hangs a tale."</p> - -<p class="normal">All the attractions of bright-eyed Winny Lloyd, personal and -pecuniary, were at that time as nothing to me. I had casually, when -idling in London, been introduced to, and had met at several places, -this identical Lady Cressingham, whom my friend had mentioned so -incidentally and in such an offhand way in his letter; and that -sentence it was which brought the blood to my temples and quickened -all the pulses of my heart.</p> - -<p class="normal">She was very beautiful--as the reader will find when we meet her -by-and-by--and I had soon learned to love her, but without quite -venturing to say so; to love her as much as it was possible for one -without hope of ultimate success, and so circumstanced as I was--a -poor gentleman, with little more in the world save my sword and -epaulettes. Doubtless she had seen and read the emotion with which she -had inspired me, for women have keen perceptions in such matters; and -though it seems as if it was on her very smile that the mainspring of -my existence turned, the whole affair might be but a source of quiet -amusement, of curiosity, or gratified vanity to her. Yet, by every -opportunity that the chances and artificial system of society in town -afforded, I had evinced this passion, the boldness of which my secret -heart confessed. Her portrait, a stately full-length, was in the -Academy, and how often had I gazed at it, till in fancy the limner's -work seemed to become instinct with life! Traced on the canvas by no -unskilful hand, it seemed to express a somewhat haughty consciousness -of her own brilliant beauty, and somehow I fancied a deuced deal more -of her own exalted <i>position</i>, as the only daughter of a deceased but -wealthy peer, and as if she rather disdained alike the criticism and -the admiration of the crowd of middle-class folks who thronged the -Academy halls.</p> - -<p class="normal">Visions of her--as I had seen her in the Countess's curtained box at -the opera, her rare and high-class beauty enhanced by all the -accessories of fashion and costume, by brilliance of light and the -subtle flash of many a gem amid her hair; when galloping along the -Row on her beautiful satin-skinned bay; or while driving after -in the Park, with all those appliances and surroundings that wealth -and rank confer--came floating before me, with the memory of words -half-uttered, and glances responded to when eye met eye, and told so -much more than the tongue might venture to utter. Was it mere vanity, -or reality, that made me think her smile <i>had</i> brightened when she met -me, or that when I rode by her side she preferred me to the many -others who daily pressed forward to greet her amid that wonderful -place, the Row? Her rank, and the fact that she was an heiress, had no -real weight with me; nor did these fortuitous circumstances enhance -her merit in my eyes, though they certainly added to the difficulty of -winning her. Was it possible that the days of disinterested and -romantic love, like those of chivalry, were indeed past--gone with the -days when</p> - -<div class="poem1"> -<p class="t2">"It was a clerk's son, of low degree,<br> -Loved the king's daughter of Hongarie?"</p> -</div> - -<p class="continue">With the love that struggled against humble fortune in my heart, I had -that keenly sensitive pride which is based on proper self-respect. -Hope I seemed to have none. What hope could I, Harry Hardinge, a mere -subaltern, with little more than seven-and-sixpence per diem, have of -obtaining such a wife as Lady Estelle Cressingham, and, more than all, -of winning the good wishes of her over-awing mamma? Though "love will -venture in when it daurna weel be seen," I could neither be hanged nor -reduced to the ranks for my presumption, like the luckless Captain -Ogilvie; who, according to the Scottish ballad, loved the Duke of -Gordon's bonnie daughter Jean. Yet defeat and rejection might cover me -with certain ridicule, leaving the stings of wounded self-esteem to -rankle all the deeper, by thrusting the partial disparity of our -relative positions in society more unpleasantly and humiliatingly -before me and the world; for there is a snobbery in rank that is only -equalled by the snobbery of wealth, and here I might have both to -encounter. And so, as I brooded over these things, some very levelling -and rather democratic, if not entirely Communal, ideas began to occur -to me. And yet, for the Countess and those who set store upon such -empty facts, I could have proved my descent from Nicholas Hardinge, -knight, of King's Newton, in Derbyshire; who in the time of Henry VII. -held his lands by the homely and most sanitary tenure of furnishing -clean straw for his Majesty's bed when he and his queen, Elizabeth of -York, passed that way, together with fresh rushes from the margin of -the Trent wherewith to strew the floor of the royal apartment. But -this would seem as yesterday to the fair Estelle, who boasted of an -ancestor, one Sir Hugh Cressingham, who, as history tells us, was -defeated and <i>flayed</i> by the Scots after the battle of Stirling; while -old Sir Madoc Lloyd, who doubtless traced himself up to Noah ap -Lamech, would have laughed both pedigrees to scorn.</p> - -<p class="normal">Leaving London, I had striven to stifle as simply absurd the passion -that had grown within me, and had joined at Winchester in the honest -and earnest hope that ere long the coming campaign would teach me to -forget the fair face and witching eyes, and, more than all, the -winning manner that haunted me; and now I was to be cast within their -magic influence once more, and doubtless to be hopelessly lost. To -have acted wisely, I should have declined the invitation and pleaded -military duty; yet to see her once, to be with her once again, without -that cordon of guardsmen and cavaliers who daily formed her mounted -escort in Rotten-row, and with all the chances our quiet mutual -residence in a sequestered country mansion, when backed by all the -influence and friendship of Sir Madoc, must afford me, proved a -temptation too strong for resistance or for my philosophy; so, like -the poor moth, infatuated and self-doomed, I resolved once more to -rush at the light which dazzled me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"She seems to know you, <i>and would like to see more of you</i>," ran the -letter of Sir Madoc. I read that line over and over again, studying it -minutely in every way. Were those dozen words simply the embodiment of -his own ideas, or were they her personally expressed wish put -literally into writing? Were they but the reflex of some casual -remark? Even that conviction would bring me happiness. And so, after -my friends left me, I sat pondering thus, blowing long rings of -concentric smoke in the moonlight; and on those words of Sir Madoc -raising not only a vast and aerial castle, but a "bower of bliss," as -the pantomimes have it at Christmas time.</p> - -<p class="normal">But how about this Mr. Hawkesby Guilfoyle? was my next thought. Could -<i>his</i> attentions be tolerated by such a stately and watchful dowager as -the Countess of Naseby? Could Sir Madoc actually hint that such as he -might have a chance of success, when I had none? The idea was too -ridiculous; for I had heard whispers of this man before, in London and -about the clubs, where he was generally deemed to be a species of -adventurer, the exact source of whose revenue no one knew. One fact -was pretty certain: he was unpleasantly successful at billiards and on -the turf. If he--to use his own phraseology--was daring enough to -enter stakes for such a prize as Lord Cressingham's daughter, why -should not I?</p> - -<p class="normal">Thus, in reverie of a somewhat chequered kind, I lingered on, while -the shadows of the cathedral, its lofty tower and choir, the spire of -St. Lawrence, and many other bold features of the view began to deepen -or become more uncertain on the city roofs below, and from amid which -their masses stood upward in a flood of silver sheen. Ere long the -full-orbed moon--that seemed to float in beauty beneath its snow-white -clouds, looking calmly down on Winchester, even as she had done ages -ago, ere London was a capital, and when the white city was the seat of -England's Saxon, Danish, and Norman dynasties, of Alfred's triumphs -and Canute's glories--began at last to pale and wane; and the solemn -silence of the morning--for dewy morning it was now--was broken only -by the chime of the city bells and clocks, and by the tread of feet in -the gravelled barrack-yard, as the reliefs went round, and the -sentinels were changed.</p> - -<p class="normal">The first red streak of dawn was beginning to steal across the east; -the bugles were pealing reveilles, waking all the hitherto silent -echoes of the square; and just about the time when worthy and -unambitious Charley Gwynne would be parading his first squad for -"aiming drill" at sundry bull's-eyes painted on the barrack-walls, I -retired to dream over a possible future, and to hope that if the stars -were propitious, at the altar of that somewhat dingy fane, St. -George's, Hanover-square, I might yet become the son-in-law of the -late Earl of Naseby, Baron Cressingham of Cotteswold, in the county of -Northampton, and of Walcot Park in Hants, Lord-lieutenant, <i>custos -rotulorum</i>, and so forth, as I had frequently and secretly read in the -mess-room copy of Sir Bernard Burke's thick royal octavo; "the -Englishman's Bible" according to Thackeray, and, as I greatly feared, -the somewhat exclusive <i>libro d'oro</i> of Mamma Cressingham, who was apt -to reverence it pretty much as the Venetian nobles did the remarkable -volume of that name.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_03" href="#div1Ref_03">CHAPTER III--By EXPRESS.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Leave granted, our acceptance of Sir Madoc's invitation duly -telegraphed--"wired," as the phrase is now--our uniforms doffed and -mufti substituted, the morning of the second day ensuing saw Caradoc -and myself on the Birmingham railway <i>en route</i> for Chester; the -exclusive occupants of a softly cushioned compartment, where, by the -influence of a couple of florins slipped deftly and judiciously into -the palm of an apparently unconscious and incorruptible official, we -could lounge at our ease, and enjoy without intrusion the <i>Times</i>, -<i>Punch</i>, or our own thoughts, and the inevitable cigar. Though in -mufti we had uniform with us; we <i>believed</i> in it then, and in its -influence; for certain German ideas of military tailoring subsequent -to the Crimean war had not shorn us of our epaulettes, and otherwise -reduced the character of our regimentals to something akin to the -livery of a penny postman or a railway guard.</p> - -<p class="normal">Somehow, I felt more hopeful of my prospects, when, with the bright -sunshine of July around us, I found myself spinning at the rate of -fifty miles per hour by the express train--the motion was almost as -imperceptible as the speed was exhilarating--and swiftly passed the -scenes on either side, the broad green fields of growing grain, the -grassy paddocks, the village churches, the snug and picturesque -homesteads of Warwick and Worcestershire. We glided past Rugby, where -Caradoc had erewhile conned his tasks in that great Elizabethan pile -which is built of white brick with stone angles and cornices, and -where in the playing fields he had gallantly learned to keep his -wicket with that skill which made him our prime regimental bat and -bowler too. Coventry next, where of course we laughed as we thought of -"peeping Tom" and Earl Leofric's pretty countess, when we saw its -beautiful and tapering spires rise over the dark and narrow streets -below. Anon, we paused amid the busy but grimy world of Birmingham, -which furnishes half the world with the implements of destruction; -Stafford, with its ruined castle on a well-wooded eminence; and ere -long we halted in quaint old Chester by the Dee, where the stately red -stone tower of the cathedral rises darkly over its picturesque -thoroughfares of the middle ages. There the rail went no farther then; -but a carriage sent by Sir Madoc awaited us at the station, and we had -before us the prospect of a delightful drive for nearly thirty miles -amid the beautiful Welsh hills ere we reached his residence.</p> - -<p class="normal">"This whiff of the country is indeed delightful!" exclaimed Caradoc, -as we bowled along on a lovely July evening, the changing shadows of -the rounded hills deepening as the sun verged westward; "it makes one -half inclined to cut the service, and turn farmer or cattle-breeding -squire--even to chuck ambition, glory, and oneself away upon a landed -heiress, if such could be found ready to hand."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Even upon Winifred Lloyd, with her dairy-farms in the midland -counties, eh?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Phil coloured a little, but laughed good-humouredly as he replied,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, I must confess that she is somewhat more than my weakness--at -present."</p> - -<p class="normal">At Aber-something we found a relay of fresh horses, sent on by Sir -Madoc, awaiting us, the Welsh roads not being quite so smooth as a -billiard-table; and there certain hoarse gurgling expletives, uttered -by ostlers and stable-boys, might have warned us that we were in the -land of Owen and Hughes, Griffiths and Davies, and all the men of the -Twelve Royal Tribes, even if there had not been the green mountains -towering into the blue sky, and the pretty little ivy-covered inn, at -the porch of which sat a white-haired harper (on the watch for patrons -and customers), performing the invariable "Jenny Jones" or -<i>Ar-hyd-y-nos</i> (the live-long night), and all the while keeping a -sharp Celtic eye to the expected coin.</p> - -<p class="normal">Everything around us indicated that we were drawing nearer to the -abode of Sir Madoc, and that ere long--in an hour or so, perhaps--I -should again see one who, by <i>name</i> as well as circumstance, was a -star that I feared and hoped would greatly influence all my future. -The Eastern war, and, more than all, the novelty of any war after -forty years of European peace, occupied keenly the minds of all -thinking people. My regiment was already gone, and I certainly should -soon have to follow it. I knew that, individually and collectively, -all bound for the seat of the coming strife had a romantic and even -melancholy interest, in the hearts of women especially; and I was not -without some hope that this sentiment might add to my chances of -finding favour with the rather haughty Estelle Cressingham.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was a glorious summer evening when our open barouche swept along -the white dusty road that wound by the base of Mynedd Hiraethrog, that -wild and bleak mountain chain which rises between the Dee and its -tributaries the Elwey and the Aled. Westward in the distance towered -blue Snowdon, above the white floating clouds of mist, with all its -subordinate peaks. In the immediate foreground were a series of -beautiful hills that were glowing, and, to the eye, apparently -vibrating, under a burning sunset. The Welsh woods were in all the -wealth of their thickest foliage--the umbrageous growth of centuries; -and where the boughs cast their deepest shadows, the dun deer and the -fleet hare lurked among the fragrant fern, and the yellow sunlight -fell in golden patches on the passing runnel, that leaped flashing -from rock to rock, to mingle with the Alwen, or crept slowly and -stealthily under the long rank grass towards Llyn-Aled.</p> - -<p class="normal">That other accessories might not be wanting to remind us that we were -in the land of the Cymri, we passed occasionally the <i>Carneddau</i>, or -heaps of stones that mark the old places of battle or burial; and -perched high on the hills the <i>Hafodtai</i> or summer farms, where -enormous flocks of sheep--the boasted Welsh mutton--were pasturing. -Then we heard at times the melancholy sound of the horn, by which -inmates summon the shepherds to their meals, and the notes of which, -when waking the echoes of the silent glen, have an effect so weird and -mournful.</p> - -<p class="normal">"By Jove, but we have a change here, Phil," said I, "a striking -change, indeed, from the hot and dusty gravelled yard of Winchester -barracks, the awkward squads at incessant drill with dumb-bell, club, -or musket; the pipeclay, the pacing-stick, and the tap of the drum!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Through a moss-grown gateway, the design of Inigo Jones, we turned -down the long straight avenue of limes that leads to Craigaderyn; a -fine old mansion situated in a species of valley, its broad lawn -overlooked by the identical craig from which it takes its name, "the -Rock of Birds," a lofty and insulated mass, the resort of innumerable -hawks, wood-pigeons, and even of hoarse-croaking cormorants from the -cliffs about Orme's Head and Llandulas. On its summit are the ruins of -an ancient British fort, wherein Sir Jorwerth Goch (<i>i. e</i>. Red Edward) -Lloyd of Craigaderyn had exterminated a band of Rumpers and Roundheads -in the last year of Charles I., using as a war-cry the old Welsh shout -of "Liberty, loyalty, and the long head of hair!" On either side of -the way spread the lawn, closely shorn and carefully rolled, the -turf being like velvet of emerald greenness, having broad winding -carriage-ways laid with gravel, the bright red of which contrasted so -strongly with the verdant hue of the grass. The foliage of the timber -was heavy and leafy, and there, at times, could be seen the lively -squirrel leaping from branch to branch of some ancient oak, in the -hollow of which lay its winter store of nuts; the rabbit bounding -across the path, from root to fern tuft; and the <i>bela-goed</i>, or -yellow-breasted martin (still a denizen of the old Welsh woods), with -rounded ears and sharp white claws, the terror of the poultry-yard, -appeared occasionally, despite the gamekeeper's gun. In one place a -herd of deer were browsing near the half-leafless ruins of a mighty -oak--one so old, that Owen Glendower had once reconnoitred an English -force from amid its branches.</p> - -<p class="normal">We had barely turned into the avenue, when a gentleman and two ladies, -all mounted, came galloping from a side path to meet us. He and one of -his companions cleared the wire fence in excellent style by a flying -leap; but the other, who was less pretentiously mounted, adroitly -opened the iron gate with the handle of her riding switch, and came a -few paces after them to meet us. They proved to be Sir Madoc and his -two daughters, Winifred and Dora.</p> - -<p class="normal">"True in the direction of time, 'by Shrewsbury clock'!" said he, -cantering up; "welcome to Craigaderyn, gentlemen! We were just looking -for you."</p> - -<p class="normal">He was a fine hale-looking man, about sixty years old, with a ruddy -complexion, and a keen, clear, dark eye; his hair, once of raven -blackness, was white as silver now, though very curly or wavy still; -his eyebrows were bushy and yet dark as when in youth. He was a Welsh -gentleman, full of many local prejudices and sympathies; a man of the -old school--for such a school has existed in all ages, and still -exists even in ours of rapid progress, scientific marvels, and -moneymaking. His manners were easy and polished, yet without anything -either of style or fashion about them; for he was simple in all his -tastes and ways, and was almost as plainly attired as one of his own -farmers. His figure and costume, his rubicund face, round merry eyes, -and series of chins, his amplitude of paunch and stunted figure, his -bottle-green coat rather short in the skirts, his deep waistcoat and -low-crowned hat, were all somewhat Pickwickian in their character and -<i>tout-ensemble</i>, save that in lieu of the tights and gaiters of our -old friend he wore white corded breeches, and orthodox dun-coloured -top-boots with silver spurs, and instead of green goggles had a gold -eyeglass dangling at the end of a black-silk ribbon. Strong -riding-gloves and a heavy hammer-headed whip completed his attire.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Glad to see you, Harry, and you too, Mr. Caradoc," resumed Sir Madoc, -who was fond of remembering that which Phil--more a man of the -world--was apt to forget or to set little store on--that he was -descended from Sir Matthew Caradoc, who in the days of Perkin Warbeck -(an epoch but as yesterday in Sir Madoc's estimation) was chancellor -of Glamorgan and steward of Gower and Helvie; for what true Welshman -is without a pedigree? "Let me look at you again, Harry. God bless me! -is it possible that you, a tall fellow with a black moustache, can be -the curly fair-haired boy I have so often carried on my back and -saddle-bow, and taught to make flies of red spinner and drakes' wings, -when we trouted together at Llyn Cwellyn among the hills yonder?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I think, papa, you would be more surprised if you found him a -curly-pated boy still," said Miss Lloyd.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And it is seven years since he joined the service; what a fine fellow -he has grown!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Papa, you are quite making Mr. Hardinge blush!" said Dora, laughing.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Almost at the top of the lieutenants, too; there is luck for you!" he -continued.</p> - -<p class="normal">"More luck than merit, perhaps; more the Varna fever than either, Sir -Madoc," said I, as he slowly relinquished my hand, which he had held -for a few seconds in his, while looking kindly and earnestly into my -face.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was well browned by the sun and sea of the Windward Isles, -tolerably well whiskered and moustached too; so I fear that if the -good old gentleman was seeking for some resemblance to the sweet Mary -Vassal of the past times, he sought in vain. Our horses were all -walking now; Sir Madoc rode on one side of the barouche, and his two -daughters on the other.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You saw my girls last season in town," said he; "but when you were -last here, Winifred was in her first long frock, and Dora little more -than a baby."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But Craigaderyn is all unchanged, though <i>we</i> may be," said Winifred, -whose remark had some secret point in it so far as referred to me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And Wales is unchanged too," added Dora; "Mr. Hardinge will find the -odious hat of the women still lingers in the more savage regions; the -itinerant harper and the goat too are not out of fashion; and we still -wear our leek on the first of March."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And long may all this be so!" said her father; "for since those -pestilent railways have come up by Shrewsbury and Chester, with their -tides of tourists, greed, dissipation, and idleness are on the -increase, and all our good old Welsh customs are going to Caerphilly -and the devil! Without the wants of over-civilisation we were -contented; but now--<i>Gwell y chydig gait rad, na llawr gan avrard</i>," -he added with something like an angry sigh, quoting a Welsh proverb to -the effect that a little with a blessing is better than much with -prodigality.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_04" href="#div1Ref_04">CHAPTER IV.--WINNY AND DORA LLOYD.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Both girls were very handsome, and for their pure and brilliant -complexion were doubtless indebted to the healthful breeze that swept -the green sides of the Denbigh hills, together with an occasional -<i>soupçon</i> of that which comes from the waters of the Irish Sea.</p> - -<p class="normal">It is difficult to say whether Winifred could be pronounced a brunette -or a blonde, her skin was so exquisitely fair, while her splendid hair -was a shade of the deepest brown, and her glorious sparkling eyes were -of the darkest violet blue. Their normal expression was quiet and -subdued; they only flashed up at times, and she was a girl that -somehow every colour became. In pure white one might have thought her -lovely, and lovelier still, perhaps, in black or blue or rose, or any -other tint or shade. Her fine lithe figure appeared to perfection in -her close-fitting habit of dark-blue cloth, and the masses of her hair -being tightly bound up under her hat, revealed the contour of her -slender neck and delicately formed ear.</p> - -<p class="normal">Dora was a smaller and younger edition of her sister--more girlish and -more of a hoyden, with her lighter tresses, half golden in hue, -floating loose over her shoulders and to beneath her waist from under -a smart little hat, the feather and fashion of which imparted intense -piquancy to the character of her somewhat irregular but remarkably -pretty face and--we must admit it--rather <i>retroussé</i> nose.</p> - -<p class="normal">Pride and a little reserve were rather the predominant style of the -elder and dark-eyed sister; merriment, fun, and rather noisy -flirtation were that of Dora, who permitted herself to laugh at times -when her sister would barely have smiled, and to say things on which -the other would never have ventured; but this <i>espièglerie</i> and a -certain bearing of almost rantipole--if one may use such a term--were -thought to become her.</p> - -<p class="normal">Winifred rode a tall wiry nag, a hand or two higher than her father's -stout active hunter; but Dora preferred to scamper about on a -beautiful Welsh pony, the small head, high withers, flat legs, and -round hoofs of which it no doubt inherited, as Sir Madoc would have -said, from the celebrated horse Merlin.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hope you'll stay with us till the twelfth of next month," said he. -"The grouse are looking well."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Our time is doubtful, our short leave conditional, Sir Madoc," -replied Phil Caradoc, who, however, was not looking at the Baronet, -but at Winifred, in the hope that the alleged brevity of his visit -might find him some tender interest in her eyes, or stir some chord by -its suggestiveness in her breast; but Winny, indifferent apparently to -separation and danger so far as he was concerned, seemed intent on -twirling the silky mane of her horse with the lash of her whip.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then, in about a fortnight after, we shall be blazing at the -partridges," resumed Sir Madoc, to tempt us. "But matters are looking -ill for the pheasants in October, for the gamekeeper tells me that the -gapes have been prevalent among them. The poults were hatched early, -and the wet weather from the mountains has made more havoc than our -guns are likely to do."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Long before that time, Sir Madoc, I hope we shall be making havoc -among the Russians," replied Phil, still glancing covertly at Miss -Lloyd.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, I hope not!" said she, roused apparently this time. "I look -forward to this most useless war with horror and dismay. So many dear -friends have gone, so many more are going, it makes one quite sad! O, -I shall never forget that morning in London when the poor Guards -marched!"</p> - -<p class="normal">This was addressed, not to Phil Caradoc, but to <i>me</i>.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We knew that we should meet you," said she, colouring, and adding a -little hastily, "We asked Lady Estelle to accompany us; but--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"She is far too--what shall I call it?--aristocratic or -unimpressionable to think of going to meet any one," interrupted her -sister.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Don't say so, Dora! Yet I thought the loveliness of the evening would -have tempted her. And Bob Spurrit the groom has broken a new pad -expressly for her, by riding it for weeks with a skirt."</p> - -<p class="normal">So there was no temptation but "the loveliness of the evening," -thought I; while Dora said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"But she preferred playing over to Mr. Guilfoyle that piece of German -music he gave her yesterday."</p> - -<p class="normal">All this was not encouraging. She knew that I was coming--a friend in -whom she could not help having, from the past, rather more than a -common interest--and yet she had declined to accompany those frank and -kindly girls. Worse than all, perhaps she had at that moment this Mr. -Hawkesby Guilfoyle hanging over her admiringly at the piano, while she -played <i>his</i> music, presented to her doubtless with some suggestive, -secret or implied, meaning in the sentiment or the title of it. -Jealousy readily suggested much of this, and a great deal more. That -Lady Estelle was at Craigaderyn Court had been my prevailing idea when -accepting so readily my kind friend's invitation. Then I should see -her in a very little time now! I had been resolved to watch well how -she received me, though it would be no easy task to read the secret -thoughts of one so well and so carefully trained to keep all human -emotions under perfect control, outwardly at least--a "Belgravian -thoroughbred," as I once heard Sir Madoc term her; but if she changed -colour, however faintly, if there was the slightest perceptible tremor -in her voice, or a flash of the eye, which indicated that which, under -the supervision of the usually astute dowager her mother, she dared -scarcely to betray--an interest in one such as me--it would prove at -least that my presence was not indifferent to her. Thus much only did -I hope, and of such faint hope had my heart been full until now, when -I heard all this; and if I was piqued by her absence, I was still more -by the cause of it; though had I reflected for a moment, I ought to -have known that the very circumstances under which I had last parted -from her in London, with an expected avowal all but uttered and -hovering on my lips when leading her to the carriage, were sufficient -to preclude a girl so proud as she from coming to meet me, even in the -avenue, and when accompanied by Winifred and Dora Lloyd.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is Mr. Guilfoyle a musician?" I asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A little," replied Dora; "plays and sings too; but I can't help -laughing at him--and it is so rude."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He says that he is a friend of yours, Harry Hardinge; is he so?' -asked Sir Madoc, with his bushy brows depressed for a moment.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, if losing to him once at pool mysteriously, also on a certain -horse, while he scratched out of its engagements another on which I -stood sure to win, make a friend, he is one. I have met him at his -club, and should think that he--he--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is not a good style of fellow, in fact," said Sir Madoc in a low -tone, and rather bluntly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Perhaps so; nor one I should like to see at Craigaderyn Court." I -cared not to add "especially in the society of Lady Cressingham," -after whom he dangled, on the strength of some attentions or friendly -services performed on the Continent.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And so you lost money to him? We have a Welsh proverb beginning, -<i>Dyled ar bawb</i>--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We shall have barely time to dress, dear papa," said Miss Lloyd, -increasing the speed of her horse, as she seemed to dread the Welsh -proclivities of her parent; "and remember that we have quite a -dinner-party to-day."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," added Dora; "two country M.P.s are coming; but, O dear! they -will talk nothing but blue-book with papa, or about the crops, fat -pigs, and the county pack; and shake their heads about ministerial -policy and our foreign prestige, whatever that may be. Then we have an -Indian colonel with only half a liver, the doctor says, and two Indian -judges without any at all."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Dora!" exclaimed Miss Lloyd in a tone of expostulation. "Well, it is -what the doctor said," persisted Dora; "and if he is wrong can I help -it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"But people don't talk of such things."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then people shouldn't have them."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A wild Welsh girl this," said Sir Madoc; "neither schooling in -Switzerland nor London has tamed her."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And we are to have several county gentlemen who are great in the -matters of turnips, top-dressing, and Welsh mutton; four young ladies, -each with a flirtation on hand; and four old ones, deep in religion -and scandal, flannel and coals for the poor; so, Mr. Hardinge, you and -Mr. Caradoc will be quite a double relief to us--to me, certainly."</p> - -<p class="normal">"O, Dora, how your tongue runs on!" exclaimed Winifred.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And then we have Lady Naseby to act as materfamilias, and play -propriety for us all in black velvet and diamonds. Winny, eldest -daughter of the house, is evidently unequal to the task."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And the coming fête," said I, "is it in honour of anything in -particular?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, something very particular indeed," replied Dora.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of what?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"My birthday--I shall be eighteen," she added, shaking back the heavy -masses of her golden hair.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And she has actually promised to have one round dance with Lord -Pottersleigh," said Winny, laughing heartily.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I did but promise out of mischief; I trust, however, the Viscount -will leave off his goloshes for that day, though we are to dance on -the grass, or I hope he may forget all about it. Old Potter, I call -him," added the young lady in a <i>sotto-voce</i> to me, "at least, when -the Cressinghams are not present."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why them especially?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Because he is such a particular friend of theirs."</p> - -<p class="normal">This was annoyance number two; for this wealthy but senile old peer -had been a perpetual adorer of Lady Estelle, favoured too, apparently, -by her mother, and had been on more than one occasion a <i>bête noire</i> -to me; and now I was to meet him here again!</p> - -<p class="normal">"Papa has told you that I mean to part with my poor pet goat--Carneydd -Llewellyn, so called from the mountain whence he came. He is to be -sent to the regiment--in your care, too."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why deprive yourself of a favourite? Why deprive it of such care as -yours? Among soldiers," said I, "the poor animal will sorely miss the -kindness and caresses you bestow upon it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I shall be so pleased to think that our Welsh Fusileers, in the lands -to which they are going, will have something so characteristic to -remind them of home, of the wild hills of Wales, perhaps to make them -think of the donor. Besides, papa says the corps has never been -without this emblem of the old Principality since it was raised in the -year of the Revolution."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Most true; but how shall I--how shall <i>we</i>--ever thank you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">I could see that her nether lip--a lovely little pouting lip it -was--quivered slightly, and that her eyes were full of strange light, -though bent downward on her horse's mane; and now I felt that, for -reasons apparent enough, I was cold, even unkind, to this warm-hearted -girl; for we had been better and dearer friends before we knew the -Cressinghams. She checked her horse a little abruptly, and began to -address some of the merest commonplaces to Phil Caradoc; who, with his -thick brown curly hair parted in the middle, his smiling handsome face -and white regular teeth, was finding great favour in the eyes of the -laughing Dora. But now we were drawing near Craigaderyn Court. The -scenery was Welsh, and yet the house and all its surroundings were in -character genuinely English, though to have hinted so much might have -piqued Sir Madoc. The elegance and comfort of the mansion were -English, and English too was the rich verdure of the velvet lawn and -the stately old chase, the trees of which were ancient enough--some of -them at least--to have sheltered Owen Glendower, or echoed to the -bugle of Llewellyn ap Seisalt, whose tall grave-stone stands amid the -battle-mounds on grassy Castell Coch.</p> - -<p class="normal">At a carved and massive entrance-door we alighted, assisted the ladies -to dismount, and then, gathering up their trains, they swept merrily -up the steps and into the house, to prepare for dinner; while Sir -Madoc, ere he permitted us to retire, though the first bell had been -rung, led us into the hall; a low-ceiled, irregular, and oak-panelled -room, decorated with deers' antlers, foxes' brushes crossed, and -stuffed birds of various kinds, among others a gigantic golden eagle, -shot by himself on Snowdon. This long apartment was so cool that, -though the season was summer, a fire burned in the old stone -fireplace; and on a thick rug before it lay a great, rough, red eyed -staghound, that made one think of the faithful brach that saved -Llewellyn's heir. The windows were half shaded by scarlet hangings; a -hunting piece or two by Sneyders, with pictures of departed -favourites, horses and dogs, indicated the tastes of the master of the -house and of his ancestors; and there too was the skull of the <i>last</i> -wolf killed in Wales, more than a century ago, grinning on an oak -bracket. The butler, Owen Gwyllim, who occasionally officiated as a -harper, especially at Yule, was speedily in attendance, and Sir Madoc -insisted on our joining him in a stiff glass of brandy-and-water, "as -a whet," he said; and prior to tossing off which he gave a hoarse -guttural toast in Welsh, which his butler alone understood, and at -which he laughed heartily, with the indulged familiarity of an old -servant.</p> - -<p class="normal">I then retired to make an unusually careful toilette; to leave nothing -undone or omitted in the way of cuffs, studs, rings, and so forth, in -all the minor details of masculine finery; hearing the while from a -distance the notes of a piano in another wing of the house come -floating through an open window. The air was German;--could I doubt -whose white fingers were gliding over the keys, and <i>who</i> might be -standing by, and feeling himself, perhaps, somewhat master of the -situation?</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_05" href="#div1Ref_05">CHAPTER V.--CRAIGADERYN COURT.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Apart from Welsh fable and tradition, the lands of Craigaderyn had -been in possession of Sir Madoc's family for many ages, and for more -generations of the line of Lloyd; but the mansion, the Court itself, -is not older than the Stuart times, and portions of it were much more -recent, particularly the library, the shelves of which were replete -with all that a gentleman's library should contain; the billiard-room -and gun-room, where all manner of firearms, from the old -long-barrelled fowling-piece of Anne's time down to Joe Manton and -Colt's revolver, stood side by side on racks; the kennels, where many -a puppy yelped; and the stable-court, where hoofs rang and -stall-collars jangled, and where Mr. Bob Spurrit--a long-bodied, -short-and-crooked legged specimen of the Welsh groom--reigned supreme, -and watered and corned his nags by the notes of an ancient clock in -the central tower--a clock said to have been brought as spoil from the -church of Todtenhausen, by Sir Madoc's grandfather, after he led the -Welsh Fusileers at the battle of Minden. Masses of that "rare old -plant, the ivy green," heavy, leafy, and overlapping each other, -shrouded great portions of the house. Oriels, full of small panes and -quaint coats of arms, abutted here and there; while pinnacles and -turrets, vanes, and groups of twisted, fluted, or garlanded stone -chimney stacks, rose sharply up to break the sky-line and many a panel -and scutcheon of stone were there, charged with the bend, ermine, and -pean of Lloyd--the lion rampant wreathed with oak, and armed with a -sword--and the heraldic cognizance of many a successive matrimonial -alliance.</p> - -<p class="normal">Some portions of the house, where the walls were strong and the lower -storey vaulted, were associated, of course, with visits from Llewellyn -and Owen Glendower; and there also abode--a ghost. The park, too, was -not without its old memories and traditions. Many of its trees were -descendants of an ancient grove dedicated to Druidic worship; and -bones frequently found there were alleged by some to be the relics of -human sacrifice, by others to be those of Roman or of Saxon warriors -slain by the sturdy Britons who, under Cadwallader, Llewellyn of the -Torques, or some other hero of the Pendragonate, had held, in defiance -of both, the <i>caer</i> or fort on the summit of Craigaderyn. But the -woodlands on which Sir Madoc mostly prided himself were those of the -old acorn season, when Nature planted her own wild forests, and sowed -the lawn out of her own lawns, as some writer has it. They were -unquestionably the most picturesque, but the trim and orderly chase -was not without its beauties too, and there had many grand -Eisteddfoddiau been held under the auspices of Sir Madoc, and often -fifty harpers at a time had made the woods ring to "The noble Race of -Shenkin," or "The March of the Men of Harlech."</p> - -<p class="normal">The old Court and its surroundings were such as to make one agree with -what Lord Lyttelton wrote of another Welsh valley, where "the -mountains seemed placed to guard the charming retreat from invasions; -and where, with the woman one loves, the friend of one's heart, and a -good library, one might pass an age, and think it a day."</p> - -<p class="normal">The ghost was a tall thin figure, dressed somewhat in the costume of -Henry VIII.'s time; but his full-skirted doublet with large sleeves, -the cap bordered with ostrich feathers, the close tight hose, and -square-toed shoes, were all deep black, hence his, or <i>its</i>, aspect -was sombre in the extreme, shadowy and uncertain too, as he was only -visible in the twilight of eve, or the first dim and similarly -uncertain light of the early dawn; and these alleged appearances have -been chiefly on St. David's day, the 1st of March, and were preceded -by the sound of a harp about the place--but a harp <i>unseen</i>. He was -generally supposed to leave, or be seen quitting, a portion of the -house, where the old wall was shrouded with ivy, and to walk or glide -swiftly and steadily, without casting either shadow or foot-mark on -the grass, towards a certain ancient tree in the park, where he -disappeared--faded, or melted out of sight. On the wall beneath the -ivy being examined, a door--the portion of an earlier structure--was -discovered to have been built up, but none knew when or why; and -tradition averred that those who had seen him pass--for none dared -follow--towards the old tree, could make out that his figure and face -were those of a man in the prime of life, but the expression of the -latter was sad, solemn, resolute, and gloomy.</p> - -<p class="normal">The origin of the legend, as told to me by Winifred Lloyd, referred to -a period rather remote in history, and was to the following effect. -Some fifteen miles southward from Craigaderyn is a quaint and singular -village named Dinas Mowddwy, situated very strangely on the shelf of a -steep mountain overlooking the Dyfi stream--a lofty spot commanding a -view of the three beautiful valleys of the Ceryst; but this place was -in past times the abode and fortress of a peculiar and terrible tribe, -called the Gwylliad Cochion, or Red-haired Robbers, who made all North -Wales, but more particularly their own district, a by-word and -reproach, from the great extent and savage nature of the outrages they -committed by fire and sword; so that to this day, we are told, there -may be seen, in some of the remote mountain hamlets, more especially -in Cemmaes near the sea, the well-sharpened scythe-blades, which were -placed in the chimney-corners overnight, to be ready for them in case -of a sudden attack. They were great crossbowmen, those outlaws, and -never failed in their aim; and so, like the broken clans upon the -Highland border, they levied black mail on all, till the night of the -1st of March, 1534; when, during a terrific storm of thunder, -lightning, and wind, Sir Jorwerth Lloyd of Craigaderyn, John Wynne ap -Meredydd, and a baron named Owen, scaled the mountain at the head of -their followers, fell on them sword in hand, and after slaying a great -number, hung one hundred of them in a row. One wretched mother, a -red-haired Celt, begged hard and piteously to have her youngest son -spared; but Sir Jorwerth was relentless, so the young robber perished -with the rest. Then the woman rent her garments, and laying bare her -bosom, said it had nursed other sons and daughters, who would yet wash -their hands in the blood of them all. Owen was waylaid and slain by -them at a place named to this day Llidiart-y-Barwn, or the Baron's -Gate, and Meredydd fell soon after; but for Lloyd the woman, who was a -reputed witch, had prepared another fate, as if aiming at the -destruction of his soul as well as his body; for after his marriage -with Gwerfyl Owen, he fell madly in love with a golden-haired girl -whom he met when hunting in the forest near Craigaderyn; and as he -immediately relinquished all attendance at church and all forms of -prayer, and seemed to be besotted by her, the girl was averred to be -an evil spirit, as she was never seen save in his company, and then -only (by those who watched and lurked) "in the glimpses of the moon."</p> - -<p class="normal">On the third St. David's eve after the slaughter at Dinas Mowddwy, he -was seated with Gwerfyl in her chamber, listening to a terrific storm -of wind and rain that swept through the valley, overturning the oldest -trees, and shaking the walls of the ancient house, while the lightning -played above the dim summits of Snowdon, and every mountain stream and -<i>rhaidr</i>, or cataract, rolled in foam and flood to Llyn Alwen or the -Conway.</p> - -<p class="normal">On a tabourette near his knee she sat, lovingly clasping his hand -between her own two, for he seemed restless, petulant, and gloomy, and -had his cloak and cap at hand, as if about to go forth, though the -weather was frightful.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jorwerth," said she softly, "the last time there was such a storm as -this was on that terrible night--you remember?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"When we cut off the Gwylliad Cochion--yes, root and branch, sparing, -as we thought, none, while the rain ran through my armour as through a -waterspout. But why speak of it, to-night especially? Yes, root and -branch, even while that woman vowed vengeance," he added, grinding his -teeth. "But what sound is that?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Music," she replied, rising and looking round with surprise; but his -tremulous hand, and, more than that, the sudden pallor of his face, -arrested her, while the strains of a small harp, struck wildly and -plaintively, came at times between the fierce gusts of wind that shook -the forest trees and the hiss of the rain on the window-panes without. -Louder they seemed to come, and to be more emphatic and sharp; and, as -he heard them, a violent trembling and cold perspiration came over all -the form of Sir Jorwerth Lloyd.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Heaven pity the harper who is abroad to-night!" said Gwerfyl, -clasping her white hands.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Let Hell do so, rather!" was the fierce response of her husband, as -his eyes filled with a strange light.</p> - -<p class="normal">At that moment a hand knocked on the window, and the startled wife, as -she crouched by her husband's side, could see that it was small and -delicate, wondrously beautiful too, and radiant with gems or -glittering raindrops; and now her husband trembled more violently than -ever.</p> - -<p class="normal">Gwerfyl crossed herself, and rushed to the window.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Strange," said she; "I can see no one."</p> - -<p class="normal">"No one in human form, perhaps," replied her husband gloomily, as he -lifted his cloak. "Look again, dear wife."</p> - -<p class="normal">The lady did so, and fancied that close to the window-pane she could -see a female face--anon she could perceive that it was small and -beautiful, with hair of golden red, all wavy, and, strange to say, -unwetted by the rain, and with eyes that were also of golden red, but -with a devilish smile and glare, and glitter in them and over all her -features, as they appeared, but to vanish, as the successive flashes -of lightning passed. With terror and foreboding of evil, she turned to -her startled husband. He was a pale and handsome man, with an aquiline -nose, a finely-cut mouth and chin; but now his lips were firmly -compressed, a flashing and fiery light seemed to sparkle in his eyes, -his forehead was covered with lines, and the veins of his temples were -swollen, while his black hair and moustache seemed to have actually -become streaked with gray. What unknown emotion caused all this? There -were power and passion in his bearing; but something strange, and -dark, and demon-like was brooding in his soul. The white drops -glittered on his brow as he threw his cloak about him, and <i>then</i> the -notes of the harp were heard, as if struck triumphantly and joyously.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Stay, stay! leave me not!" implored his wife on her knees, in a -sudden access of terror and pity, that proved greater even than love.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I cannot--I cannot! God pardon me and bless you, dear, dear wife, but -go I must!"</p> - -<p class="normal">("Exactly like Rudolph, as we saw him last night in the opera, -breaking away from his followers when he heard the voice of Lurline -singing amid the waters of the Rhine," added Winifred in a -parenthesis, as she laid her hand timidly on my arm.)</p> - -<p class="normal">She strove on her knees to place in his hand the small ivory-bound -volume of prayers which ladies then carried slung by a chain at their -girdle, even as a watch is now; but he thrust it aside, as if it -scorched his fingers. Then he kissed her wildly, and broke away.</p> - -<p class="normal">She sprang from the floor, but he was gone--gone swiftly into the -forest; and with sorrow and prayer in her heart his wife stealthily -followed him. By this time the sudden storm had as suddenly ceased; -already the gusty wind had died away, and no trace of it remained, -save the strewn leaves and a quivering in the dripping branches; the -white clouds were sailing through the blue sky, and whiter still, in -silvery sheen 'the moonlight fell aslant in patches through the -branches on the glittering grass. Amid that sheen she saw the dark -figure of her husband passing, gliding onward to the old oak tree, and -Gwerfyl shrunk behind another, as the notes of the infernal harp--for -such she judged it to be--fell upon her ear.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have come, my beloved," said a sweet voice; and she saw the same -strangely-beautiful girl with the red-golden hair, her skin of -wondrous whiteness, and eyes that glittered with devilish triumph, -though to Jorwerth Du they seemed only filled with ardour and the -light of passionate love, even as the beauty of her form seemed all -round and white and perfect; but lo! to the eyes of his wife, who was -under <i>no spell</i>, that form was fast becoming like features in a -dissolving view, changed to that of extreme old age--gray hairs and -wrinkles seemed to come with every respiration; for this mysterious -love, who had bewitched her husband, was some evil spirit or demon of -the woods.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How long you have been!" said she reproachfully, for even the -sweetness of her tone had suddenly passed away; "so long that already -age seems to have come upon me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pardon me; have I not sworn to love you for ever and ever, though -neither of us is immortal?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are ready?" said she, laying her head on his breast.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, my own wild love!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then let us go."</p> - -<p class="normal">All beauty of form had completely passed away, and now Gwerfyl saw her -handsome husband in the arms of a very hag; hollow-cheeked, toothless, -almost fleshless, with restless shifty eyes, and grey elf-locks like -the serpents of Medusa; a hag beyond all description hideous: and her -long, lean, shrivelled arms she wound lovingly and triumphantly around -him. Her eyes gleamed like two live coals as he kissed her wildly and -passionately from time to time, the full blaze of the moonlight -streaming upon both their forms.</p> - -<p class="normal">Gwerfyl strove to pray, to cry aloud, to move. But her tongue refused -its office, and her lips were powerless; all capability of volition -had left her, and she was as it were rooted to the spot. A moment -more, and a dark cloud came over the moon, causing a deeper shadow -under the old oak tree. Then a shriek escaped her, and when again the -moon shone forth on the green grass and the gnarled tree, Gwerfyl -alone was there--her husband and the hag had disappeared. Neither was -ever seen more. North Wales is the most primitive portion of the -country, and it is there that such fancies and memories still linger -longest; and such was the little family legend told me by Winifred -Lloyd. I was thinking over it now, recalling the earnest expression of -her bright soft face and intelligent eyes, and the tone of her -pleasantly modulated voice, when she, half laughingly and half -seriously, had related it, with more point than I can give it, while -we sat in a corner and somewhat apart from every one--on the first -night I met the Cressinghams--in a crowded London ballroom, amid the -heat, the buzz, and crush of the season--about the last place in the -world to hear a story of <i>diablerie</i>; and "the old time" seemed to -come again, as I descended to the drawing-room, to meet her and Lady -Estelle.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_06" href="#div1Ref_06">CHAPTER VI.--THREE GRACES.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Already having met and been welcomed by my host and his daughters, my -first glances round the room were in search of Lady Estelle and her -mother. About eighteen persons were present, mostly gentlemen, and I -instinctively made my way to where she I sought was seated, idling -over a book of prints. Two or three gentlemen were exclusively in -conversation with her; Sir Madoc, who was now in evening costume, for -one.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come, Harry," said he, "here is a fair friend to whom I wish to -present you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You forget, Sir Madoc, that I said we had met before; Mr. Hardinge -and I are almost old friends--the friends of a season, at least," -said Lady Estelle, presenting her hand to me with a bright but -calm and decidedly conventional smile, and with the most perfect -self-possession.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It makes me so very happy to meet you again," said I in a low voice, -the tone of which she could not mistake.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mamma, too, will be <i>so</i> delighted--you were quite a favourite with -her."</p> - -<p class="normal">I bowed, as if accepting for fact a sentiment of which I was extremely -doubtful, and then after a little pause she added,--</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mamma always preferred your escort, you remember."</p> - -<p class="normal">Of that I was aware, when she wished to leave some more eligible -<i>parti</i>--old Lord Pottersleigh, for instance--to take charge of her -daughter.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am so pleased that we are to see a little more of you, ere you -depart for the East; whence, I hear, you are bound," said she after a -little pause.</p> - -<p class="normal">Simple though the words, they made my heart beat happily, and I -dreaded that some sharp observer might read in my eyes the expression -which I knew could not be concealed from her; and now I turned to look -for some assistance from Winifred Lloyd; but, though observing us, she -was apparently busy with Caradoc; luckily for me, perhaps, as there -was something of awkwardness in my position with her. I had flirted -rather too much at one time with Winny--been almost tender--but -nothing more. Now I loved Lady Estelle, and that love was indeed -destitute of all ambition, though the known difficulties attendant on -the winning of such a hand as hers, added zest and keenness to its -course.</p> - -<p class="normal">When I looked at Winifred and saw how fair and attractive she was, "a -creature so compact and complete," as Caradoc phrased it, with such -brilliance of complexion, such deep violet eyes and thick dark wavy -hair; and when I thought of the girl's actual wealth, and her kind old -father's great regard for me, it seemed indeed that I might do well in -offering my heart where there was little doubt it would be accepted; -but the more stately and statuesque beauty, the infinitely greater -personal attractions of Lady Estelle dazzled me, and rendered me blind -to Winny's genuine goodness of soul The latter was every way a most -attractive girl Dora was quite as much so, in her own droll and jolly -way; but Lady Estelle possessed that higher style of loveliness and -bearing so difficult to define; and though less natural perhaps than -the Lloyds, she had usually that calm, placid, and unruffled or -settled expression of features so peculiar to many Englishwomen of -rank and culture, yet they could light up at times; then, indeed, she -became radiant; and now, in full dinner dress, she seemed to look -pretty much as I had seemed to see her in that haughty full-length by -the President of the R.A., with an admiring and critical crowd about -it.</p> - -<p class="normal">The three girls I have named were all handsome--each sufficiently so -to have been the belle of any room; yet, though each was different in -type from the other, they were all thoroughly English; perhaps Sir -Madoc would have reminded me that two were Welsh. The beauty of -Winifred and Dora was less regular; yet, like Lady Estelle, in their -faces each feature seemed so charmingly suited to the rest, and all so -perfect, that I doubt much the story that Canova had sixty models for -his single Venus, or that Zeuxis of Heraclea had even five for his -Helen. Lady Estelle Cressingham was tall and full in form, with a neck -that rose from her white shoulders like that of some perfect Greek -model; her smile, when real, was very captivating; her eyes were dark -and deep, and softly lidded with long lashes; they had neither the -inquiring nor soft pleading expression of Winifred's, nor the saucy -drollery of Dora's, yet at times they seemed to have the power of -both; for they were eloquent eyes, and, as a writer has it, "could -light up her whole <i>personnel</i> as if her whole body thought." Her -colour was pale, almost creamy; her features clearly cut and delicate. -She had a well-curved mouth, a short upper lip and chin, that -indicated what she did not quite possess--decision. Her thick hair, -which in its darkness contrasted so powerfully with her paleness, came -somewhat well down, in what is called "a widow's peak," on a forehead -that was broad rather than low. Her taste was perfect in dress and -jewelry; for though but a girl in years, she had been carefully -trained, and knew nearly as much of the world--at least of <i>the</i> -exclusive world in which she lived--as her cold and unimpressionable -mamma, who seemed to be but a larger, fuller, older, and more stately -version of herself; certainly much more of that selfish world than I, -a line subaltern of seven years' foreign service, could know.</p> - -<p class="normal">A few words more, concerning my approaching departure for the East, -were all that could pass between us then; for the conversation was, of -course, general, and of that enforced and heavy nature which usually -precedes a dinner-party; but our memories and our thoughts were -nevertheless our own still, as I could see when her glance met mine -occasionally.</p> - -<p class="normal">War was new to Britain then, and thus, even in the society at -Craigaderyn Court, Caradoc and I, as officers whose regiment had -already departed--more than all, as two of the Royal Welsh -Fusileers--found ourselves rather objects of interest, and at a high -premium.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, the dooce! Hardinge, how d'you do, how d'you do? Not off to the -seat of war" (he pronounced it <i>waw</i>), "to tread the path of glory -that leads to--where <i>does</i> old Gray say it leads to?" said a thin -wiry-looking man of more than middle height and less than middle age, -his well-saved hair carefully parted in the centre, a glass in his -eye, and an easy <i>insouciance</i> that bordered on insolence in his tone -and bearing, as he came bluntly forward, and interrupted me while -paying the necessary court to "Mamma Cressingham," who received me -with simple politeness, nothing more. I could not detect the slightest -cordiality in her tone or eye. Though in the <i>Army List</i>, my name was -unchronicled by Debrett, and might never be.</p> - -<p class="normal">I bowed to the speaker, who was the identical Mr. Hawkesby Guilfoyle -of whom I have already spoken, and with whom I felt nettled for -presuming to place himself on such a footing of apparent familiarity -with me, from the simple circumstance that I had more than once--I -scarcely knew how--lost money to him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am going Eastward ere long, at all events," said I; "and I cannot -help thinking that some of you many idlers here could not do better -than take a turn of service against the Russians too."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It don't pay, my dear fellow; moreover, I prefer to be one of the -gentlemen of England, who live at home at ease. I shall be quite -satisfied with reading all about it, and rejoicing in your exploits."</p> - -<p class="normal">I smiled and bowed, but felt that he was closely scrutinising me -through his glass, which he held in its place by a muscular -contraction of the left eye; and I felt moreover, instinctively and -intuitively, by some magnetic influence, that this man was my enemy, -and yet I had done him no wrong. The aversion was certainly mutual. It -was somewhat of the impulse that led Tom Brown of old to dislike Dr. -Fell, yet, in my instance, it was not exactly without knowing "why."</p> - -<p class="normal">I had quickly read the character of this Mr. Guilfoyle. He had cold, -cunning, and shifty eyes of a greenish yellow colour. They seldom -smiled, even when his mouth did, if that can be called a smile which -is merely a grin from the teeth outwards. He was undoubtedly -gentlemanlike in air and appearance, always correct in costume, suave -to servility when it suited his purpose, but daringly insolent when he -could venture to be so with impunity. He had that narrowness of mind -which made him counterfeit regret for the disaster of his best friend, -while secretly exulting in it, if that friend could serve his purposes -no more; the praise or success of another never failed to excite -either his envy or his malice; and doating on himself, he thought that -all who knew him should quarrel with those against whom he conceived -either spleen or enmity. A member of a good club in town, he was -fashionable, moderately dissipated, and rather handsome in person. No -one knew exactly from what source his income was derived; but vague -hints of India stock, foreign bonds, and so forth, served to satisfy -the few--and in the world of London few they were indeed--who cared a -jot about the matter. Such was Mr. Hawkesby Guilfoyle, of whom the -reader shall hear more in these pages.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And so you don't approve of risking your valuable person in the -service of the country?" said I, in a tone which I felt to be a -sneering one.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No; I am disposed to be rather economical of it--think myself too -good-looking, perhaps, to fill a hole in a trench. Ha, ha! Moreover, -what the deuce do I want with glory or honour?" said he, in a lower -tone; "are not self-love or interest, rather than virtue, the true -motives of most of our actions?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do you think so?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, by Jove! I do."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A horrid idea, surely!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not at all. Besides, virtues, as they are often called, are too often -only vices disguised."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The deuce!" said Caradoc, who overheard us; "I don't understand this -paradox."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nor did I intend <i>you</i> to do so," replied the other, in a tone that, -to say the least of it, was offensive, and made Phil's eyes sparkle. -"But whether in pursuit of vice or virtue, it is an awkward thing when -the ruling passion makes one take a wrong turn in life."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The ruling passion?" said I, thinking of the money I had lost to him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, whether it be ambition, avarice, wine, or love," he replied, his -eyes going involuntarily towards Lady Estelle; "but at all times there -is nothing like taking precious good care of number one; and so, were -I a king, I should certainly reign for myself."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And be left to yourself," said I, almost amused by this avowed -cynicism and selfishness.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, as Prince Esterhazy said, when he did me the honour to present -me with this ring," he began, playing the while with a splendid -brilliant, which sparkled on one of his fingers.</p> - -<p class="normal">But what the Prince had said I was never fated to know; for the -aphorisms of Mr. Guilfoyle were cut short by the welcome sound of the -dinner-gong, and in file we proceeded through the corridor and hall to -the dining-room, duly marshalled between two rows of tall liverymen in -powder and plush, Sir Madoc leading the way with the Countess on his -arm, her long sweeping skirt so stiff with brocade, that, as Caradoc -whispered, it looked like our regimental colours.</p> - -<p class="normal">Lady Estelle was committed to the care of a stout old gentleman, who -was the exact counterpart of our host, and whose conversation, as it -evidently failed to amuse, bored her. Miss Lloyd was led by Caradoc, -and Dora fell to my care. Of the other ladies I took little heed; -neither did I much of the sumptuous dinner, which passed away as other -dinners do, through all its courses, with entrées and relays of -various wines, the serving up of the latter proving in one sense a -nuisance, from the absurd breaks caused thereby in the conversation. -The buzz of voices was pretty loud at times, for many of the guests -were country gentlemen, hale and hearty old fellows some of them, who -laughed with right good will, not caring whether to do so was good -<i>ton</i> or not. But while listening to the lively prattle of Dora Lloyd, -I could not refrain from glancing ever and anon to where Estelle -Cressingham, looking so radiant, yet withal "so delicately white" in -her complexion, her slender throat and dazzling shoulders, her thick -dark hair and tiny ears, at which the diamond pendants sparkled, sat -listening to her elderly bore, smiling assents from time to time out -of pure complaisance, and toying with her fruit knife when the dessert -came, her hands and arms seeming so perfect in form and colour, and on -more than one occasion--when her mamma was engrossed by courteous old -Sir Madoc, who could "talk peerage," and knew the quartering of arms -better than the Garter King or Rouge Dragon--giving me a bright -intelligent smile, that made my heart beat happily; all the more so -that I had been afflicted by some painful suspicion of coldness in her -first reception of me--a coldness rather deduced from her perfect -self-possession--while I had been farther annoyed to find that her -somewhat questionable admirer, Guilfoyle, was seated by her side, with -a lady whose presence he almost ignored in his desire to be pleasing -elsewhere. Yet, had it been otherwise, if anything might console a man -for fancied coldness in the woman he loved, or for a partial -separation from her by a few yards of mahogany, it should be the -lively rattle of a lovely girl of eighteen; but while listening and -replying to Dora, my thoughts and wishes were with another.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I told you how it would be, Mr. Hardinge," whispered Dora; "that the -staple conversation of the gentlemen, if it didn't run on the county -pack, would be about horses and cattle, sheep, horned and South Down; -or on the British Constitution, which must be a very patched -invention, to judge by all they say of it."</p> - -<p class="normal">I confessed inwardly that much of what went on around me was so -provincial and local--the bishop's visitation, the--parish poor, -crops and game, grouse and turnips--and proved such boredom that, but -for the smiling girl beside me, with her waggish eyes and pretty ways, -and the longing and hope to have more of the society of Lady Estelle, -I could have wished myself back at the mess of the depôt battalion in -Winchester. Yet this restlessness was ungrateful; for Craigaderyn was -as much a home to me as if I had been a son of the house, and times -there were when the girls, like their father, called me simply -"Harry," by my Christian name.</p> - -<p class="normal">The long and stately dining-room, like other parts of the house, was -well hung with portraits. At one end was a full-length of Sir Madoc in -his scarlet coat and yellow-topped boots, seated on his favourite bay -mare, "Irish Jumper," with mane and reins in hand, a brass horn slung -over his shoulder, and looking every inch like what he was--the M.F.H. -of the county, trotting to cover. Opposite, of course, was his -lady--it might almost have passed for a likeness of Winifred--done -several years ago, her dress of puce velvet cut low to show her -beautiful outline, but otherwise very full indeed, as she leaned in -the approved fashion against a vase full of impossible flowers beside -a column and draped curtain, in what seemed a windy and draughty -staircase, a view of Snowdon in the distance. "Breed and blood," as -Sir Madoc used to say, "in every line of her portrait, from the bridge -of her nose to the heel of her slipper;" for she was a lineal -descendant of <i>y Marchog gwyllt o' Cae Hywel</i>, or "the wild Knight of -Caehowel," a circumstance he valued more than all her personal merits -and goodness of heart.</p> - -<p class="normal">Some of Dora's remarks about the family portraits elicited an -occasional glance of reprehension from the Dowager of Naseby, who -thought such relics or evidences of descent were not to be treated -lightly. On my enquiring who that lady in the very low dress with the -somewhat dishevelled hair was, I had for answer, "A great favourite of -Charles II., Mr. Hardinge--an ancestress of ours. Papa knows her name. -There was some lively scandal about her, of course. And that is her -brother beside her--he in the rose-coloured doublet and black wig. He -was killed in a duel about a young lady--run clean through the heart -by one of the Wynnes of Llanrhaidr, at the Ring in Hyde Park."</p> - -<p class="normal">"When men risked their lives so, love must have been very earnest in -those days," said Lady Estelle.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And very fearful," said the gentler Winny. "It is said the lady's -name was engraved on the blade of the sword that slew him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A duel! How delightful to be the heroine of a duel!" exclaimed the -volatile Dora.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And who is that pretty woman in the sacque and puffed cap?" asked -Caradoc, pointing to a brisk-looking dame in a long stomacher. She was -well rouged, rather <i>décolletée</i>, had a roguish kissing-patch in the -corner of her mouth, and looked very like Dora indeed.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Papa's grandmother, who insisted on wearing a white rose when she was -presented to the Elector at St. James's," replied Dora; "and her -marriage to the heir of Craigaderyn is chronicled in the fashion of -the Georgian era, by gossipping Mr. Sylvanus Urban, as that of -'Mistress Betty Temple, an agreeable and modest young lady with -50,000<i>l</i>. fortune, from the eastward of Temple Bar.' I don't think -people were such tuft-hunters in those days as they are now. Do <i>you</i> -think so, Mr. Guilfoyle? O, I am sure, that if all we read in novels -is true, there must have been more romantic marriages and much more -honest love long ago than we find in society now. What do you say to -this, Estelle?"</p> - -<p class="normal">But the fair Estelle only fanned herself, and replied by a languid -smile, that somehow eluded when it might have fallen on <i>me</i>. So while -we lingered over the dessert (the pineapples, peaches, grapes, and so -forth being all the produce of Sir Madoc's own hothouses), Dora -resumed:</p> - -<p class="normal">"And so, poor Harry Hardinge, in a few weeks more you will be far away -from us, and face to face with those odious Russians--in a real -battle, perhaps. It is something terrible to think of! Ah, heavens, if -you should be killed!" she added, as her smile certainly passed away -for a moment.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't think somehow there is very much danger of that--at least I -can but hope--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Or wounded! If you should lose a leg--two legs perhaps--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He could scarcely lose <i>more</i>," said Mr. Guilfoyle.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And come home with wooden ones!" she continued, lowering her voice. -"You will look so funny! O, I could never love or marry a man with -wooden stumps!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"But," said I, a little irritated that she should see anything so very -amusing in this supposed contingency, "I don't mean to marry <i>you</i>."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of course not--I know that. It is Winny, papa thinks--or is it -Estelle Cressingham you prefer?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Lowly and whispered though the heedless girl said this, it reached the -ears of Lady Estelle, and caused her to grow if possible paler, while -I felt my face suffused with scarlet; but luckily all now rose from -the table, as the ladies, led by Winifred, filed back alone to the -drawing-room; and I felt that Dora's too palpable hints must have done -much to make or mar my cause--perhaps to gain me the enmity of both -her sister and the Lady Estelle.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Madoc assumed his daughter's place at the head of the table, and -beckoned <i>me</i> to take his chair at the foot. Owen Gwyllim replenished -the various decanters and the two great silver jugs of claret and -burgundy, and the flow of conversation became a little louder in tone, -and of course less reserved. I listened now with less patience to all -that passed around me, in my anxiety to follow the ladies to the -drawing-room. Every moment spent out of <i>her</i> presence seemed doubly -long and doubly lost. The chances of the coming war--<i>where</i> our -troops were to land, whether at Eupatoria or Perecop, or were to await -an attack where they were literally rotting in the camp upon the -Bulgarian shore; their prospects of success, the proposed bombardment -of Cronstadt, the bewildering orders issued to our admirals, the inane -weakness and pitiful vacillation, if not worse, of Lord Aberdeen's -government, our total want of all preparation in the ambulance and -commissariat services, even to the lack of sufficient shot, shell, and -gunpowder--were all freely descanted on, and attacked, explained, or -defended according to the politics or the views of those present; and -Guilfoyle--who, on the strength of having been attaché at the petty -German court of Catzenelnbogen, affected a great knowledge of -continental affairs--indulged in much "tall talk" on the European -situation till once more the county pack and hunting became the chief -topic, and then too he endeavoured, but perhaps vainly, to take the -lead.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You talk of fox-hunting, gentlemen," said he, raising his voice after -a preliminary cough, "and some of the anecdotes you tell of wonderful -leaps, mistakes, and runs, with the cunning displayed by reynard on -various occasions, such as hiding in a pool up to the snout, feigning -death--a notion old as the days of Olaus Magnus--throwing dogs off the -scent by traversing a running stream, and so forth, are all remarkable -enough; but give me a good buck-hunt, such as I have seen in Croatia! -When travelling there among the mountains that lie between Carlstadt -and the Adriatic, I had the good fortune to reside for a few weeks -with my kind friend Ladislaus Count Mosvina, Grand Huntsman to the -Emperor of Austria, and captain of the German Guard of Arzieres, and -who takes his title from that wine-growing district, the vintage of -which is fully equal to the finest burgundy. The season was winter. -The snow lay deep among the frightful valleys and precipices of the -Vellibitch range, and an enormous <i>rehbock</i>, or roebuck, fully five -feet in height to the shoulder, with antlers of vast size--five feet, -if an inch, from tip to tip--driven from the mountains by the storm -and <i>la bora</i>, the biting north-east wind, took shelter in a thicket -near the house. Several shots were fired; but no one, not even <i>I</i>, -could succeed in hitting him, till at last he defiantly and coolly -fed among the sheep, in the yard of the Count's home farm, where, by -the use of his antlers, he severely wounded and disabled all who -attempted to dislodge him. At last four of the Count's farmers or -foresters--some of those Croatian boors who are liable to receive -twenty-five blows of a cudgel yearly if they fail to engraft at least -twenty-five fruit-trees--undertook to slay or capture the intruder. -But though they were powerful, hardy, and brave men, this devil -of a <i>rehbock</i>, by successive blows of its antlers, fractured the -skulls of two and the thigh-bones of the others, smashing them like -tobacco-pipes, and made an escape to the mountains. A combined hunt -was now ordered by my friend Mosvina, and all the gentlemen and -officers in the <i>generalat</i> or district commanded by him set off, -mounted and in pursuit. There were nearly a thousand horsemen; but the -cavalry there are small and weak. <i>I</i> was perhaps the best-mounted man -in the field. We pursued it for twenty-five miles, by rocky hills and -almost pathless woods, by ravines and rivers. Many of our people fell. -Some got staked, were pulled from their saddles by trees, or tumbled -off by running foul of wild swine. Many missed their way, grew weary, -got imbogged in the half-frozen marshes, and so forth, till at last -only the Count and I with four dogs were on his track, and when on it, -we leaped no less than four frozen cataracts, each at least a hundred -feet in height--'pon honour they were. We had gone almost neck and -neck for a time; but the Grand Huntsman's horse began to fail him now -(for we had come over terrible ground, most of it being uphill), and -ultimately it fell dead lame. Then whoop--tally-ho! I spurred onward -alone. Just as the furious giant was coming to bay in a narrow gorge, -and, fastening on his flanks and neck, the maddened dogs were tearing -him down, their red jaws steaming in the frosty air, the Count came up -on foot, breathless and thoroughly blown, to have the honour of -slaying this antlered monarch of the Dinovian Alps. But I was too -quick for him. I had sprung from my horse, and with my unsheathed -<i>hanshar</i> or Croatian knife had flung myself, fearlessly and -regardless of all danger, upon the buck, eluding a last and desperate -butt made at me with his pointed horns. Another moment saw my knife -buried to the haft in his throat, and a torrent of crimson blood -flowing upon the snow, then I courteously tendered my weapon by the -hilt to the Count, who, in admiration of my adroitness, presented me -with this ring--a very fine brilliant, you may perceive--which his -grandfather had received from the Empress Maria Theresa, and the pure -gold of which is native, from the sand upon the banks of the Drave."</p> - -<p class="normal">And as he concluded his anecdote, which he related with considerable -pomposity and perfect coolness, he twirled round his finger this -remarkable ring, of which I was eventually to hear more from time to -time.</p> - -<p class="normal">"So, out of a thousand Croatian horsemen, <i>you</i> were the only one in at -the death! It says little for their manhood," said an old fox-hunter, -as he filled his glass with burgundy, and pretty palpably winked to -Sir Madoc, under cover of an épergne.</p> - -<p class="normal">"This may all be true, Harry, or not--only <i>entre nous</i>, I don't -believe it is," said Phil Caradoc aside to me; "for who here knows -anything of Croatia? He might as well talk to old Gwyllim the butler, -or any chance medley Englishman, of the land of Memnon and the -hieroglyphics. This fellow Guilfoyle beats Munchausen all to nothing; -but did he not before tell something <i>else</i> about that ring?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't remember; but now, Phil, that you have seen her," said I, in -a tone of tolerably-affected carelessness, "what do you think of <i>la -belle</i> Cressingham?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"She is very handsome, certainly," replied Phil, in the same -undertone, and luckily looking at his glass, and not at me, "a -splendid specimen of her class--a proud and by no means a bashful -beauty."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Most things in this world are prized just as they are difficult of -attainment, or are scarce. I reckon beauty among these, and no woman -holds it cheap," said I, not knowing exactly what to think of -Caradoc's criticism. "There is Miss Lloyd, for instance--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah," said he, with honest animation, "she is a beauty too, but a -gentle and retiring one--a girl that is all sweetness and genuine -goodness of heart."</p> - -<p class="normal">"With some dairy-farms in the midland counties, eh?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"The graces of such a girl are always the most attractive. We men are -so constituted that we are apt to decline admiration where it is -loftily courted or seemingly expected--as I fear it is in the case of -Lady Cressingham--and to bestow it on the gentle and retiring."</p> - -<p class="normal">I felt there was much truth in my friend's remarks, and yet they -piqued me so that I rather turned from him coldly for the remainder of -the evening.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Her mother is haughty, intensely ambitious, and looks forward to a -title for her as high, if not higher, than that her father bore," I -heard Sir Madoc say to a neighbour who had been talking on the same -subject--the beauty of Lady, Estelle; "the old lady is half Irish and -half Welsh."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Rather a combustible compound, I should think," added Guilfoyle, as, -after coffee and curaçoa, we all rose to join the ladies in the -drawing-room.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_07" href="#div1Ref_07">CHAPTER VII.--PIQUE.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The moment I entered the drawing-room, where Winifred Lloyd had been -doing her utmost to amuse her various guests till we came, and where -undoubtedly the ladies' faces grew brighter when we appeared, I felt -conscious that the remark of the hoydenish Dora had done me some -little mischief. I could read this in the face of the haughty Estelle, -together with her fear that <i>others</i> might have heard it; thus, -instead of seating myself near her, as I wished and had fully -intended, I remained rather aloof, and leaving her almost exclusively -to the industrious Guilfoyle, divided my time between listening to -Winifred, who, with Caradoc, proceeded to perform the duet he had sent -her from the barracks, and endeavouring to make myself agreeable to -the Countess--a process rather, I am sorry to say, somewhat of a task -to me. Though her dark hair was considerably seamed with gray, her -forehead was without a line, smooth and unwrinkled as that of a -child--care, thought, reflection, or sorrow had never visited <i>her</i>. -Wealth and rank, with a naturally aristocratic indolence and -indifference of mind, had made the ways of life and of the world--at -least, the world in which she lived--easy, soft, and pleasant, and all -her years had glided brilliantly but monotonously on. She had married -the late earl to please her family rather than herself, because he was -undoubtedly an eligible <i>parti</i>; and she fully expected their only -daughter to act exactly in the same docile manner. Her mien and air -were stately, reserved, and uninviting; her eyes were cold, inquiring, -and searching in expression, and I fancied that they seemed to watch -and follow me, as if she really and naturally suspected me of "views," -or, as she would have deemed them, <i>designs</i>.</p> - -<p class="normal">Amid the commonplaces I was venturing to utter to this proud, cold, -and decidedly unpleasant old dame, whose goodwill and favour I was -sedulously anxious to gain, it was impossible for me to avoid hearing -some remarks that Sir Madoc made concerning me, and to her daughter.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am so glad you like my young friend, Lady Estelle," said the bluff -baronet, leaning over her chair, his rubicund face beaming with smiles -and happiness; for he was in best of moods after a pleasant dinner, -with agreeable society and plenty of good wine.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who told you that I did so?" asked she, looking up with fresh -annoyance, yet not unmixed with drollery, in her beautiful face.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Dora and Winny too; and I am so pleased, for he is an especial friend -of ours. I love the lad for his dead mother's sake--she was an old -flame of mine in my more romantic days--and doesn't he deserve it? -What do you think the colonel of his old corps says of him?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Really, Sir Madoc, I know not--that he is quite a ladykiller, -perhaps; to be such is the ambition of most young subalterns."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Better than that. He wrote me, that young Hardinge is all that a -British officer ought to be; that he has a constitution of iron--could -sleep out in all weathers, in a hammock or under a tree--till the -fever attacked him at least. If provisions were scanty, he'd share his -last biscuit with a comrade; on the longest and hottest march he never -fell out or became knocked up; and more than once he has been seen -carrying a couple of muskets, the arms of those whose strength had -failed them. 'I envy the Royal Welsh their acquisition, and regret -that <i>we</i> have lost him'--these were the colonel's very words."</p> - -<p class="normal">Had I fee'd or begged him to plead my cause, he could not have been -more earnest or emphatic.</p> - -<p class="normal">"For heaven's sake, Sir Madoc, do stop this overpowering eulogium," -said I; "it is impossible for one not to overhear, when one's own name -is mentioned. But did the colonel really say all this of me?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"All, and more, Harry."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It should win him a diploma of knight-bachelor," said Lady Estelle, -laughing, "a C.B., perhaps a baronetcy."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nay," said Sir Madoc; "such rewards are reserved now for toad-eaters, -opulent traders, tuft-hunters, and ministerial tools; the days when -true merit was rewarded are gone, my dear Lady Estelle."</p> - -<p class="normal">The duet over, Phil Caradoc drew near me, for evidently he was not -making much progress with Miss Lloyd.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, Phil," said I, in a low voice, "among those present have you -seen your ideal of woman?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can't say," said he, rather curtly; "but <i>you</i> have, at all events, -old fellow, and I think Sir Madoc has done a good stroke of business -for you by his quotation of the colonel's letter. I heard him all -through our singing--the old gentleman has no idea of a <i>sotto voce</i>, -and talks always as if he were in the hunting-field. By Jove, Harry, -you grow quite pink!" he continued, laughing. "I see how the land lies -with you; but as for '<i>la mère</i> Cressingham,' she is an exclusive of -the first water, a match-maker by reputation; and I fear you have not -the ghost of a chance with her."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hush, Caradoc," said I, glancing nervously about me "remember that we -are not at Winchester, or inside the main-guard, just now. But see, -Lady Estelle and that fellow Guilfoyle are about to favour us," I -added, as the pale beauty spread her ample skirts over the -piano-stool, with an air that, though all unstudied, seemed quite -imperial, and ran her slender fingers rapidly over the white keys, -preluding an air; while Guilfoyle, who had a tolerable voice and an -intolerable amount of assurance, prepared to sing by fussily placing -on the piano a piece of music, on the corner of which was written in a -large and bold hand, evidently his own--"To Mr. H. Guilfoyle, from -H.S.H. the Princess of Catzenelnbogen."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You must have been a special favourite with this lady," said Estelle, -"as most of your German music is inscribed thus."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, we were always exchanging our pieces and songs," said he, -languidly and in a low voice close to her ear, yet not so low as to be -unheard by me. "I was somewhat of a favourite with her, certainly; but -then the Princess was quite a privileged person."</p> - -<p class="normal">"In what respect?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"She could flirt farther than any one, and yet never compromise -herself. However, when she bestowed this ring upon me, on the day when -I saved her life, by arresting her runaway horse on the very brink of -the Rhine, I must own that his Highness the Prince was the reverse of -pleased, and viewed me with coldness ever after; so that ultimately I -resigned my office of attaché, just about the time I had the -pleasure--may I call it the joy?--of meeting you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"O fie, Mr. Guilfoyle! were you actually flirting with her?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nay, pardon me; I never flirt."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You were in love then?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I was never in love till--"</p> - -<p class="normal">A crash of notes as she resumed the air interrupted whatever he was -about to say; but his eye told more than his bold tongue would perhaps -have dared to utter in such a time or place; and, aware that they had -met on the Continent, and had been for some time together in the -seclusion of Craigaderyn, I began to fear that he must have far -surpassed me in the chances of interest with her.. Moreover, Dora's -foolish remark might reasonably lead her to suppose that I was already -involved with Winifred; and now, with a somewhat cloudy expression in -my face (as a mirror close by informed me), and a keen sense of pique -in my heart, I listened while she played the accompaniment to his -pretty long German song, the burden of which seemed to be ever and -always--</p> - -<div class="poem1"> -<p class="t4" style="text-indent:-1.5em">"Ach nein! ach nein! ich darf es nich.<br> -Leb wohl! Leb' wohl! Leb' wohl!"</p> -</div> - -<p class="normal">Sir Madoc, who had listened with some secret impatience to this most -protracted German ditty, now begged his fair guest to favour him with -something Welsh; but as she knew no airs pertaining to the locality, -she resigned her place to Winifred, whom I led across the room, and by -whose side I remained. After the showy performances of Lady Estelle, -she was somewhat reluctant to begin: all the more so, perhaps, that -her friend--with rather questionable taste, certainly--was wont, in a -spirit of mischief or raillery--but one pardons so much in lovely -woman, especially one of rank--to quiz Wales, its music and -provincialism; just as, when in the Highlands, she had laughed at the -natives, and voted "their sham chiefs and gatherings as delightfully -absurd." Finding that his daughter lingered ere she began, and half -suspecting the cause, Sir Madoc threatened to send for Owen Gwyllim, -the butler, with his harp. Owen had frequently accompanied her with -his instrument; but though that passed well enough occasionally among -homely Welsh folks, it would never do when Lady Naseby and certain -others were present.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is useless for an English girl to sing in a foreign language, or -attempt to rival paid professional artists, by mourning like Mario -from the turret, or bawling like Edgardo in the burying-ground, or to -give us 'Stride la vampa' in a fashion that would terrify Alboni," -said Sir Madoc, "or indeed to attempt any of those operatic effusions -with which every hand organ has made us familiar. So come, Winny, a -Welsh air, or I shall ring for Owen."</p> - -<p class="normal">This rather blundering speech caused Lady Estelle to smile, and -Guilfoyle, whose "Leb' wohl" had been something of the style objected -to, coloured very perceptibly. Thus urged, Winifred played and sang -with great spirit "The March of the Men of Harlech;" doubtless as much -to compliment Caradoc and me as to please her father; for it was then -our regimental march; and, apart from its old Welsh associations, it -is one of the finest effusions of our old harpers. Sir Madoc beat -time, while his eyes lit up with enthusiasm, and he patted his -daughter's plump white shoulders kindly with his weather-brown but -handsome hands; for the old gentleman rather despised gloves, indoors -especially, as effeminate.</p> - -<p class="normal">Winifred had striven to please rather than to excel; and though -tremulous at times, her voice was most attractive.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thank you," said I, in a low and earnest tone; "your execution is -just of that peculiar kind which leaves nothing more to be wished for, -and while it lasts, Winny, inspires a sense of joy in one's heart."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You flatter me much--far too much," replied Miss Lloyd, in a lower -and still more tremulous tone, as she grew very pale; for some girls -will do so, when others would flush with emotion, and it was evident -that my praise gave her pleasure; she attached more to my words than -they meant.</p> - -<p class="normal">An undefinable feeling of pique now possessed me--a sensation of -disappointment most difficult to describe; but it arose from a sense -of doubt as to how I really stood in the estimation of the fair -Estelle. Taking an opportunity, while Sir Madoc was emphatically -discussing the points and pedigrees of certain horses and harriers -with Guilfoyle and other male friends, while the Countess and other -ladies were clustered about Winifred at the piano, and Dora and -Caradoc were deep in some affair of their own, I leaned over her -chair, and referring--I forget now in what terms--to the last time we -met, or rather parted, I strove to effect that most difficult of all -moves in the game of love--to lead back the emotions, or the past -train of thought, to where they had been dropped, or snapped by -mischance, to the time when I had bid her lingeringly adieu, after -duly shawling and handing her to the carriage, at the close of a late -rout in Park-lane, when the birds of an early June morning were -twittering in the trees of Hyde Park, when the purple shadows were -lying deep about the Serpentine, when the Ring-road was a solitude, -the distant Row a desert, and the yawning footmen in plush and powder, -and the usually rubicund coachmen, looking weary, pale, and impatient, -and when the time and place were suited neither for delay nor -dalliance. Yet, as I have elsewhere said, an avowal of all she had -inspired within me was trembling on my lips as I led her through the -marble vestibule and down the steps, pressing her hand and arm the -while against my side; but her mother's voice from the depths of the -carriage (into which old Lord Pottersleigh had just handed her) -arrested a speech to which she might only have responded by silence, -then at least; and I had driven, <i>viâ</i> Piccadilly, to the Junior U.S., -when Westminster clock was paling out like a harvest moon beyond the -Green Park, cursing my diffidence, that delayed all I had to say till -the carriage was announced, thereby missing the chance that never -might come again. And then I had but the memory of a lovely face, -framed by a carriage window, regarding me with a bright yet wistful -smile, and of a soft thrilling pressure returned by an ungloved hand, -that was waved to me from the same carriage as it rolled away -westward. The night had fled, and there remained of it only the memory -of this, and of those glances so full of tenderness, and those soft -attentions or half endearments which are so charming, and so -implicitly understood, as almost to render language, perhaps, un -necessary.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You remember the night we last met, and parted, in London?" I -whispered.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Morning, rather, I think it wash" said she, fanning herself; "but -night or morning, it was a most delightful ball. I had not enjoyed -myself anywhere so much that season, and it was a gay one."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, you have not forgotten it, then," said I, encouraged.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No; it stands out in my memory as one night among many happy ones. -Day was almost breaking when you led me to the carriage, I remember."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can you remember nothing more?' I asked, earnestly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You shawled me most attentively--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"And I was whispering--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Something foolish, no doubt; men are apt to do so at such times," she -replied, while her white eyelids quivered and she looked up at me -with her calm, bright smile.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Something foolish!" thought I, reproachfully; "and then, as now, my -soul seemed on my lips."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do you admire Mr. Guilfoyle's singing?" she asked, after a little -pause, to change the subject probably.</p> - -<p class="normal">"His voice is unquestionably good and highly cultured," said I, -praising him truthfully enough to conceal the intense annoyance her -unexpected question gave me; "but, by the way, Lady Estelle, how does -it come to pass that he has the honour of knowing you--to be <i>here</i>, -too?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"How--why--what <i>do</i>, you mean, Mr. Hardinge?" she asked, and I could -perceive that after colouring slightly she grew a trifle paler than -before. "He is a visitor here, like you or myself. We met him abroad -first; he was most kind to us when mamma lost all her passports at the -Berlin Eisenbahnhof, and he accompanied us to the Alte Leipziger -Strasse for others, and saw us safely to our carriage. Then, by the -most singular chances, we met him again at the new Kursaal of Ems, at -Gerolstein, when we were beginning the tour of the Eifel, and at -Baden-Baden. Lastly, we met him at Llandudno, on the beach, quite -casually, when driving with Sir Madoc, to whom he said that he knew -you--that you were quite old friends, in fact."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Knew me, by Jove! that is rather odd. I only lost some money to him; -enough to make me wary for the future."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Wary?" she asked, with dilated eyes.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes."</p> - -<p class="normal">"An unpleasant expression, surely. Sir Madoc, who is so hospitable, -asked him here to see the lions of Craigaderyn, and has put a gun at -his disposal for the twelfth."</p> - -<p class="normal">"How kind of unthinking Sir Madoc! A most satisfactory explanation," -said I, cloudily, while gnawing my moustache. Guilfoyle had too -evidently followed them.</p> - -<p class="normal">"If any explanation were necessary," was the somewhat haughty -response, as the mother-of-pearl fan went faster than ever, and she -looked me full in the face with her clear, dark, and penetrating eyes, -to the sparkle of which the form of their lids, and their thick fringe -of black lash, served to impart a softness that was indeed required. -"Do you know anything of him?" she added.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No; that is--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Anything against him?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, Lady Estelle."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What then?" she asked, a little petulantly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Simply that I, pardon me, think a good deal."</p> - -<p class="normal">"More than you would say?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Perhaps."</p> - -<p class="normal">"This is not just. Mamma is somewhat particular, as you know; and our -family solicitor, Mr. Sharpus, who is his legal friend also, speaks -most warmly of him. We met him in the best society--abroad, of course; -but, Mr. Hardinge, your words, your manner, more than all, your tone, -imply what I fear Mr. Guilfoyle would strongly resent. But please go -and be attentive to mamma--you have scarcely been near her to-night," -she added quickly, as a flush of anger crossed my face, and she -perceived it. I bowed and obeyed, with a smile on my lips and intense -annoyance in my heart. I knew that the soft eyes of Winifred Lloyd had -been on us from time to time; but my little flirtation with <i>her</i> was -a thing of the past now, and I was reckless of its memory. Was she so? -Time will prove. I felt jealousy of Guilfoyle, pique at Lady Estelle, -and rage at my own mismanagement. I had sought to resume the tenor of -our thoughts and conversation on the occasion of our parting after -that joyous and brilliant night in Park-lane, when my name on her -engagement card had appeared thrice for that of any one else; but if I -had touched her heart, even in the slightest degree, would she have -become, as it seemed, almost warm in defence of this man, a waif -picked up on the Continent? Yet, had she any deeper interest in him -than mere acquaintanceship warranted, would she have spoken of him so -openly, and so candidly, to me?</p> - -<p class="normal">Heavens! we had actually been covertly fencing, and nearly -quarrelling! Yet, if so, why should she be anxious for me to win the -estimation of "mamma"? Lady Naseby had been beautiful in her time, and -the utter vacuity and calm of her mind had enabled her to retain much -of that beauty unimpaired; and I thought that her daughter, though -with more sparkle and brilliance, would be sure to resemble her very -much at the same years. She was not displeased to meet with attention, -but was shrewd enough to see, and disdainful enough to resent, its -being bestowed, as she suspected it was in my instance, on account of -her daughter; thus I never had much success; for on the night of that -very rout in London my attentions in that quarter, and their apparent -good fortune, had excited her parental indignation and aristocratic -prejudices against me.</p> - -<p class="normal">After all the visitors had withdrawn (as horses or carriages were -announced in succession), save one or two fox-hunters whom Guilfoyle -had lured into the billiard-room for purposes of his own, when the -ladies left us at night Lady Estelle did not give me her hand. She -passed me with a bow and smile only, and as she swept through the -gilded folding doors of the outer drawing-room, with an arm round -Dora's waist, her backward glances fell on all--but me. Why was this? -Was this coldness of manner the result of Guilfoyle's influence, fear -of her mamma, her alleged engagement with old Lord Pottersleigh, pique -at myself caused by Dora's folly, or what? It was the old story of -"trifles light as air." I felt wrathful and heavy at heart, and -repented bitterly the invitation I had accepted, and the leave I had -asked; for Lady Estelle seemed so totally unconcerned and indifferent -to me now, considering the <i>empressement</i> with which we had parted in -London.</p> - -<p class="normal">The "family solicitor," too! He had been introduced as a mutual friend -in the course of affairs--in the course of a friendship that had -ripened most wonderfully. Was this Hawkesby Guilfoyle a fool, or a -charlatan, or both? His various versions of the diamond ring would -seem to show that he was the former. What fancy had the Countess for -him, and why was he tolerated by Sir Madoc? Familiar though I was with -my old friend, I felt that I could not, without a violation of good -taste, ask a question about a guest, especially one introduced by the -Cressinghams. His voice was soft in tone; his manner, when he chose, -was suave; his laugh at all times, even when he mocked and sneered, -which was not unfrequent, silvery and pleasing; yet he was evidently -one who could "smile and smile and be"--I shall not exactly say what. -While smoking a cigar, I pondered over these and other perplexing -things in my room before retiring for the night, hearing ever and anon -the click of the billiard-balls at the end of the corridor. Had I not -the same chance and right of competition as this Guilfoyle, though -unknown to the "family solicitor"? How far had he succeeded in -supplanting me, and perhaps others? for that there were others I knew. -How far had he gone in his suit--how prospered? How was I to construe -the glances I had seen exchanged, the half speech so bluntly made, and -so adroitly drowned at the piano? Who was he? what was he? The attaché -of the mock embassy at a petty German Court! Surely my position in -society was as good, if not better defined than his; while youth, -appearance, health, and strength gave me every advantage over an "old -fogie" like Viscount Pottersleigh.</p> - -<p class="normal">As if farther to inflame my pique, and confirm the chagrin and -irritation that grew within me on reflection, Phil Caradoc, smoothing -his moustache, came into my room, which adjoined his, to have, as he -said, "a quiet weed before turning in." He looked ruffled; for he had -lost money at billiards--that was evident--and to the object of my -jealousy, too.</p> - -<p class="normal">"That fellow Guilfoyle is a thorough Bohemian if ever there was one!" -said he, as he viciously bit off the end of his cigar prior to -lighting it, "with his inimitable tact, his steady stroke at -billiards, his scientific whist, his coolness and perfect breeding: -yet he is, I am certain, unless greatly mistaken, a regular -free-lance, without the bravery or brilliance that appertained to the -name of old--a lawless ritter of the gaming-table, and one that can't -even act his part well or consistently in being so. He has been -spinning another story about that ring, with which I suppose, like -Claude Melnotte's, we shall hear in time his grandfather, the Doge of -Venice, married the Adriatic I am certain," continued Caradoc, who was -unusually ruffled, "that though a vainglorious and boasting fellow, he -is half knave, half fool, and wholly adventurer!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"This is strong language, Phil. Good heavens! do you really think so?" -I asked, astonished to find him so boldly putting my own thoughts into -words.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am all but convinced of it," said he, emphatically. "But how in -such society?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, that is the rub, and the affair of Sir Madoc, and of Lady Naseby, -and of Lady Estelle, too, for she seems to take rather more than an -interest in him--they have some secret understanding. . By Jove! I -can't make it out at all."</p> - -<p class="normal">Caradoc's strong convictions and unusual bluntness added fuel to my -pique and chagrin, and I resolved that, come what might, I would end -the matter ere long; and I thought the while of the song of -Montrose--</p> - -<div class="poem1"> -<p class="t4" style="text-indent:-1.5em">"He either fears his fate too much,<br> -Or his deserts are small,</p> -<p class="t4" style="text-indent:-1em">Who dares not put it to the touch,<br> -To gain or lose it all!"</p> -</div> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_08" href="#div1Ref_08">CHAPTER VIII.--SUNDAY AT CRAIGADERYN.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The following day was Sunday; and ere it closed, there occurred a -little contretemps which nearly lost me all chance of putting to the -issue whether I was "to gain or lose it all" with Estelle Cressingham.</p> - -<p class="normal">I felt that it was quite possible, if I chose, to have my revenge -through the sweet medium of Winifred Lloyd; yet, though Lady Estelle's -somewhat pointed defence of Guilfoyle rankled in my memory, and -Caradoc's hints had added fuel to the flame, I shrunk from such a -double game, and hoped that the chances afforded by propinquity in -general, and the coming fête in particular, would soon enable me to -come to a decision. My mind was full of vague irritation against her; -yet when I rose in the morning, my one and predominant thought was -that I should see her again. Carriages and horses had been ordered -from the stable for our conveyance to Craigaderyn church, a three -miles' drive through lovely scenery, and I resolved to accompany the -sisters in the barouche, leaving whom fate directed to take charge of -Lady Estelle; yet great was my contentment when she fell to the care -of Sir Madoc in the family carriage. Lady Naseby did not appear, her -French soubrette, Mademoiselle Babette Pompon, announcing that she was -indisposed. Guilfoyle and Caradoc rode somewhat unwillingly together, -and I sat opposite Winny, who insisted on driving, and was duly -furnished with the smartest of parasol whips--pink, with a white -fringe. Quitting the park, we skirted a broad trout stream, the steep -banks of which were clad with light-green foliage, and name -<i>Nant-y-belan</i>, or the "Martens' dingle." At the bottom the river -foamed along over broken and abutting rocks, or flowed in dark and -noiseless pools, where the brown trout lurked in the shade, and where -the overarching trees and grassy knolls were reflected downward in -the depth.</p> - -<p class="normal">Hawkesby Guilfoyle sat his horse--one of Sir Madoc's hunters, fully -sixteen hands high--so well, and looked so handsome and gentlemanly, -his riding costume was so complete, even to his silver spurs, -well-fitting buff gloves, and riding switch, that I felt regret in the -conviction that some cloud hung over the fellow's antecedents, and -present life too, perhaps; but with all that I could not forgive him -his rivalry and, as I deemed it, presumption, with the strong belief -that he was, in his secret heart; my enemy. He and Caradoc rode behind -the open carriage; we led the way in the barouche; and a very merry -and laughing party we were, as we swept by the base of the green hills -of Mynedd Hiraethrog, and over the ancient bridge that spans Llyn -Aled, to the church of Craigaderyn, where the entrance of Sir Madoc's -family and their visitors caused periodically somewhat of a sensation -among the more humble parishioners who were there, and were wont to -regard with a species of respectful awe the great square pew, which -was lined with purple velvet, and had a carved-oak table in the -centre, and over the principal seat the lion's head erased, and the -shield of Lloyd per bend sinister, ermine and pean, a lion rampant, -armed with a sword.</p> - -<p class="normal">With a roof of carved oak, brought from some <i>other</i> place (the -invariable account of all such roofs in Wales), and built by Jorwerth -ap Davydd Lloyd, in 1320, the church was a picturesque old place, -where many generations of the Craigaderyn family had worshipped long -before and since the Reformation, and whose bones, lapped in lead, and -even in coffins of stone, lay in the burial vaults below. The oaken -pews were high and deep, and were covered with dates, coats-of-arms, -and quaint monograms. In some places the white slabs indicated where -lay the remains of those who died but yesterday. Elsewhere, with -helmet, spurs, and gloves of steel hung above their stony effigies, -and covered by cobwebs and dust, lay the men of ages past and gone, -their brasses and pedestal tombs bearing, in some instances, how -stoutly and valiantly they had fought against the Spaniard, the -Frenchman, and the Scot. One, Sir Madoc ap Meredyth Lloyd, whose sword -hung immediately over my head, had wielded it, as his brass recorded, -"contra Scotos apud Flodden et Musselboro;" and now the spiders were -busy spinning their cobwebs over the rusted helmet through which this -old Welsh knight had seen King James's host defile by the silver Till, -and that of his fated granddaughter by the banks of the beautiful Esk. -In other places I saw the more humble, but curious Welsh mode of -commemorating the dead, by hanging up a coffin-plate, inscribed with -their names, in the pews where they were wont to sit. Coats-of-arms -met the eye on all sides--solid evidences of birth and family, which -more than once evoked a covert sneer from Guilfoyle, who to his other -bad qualities added the pride and the envy of such things, that seem -inseparable from the character of the parvenu. There were two -services in Craigaderyn church each Sunday, one in Welsh, the other in -English. Sir Madoc usually attended the former; but in courtesy to -Lady Estelle, he had come to the latter to-day.</p> - -<p class="normal">Over all the details of the village fane my eyes wandered from time to -time, always to rest on the face of Estelle Cressingham or of Winifred -Lloyd, who was beside me, and who on this day, as I had accompanied -her, seemed to feel that she had me all to herself. We read off the -same book, as we had done years before in the same pew and place; ever -and anon our gloved fingers touched; I felt her silk dress rustling -against me; her long lashes and snowy lids, with the soft pale beauty -of her downcast face, and her sweetly curved mouth, were all most -pleasing and attractive; but the <i>sense</i> of Estelle's presence rendered -me invulnerable to all but her; and my eyes could not but roam to -where she stood or knelt by the side of burly Sir Madoc, her fine face -downcast too in the soft light that stole between the deep mullions -and twisted tracery of an ancient stained-glass window, her noble and -equally pure profile half seen and half hidden by a short veil of -black lace; her rounded chin and lips rich in colour, and beautiful in -character as those of one of Greuze's loveliest masterpieces. There, -too, were the rich brightness of her hair, and the proud grace that -pervaded all her actions, and even her stillness.</p> - -<p class="normal">Thus, even when I did not look towards her, but in Winifred's face, or -on the book we mutually held, and mechanically affected to read, a -perception, a dreamy sense of Estelle's presence was about me, and I -could not help reverting to our past season in London, and all that -has been described by a writer as those "first sweet hours of -communion, when strangers glide into friends; that hour which, either -in friendship or in love, is as the bloom to the fruit, as the -daybreak to the day, indefinable, magical, and fleeting;" the hours -which saw me presented as a friend, and left me a lover. The day was -intensely hot, and inside the old church, though some of the arched -recesses and ancient tombs looked cool enough, there was a blaze of -sunshine, that fell in hazy flakes or streams of coloured light -athwart the bowed heads of the congregation. With heat and languor, -there was also the buzz of insect life; and amid the monotonous tones -of the preacher I loved to fancy him reading the marriage service for -us--that is, for Estelle and myself--fancied it as an enthusiastic -school-girl might have done; and yet how was it that, amid these -conceits, the face and form of Winifred Lloyd, with her pretty hand in -the tight straw-coloured kid glove, that touched mine, filled up the -eye of the mind? Was I dreaming, or only about to sleep, like so many -of the congregation--those toilers afield, those hardy hewers of wood -and drawers of water, whose strong sinews, when unbraced, induced them -to slumber now--the men especially, as the study of each other's -toilets served to keep the female portion fully awake. When the -clergyman prayed for the success of our arms in the strife that was to -come, Winifred's dark eyes looked into mine for a moment, quick as -light, and I saw her bosom swell; and when he prayed, "Give peace in -our time, O Lord," her voice became earnest and tremulous in -responding; and I could have sworn that I saw a tear oozing, but -arrested, on the thick black eyelash of this impulsive Welsh girl, -whom this part of the service, by its association and the time, seemed -to move; but Lady Estelle was wholly intent on having one of her -gloves buttoned by Guilfoyle, whose attendance she doubtless preferred -to that of old Sir Madoc.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Look!" said Winifred Lloyd, in an excited whisper, as she lightly -touched my hand.</p> - -<p class="normal">I followed the direction of her eye, and saw, seated at the end of the -central aisle, modestly and humbly, among the free places reserved for -the poor, a young woman, whose appearance was singularly interesting. -Poorly, or rather plainly, attired in faded black, her face was -remarkably handsome; and her whole air was perfectly ladylike. She was -as pale as death, with a wild wan look in all her features; disease, -or sorrow, or penury--perhaps all these together--had marked her as -their own; her eyes, of clear, bright, and most expressive gray, were -haggard and hollow, with dark circles under them. Black kid gloves -showed her pretensions to neatness and gentility; but as they were -frayed and worn, she strove to conceal her hands nervously under her -gathered shawl.</p> - -<p class="normal">"She is looking at you, Winifred," said Dora.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No--at Estelle."</p> - -<p class="normal">"At us all, I think," resumed Dora, in the same whispered tone; "and -she has done so for some time past. Heavens! she seems quite like a -spectre."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Poor creature!" said Winifred; "we must inquire about her."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do you know her, Mr. Hardinge?" asked Dora.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nay, not I; it is Mr. Guilfoyle she is looking at," said I.</p> - -<p class="normal">Guilfoyle, having achieved the somewhat protracted operation of -buttoning Lady Estelle's lavender kid glove, now stuck his glass in -his eye, and turned leisurely and languidly in the direction that -attracted us all, just as the service was closing; but the pale woman -quickly drew down her veil, and quitted the church abruptly, ere he -could see her, as I thought; and this circumstance, though I took no -heed of it then, I remembered in the time to come.</p> - -<p class="normal">Winifred frankly took my arm as we left the church.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You promised to come with me after luncheon and see the goat I have -for the regiment," said she.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Did I?--ah, yes--shall be most happy, I'm sure," said I, shamefully -oblivious of the promise in question, as we proceeded towards the -carriages, the people making way for us on all sides, the women -curtseying and the men uncovering to Sir Madoc, who was a universal -favourite, especially with the maternal portion of the parish, as he -was very fond of children and flattered himself not a little on his -power of getting on with them, being wont to stop mothers on the road -or in the village street, and make knowing remarks on the beauty, the -complexions, or the curly heads of their offspring while he was never -without a handful of copper or loose silver for general distribution; -and now it excited some surprise and even secret disdain in -Guilfoyle--a little petulance in Lady Estelle too--to find him shaking -hands and speaking in gutteral Welsh with some of the men cottagers, -or peasant-women with jackets and tall odd hats. But one anecdote will -suffice to show the character of Sir Madoc.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the very summer of my visit, it had occurred that he had to serve -on a jury when a property of some three thousand pounds or so was at -issue; and when the jury retired, he found that they were determined -to decide in such manner as he did not deem equitable, and which in -the end would inevitably ruin an honest farmer named Evan Rhuddlan, -father of a sergeant in my company of Welsh Fusileers, who dwelt at a -place called Craig Eryri, or "the Rock of Eagles." Finding that they -were resolute, he submitted, or affected to acquiesce in their -decision; but on announcing it to the court he handed the losing party -a cheque on Coutts and Co. for the whole sum in litigation, and became -more than ever the idol of the country people.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Romantic old place--casques, cobwebs, and all that sort of thing," -said Guilfoyle, as he handed Lady Estelle into the carriage, and took -the bridle of his horse from Bob Spurrit, the groom; "I thought Burke -had written the epitaph of chivalry and all belonging to it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, but romance still exists, Mr. Guilfoyle," said Winifred, whose -face was bright with smiles.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And love too, eh, Estelle?" added Dora, laughing.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Even in the region of Mayfair, you think?" said she.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; and wherever there is beauty, that is rarest," said I.</p> - -<p class="normal">But she only replied by one of her calm smiles; for she had a -reticence of manner which there seemed to be no means of moving.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Talking of love and romance, I should like to know more of that pale -woman we saw in church to-day," said Dora.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why so?" asked Guilfoyle, curtly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Because I saw she must have some terrible story to tell.--What was -the text, Mr. Caradoc?" she asked, as we departed homewards.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Haven't the ghost of an idea," replied Phil.</p> - -<p class="normal">"O fie!--or the subject?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No," said Caradoc, reddening a little; for he had been intent during -the whole service on Winifred Lloyd.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It was all about Jacob's ladder, of which we have had a most -inaccurate notion hitherto," said Dora, as we drove down the long lime -avenue, to find that, as the day was so sultry, luncheon had been laid -for us by Owen Gwyllim under the grand old trees in the lawn, about -thirty yards from the entrance-hall, under the very oak where the -spectre of Sir Jorwerth Du was alleged to vanish, the oak of Owen -Glendower; and where that doughty Cymbrian had perhaps sought to -summon spirits from the vasty deep, we found spirits of another -kind--brandy and seltzer, clicquot and sparkling moselle cooling in -silver ice-pails on the greensward; and there too, awaiting us, sat -Lady Naseby, smiling and fanning herself under the umbrageous shadows -of the chase.</p> - -<p class="normal">Over her stately head was pinned a fall of rich Maltese lace, that -hung in lappets on each side--a kind of demi-toilette that well became -her lingering beauty and matronly appearance.</p> - -<p class="normal">In a mother-of-pearl basket by her side, and placed on the -luncheon-table, lay Tiny, her shock, a diminutive cur, white as snow, -spotless as Mademoiselle Babette with perfumed soap could make it, its -long woolly hair dangling over its pink eyes, giving it, as Sir Madoc -said, "a most pitiable appearance;" for with all his love of dogs, he -disliked such pampered, waddling, and wheezing pets as this, and -thought manhood never looked so utterly contemptible as when a -tall "Jeames" in livery, with whiskers and calves, cane and nosegay, -had the custody of such a quadruped, while his lady shopped in -Regent-street or Piccadilly.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_09" href="#div1Ref_09">CHAPTER IX.-THE INITIALS.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">While we were at luncheon, and the swollen champagne-corks were flying -upward into the green foliage overhead, and while Owen Gwyllim was -supplying us with iced claret-cup from a great silver tankard -presented to Sir Madoc's uncle by his regiment, the Ancient Britons, -after the Irish rebellion of 1798, and with which he, Sir Madoc, had -been wont to dispense swig or "brown Betty" on St. David's day, when -at Cambridge--Dora, with her hair flying loose, her eyes sparkling, -and her face radiant with excitement and merriment came tripping down -the perron from the entrance hall, and across the lawn towards us, -with the contents of the household post-bag. She seemed to have -letters for every one, save me--letters which she dropped and picked -up as she came along. There was quite a pile of notes for herself, on -the subject of her approaching fête; and how busy her pretty little -hands immediately became!</p> - -<p class="normal">After the usual muttered apologies, all began to read.</p> - -<p class="normal">There was a letter for Guilfoyle, on reading which he grew very white, -exhibited great trepidation, and thrust it into his coat-pocket.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What is up, sir?" asked Sir Madoc, pausing with a slice of cold fowl -on his fork; "nothing unpleasant, I hope?'</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sold on a bay mare--that is all," he replied, with an affected laugh, -as if to dismiss the subject.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How?" asked Sir Madoc, whom a "horsey" topic immediately interested.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Like many other handicap 'pots' this season, my nag came in worse -than second."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A case of jockeying?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pure and simple."</p> - -<p class="normal">"When?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"O, ah--York races."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why, man alive, they don't come off for a month yet!" responded Sir -Madoc, somewhat dryly; but perceiving that his guest was awkwardly -placed, he changed the subject by saying, "But your letter, Lady -Estelle, gives you pleasure, I am glad to see."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is from Lord Pottersleigh. He arrives here to-morrow and hopes his -rooms have a southern exposure."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The fête-day--of course. His comforts shall be fully attended to."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why did he write to <i>her</i> about this, and not to Sir Madoc or Miss -Lloyd?" thought I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He is such an old friend," remarked Lady Estelle, as if she divined -my mental query.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, rather too old for my taste," said the somewhat mischievous -Dora. "He wears goloshes in damp weather, his hat down on the nape of -his neck; is in an agony of mind about exposures, draughts, and -currents of air; makes his horse shy every time he attempts to mount, -and they go round in circles, eyeing each other suspiciously till a -groom comes; and when he does achieve his saddle, he drops his whip or -his gloves, or twists his stirrup-leather. And yet it is this old -fogie whose drag at Epsom or the Derby makes the greatest show, has -the finest display of lovely faces, fans, bonnets, and parasols--a -moving Swan and Edgar, with a luncheon spread that Fortnum and Mason -might envy, and champagne flowing as if from a fountain; but withal, -he is so tiresome!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Dora, you quite forget yourself," said Winifred, while I could have -kissed her for this sketch of my rival, at which Sir Madoc, and even -Estelle Cressingham, laughed; but Lady Naseby said, with some asperity -of tone,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lord Pottersleigh is one of our richest peers, Miss Dora, and his -creation dates from Henry VIII."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And he is to dance with me," said the heedless girl, still laughing. -"O, won't I astonish his nerves if we waltz!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your cousin Naseby is to visit us, Estelle, at Walcot Park, so soon -as we return, if he can," said the Countess, turning from Dora with a -very dubious expression of eye, and closing a letter she had received; -"his love-affair with that odious Irish girl is quite off, thank -heaven!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"How?--love of change, or change of love?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Neither."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What then, mamma?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"The Irish girl actually had a mind of her own, and preferred some one -else even to a peer, an English peer!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I drain this clicquot to the young lady's happiness," said Sir Madoc.</p> - -<p class="normal">"But all this is nothing to me, mamma," said Lady Estelle, coldly.</p> - -<p class="normal">But I could see at a glance, that if it was unimportant to <i>her</i>, it -was not so to her mother, his aunt, who would rather have had the -young earl for her son-in-law than the old viscount, even though the -patent of the latter had been expede by the royal Bluebeard, most -probably for services that pertained more to knavery than knighthood.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, Caradoc," said I, "is your despatch from the regiment?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; from Price of ours. Nothing but rumours of drafts going eastward -to make up the death-losses at Varna, and he fears our leave may be -cancelled. 'Deuced awkward if we go soon,' he adds, 'as I have a most -successful <i>affaire du c[oe]ur</i> on hand just now.'"</p> - -<p class="normal">"When is he ever without one?" said I; and we both laughed.</p> - -<p class="normal">Winifred's eyes were on me, and Caradoc's were on her, while I was -sedulously attending to Lady Estelle. As for Guilfoyle, since the -advent of his letter he had become quite silent. We were at the old -game of cross-purposes; for it seems to be in love, as with everything -else in life, that the obstacles in the way, and the difficulty of -attainment, always enhance the value of the object to be won. Yet in -the instance of Lady Estelle I was not so foolish as poor Price of -ours, the butt of the mess, who always fell in love with the wrong -person--to whom the pale widow, inconsolable in her first crape; the -blooming bride, in her clouds of tulle and white lace; the girl just -engaged, and who consequently saw but one man in the world, and that -man her own <i>fiancé</i>; or any pretty girl whom he met just when the -route came and the mess-plate was packed prior to marching--became -invested with remarkable charms, and a sudden interest that made his -susceptible heart feel sad and tender.</p> - -<p class="normal">The ladies' letters opened up quite a budget of town news and gossip. -To Sir Madoc, a genuine country gentleman, full only of field-sports, -the prospects of the turnip crop and the grouse season, the -county-pack and so forth, a conversation that now rose, chiefly on the -coming fête on dresses, music, routs and Rotten-row, kettledrums and -drawing-rooms, and the town in general, proved somewhat of a bore. He -fidgeted, and ultimately left for the stables, where he and Bob -Spurrit had to hold a grave consultation on certain equine ailments. -The ladies also rose to leave us; but Caradoc, Guilfoyle, and I -lingered under the cool shadow of the oaks, and lit our cigars. With -his silver case for holding the last-named luxuries, Guilfoyle -unconsciously pulled forth a letter, which fell on the grass at my -feet. Picking it up, I restored it to him; but brief though the -action, I could not help perceiving it to be the letter he had just -received, that it was addressed in a woman's hand, and had on the -envelope, in coloured letters, the name "Georgette."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thanks," said he, with sudden irritation of manner, as he thrust it -into a breast-pocket this time; "a narrow squeak that!" he added, -slangily, with a half-muttered malediction.</p> - -<p class="normal">I felt certain that there was a mystery in all this; that he feared -something unpleasant might have been revealed, had that identical -letter fallen into <i>other</i> hands, or under more prying eyes; and I -remembered those trivial circumstances at a future, and to me rather -harassing, time. I must own that this man was to me a puzzle. With all -his disposition to boast, he never spoke of relations or of family; -yet he seemed in perfectly easy circumstances; his own valet, groom, -and horses were at Craigaderyn; he could bear himself well and with -perfect ease in the best society; and it was evident that, wherever -they came from, he was at present a man of pretty ample means. He -possessed, moreover, a keen perception for appreciating individuals -and events at their actual value; his manners were, <i>when he chose</i>, -polished, his coolness imperturbable, and his <i>insouciance</i> sometimes -amusing. For the present, it had left him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Beautiful brilliant that of yours, Mr. Guilfoyle," said Caradoc, to -fish for another legend of the ring; but in vain, for Guilfoyle was no -longer quite himself, though he had policy enough to feed the snarling -cur Tiny in her basket, with choice morsels of cold fowl, as Lady -Naseby's soubrette, Mademoiselle Babette, was waiting to carry it -away. Since the remarks or <i>contretemps</i> concerning the York races he -had been as mute as a fish; and now, when he did begin to speak in the -absence of Sir Madoc, I could perceive that gratitude for kindness did -not form an ingredient in the strange compound of which his character -was made up. Perhaps secret irritation at Sir Madoc's queries about -the letter which so evidently disturbed his usual equanimity might -have been the real spirit that moved him now to sneer at the old -baronet's Welsh foibles, and particularly his weakness on the subject -of pedigrees.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are to stay here for the 1st, I believe?" said I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; but, the dooce! for what? Such a labour to march through miles -of beans and growing crop, to knock over a few partridges and rabbits" -(partwidges and wabbits, he called them), "which you can pay another -to do much better for you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sturdy Sir Madoc would hear this with incredulous astonishment," said -I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Very probably. Kind fellow old Taffy, though," said he, while smoking -leisurely, and lounging back in an easy garden-chair; "has a long -pedigree, of course, as we may always remember by the coats-of-arms -stuck up all over the house. 'County people' in the days of Howel Dha; -'county ditto' in the days of Queen Victoria, and likely to remain so -till the next flood forms a second great epoch in the family history. -Very funny, is it not? He reminds me of what we read of Mathew Bramble -in <i>Humphry Clinker</i>--a gentleman of great worth and property, -descended in a straight line by the female side from Llewellyn, Prince -of Wales."</p> - -<p class="normal">I was full of indignation on hearing my old friend spoken of thus, if -not under his own roof, under his ancient ancestral oaks; but Philip -Caradoc, more Celtic and fiery by nature, anticipated me by saying -sharply, "Bad taste this, surely in you, Mr. Guilfoyle, to sneer thus -at our hospitable entertainer; and believe me, sir, that no one treats -lightly the pedigree of another who--who--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, well--who what?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Possesses one himself," added Phil, looking him steadily in the face.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bah! I suppose every one has had a grandfather."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Even you, Mr. Guilfoyle?" continued Caradoc, whose cheek began to -flush; but the other replied calmly, and not without point,</p> - -<p class="normal">"There is a writer who says, that to pride oneself on the nobility of -one's ancestors is like looking among the roots for the fruit that -should be found on the branches."</p> - -<p class="normal">Finding that the conversation was taking a decidedly unpleasant turn, -and that, though his tone was quiet and his manner suave, a glassy -glare shone in the greenish-gray eyes of Guilfoyle, I said, with an -assumed laugh,</p> - -<p class="normal">"We must not forget the inborn ideas and the national sentiments of -the Welsh--call them provincialisms if you will. But remember that -there are eight hundred thousand people inspired by a nationality so -strong, that they will speak only the language of the Cymri; and it is -among those chiefly that our regiment has ever been recruited. But if -the foibles--I cannot deem them folly--of Sir Madoc are distasteful to -you, the charms of the scenery around us and those of our lady friends -cannot but be pleasing."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Granted," said he, coldly; "all are beautiful, even to Miss Dora, who -looks so innocent."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who <i>is</i> so innocent by nature, Mr. Guilfoyle," said I, in a tone of -undisguised sternness.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then it is a pity she permits herself to say--sharp things."</p> - -<p class="normal">"With so much unintentional point, perhaps?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sir!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Truth, then--which you will," said I, as we simultaneously rose to -leave luncheon-table.</p> - -<p class="normal">And now, oddly enough, followed by Winifred, Dora herself came again -tripping down the broad steps of the perron towards us, exclaiming,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is not papa with you?--the tiresome old dear, he will be among the -harriers or the stables of course!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"What is the matter?" I asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Only think, Mr. Hardinge, that poor woman we saw at church this -morning, looking so pretty, so pale, and interesting, was found among -the tombstones by Farmer Rhuddlan, quite in a helpless faint, after we -drove away--so the housekeeper tells me; so we must find her out and -succour her if possible."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But who is she?" asked Caradoc.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No one knows; she refused obstinately to give her name or tell her -story ere she went away; but at her neck hangs a gold locket, with a -crest, the date, 1st of September, on one side, and H. G. beautifully -enamelled on the other. How odd--your initials, Mr. Guilfoyle!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are perhaps not aware that my name is Henry Hawkesby Guilfoyle," -said he, with ill-concealed anger, while he played nervously with his -diamond ring.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How intensely odd!" resumed his beautiful but unwitting tormentor; -"H. H. G. were the three letters on the locket!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Did no one open it?" he asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No; it was firmly closed."</p> - -<p class="normal">"By a secret spring, no doubt."</p> - -<p class="normal">Guilfoyle looked ghastly for a moment, or it might have been the -effect of the sunlight flashing on his face through the waving foliage -of the trees overhead; but he said laughingly,</p> - -<p class="normal">"A droll coincidence, which under some circumstances, might be very -romantic, but fortunately in the present has no point whatever. If my -initials hung at your neck instead of hers, how happy I should be, -Miss Dora!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And turning the matter thus, by a somewhat clumsy compliment or bit of -flattery, he ended an unpleasant conversation by entering the house -with her and Caradoc.</p> - -<p class="normal">Winifred remained irresolutely behind them.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We were to visit my future comrade," said I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come, then," said she, with a beautiful smile, and a soft blush of -innocent pleasure.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_10" href="#div1Ref_10">CHAPTER X.--A PERILOUS RAMBLE.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Winifred Lloyd was, as Caradoc had said, a very complete and perfect -creature. The very way her gloves fitted, the handsome form of her -feet, the softness of her dark eyes, the tender curve of her lips, -and, more than all, her winning manner--the inspiration of an innocent -and guileless heart--made her a most desirable companion at all times; -but with me, at present, poor Winifred was only the means to an end; -and perhaps she secretly felt this, as she lingered pensively for a -moment by the marble fountain that stood before Craigaderyn Court, and -played with her white fingers in the water, causing the gold and -silver fish to dart madly to and fro. Above its basin a group of green -bronze tritons were spouting, great Nile lilies floated on its -surface, and over all was the crest of the Lloyds, also in bronze, a -lion's head, gorged, with a wreath of oak. The notes of a harp came -softly towards us through the trees as we walked onward, for old Owen -Gwyllim the butler was playing in that most unromantic place his -pantry, and the air was the inevitable "Jenny Jones."</p> - -<p class="normal">From the lawn I led her by walks and ways forgotten since my boyhood, -and since I had gone the same route with her birdnesting and nutting -in those glorious Welsh woods, by hedgerows that were matted and -interwoven with thorny brambles and bright wild-flowers, past laden -orchards and picturesque farms, nooks that were leafy and green, and -little tarns of gleaming water, that reflected the smiling summer sky; -past meadows, where the sleek brown, or black, or brindled cattle were -chewing the cud and ruminating knee-deep among the fragrant pasture; -and dreamily I walked by her side, touching her hand from time to -time, or taking it fairly in mine as of old, and occasionally -enforcing what I said by a pressure of her soft arm within mine, while -I talked to her, saying heaven knows what, but most ungratefully -wishing all the time that she were Estelle Cressingham. All was soft -and peaceful around us. The woods of Craigaderyn, glowing in the heat -of the August afternoon, were hushed and still, all save the hum of -insects, or if they stirred it was when the soft west wind seemed to -pass through them with a languid sigh; and so some of the influences -of a past time and a boyish love came over me; a time long before I -had met the dazzling Estelle--a time when to me there had seemed to be -but one girl in the world, and she was Winifred Lloyd--ere I joined -the --th in the West Indies, or the Welsh Fusileers, and knew what the -world was. I dreaded being betrayed into some tenderness as a treason -to Lady Estelle; and fortunately we were not without some -interruptions in our walk of a mile or so to visit her horned pet, -whom she had sent forth for a last run on his native hills.</p> - -<p class="normal">We visited Yr Ogof (or the cave) where one of her cavalier ancestors -had hidden after the battle of Llandegai, in the Vale of the Ogwen, -during the wars of Cromwell, and now, by local superstition, deemed an -abode of the knockers, those supernatural guardians of the mines, to -whom are known all the metallic riches of the mountains; hideous pigmy -gnomes, who, though they can never be seen, are frequently heard -beating, blasting, and boring with their little hammers, and singing -in a language known to themselves only. Then we tarried by the -heaped-up cairn that marked some long-forgotten strife; and then by -the Maen Hir, a long boulder, under which some fabled giant lay; and -next a great rocking stone, amid a field of beans, which we found -Farmer Rhuddlan--a sturdy specimen of a Welsh Celt, high cheek-boned -and sharp-eyed--contemplating with great satisfaction. High -above the sea of green stalks towered that wizard altar, where whilom -an archdruid had sat, and offered up the blood of his fellow-men to -gods whose names and rites are alike buried in oblivion; but Strabo -tells us that it was from the flowing blood of the victim that the -Druidesses--virgins supposed to be endowed with the gift of -prophecy--divined the events of the future; and this old stone, now -deemed but a barrier to the plough, had witnessed those terrible -observances.</p> - -<p class="normal">Poised one block upon the other, resting on the space a sparrow alone -might occupy, and having stood balanced thus mysteriously for -uncounted ages, lay the rocking stone. The farmer applied his strong -hand to the spheroidal mass, and after one or two impulses it swayed -most perceptibly. Then begging me not to forget his son, who was with -our Fusileers far away at Varna, he respectfully uncovered his old -white head, and left us to continue his tour of the crops, but not -without bestowing upon us a peculiar and knowing smile, that made the -blood mantle in the peachlike cheeks of Winifred.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How strange are the reflections these solemn old relics excite!" said -she, somewhat hastily; "if, indeed, one may pretend to value or to -think of such things in these days of ours, when picturesque -superstition is dying and poetry is long since dead."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Poetry dead?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I think it died with Byron."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Poetry can never die while beauty exists," said I, smiling rather -pointedly in her face.</p> - -<p class="normal">My mind being so filled with Estelle and her fancied image, caused me -to be unusually soft and tender to Winifred. I seemed to be mingling -one woman's presence with that of another. I regarded Winifred as the -dearest of friends; but I loved Estelle with a passion that was full -of enthusiasm and admiration.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No two men have the same idea of beauty," said Winifred, after a -pause.</p> - -<p class="normal">"True, nor any two nations; it exists chiefly, perhaps, in the mind of -the lover."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yet love has nothing exactly to do with it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Prove this," said I, laughing, as I caught her hand in mine.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Easily. Ask a Chinese his idea of loveliness, and he will tell you, a -woman with her eyebrows plucked out, the lids painted, her teeth -blackened, and her feet shapeless; and what does the cynical Voltaire -say?--'Ask a toad what is beauty, the supremely beautiful, and he will -answer you, it is his female, with two round eyes projecting out of -its little head, a broad flat neck, a yellow breast, and dark-brown -back.' Even red hair is thought lovely by some; and did not Duke -Philip the Good institute the order of the Golden Fleece of Burgundy -in honour of a damsel whose hair was as yellow as saffron; and now, -Harry Hardinge, what is <i>your</i> idea?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can you ask me?" I exclaimed, with something of ardour, for she -looked so laughingly bright and intelligent as she spoke; then -divining that I was thinking of another, not of her, "for there is a -thread in our thoughts even as there is a pulse in our hearts, and he -who can hold the one knows how to think, and he who can move the other -knows how to feel," she said, with a point scarcely meant.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The eye may be pleased, the vanity flattered, and ambition excited by -a woman of beauty, especially if she is one of rank; yet the heart may -be won by one her inferior. Talking of beauty, Lady Naseby has striven -hard to get the young earl, her nephew, to marry our friend, Lady -Estelle."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Would she have him?" I asked, while my cheek grew hot.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I cannot say--but he declined," replied Winifred, pressing a wild -rose to her nostrils.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Declined--impossible!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why impossible? But in her fiery pride Estelle will never, never -forgive him; though he was already engaged to one whom he, then at -least, loved well."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah--the Irish girl, I suppose?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," said Winifred, with a short little sigh, as she looked down.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Such a girl as Estelle Cressingham must always find admirers."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hundreds; but as the estates, like the title, have passed to the next -male heir, and Lady Naseby has only a life-rent of the jointure house -in Hants--Walcot Park, a lovely place--she is anxious that her -daughter should make a most suitable marriage."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Which means lots of tin, I suppose?" said I, sourly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Exactly," responded Winifred, determined, perhaps, if I had the bad -taste to speak so much of Estelle, to say unpleasant things; "and the -favoured <i>parti</i> at present is Viscount Pottersleigh, who comes here -to-morrow, as his letter informed her."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Old Pottersleigh is sixty if he is a day!" said I, emphatically.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What has age to do with the matter in view? Money and position are -preferable to all fancies of the heart, I fear."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nay, nay, Winifred, you belie yourself and Lady Estelle too; love is -before everything!"</p> - -<p class="normal">She laughed at my energy, while I began to feel that, next to making -love, there is nothing so pleasant or so suggestive as talking of it -to a pretty girl; and I beg to assure you, that it was somewhat -perilous work with one like Winifred Lloyd; a girl who had the -sweetest voice, the most brilliant complexion, and the softest eyes -perhaps in all North Wales. She now drew her hand away; till then I -had half forgot it was <i>her</i> hand I had been holding.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Remember that oft-quoted line in the song of Montrose," said she, -pretty pointedly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Which? for I haven't an idea."</p> - -<p class="normal">"'Love <i>one</i>--and love no more.'"</p> - -<p class="normal">"The great marquis was wrong," said I; "at least, if, according to a -more obscure authority in such matters, Price of ours, one may love -many times and always truly."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Indeed!" Her lip curled as she spoke.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; for may not the same charms, traits, manner, and beauty which -lure us to love once, lure us to love again?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Winifred actually sighed, with something very like irritation, as she -said, "I think all this the most abominable sophistry, Mr. Hardinge, -and I feel a hatred for 'Price of ours,' whoever he may be."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mister! Why I was Harry a moment ago."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, here is the abode of Cameydd Llewellyn; and you must tell me -what you think of your future Welsh comrade; his beard may be to the -regimental pattern, though decidedly his horns and moustaches are -not."</p> - -<p class="normal">As she said this, again laughingly, we found ourselves close to a -little hut that abutted on a thatched cottage and cow-house, in a most -secluded place, a little glen or dell, over which the trees were -arching, and so forming a vista, through which we saw Craigaderyn -Court, as if in a frame of foliage. She opened a little wicket, and at -the sound of her voice the goat came forth, dancing on his hind -legs--a trick she had taught him--or playfully butting her skirts with -his horns, regarding me somewhat dubiously and suspiciously the while -with his great hazel eyes. He was truly a splendid specimen of the old -Carnarvonshire breed of goats, which once ran wild over the mountains -there, and were either hunted by dogs or shot with the bullet so -lately as Pennant's time. His hair, which was longer than is usual -with those of England, led me to fancy there was a Cashmerian cross in -his blood; his black horns were two feet three inches long, and more -than two feet from one sharp tip to the other. He was as white as the -new-fallen snow, with a black streak down the back, and his beard was -as venerable in proportion and volume as it was silky in texture.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He is indeed a beautiful creature--a noble fellow!" I exclaimed, with -genuine admiration.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And just four years old. I obtained him when quite a kid."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am so loth that the Fusileers should deprive you of him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Talk not of that; but when you see my goat, my old pet Carneydd -Llewellyn, marching proudly at their head, and decked with chaplets on -St. David's day, when you are far, far away from us, you will--" she -paused.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What, Winifred?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Think sometimes of Craigaderyn--of to-day--and of me, perhaps," she -added, with a laugh that sounded strangely unlike one.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do I require aught to make me think of you?" said I, patting kindly -the plump, ungloved hand with which she was caressing the goat's head, -and which in whiteness rivalled the hue of his glossy coat; and -thereon I saw a Conway pearl, in a ring I had given her long ago, when -she was quite a little girl.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I hope not--and papa--I hope not."</p> - -<p class="normal">The bright beaming face was upturned to me, and, as the deuce would -have it, I kissed her: the impulse was irresistible.</p> - -<p class="normal">She trembled then, withdrew a pace or two, grew very pale, and her -eyes filled with tears.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You should not have done that, Harry--I mean, Mr. Hardinge."</p> - -<p class="normal">There was something wild and pitiful in her face.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Tears?" said I, not knowing very well what to say; for "people often -<i>do</i> say very little, when they mean a great deal."</p> - -<p class="normal">"My old favourite will know the black ladders of Carneydd Llewellyn no -more," said she, stooping over the goat caressingly to hide her -confusion.</p> - -<p class="normal">"But, Winifred--Miss Lloyd--why tears?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can you ask me?" said she, her eyes flashing through them.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why, what a fuss you make! I have often done so--when a boy!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"But you are no longer a boy; nor am I a girl, Mr. Hardinge."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do please call me Harry, like Sir Madoc," I entreated. "Not -now--after this; and here comes Lady Estelle."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Estelle!"</p> - -<p class="normal">At that moment, not far from us, we saw Lady Naseby, driven in a -pony-phaeton by Caradoc, and Lady Estelle with Guilfoyle a little way -behind them, on horseback, and unaccompanied by any groom, coming -sweeping at a trot down the wooded glen.</p> - -<p class="normal">Such is the amusing inconsistency of the human heart--the male human -heart, perhaps my lady readers will say--that though I had been more -than flirting with Winifred Lloyd--on the eve of becoming too tender, -perhaps--I felt a pang of jealousy on seeing that Guilfoyle was Lady -Estelle's sole companion, for Dora was doubtless immersed in the -details of her forthcoming fête.</p> - -<p class="normal">Had she seen us?</p> - -<p class="normal">Had she detected in the distance that little salute? If so, in the -silly, kindly, half-flirting, and half-affectionate impulse which led -me to kiss my beautiful companion and playfellow of the past -years--the mere impulse of a moment--if mistaken, I might have ruined -myself with her--perhaps with both.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A lovely animal'! I hope you are gratified, Mr. Hardinge?" said Lady -Estelle, with--but perhaps it was fancy--a curl on her red lip, as she -reined-in her spirited horse sharply with one firm hand, and caressed -his arching neck gracefully with the other, while he rose on his hind -legs, and her veil flew aside.</p> - -<p class="normal">Already dread of the future had chased away my first emotion of pique, -nor was it possible to be long angry with Estelle; for with men and -women alike, her beauty made her irresistible. Some enemies among the -latter she undoubtedly had; they might condemn the regularity of her -features as too classically severe, or have said that at times the -flash of her dark eyes was proud or defiant; but the smile that played -about her lip was so soft and winning that its influence was felt by -all. Her perfect ease of manner seemed cold--very cold, indeed, -when compared to the thoughts that burned in my own breast at that -moment--dread that I might have been trifling with Winifred Lloyd, for -whom I cherished a sincere and tender friendship; intense annoyance -lest my friend Caradoc, who really loved her, might resent the affair; -and, more than all, that she for whom I would freely have perilled -limb and life might also resent, or mistake, the situation entirely. -And in this vague mood of mind I returned with the little party to the -house, where the bell had rung for tea, before dinner, which was -always served at eight o'clock. As we quitted the goat, its keeper, an -old peasant dame, wearing a man's hat and coat, with a striped -petticoat and large spotted handkerchief, looked affectionately after -Miss Lloyd, and uttered an exclamation in Welsh, which Caradoc -translated to me as being,</p> - -<p class="normal">"God bless her! May feet so light and pretty never carry a heavy -heart!"</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_11" href="#div1Ref_11">CHAPTER XI.--THE FÊTE CHAMPETRE.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">How wild and inconceivable, abrupt, yet quite practicable, were the -brilliant visions I drew, the projects I formed! Mentally I sprang -over all barriers, cleared at a flying leap every obstacle. In fancy I -achieved all my desires. I was the husband of Estelle; the chosen -son-in-law of her mother--the man of all men to whom she would have -entrusted the future happiness of her only daughter. The good old lady -had sacrificed pride, ambition, and all to love. Time, life-usage, all -became subservient to me when in these victorious moods. I had -distanced all rivals--she was mine; I hers. I had cut the service, -bidden farewell to the Royal Welsh; she, for a time at least, to -London, the court, the Row, "society," the world itself for me; and -were rusticating hand-in-hand, amid the woods of Walcot Park, or -somewhere else, of which I had a very vague idea. But from these -daydreams I had to rouse myself to the knowledge that, so far from -being accepted, I had not yet ventured to propose; that I had more -than one formidable rival; that other obstacles were to be overcome; -and that Lady Naseby was as cold and proud and unapproachable as ever.</p> - -<p class="normal">The day of Dora's fête proved a lovely one. The merry little -creature--for she was much less in stature than her elder sister--with -her bright blue eyes and wealth of golden hair, was full of smiles, -pleasure, and impatience; and was as radiant with gems, the gifts of -friends, as a young bride. I welcomed the day with vague hopes that -grew into confidence, though I could scarcely foresee how it was to -close for me, or all that was to happen. Though Caradoc and I had come -from Winchester ostensibly to attend this fête, I must glance briefly -at many of the details of it, and confine myself almost to the -<i>dramatis personæ</i>. Suffice it to say that there was a militia band on -one of the flower-terraces; there was a pretty dark-eyed Welsh gipsy, -with black, dishevelled hair, who told fortunes, and picked up, but -omitted to restore, certain stray spoons and forks; there was an -itinerant Welsh harper, whom the staghound Brach, the same stately -animal which I had seen on the rug before the hall-fire, inspired by -that animosity which all dogs seem to have for mendicants, assailed -about the calf of the leg, for which he seemed to have a particular -fancy. So Sir Madoc had to plaster the bite with a fifty-pound note. -Then there was a prophetic hermit, in a moss-covered grotto, cloaked -like a gray friar, and bearded like the pard; a wizard yclept Merlin, -who, having imbibed too much brandy, made a great muddle of the -predictions and couplets so carefully entrusted to him for judicious -utterance; and who assigned the initials of Lady Estelle Cressingham -to the portly old vicar, as those of his future spouse, and those of -his lady, a stout matron with eight bantlings, to me, and so on.</p> - -<p class="normal">The company poured in fast; and after being duly received by Sir Madoc -and Miss Lloyd in the great drawing-room, literally crowded all the -beautiful grounds, the band in white uniform on the terrace being a -rival attraction to the great refreshment tent or marquee--a stately -polychromed edifice, with gilt bells hanging from each point of the -vandyked edging--wherein a standing luncheon was arranged, under the -care of Owen Gwyllim; and over all floated a great banner, ermine and -pean, with the lion rampant of the Lloyds. A ball was to follow in the -evening. The floor of the old dining-hall had been waxed till it shone -like glass for the dancers. Its walls were hung with evergreens and -coloured lamps, and a select few were invited; but Fate ordained that -neither Lady Estelle nor I were to figure in this, the closing portion -of the festivities. A number of beautiful girls in charming toilettes -were present. People of the best style, too, mingled with humble -middle-class country folks--tenants and so forth. There were some -officers from the detachments quartered in Chester, and several little -half-known parsons, in Noah's-ark coats, who came sidling in, and -intrenched themselves beside huge mammas in quiet corners, to discuss -parish matters and general philanthropy through the medium of iced -claret-cup and sparkling moselle. And there were present, too, as -Guilfoyle phrased it, "some of those d--d fellows who write and paint, -by Jove!"</p> - -<p class="normal">On this day Guilfoyle, though he had carefully attired himself in -correct morning costume, seemed rather preoccupied and irritable. The -presence of Pottersleigh and so many others placed his society -somewhat at a discount; and, glass in eye, he seemed to watch the -arrival of the lady guests, especially any who were darkly attired, -with a nervous anxiety, which, somehow, I mentally connected with the -pale woman in church, and Dora's story of the initials. There was -undoubtedly some mystery about him. Viewed from the perron of the -house, the scene was certainly a gay one--the greenness of the -closely-mown lawn, dotted by the bright costumes of the ladies, and a -few scarlet coats (among them Caradoc's and mine); the brilliance and -the perfume of flowers were there; the buzz of happy voices, the soft -laughter of well-bred women, and the strains of the band, as they -ebbed and flowed on the gentle breeze of the sunny noon. Every way it -was most enjoyable. Here on one side spread an English chase, with -oaks as old, perhaps, as the days when "Beddgelert heard the bugle -sound," leafy, crisp, and massive, their shadows casting a tint that -was almost blue on the soft greensward, with the sea rippling and -sparkling about a mile distant, where a portion of the chase ended at -the edge of some lofty cliffs. On the other side rose the Welsh -mountains, with all their gray rocks, huge boulders, and foaming -waterfalls--mountains from where there seemed in fancy to come the -scent of wild flowers, of gorse, and blackberries, to dispel the -fashionable languor of the promenaders on the lawn. The leaves, the -flowers, the trees of the chase, the ladies' dresses, and the quaint -façade of the old Tudor mansion were all warm with sunshine.</p> - -<p class="normal">Old Morgan Roots the gardener, to his great disgust, had been -compelled to rifle the treasures of his hothouses, and to strip his -shelves of the most wonderful exotics, to furnish bouquets for the -ladies; for Morgan was proud of his floral effects, and when -displaying his slippings from Kew and all the best gardens in England, -tulips from Holland and the Cape, peonies from Persia, rhododendrons -from Asia, azaleas from America, wax-like magnolias, and so forth, he -was wont to exult over his rival, the vicar's Scotch gardener, whom he -stigmatised as "a sassenach;" and not the least of his efforts were -some superb roses, named the "Dora," in honour of the fair-haired -heroine of the day. And Caradoc--who was a good judge of everything, -from cutlets and clicquot to horses and harness, and had a special eye -for ankles, insteps, and eyelashes, style, and colour, &c.--declared -the fête to be quite a success. As I looked around me, I could not but -feel how England is pre-eminently, beyond all others, the land of fair -women and of beauty. Lady Estelle, with her pale complexion and thick -dark hair, her dress of light-blue silk, over which she wore a white -transparent tunique, her tiny bonnet of white lace, her gloves and -parasol of the palest silver-gray, seemed a very perfect specimen of -her class; but until Lord Pottersleigh appeared, which was long after -dancing had begun on the sward (by country visitors chiefly), she sat -by the side of mamma, and declined all offers from partners. The -Viscount--my principal <i>bête noire</i>--had arrived over-night in his own -carriage from Chester, but did not appear at breakfast next morning, -nor until fully midday, as he had to pass--so Dora whispered to -me--several hours in an arm-chair, with his gouty feet enveloped in -flannel, while he regaled himself by sipping colchicum and warm -wine-whey, though he alleged that his lameness was caused by a kick -from his horse; and now, when with hobbling steps he came to where -Lady Naseby and her stately daughter were seated, he did not seem--his -coronet and Order of the Garter excepted--a rival to be much dreaded -by a smart Welsh Fusileer of five and twenty.</p> - -<p class="normal">Fully in his sixtieth year, and considerably wasted--more, perhaps, by -early dissipation than by time--the Viscount was a pale, thin, and -feeble-looking man, hollow-chested and slightly bent, with an -unsteadiness of gait, an occasional querulousness of manner and -restlessness of eye, as if nervous of the approach of many of those -among whom he now found himself, and whom he viewed as "bumpkins in a -state of rude health." Guilfoyle, of whom he evidently had misgivings, -he regarded with a cold and aristocratic stare, after carefully -adjusting a gold eyeglass on his thin, aquiline nose, and yet they had -been twice introduced elsewhere. His features were good. In youth he -had been deemed a handsome man; but now his brilliant teeth were of -Paris, and what remained of his hair was carefully dyed a clear dark -brown, that consorted but ill with the wrinkled aspect of his face, -and the withered appearance of his thin white hands, when he ungloved, -which was seldom. His whole air and style were so different from -those, of hearty and jolly Sir Madoc, whose years were the same, and -who was looking so bland, so bald, and shiny in face and brow, so full -and round in waistcoat, with one of the finest camellias in his -button-hole, "just like Morgan Roots the gardener going to church on -Sunday," as Dora had it, while he watched the dancers, and clapped his -hands to the music.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ha, Pottersleigh," said he, "you and I have done with this sort of -thing now; but I have seen the day, when I was young, less fleshy, and -didn't ride with a crupper, I could whirl in the waltz like a spinning -jenny."</p> - -<p class="normal">To this awkward speech the Viscount, who affected juvenility, -responded by a cold smile; and as he approached and was welcomed by -Lady Naseby and her daughter, the latter glanced at me, and I could -detect an undefinable expression, that savoured of amusement, or -disdain, or annoyance, or all together, ending with a haughty smile, -hovering on her dark and ever-sparkling eyes; for she knew by past -experience, that from thenceforward, with an air of proprietary that -was very provoking, he would be certain to hover constantly beside -her; and now, after paying the usual compliments to the two ladies, -his lordship condescended to honour me with a glance and a smile, but -not with his hand.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, how do you do, Mr. Hardinge--or shall I have the pleasure of -saying Captain Hardinge?" said he.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Fortune has not so far favoured me--I am only a sub still."</p> - -<p class="normal">"So was Wellington in his time," said Sir Madoc, tapping me on the -shoulder.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, but you'll soon be off to the East now, I suppose." (His eyes -expressed the words, "I hope.") "We shall soon come to blows with -those Russian fellows, and then promotions will come thick and fast. I -have it as a certainty from Aberdeen himself, that a landing somewhere -on the enemy's coast cannot be much longer delayed now."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And with one-half our army dead, and the other half worn out by -camp-fever, cholera, and sufferings at Varna, we shall take the field -with winter before us--a Russian winter, too!" said Sir Madoc, who was -a bitter opponent of the ministry.</p> - -<p class="normal">Ere Pottersleigh could reply, to avert any discussion of politics, the -Countess spoke.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I trust," said she, "that the paragraph in the <i>Court Journal</i> and -other papers, which stated that your title is about to be made an -earldom, is something more than mere rumour?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Much more, I have the pleasure to inform you," mumbled this -hereditary legislator. "I have already received official notice of the -honour intended me by her Majesty. I supported the Aberdeen ministry -so vigorously throughout this Russian affair, clearing them, so far as -in me lay, from the allegations of vacillation, that in gratitude they -were bound to recognise my services."</p> - -<p class="normal">He played with his eyeglass, and glanced at Estelle. She seemed to be -looking intently at the shifting crowd; yet she heard him, for a -slight colour crossed her cheek.</p> - -<p class="normal">"So Potter is to be an earl," thought I; "and she perhaps is -contrasting <i>his</i> promotion with that which I have to hope for."</p> - -<p class="normal">Even this brief conversation by its import made me fear that my dreams -might never come to pass--that my longings were too impossible for -fulfilment. I envied Caradoc, who, having no distinction of rank to -contend with in his love affair, seemed, to be getting on very well -with Winifred Lloyd, who, to his great delight, had made him her -<i>aide-de-camp</i>, and useful friend during the day.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Our troops will find it tough work encountering the Russians, I -expect," said Lord Pottersleigh; "for although the rank and file are -utter barbarians, Mr. Hardinge, many of their officers are men of high -culture, and all regard the Czar as a demigod, and Russia as holy."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I met some of them when I was in the north of Europe," said -Guilfoyle--who, being rather ignored by Pottersleigh, felt ruffled, if -not secretly enraged and disposed to contradict him; "and though I -think all foreigners usually absurd--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, that is a thoroughly English and somewhat provincial idea," said -his lordship, quietly interrupting him; "but I have read of an old -Carib who said, 'The only obstinate savages I have met are the -English; they adopt none of our customs.'"</p> - -<p class="normal">"To adopt their <i>dress</i> might have been difficult in those days; but -all foreigners, and especially Russians, are somewhat strange, my -lord, when judged by an English standard. I can relate a curious -instance of attempted peculation in a Russian official, such as would -never occur with one occupying a corresponding position here. When -<i>attaché</i> at the court of Catzenelnbogen, I once visited a wealthy -Russian landowner, a Count Tolstoff, who lived near Riga, at a time -when he was about to receive the sum of eighty thousand silver roubles -from the imperial treasury, for hemp, timber, and other produce of his -estate, sold for the use of the navy. Ivan Nicolaevitch, the -Pulkovnich commanding the marine infantry stationed in the fortress of -Dunamunde, was to pay this money; but that official informed Tolstoff -verbally--he was too wary to commit anything to paper--that unless six -thousand of the roubles were left in his hands, the whole might be -lost by the way, as my friend's residence was in a solitary place, and -the neighbourhood abounded with lawless characters.</p> - -<p class="normal">"On Tolstoff threatening to complain to the Emperor, the Pulkovnich -most unwillingly handed over the entire sum, which was delivered in -great state by a praperchich, or ensign, and six soldiers; and there -we thought the matter would end. But that very night, as we sat at -supper, smoking our meerschaums to digest a repast of mutton with -mushrooms, <i>compote</i> of almonds and stuffed carrots--carrots scooped -out like pop-guns, and loaded with mincemeat--the dining-room was -softly entered by six men dressed like Russian peasants, with canvas -craftans and rope girdles, bark shoes and long beards, their faces -covered with crape. They threatened me with instant death by the -pistol if I dared to stir; and pinioning my friend to a chair, placed -the barrel of another to his head, and demanded the treasure, or to be -told where it was.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Tolstoff, who was a very cool fellow, gave me a peculiar smile, and -told me in French to open the lower drawer of his escritoire, and give -them every kopec I found there.</p> - -<p class="normal">"On obtaining permission from the leader, I crossed the room, and -found in the drawer indicated no money, but a brace of revolver -pistols. With these, which luckily were loaded and capped, I shot down -two of the intruders, and the rest fled. On tearing the masks from the -fallen men, we discovered them to be--whom think you? The Pulkovnich -Nicholaevitch and the praperchich of the escort! There was an awful -row about the affair, as you may imagine; but in a burst of gratitude -my friend gave me this valuable ring, a diamond one, which I have worn -ever since."</p> - -<p class="normal">"God bless my soul, what a terrible story!" exclaimed Pottersleigh, -regarding the ring with interest; for Guilfoyle usually selected a new -audience for each of these anecdotes, by which he hoped to create an -interest in himself; and certainly he seemed to do so for a time in -the mind of the somewhat simple old lord, who now entered into -conversation with him on the political situation, actually took his -arm, and they proceeded slowly across the lawn together. I was sorry -Caradoc had not overheard the new version of the ring, and wondered -how many stories concerning it the proprietor had told to others, or -whether he had merely a stock on hand, for chance narration. Was it -vanity, art, or weakness of intellect that prompted him? Yet I have -known a Scotch captain of the line, a very shrewd fellow, who was wont -to tell similar stories of a ring, and, oddly enough, over and over -again to the <i>same</i> audience at the mess-table.</p> - -<p class="normal">Being rid of both now, I resolved to lose no time in taking advantage -of the situation. Sir Madoc and "mamma" were in the refreshment tent, -where I hoped they were enjoying themselves; Dora was busy with a -young sub from Chester--little Tom Clavell of the 19th--who evidently -thought her fête was "awfully jolly;" Caradoc had secured Winifred for -one dance--she could spare him but one--and his usual soldierly swing -was now reduced to suit her measure, as they whirled amid the throng -on the smoothly-shorn turf.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_12" href="#div1Ref_12">CHAPTER XII.--ON THE CLIFFS.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Lady Estelle received me with a welcome smile, for at that time all -around her were strangers; and I hoped--nay, felt almost certain--that -pleasure to see me inspired it, for on my approach she immediately -rose from her seat, joined me, and as if by tacit and silent consent, -we walked onward together. Pottersleigh's presence at Craigaderyn -Court, and the rumours it revived; something cool and patronising in -his manner towards me, for he had not forgotten <i>that</i> night in -Park-lane; Lady Naseby's influence against me; the chances that some -sudden military or political contingency might cut short my leave of -absence; the certainty that ere long I should have to "go where glory -waited" me, and perhaps something less pleasant in the shape of -mutilation--the wooden leg which Dora referred to--a coffinless grave -in a ghastly battle trench--all rendered my anxiety to come to an -understanding with Lady Estelle irrepressible. My secret was already -known to Phil Caradoc, fully occupied though he was with his own -passion for Winifred Lloyd; and I felt piqued by the idea of being -less successful than I honestly hoped he was, for Phil was the king of -good fellows, and one of my best friends.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have seemed very <i>triste</i> to-day--looking quite as if you lived -in some thoughtful world of your own," said Lady Estelle, when she -left her seat; "neither laughing nor dancing, scarcely even -conversing, and certainly not with me. Why is this?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have declined all dancing, hence the music has lost its zest for -me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is not brilliant; besides, it is somewhat of a maypole or -harvest-home accomplishment, dancing on the grass; pretty laborious -too! And then, as Welsh airs predominate, one could scarcely waltz to -the Noble Race of Shenkin."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You reserve yourself for the evening, probably?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Exactly. I infinitely prefer a well-waxed floor to a lawn, -however well mown and rolled. But concerning your--what shall I term -it--sadness!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why ask me when you may divine the cause, though I dare not -explain--here at least?"</p> - -<p class="normal">After a little pause she disengaged two flowers from her bouquet, and -presenting them to me with an arch and enchanting smile--for when -beyond her mother's ken, she could at times be perfectly natural--she -said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"At this floral <i>fête champêtre</i>, I cannot permit you to be the only -undecorated man."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Being in uniform, I never thought of such an ornament."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Wear these, then," said she, placing them in a button-hole.</p> - -<p class="normal">"As your gift and for your sake?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"If you choose, do so."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, who would not but choose?" said I, rendered quite bright and gay -even by such a trifle as this. "But Lady Estelle, do you know what -these are emblematic of?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"In the language of the flowers, do you mean?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of course; what else could he mean?" said a merry voice; and the -bright face of Dora, nestled amid her golden hair, appeared, as she -joined us, flushed with her dancing, and her breast palpitating with -pleasure, at a time when I most cordially wished her elsewhere. "Yes," -she continued, "there is a pansy; that's for thought, as Ophelia -says--and a rosebud; that is for affection."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But I don't believe in such symbolism, Dora; do you. Mr. Hardinge?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"At this moment I do, from my soul."</p> - -<p class="normal">She laughed, or affected to laugh, at my earnestness; but it was not -displeasing to her, and we walked slowly on. Among the multitude of -strangers--to us they were so, at least--to isolate ourselves was -comparatively easy now. Besides, it is extremely probable that under -the eyes of so many girls she had been rather bored by the senile -assiduity of her old admirer; so, avoiding the throng around the -dancers, the band, and the luncheon marquee, we walked along the -terraces towards the chase, accompanied by Dora, who opened a wicket -in a hedge, and led us by a narrow path suddenly to the cliffs that -overhung the sea. Here we were quite isolated. Even the music of the -band failed to reach us; we heard only the monotonous chafing of the -waves below, and the sad cry of an occasional sea-bird, as it swooped -up or down from its eyrie. The change from the glitter and brilliance -of the crowded lawn to this utter solitude was as sudden as it was -pleasing. In the distance towered up Great Orme's Head, seven hundred -and fifty feet in height; its enormous masses of limestone rock -abutting against the foam, and the ruins of Pen-y-Dinas cutting the -sky-line. The vast expanse of the Irish Sea rolled away to the -north-westward, dotted by many a distant sail; and some eighty feet -below us the surf was rolling white against the rocky base of the -headland on which we stood.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We are just over the Bôd Mynach, or 'monk's dwelling,'" said Dora. -"Have you not yet seen it, Estelle?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No; I am not curious in such matters."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is deemed one of the most interesting things in North Wales, quite -as much so as St. Tudno's Cradle, or the rocking-stone on yonder -promontory. Papa is intensely vain of being its proprietor. Gruffyd ap -Madoc hid here, when he fled from the Welsh after his desertion of -Henry III.; so it was not made yesterday. Let us go down and rest -ourselves in it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Down the cliffs?' exclaimed Lady Estelle, with astonishment.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes--why not? There is an excellent path, with steps hewn in the -rock. Harry Hardinge knows the way, I am sure."</p> - -<p class="normal">"As a boy I have gone there often, in search of puffins' nests; but -remember that Lady Estelle--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is not a Welsh girl of course," said Dora.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nor a goat, like Carneydd Llewellyn," added her friend. "But with Mr. -Hardinge's hand to assist you," urged Dora. "Well, let us make the -essay at once, nor lose time, ere we be missed," said the other, her -mind no doubt reverting to mamma and Lord Pottersleigh.</p> - -<p class="normal">I began to descend the path first, accepting with pleasure the office -of leading Lady Estelle, who for greater security drew off a glove and -placed her hand in mine, firmly and reliantly, though the path, a -ladder of steps cut in the living rock, almost overhung the sea, and -the descent was not without its perils. The headland was cleft in two -by some throe of nature, and down this chasm poured a little stream, -at the mouth of which, as in a diminutive bay, a gaily-painted -pleasure-boat of Sir Madoc's, named the "Winifred," was moored, and it -seemed to be dancing on the waves almost beneath us.</p> - -<p class="normal">We had barely proceeded some twenty feet down the cliff when Dora, -instead of following us, exclaimed that she had dropped a bracelet on -the path near the wicket, but we were to go on, and she would soon -rejoin us. As she said this she disappeared, and we were thus left -alone. To linger where we stood, almost in mid-air, was not pleasant; -to return to the edge of the cliff and await her there, seemed a -useless task. Why should we not continue to descend, as she must soon -overtake us? I could read in the proud face of Lady Estelle, as we -paused on that ladder of rock, with her soft and beautiful hand in -mine, that she felt in a little dilemma. So did I, but my heart beat -happily; to have her so entirely to myself, even for ten minutes, was -a source of joy.</p> - -<p class="normal">While lingering thus, I gradually led our conversation up to the point -I wished, by talking of my too probable speedy departure for another -land; of the happy days like the present, which I should never forget; -of herself. My lips trembled as my heart seemed to rise to them; and -forgetting the perilous place in which we stood, and remembering only -that her hand was clasped in mine, I began to look into her face with -an expression of love and tenderness which she could not mistake; for -her gaze soon became averted, her bosom heaved, and her colour came -and went; and so, as the minutes fled, we were all unaware that Dora -had not yet returned; that the sultry afternoon had begun to darken as -heavy dun clouds rolled up from the seaward, and the air become filled -with electricity; and that a sound alleged to be distant thunder had -been heard at Craigaderyn Court, causing some of the guests to -prepare, for departure, despite Sir Madoc's assurances that no rain -would fall, as the glass had been rising.</p> - -<p class="normal">Dora was long in returning; so long that, instead of waiting or -retracing our steps, proceeding hand in hand, and more than once Lady -Estelle having to lean on my shoulder for support, we continued to -descend the path in the face of the cliff--a path that ultimately led -us into a terrible catastrophe.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_13" href="#div1Ref_13">CHAPTER XIII.--A PROPOSAL.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">A long time elapsed and we did not return, but amid the bustle that -reigned in and around Craigaderyn Court, our absence was not observed -so soon as it might otherwise have been, the attention of the many -guests being fully occupied by each other. The proposal of Dora's -health devolved upon Lord Pottersleigh as the senior bachelor present, -and it was drunk amid such cheers as country gentlemen alone can give. -Then Sir Madoc, who had a horror of after-dinner speeches in general, -replied tersely and forcibly enough, because the words of thanks and -praise for his youngest girl came straight from his affectionate -heart; but his white handkerchief was freely applied to the nervous -task of polishing his forehead, which gave him a sense of relief; for -the worthy old gentleman was no orator, and closed his response by -drinking to the health of all present in Welsh.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Our good friend's ideas are somewhat antiquated," said Pottersleigh -to Guilfoyle, who now stuck to him pretty closely; "but he is a -thorough gentleman of an old school that is passing away."</p> - -<p class="normal">His lordship, however, looked the older man of the two.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Antiquated! By Jove, I should think so," responded the other, who -instinctively disliked his host; "ideas old as the days when people -made war without powder and shot, went to sea without compasses, and -pegged their clothes for lack of buttons; but he is an hospitable old -file, and his wine--this Château d'Yquem, for instance, is excellent."</p> - -<p class="normal">Pottersleigh gave the speaker a quiet stare, and then, as if disliking -this style of comment, turned to Lady Naseby for the remainder of the -repast.</p> - -<p class="normal">The overcasting of the day and a threatening of rain had put an end to -much of the dancing on the flower-terrace, and of the promenading in -the garden and grounds. The proposal of Dora's health had been deemed -the close of the fête; the servants had begun to prepare for the ball, -and many of the guests, whose invitation did not include that portion -of the festivities--for the grounds of course, would hold more than -the hall--were beginning to depart, while a few still lingered in the -conservatories, the library, or the picture gallery; thus, though -Caradoc was looking through them for me, with a shrewd idea that I was -with Lady Estelle, he could not for the life of him imagine <i>where</i>; -besides, Phil was anxious to make the most of his time with Miss -Lloyd.</p> - -<p class="normal">The breaking of the guests into groups caused our absence to be long -unnoticed, especially while carriages, gigs, drags, wagonnettes, and -saddle-horses were brought in succession to the door; cloaks and -shawls put on, ladies handed in, and the stream of vehicles went -pouring down the long lime avenue and out of the park.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have danced but once to-day with Mr. Caradoc, he has told me," -said Dora in a low voice, as she passed her sister.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I had so many to dance with--so many to introduce; and then, think of -the evening before us."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He loves you quite passionately, I think, Winny dear; more than words -can tell."</p> - -<p class="normal">"So it would seem," replied Winifred, smiling over her fan. -"Why--how?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He has never spoken to me on the subject."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He will do so before this evening is over, or I am no true -prophetess," said Dora, as she threw back the bright masses of her -hair.</p> - -<p class="normal">"That I don't believe."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Because he wears at his neck a gold locket, the contents of which no -one has seen; and Mr. Guilfoyle assures me that it holds the likeness -of a lady."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well time will prove," replied Dora, as she was again led away by her -new admirer, the little sub from Chester; but her prediction came -true.</p> - -<p class="normal">Winifred felt instinctively that she was the chief attraction to -Caradoc, and was exciting in his breast emotions to which she could -not respond. Again and again when asking her to dance, she had urged -in reply, that he would please her more by dancing with others, as -there were present plenty of country girls to whom a red coat was -quite a magnet; so poor Caradoc found plenty of work cut out for him. -Pressed at last by him, Winifred said, while fanning herself,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do excuse me; to-night I shall reward you fully; but meanwhile we may -take a little promenade. I think all who are to remain must know each -other pretty well now;" and taking his arm they passed from the great -marquee along the now deserted terrace, to find that the sky was so -overcast and the wind so high, that they turned into an alley of the -conservatory, where she expected to find some of their friends, but it -was empty; and as Caradoc's face, and the tremulous inflections of his -voice, while he was uttering mere commonplaces about the sudden change -of the weather, the beauty of the flowers, the elegance of the -conservatory, and so forth, told her what was passing in his mind, she -became perplexed annoyed with herself, and said hurriedly,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Let us seek Lady Naseby; I fear that we are quite neglecting her--and -she is somewhat particular."</p> - -<p class="normal">"One moment, Miss Lloyd, ere we go; I have so longed for an -opportunity to speak with you--alone, I mean--for a moment--even for a -moment," said he.</p> - -<p class="normal">Winifred Lloyd knew what was coming; there was a nervous quivering of -her upper lip, which was a short one, and showed a small portion of -her white teeth, usually imparting an expression of innocence to her -face, while its normal one was softness combined with great sweetness. -Caradoc had now possessed himself of her right hand, thus without -breaking away from him, and making thereby a species of "scene" -between them, an episode to be avoided, she could not withdraw, but -stood looking shyly and blushingly half into his handsome face, while -he spoke to her with low and broken but earnest utterances.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have decoyed you hither," said he, "and you will surely pardon me -for doing so, when you think how brief is my time now, here, in this -happy home of yours--even in England itself; and when I tell you how -anxious I have been to--to address you--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mr. Caradoc," interrupted the girl, now blushing furiously behind her -fan, "your moments will soon become minutes!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Would that the minutes might become hours, and the hours, days and -years, could I but spend them with you! Listen to me, Miss Lloyd--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not at present--do, pray, excuse me--I wish to speak with Dora."</p> - -<p class="normal">But instead of having her hand released, it was now pressed by Caradoc -between both of his.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I will not detain you very long," said he, sadly, almost -reproachfully; "you know that I love you; every time my eyes have met -yours, every time I have spoken, my voice must have told you that I do -dearly, and if the fondest emotions of my heart--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"A soldier's heart, of which little scraps and shreds have been left -in every garrison town?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do not laugh at my honest earnestness!" urged Caradoc, with a deep -sigh.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pardon me, I do not laugh; O think not that I could be guilty of such -a thing!" replied Winifred, colouring deeper than ever.</p> - -<p class="normal">Beautiful though she was, and well dowered too, this was the first -proposal or declaration that had been made to her. The speaker was -eminently handsome, his voice and eyes were full of passion and -earnestness, and she could not hear him without a thrill of pleasure -and esteem.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I know that I am not worthy of you, perhaps; but--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I thank you, dear Mr. Caradoc, but--but--more is impossible."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Impossible--why?"</p> - -<p class="normal">She grew quite pale now, but he still retained her hand; and her -change of colour was, perhaps, unseen by him, for there was little -light in the conservatory, the evening clouds being dark and dense -without.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Miss Lloyd--Winifred--dearest Winifred--I love you, love you with all -my heart and soul!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do not say so, I implore you!" said she in an agitated voice, and -turning away her head.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do you mean to infer that you are already engaged?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Or that you love another?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"That is not a fair question," she replied, with a little hauteur of -manner.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is, circumstanced as I am, and after the avowal I have made."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, I do--not."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And yet you cannot love me? Alas, I am most unfortunate!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Let this end, dear Mr. Caradoc," said Winifred, almost sobbing, and -deeply repenting that she had taken his arm for a little promenade -that was to end in a proposal. Phil, being in full uniform, played -with, or swung somewhat nervously, the tassels of his crimson sash, a -favourite resort of young officers when in any dubiety or dilemma. -After a little pause--</p> - -<p class="normal">"May I speak to Sir Madoc on the subject?" he asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Perhaps my friend Harry Hardinge might advise--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nay, for Heaven's sake don't confer with him on the matter at all!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why?" said he, startled by her earnestness.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Would you make love to me through <i>him</i>--through another?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You entirely mistake my meaning."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What <i>do</i> you mean?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Simply what I have said; that I love you, esteem and admire you; that -you are, indeed, most dear to me, and that if I had the approval--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of the lady whose likeness is in your locket; so treasured that a -secret spring secures it!" said she, suddenly remembering Dora's words -as a means of escape.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, especially with her approval. I should then be happy, indeed. I -know not how you came to know of it; but shall I show you the -likeness?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"If you choose," said Winifred, thinking in her heart, "Poor fellow, -it must be his mother's miniature;" but when Phil touched a spring and -the locket flew open she beheld a beautiful coloured photo of -<i>herself</i>.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" she exclaimed, "how came you by this?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hardinge had two in the barracks, and I begged one from him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hardinge--Harry Hardinge! That was most unfair of him," said she, her -agitation increasing; "he is one of our oldest friends."</p> - -<p class="normal">"May I be permitted to keep it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"O, no; not there--not there, in a locket at your neck."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Be it so; your slightest wish is law to me; but be assured, Miss -Lloyd, the heart near which it lies was never offered to woman -before."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I can well believe you; but--hush, here are people coming!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Madoc and Lady Naseby entered the conservatory somewhat hurriedly, -followed by two or three of the guests.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lady Estelle! Is Lady Estelle here?" they asked, simultaneously.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No," replied Caradoc.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nor Harry Hardinge?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We are quite alone, papa," said Winifred, in a voice the agitation of -which, at another time, must have been apparent to all; for no woman -can hear a declaration of love or receive a proposal quite -unconcerned, especially from a handsome young fellow who was so -earnest as Philip Caradoc; around whom the coming departure for the -seat of war shed a halo of melancholy interest, and who, by the -artless production of the locket, proved that he had loved her for -some time past, and secretly too.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What the deuce is the meaning of this?" exclaimed Sir Madoc, with an -expression of comicality, annoyance, and alarm mingling in his face; -"the servants can nowhere find her!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Find who?" asked Lord Pottersleigh, opening his snuffbox as he -shambled forward.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why, Lady Estelle."</p> - -<p class="normal">His lordship took a pinch, paused for the refreshing titillation of a -sneeze, and then said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Indeed--surprising--very!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"And Hardinge is missing, too, you say?" said Phil. "How odd!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Odd! egad, I think it <i>is</i> odd; they have not been seen by any one -for more than two hours, and a regular storm has come on!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Phil and Miss Lloyd had been too much occupied, or they must have -remarked the bellowing of the wind without and the sudden darkening of -the atmosphere.</p> - -<p class="normal">"O papa, papa!" exclaimed Dora, now rushing in from the lawn, -"something dreadful must have happened. I left them on the verge of -the cliffs; returning to look for the bracelet you gave me, I met my -partner, Mr. Clavell of the 19th; we began dancing again, and I forgot -all about them."</p> - -<p class="normal">"On the cliffs!" exclaimed several voices, reprehensibly and -fearfully.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," continued Dora, beginning to weep; "I took them through the -park wicket, and suggested a visit to the Bôd Mynach."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Suggested this to Estelle! She is not, as we are, used to such paths -and places, and you tell us of it only now!" exclaimed Winifred, with -an expression of reproach and anguish sparkling in her eyes.</p> - -<p class="normal">"My God, an accident must have occurred! The wind--weather--compose -yourself, Lady Naseby; Gwyllim, ring the house-bell, and summon every -one," cried Sir Madoc; "not a moment is to be lost."</p> - -<p class="normal">"O, what is all this you tell me now, Dora?" exclaimed Winifred, as -she started from the conservatory, with her lips parted, her dark eyes -dilated, and her hair put back by both her trembling hands.</p> - -<p class="normal">Poor Phil Caradoc and his proposal were alike forgotten now; and he -began to fear that, like Hugh Price of ours, in making love he had -made some confounded mistake.</p> - -<p class="normal">Querulous, and useless so far as searching or assisting went, Lord -Pottersleigh nevertheless saw the necessity of affecting to do -something, as a man, as a gentleman, and a very particular friend of -the Naseby family. Accoutred in warm mufflings by his valet, with a -mackintosh, goloshes, and umbrella, he left the house half an hour -after every one else, and pottered about the lawn, exclaiming from -time to time,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Such weather! such a sky! ugh, ugh! what the devil can have -happened?" till a violent fit of coughing, caused by the keen breeze -from the sea, and certain monitory twinges of gout, compelled him to -return to his room, and wait the event there, making wry faces and -sipping his colchicum, while sturdy old Sir Madoc conducted the search -on horseback, galloping knee-deep among fern, searching the vistas of -the park, and sending deer, rabbits, and hares scampering in every -direction before him. Above the bellowing of the stormy wind, that -swept the freshly torn leaves like rain against the walls and -mullioned windows of the old house, or down those long umbrageous -vistas where ere long the autumn spoil would be lying thick, rose and -fell the clangour of the house-bell. Servants, grooms, gamekeepers, -and gardeners were despatched to search, chiefly in the wild vicinity -of the now empty Bôd Mynach; but no trace could be found of Lady -Estelle or her squire, save a white-laced handkerchief, which, while a -low cry of terror escaped her, Lady Naseby recognised as belonging to -her daughter. On it were a coronet and the initials of her name.</p> - -<p class="normal">It had been found by Phil Caradoc with the aid of a lantern, when -searching along the weedy rocks between the silent cavern and the -seething sea, which was now black with the gathered darkness and a -mist from the west.</p> - -<p class="normal">There was no ball at Craigaderyn Court that night.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_14" href="#div1Ref_14">CHAPTER XIV.--THE UNFORESEEN.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">In this world, events unthought of and unforeseen are always -happening; so, as I have hinted, did it prove with me, on the epoch of -Dora's birthday fête. It was not without considerable difficulty and -care on my side, trepidation and much of annoyance at Dora on that of -Lady Estelle, mingled with a display of courage which sprang from her -pride, that I conducted her by the hand down the old and time-worn -flight of narrow steps--which had been hewn, ages ago, by some old -Celtic hermit in the face of the cliff--till at last we stood on the -little plateau that lies between the mouth of his abode and the sea, -which was chafing and surging there in green waves, that the wind was -cresting with snowy foam.</p> - -<p class="normal">On our right the headland receded away into a wooded dell, that formed -part of Craigaderyn Park. There a little <i>rhaidr</i> or cascade came -plashing down a fissure in the limestone rocks, and fell into a pool, -where a pointed pleasure-boat, named the Winifred, was moored. On our -left the headland, that towered some eighty feet above us, formed part -of the bluffs or sea-wall that stretched away to the eastward, and, -sheer as a rampart, met the waves of the wide Irish Sea. Before us -opened the arched entrance of the monk's abode--a little cavern or -cell, that had been hollowed by no mortal hand. Its echoes are alleged -to be wonderful; and it has been of old used as a hiding-place in -times of war and trouble, and by smugglers for storing goods, where -the knights of Craigaderyn could find them without paying to the -king's revenue. It has evidently been what its name imports--the -chapel and abode of some forgotten recluse. A seat of stones goes -round the interior, save at the entrance. A stone pillar or altar had -stood in its centre. A font or stone basin is there, and from it there -flows a spring of clear water, with which the follower of St. David -was wont to baptise the little savages of Britannia Secunda; and where -now, in a more pleasant and prosaic age, it has supplied the tea and -coffee kettles of many a joyous party, who came hither boating or -fishing from Craigaderyn Court; and above that stone basin the -hermit's hand has carved the somewhat unpronounceable Welsh legend:</p> - - -<p class="center">"Heb Dduw, heb ddim."<a name="div4Ref_01" href="#div4_01"><sup>[1]</sup></a></p> - - -<p class="normal">"A wonderful old place! But I have seen caverns enough elsewhere, -and this does not interest me. I am no archæologist," said Lady -Estelle--"besides, where is Dora?" she added, looking somewhat blankly -up the ladder of steps in the cliff, by which we were to return: and -she speedily became much less alive to the beauty of the scenery than -to a sense of danger and awkwardness in her position.</p> - -<p class="normal">There was no appearance of Dora Lloyd, and we heard no sound in that -secluded place, save the chafing of the surf, the equally monotonous -pouring of the waterfall, and the voices of sea-birds as they skimmed -about us.</p> - -<p class="normal">I thought that Lady Estelle leant upon my arm a little heavier than -usual, and remembered that, when I took her hand in mine to guide her -down, she left it there firmly and confidingly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"May I show you the grotto?" said I; and my heart beat tumultuously -while I looked in her face, the rare beauty of which was now greatly -enhanced by a flush, consequent on our descent and the sea-breeze.</p> - -<p class="normal">"O no, no, thanks very much; but let us return to the park ere we be -missed. Give me your hand, Mr. Hardinge. If we came down so quickly, -surely we may as quickly ascend again."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Shall I go first?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Please, do. The caves of Fingal, or Elephanta and Ellora to boot, -were not worth this danger."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have come here many a time for a few sea-birds' eggs," said I, -laughing, to reassure her.</p> - -<p class="normal">But the ascent proved somehow beyond her power. The wind had risen -fast, and was sweeping round the headland now, blowing her dress about -her ankles, and impeding her motions. She had only ascended a little -way when giddiness or terror came over her. She lost all presence of -mind, and began to descend again. Thrice, with my assistance, she -essayed to climb the winding steps that led to the summit, and then -desisted. She was in tears at last. As all confidence had deserted -her, I proposed to bind her eyes with a handkerchief; but she -declined. I also offered, if she would permit me to leave her for a -few minutes, to reach the summit and bring assistance; but she was too -terrified to remain alone on the plateau of rock, between the cell and -the water.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" she exclaimed, when, like myself, perhaps she thought -of Lady Naseby, "what shall I do? And all this has been brought about -by the heedless suggestions of Dora Lloyd--by her folly and -impulsiveness! Will she never return to advise us?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Nearly half-an-hour had elapsed, and a dread that she, that I--that -both of us--must now be missed, and the cause of surmise, roused an -anger and pride in her breast, that kindled her eye and affected her -manner, thus effectually crushing any attempt to intrude my own secret -thoughts upon her.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What <i>are</i> we to do, Mr. Hardinge? Here we cannot stay; I dare not -climb; not a boat is to be seen; the sun has almost set, and see, how -dense a mist is coming on!"</p> - -<p class="normal">I confess that I had not observed this before, so much had I been -occupied by her own presence, by her beauty, and by entreating that -she would "screw her courage to the sticking-point," and ascend where -I had seen the two pretty Lloyds trip from step to step in their mere -girlhood, to the horror, certainly, of their French governess; but -knowing that a fog from the sea was rolling landward in dense masses, -and that the evening would be a stormy one, I felt intense anxiety for -Lady Estelle, and certainly left nothing unsaid to reassure her, -firmly yet delicately--for good breeding becomes a second nature, and -is not forgotten even in times of dire emergency; then how much less -so when we love, and love as I did Estelle Cressingham?--but all my -arguments were in vain. There was in her dark eyes a wild and startled -brilliance, a hectic spot on each pale cheek. Her innate pride -remained, but her courage was gone. She trembled, and her breath came -short and quick as she said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who would have dreamt that I--<i>I</i> should have acted thus? More -heedlessly even than Dora, for she is a Welsh girl, and, like a goat, -is used to such places. And now there is no aid--not even the smallest -boat in sight!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of what have I been thinking!" I exclaimed. "The pleasure-boat which -belongs to the grotto is moored yonder in the creek, where some -visitor, who preferred the short cut up the cliff, has evidently left -it. If you will permit me to place you in it, I can row across the -mouth of the waterfall to the other side, where a Chinese bridge will -enable us at once to reach the lawn."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why did you not think of this before?" she asked, with something of -angry reproach almost flashing in her eyes.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Will you make the attempt?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of course. O, would that you had thought of it before!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come, then, though the wind has risen certainly; and among so many -guests, our absence may have been unnoticed yet."</p> - -<p class="normal">I reached the boat--a gaudily-painted shallop, seated for four oars. -There were but two, however; these were enough; but as ill-luck would -have it, she was moored to a ring-bolt in the rocks by a padlock and -chain, which I had neither the strength nor the means of breaking. -This was a fresh source of delay, and Lady Estelle's whole frame -seemed to quiver and vibrate with impatience, while every moment she -raised her eyes to the cliff, by which she expected succour or -searchers to come. What the deuce was she--were <i>we</i>--to say to all -this? With a girl possessed of more nerve and firmness of mind this -matter could never have taken such a turn, and the delay had never -occurred. This <i>malheur</i> or mishap--this variation from the strict -rules laid down by such matrons as the Countess of Naseby--looked so -like a scheme, that I felt we were in a thorough scrape, and knew -there was not a moment to be lost in making our appearance at the -Court. By a stone I smashed the padlock, and casting loose the boat, -brought it to where Lady Estelle stood, beating the rock impatiently -with her foot; and, handing her on board, seated her in the -stern-sheets, but with some difficulty, as the west wind was rolling -the waves with no small fury now past the headland, in which the black -Bôd Mynach gaped.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pull with all your strength, Mr. Hardinge. Dear Mr. Hardinge, let us -only be back in time, and I shall ever thank you!" she exclaimed.</p> - -<p class="normal">"All that man can do I shall," was my enthusiastic reply.</p> - -<p class="normal">I could pull a good stroke-oar, and had done so steadily in many a -regimental and college boat-race and regatta; but now there ensued -what I never could have calculated upon. Excited by the desire of -pleasing Lady Estelle by landing her on the opposite side of the tiny -bay with all speed--desirous, when seated opposite to her, face to -face, of appearing to some advantage by an exhibition of strength and -skill--at each successive stroke, as I shot the light boat seaward, I -almost lifted it out of the water. I had to clear a rock, over which -the water was foaming and gleaming in green and gold amid the sinking -sunshine, ere I headed her due westward, and in doing so I cleared -also the headland, which rose like a tower of rock from the sea, -crowned by a clump of old elms, wherein some rooks had taken up their -quarters in times long past.</p> - -<p class="normal">"O, Mr. Hardinge," said Lady Estelle, while grasping the gunwale with -both hands, and looking up, "how had I ever the courage to come down -such a place? It looks fearful from this!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Ere I could reply, the oar in my right hand broke in the iron rowlock -with a crash. The wood had been faulty. By this mishap I lost my -balance, and was nearly thrown into the sea, as the boat careered over -on a wave. Thus the <i>other</i> was torn from my grasp, and swept far -beyond my reach. I was powerless now--powerless to aid either her or -myself. The tide was ebbing fast. The strong west wind, and the -current running eastward, influenced by the flow of the Clwyde, and -even of the Dee, ten miles distant, swept the now useless boat past -the abutting headland, and along the front of those cliffs which rise -like a wall of rock from the sea, and where, as the mist gathered -round us, our fate would be unseen, whether we were dashed against the -iron shore or swept out into the ocean.</p> - -<p class="normal">The red sunset was fading fast on distant Orme's Head, where myriads -of sea-birds are ever revolving, like gnats in the light amid its -grand and inaccessible crags. It was dying, too, though tipping them -with flame, on Snowdon's peaks, the eyrie of the golden eagle and the -peregrine falcon, and on the smaller range of Carneydd Llewellyn. -Purple darkness was gathering in the grassy vales between, and blue -and denser grew those shadows as the cold gray mist came on, and the -sombre glow of a stormy sunset passed away. Soon the haze of the -twilight blurred, softened, and blended land and sea to the eastward. -The sharp edge of the new moon was rising from a dark and trembling -horizon, whence the mist was coming faster and more fast, and the -evening star, pale Hesperus, shone like a tiny lamp amid the opal -tints of a sky that was turning fast to dun and darkness. The rolling -mist soon hid the star and the land, too, and I only knew that we were -drifting helplessly away.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_15" href="#div1Ref_15">CHAPTER XV.--WHAT THE MOON SAW.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The absence of the boat from its mooring-place was soon observed, and -surmises were rife that we must infallibly have gone seaward. But why? -It seemed unaccountable--and at such a time, too! The idea that Lady -Estelle's heart should fail her in attempting to return by the cliff -never occurred to any save Winifred, who knew more of her friend's -temperament than the rest, and for a time, with others, the ardent and -courageous girl searched the shore, and several boats were put forth -into the mist; but in vain, and ere long the strength and violence of -the wind drove even Sir Madoc and all his startled guests to the -shelter of the house. Muffled in silk cloaks and warm shawls or -otter-skin jackets, the ladies had lingered long on the terraces, on -the lawn and avenues, while the lights of the searchers were visible, -and while their hallooing could be heard at times from the rocks and -ravines, where they swung their lanterns as signals, in hopes that the -lost ones might see them.</p> - -<p class="normal">Lord Pottersleigh snuffed and ejaculated from time to time, and ere -long had betaken himself to his room. Caradoc, Guilfoyle--who seemed -considerably bewildered by the affair--young Clavel of the 19th, and -other gentlemen, with Gwyllim the butler, Morgan Roots the gardener, -Bob Spurrit, and the whole male staff of the household, manfully -continued their search by the shore. There the scene was wild and -impressive. Before the violence of the bellowing wind, the mist was -giving place to the pall-like masses of dark clouds, which rolled -swiftly past the pale face of the new moon, imparting a weird-like -aspect to the rocky coast, against which the sea was foaming in white -and hurrying waves, while the sea-birds, scared alike by the shouts -and the light of the searchers, quite as much as by the storm, -screamed and wheeled in wild flights about their eyries. Moments there -were when Caradoc thought the search was prosecuted in the wrong -direction, and that, as there had probably been an elopement, this -prowling along the seashore was absurd.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can it be," said he, inaudibly, "that the little boy who cried for -the moon has made off with it bodily? If so, this will be rather a -'swell' affair for the mess of the Royal Welsh."</p> - -<p class="normal">Slowly passed the time, and more anxious than all the rest--Lady -Naseby of course excepted--the soft-hearted Winifred was full of -dismay that any catastrophe should occur to two guests at Craigaderyn, -and she listened like a startled fawn to every passing sound.</p> - -<p class="normal">Dora, as deeming herself the authoress of the whole calamity, was -completely crushed, and sat on a low stool with her head bowed on Lady -Naseby's knee, sobbing bitterly ever and anon, when the storm-gusts -howled among the trees of the chase, shook the oriels of the old -mansion, and made the ivy leaves patter on the panes, or shuddering as -she heard the knell-like ding-dong of the house-bell occasionally. The -masses of her golden hair had been dishevelled by the wind without; -but she forgot all about that, as well as about her two solemn -engagements made with Tom Clavell for the morrow; one, the mild -excitement of fishing for sticklebacks in the horse-pond, and the -other, a gallop to the Marine Parade of Llandudno, attended by old Bob -Spurrit; for the little sub of the 1st York North Riding was, <i>pro -tem</i>., the bondsman of a girl who was at once charming and childish, -petulant and more than pretty. Heavily and anxiously were passed the -minutes, the quarters, and the hours. Messenger after messenger to the -searchers by the shore went forth and returned. Their tidings were all -the same; nothing had been seen or heard of the boat, of Lady Estelle, -or of her companion. Nine o'clock was struck by the great old clock in -the stable court, and then every one instinctively looked at his or -her watch. Half-past nine, ten, and even midnight struck, without -tidings of the lost. By that time the mist had cleared away, the tide -had turned, and the west wind was rolling the incoming sea with -mightier fury on the rock-bound shore.</p> - -<p class="normal">The first hours of the morning passed without intelligence, and alarm, -dismay, and grief reigned supreme among the pallid group at -Craigaderyn Court. All could but hope that with the coming day a -revelation might come for weal or woe; and as if to involve the -disappearance of the missing ones in greater mystery, if it did not -point to a terrible conclusion, the lost pleasure-boat was discovered -by a coastguardsman, high and dry, and bottom up, on a strip of sandy -beach, some miles from Craigaderyn; but of its supposed occupants not -a trace could be found, save a lace cuff, recognised as Lady -Estelle's, wedged or washed into the framework of the little craft, -thus linking her fate with it. Ours was, indeed, a perilous situation. -We were helplessly adrift on a stormy sea, off a rock-bound coast, in -a tiny boat, liable to swamping at any moment, without oars or -covering, the wind rising fast, while the darkness and the mist were -coming down together. I had no words to express my anxiety for what -one so delicately nurtured as Estelle might suffer. My annoyance at -the surmises and wonder naturally excited by our protracted absence; -quizzical, it might be equivocal, inferences drawn from it--I thought -nothing of these. I was beyond all such minor considerations, and felt -only solicitude for her safety and a terror of what her fate might be. -All other ideas, even love itself--though that very solicitude was -born of love--were merged for the time in the tenderest anxiety. If -her situation with me was perilous, what had it been if with Lord -Pottersleigh? But had she been with him, no such event as a descent to -that unlucky pleasure grotto could have been thought of. Though pale -and terrified, not a tear escaped her now; but her white and beautiful -face was turned, with a haggard aspect, to mine. A life-buoy happened -to be in the boat, and without a word I tied it to her securely.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is there not one for you?" she asked, piteously, laying a hand on -mine.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Think not of me, Lady Estelle; if you are saved, what care I for -myself?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You swim, then?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"A little, a very little; scarcely at all."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are generous and noble, Mr. Hardinge! O, if kind God permits me -to reach the land safely, I shall never be guilty of an act of folly -like this again. Mamma says--poor mamma!--that it is birth, or blood, -which carries people through great emergencies; but who could have -foreseen such a calamitous contretemps as this? And who could have -been a greater coward than I? I should have made a steady attempt at -yonder pitiful cliff; to fail was most childish, and I have involved -you in this most fatal peril."</p> - -<p class="normal">She sobbed as she spoke, and her eyes were full of light; but her lips -were compressed, and all her soft and aristocratic loveliness seemed -for a time to grow different in expression; to gather sternness, as a -courage now possessed her, of which she had seemed deficient before, -or it might be an obstinacy born of despair; for the light boat was -swept hither and thither helplessly, by stem and stern alternately, on -each successive wave; tossed upward on the crest of one watery ridge, -or sunk downward between two that heaved up on each side as if to -engulf us; while the spoondrift, salt and bitter, torn from their -tops, flew over us, as she clung with one hand to the gunwale of the -tiny craft, and with the other to me.</p> - -<p class="normal">That we were not being drifted landward was evident, for we could no -longer hear the voices of the sea-birds among the rocks; and to be -drifted seaward by ebb tide or current was only another phase of -peril. The voice of Lady Estelle came in painful gasps as she said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"O, Mr. Hardinge, Mr. Hardinge, we shall perish most miserably; we -shall certainly be drowned! Mamma, my poor mamma, I shall never see -her more!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Though striving to reassure her I was, for a time, completely -bewildered by anxiety for what she must suffer by a terror of the -sudden fate that might come upon her; and I was haunted by morbid -visions of her, the brilliant Estelle, a drowned and sodden corpse, -the sport of the waves--of myself I never thought--tossing unburied in -the deep, or, it might be, cast mutilated on the shore; and she looked -so beautiful and helpless as she clung to me now, clasping my right -arm with all her energy, her head half reclined upon my shoulder, and -the passing spray mingling with her tears upon her cheek. "The -drowning man is said to be confronted by a ghostly panorama of his -whole life." It may be so generally; but then I had only the horror of -losing Estelle, whom I loved so tenderly. We were now together and -alone, so completely, suddenly, and terribly alone, it might be for -life or for death--the former short indeed, and the latter swift and -sudden, if the boat upset, or we were washed out of it into the sea; -and yet in that time of peril she possessed more than ever for me that -wondrous and undefinable charm and allurement which every man finds in -the woman he loves, and in her only.</p> - -<p class="normal">"God spare us and help us!" she exclaimed. "Mr. Hardinge, I am filled -with unutterable fear;" and then she added, unconsciously quoting some -poet, "I find the thought of death, to one near death, most dreadful!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"With you, Estelle, love might make it indeed a joy to die!" I -exclaimed, with a gush of enthusiasm and tenderness that, but for the -terrible situation, had been melodramatic.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I did not think that you loved me so," said she, after a little -pause; and my arm now encircled her waist, while something of an -invocation to heaven rose to my lips, and I repeated,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not think that I loved you! Do not be coquettishly unwilling to -admit what you must know, that since that last happy night in London -you have never been absent from my thoughts; and here, Estelle, dear, -dear Estelle, when menaced by a grave amid these waters, I tell you -that I loved you from the first moment that I knew you! Death stares -us in the face, but tell me truly that you--that you--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Love you in return? I do, indeed, dear Harry!" she sobbed, and then -her beloved face, chilled and damp with tears and spray, came close to -mine.</p> - -<p class="normal">"God bless you, O my darling, for this avowal!" said I in a thick -voice, and even the terrors of our position could not damp the glow of -my joy.</p> - -<p class="normal">In all my waking dreams of her had Estelle seemed beautiful; but never -so much so as now, when I seemed on the eve of losing her for ever, -and my own life, too; when each successive wave that rolled in inky -blackness towards us might tear her from my clasp! How easily under -some circumstances do we learn the language of passion! and now, while -clasping her fast with one arm, as with both of hers she clung to me, -I pressed her to my breast, and told her again and again how fondly I -loved her, while--as it were in a dream, a portion of a nightmare--our -boat, now filling fast with water, was tossed madly to and fro. And -like a dream, too, it seemed, the fact that I had her all to -myself--for life or death, as it were--this brilliant creature so -loved by many, so prized by all, and hitherto apparently so -unattainable; she who, by a look, a glance, a smile, by a flirt of her -fan, by the dropping of a glove, or the gift of a flower, selected -with point from her bouquet, had held my soul in thrall by all the -delicious trifles that make up the sum and glory of love to the lover -who is young. And where were we now? Alone on the dark, and ere long -it was the midnight, sea! Alone, and with me; I who had so long eyed -her lovingly and longingly, even as Schön Rohtrant, the German king's -daughter, was gazed at and loved by the handsome page, who dared not -to touch or kiss her till he gathered courage one day, as the ballad -tells us, when they were under a shady old oak.</p> - -<p class="normal">"If God spares us to see her," said Lady Estelle, "what will mamma -think of this terrible <i>fiasco</i> of ours?"</p> - -<p class="normal">While Estelle loved me, I felt that I did not care very much for the -dowager's views of the matter, especially at that precise moment. When -on <i>terra firma</i> there would be sufficient time to consider them.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you are mine, darling?" said I, tenderly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am yours, Harry, and yours only."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Never shall I weary of hearing this admission; but the rumour of an -engagement to Lord Pottersleigh?'</p> - -<p class="normal">"Absurd! It has grown out of his dangling after me and mamma's wish, -as I won't have my cousin Naseby."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you do not hold yourself engaged--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Save to you, Harry, and you alone."</p> - -<p class="normal">And as her head again sank upon my shoulder, her pride and my doubts -fled together; but now a half-stifled shriek escaped her, as the frail -boat was nearly overturned by a larger wave than usual, which struck -it on the counter. We were drenched and chilled, so ours was, indeed, -love-making under difficulties; and the time, even with her reclining -in my arms, passed slowly. How many a prayer and invocation, all too -deep for utterance, rose to my lips for her! The hours drew on. Would -day never dawn? With all the sweet but now terrible companionship of -love--for it was love combined with gloomy danger--this was our utmost -craving.</p> - -<p class="normal">The new moon, as she rose pale and sharp, like a silver sickle, from -the Irish Sea, when the fog began to disperse, tipped for a little -time with light the wave-tops as they rose or sank around us; but -clouds soon enveloped her again; and when the tide turned, the sea ran -inward, and broke wildly on the tremendous headlands of the coast. -That our boat was not swamped seemed miraculous; but it was very -buoyant, being entirely lined with cork, and had air-tight -compartments under the seats. A gray streak at the far horizon had -spread across a gap of pale green, announcing that the short August -night was past, and rapidly it broadened and brightened into day, -while crimson and gold began to tip the wave-tops with a fiery hue, -the whole ocean seeming to be mottled, as it were; and I could see the -coast-line, as we were not quite a mile from it. In the distance were -plainly visible the little town of Abergele, and those hills where -Castell Cawr and the Cefn Ogo are, tinged with pink, as they rose -above the white vapour that rolled along the shore.</p> - -<p class="normal">The more distant mountain ranges seemed blue and purple against a sky -where clouds of pearly-pink were floating. Estelle was exhausted now. -Her pallor added to my misery. So many hours of pitiless exposure had -proved too much for her strength, and with her eyes closed she lay -helpless in my arms, while wave after wave was now impelling us -shoreward, and, most happily it would seem, towards a point where the -rocks opened and the water shoaled. One enormous breaker, -white-crested and overarching, came rolling upon us. A gasp, a mutual -cry to heaven, half-stifled by the bitter spray, and then the mighty -volume of it engulfed us and our boat. We had a momentary sense of -darkness and blindness, a sound as of booming thunder mingled with the -clangour of bells in our ears, and something of the feeling of being -swept by an express train through a tunnel filled with water, for we -were fairly under the latter; but I clung to the boat with one hand -and arm, while the other went round Estelle with a death-like embrace, -that prevented her from being swept or torn from me.</p> - -<p class="normal">For some moments I knew not whether we were on the land or in the sea; -but, though stunned by the shock, I acted mechanically. Then I -remember becoming conscious of rising through the pale-green water, of -inhaling a long breath, a gasping respiration, and of seeing the -sunshine on the waves. Another shock came, and we were flung on the -flat or sloping beach, to be there left by the receding sea. Instead -of in that place, had we been dashed against the impending rocks -elsewhere, all had then been over with us. I still felt that my right -arm was clasped around Estelle; but she was motionless, breathless, -and still; and though a terror that she was dead oppressed me, a -torpor that I could not resist spread over all my faculties, and I -sank into a state of perfect unconsciousness.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_16" href="#div1Ref_16">CHAPTER XVI.--THE SECRET ENGAGEMENT.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">In making a circuit of his farm on the morning after the storm, Farmer -Rhuddlan, while traversing a field that was bounded by a strip of the -sea shore, on which the ebbing surf still rolled heavily, was very -much scared to find lying there, and to all appearance but recently -cast up from the ocean, among starfish, weed, and wreck, an officer in -full dress, and a lady (in what had been an elegant demi-toilette of -blue silk and fine lace), fair and most delicately white, but -drenched, sodden, and to all appearance, as he thought, -"dearanwyl--drowned"--as she was quite motionless, with her beautiful -dark hair all dishevelled and matted among the sand.</p> - -<p class="normal">He knew me--in fact, he had known me since boyhood, having caught me -many a time in his orchard at Craig Eryri--and thought he recognized -the lady. Moreover, he had heard of the search overnight, and lost no -time in spurring his fat little cob in quest of succour. Some -wondering rustics promptly came from a neighbouring barnyard, and by -the time they arrived, Estelle and I had recovered consciousness, and -struggled into a sitting position on some stones close by, whence we -were beginning to look about us.</p> - -<p class="normal">A benumbed sensation and total lack of power in my right arm warned me -that an accident had occurred, and I endeavoured to conceal the -circumstance from Estelle, but in vain; for when murmuring some thanks -to God for our preservation, she suddenly lifted her face from my -breast, and exclaimed, "You cannot move this arm! You have been hurt, -darling! Tell me about it--speak!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I think it is broken, Estelle," said I, with a smile; for while I -felt something almost of pleasure in the conviction that I had -undergone this in saving her, thereby giving me a greater title to her -interest and sympathy, I could not forget my short leave from -Winchester, the war at hand, the regiment already abroad, and the -active duties that were expected of me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Broken?" she repeated, in a faint voice.</p> - -<p class="normal">"My sword-arm--on the eve of marching for foreign service. Awkward, -isn't it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Awkward! O Harry, it is horrible! And all this has occurred through -me and my childish folly!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"One arm is at your service, dearest, still," said I, while placing it -round her, and assisting her to rise, as the kind old farmer returned -with his people, joyful to find that we were living, after all, and -that by assisting us he might in some degree repay Sir Madoc Lloyd a -portion of that debt of gratitude which he owed to him.</p> - -<p class="normal">After despatching a mounted messenger to Craigaderyn with tidings of -our safety, he had us at once conveyed to his farm-house at Craig -Eryri, where dry clothing was given us, and a doctor summoned to -attend me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You knew that we were missing--lost?" said I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Too well, sir," replied the farmer, as he produced a brandy-bottle -from an ancient oak cupboard. "With all my lads I assisted in the -search," he continued in Welsh, as he could scarcely speak a word of -English. "A gentleman came here over night with a groom, both mounted, -to spread the news of you and a lady having been lost somewhere below -the Bôd Mynach."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A gentleman mounted--Mr. Caradoc, perhaps?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Caradoc is one of ourselves," said the farmer, his keen eyes -twinkling; "this one was a Sassenach--he Sir Madoc gave that lovely -ring to, with a diamond as big as a horse-bean, for winning a race at -Chester."</p> - -<p class="normal">"O, Mr. Guilfoyle."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, sir, that is his name, I believe," replied Rhuddlan; and despite -the gnawing agony of my arm I laughed outright, for the quondam German -<i>attaché</i> would seem to have actually found time to relate something -new about his brilliant to the simple old farmer, and while the fate -of Lady Estelle was yet a mystery. As for <i>mine</i>, I shrewdly suspected -he cared little about that.</p> - -<p class="normal">Attired by the farmer's wife in the best clothing with which she could -provide her, Lady Estelle, pale, wan, and exhausted, was seated near a -fire to restore warmth to her chilled frame, while I retired with the -medical man, who found my unlucky arm broken above the elbow; -fortunately, the fracture was simple, and in no way a compound one. -The bones were speedily set, splinted, and bandaged; and clad in a -suit provided for me by Farmer Rhuddlan--to wit, a pair of corduroy -knee-breeches, a deeply-flapped double-breasted waistcoat, which, from -its pattern, seemed to have been cut from a chintz bedcover, so -gorgeous were the roses and tulips it displayed, a large loose coat of -coarse gray Welsh frieze, with horn buttons larger than crown pieces, -each garment "a world too wide"--I presented a figure so absurd and -novel that Estelle, in spite of all the misery and danger we had -undergone, laughed merrily as she held out to me in welcome a hand of -marvellous form and whiteness, the hand that was to be mine in the -time to come; and I seated myself by her side, while the farmer and -his wife bustled about, preparing for the certain arrival of Sir Madoc -and others from the Court.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How odd it seems!" said Estelle, in a low voice, and after a long -pause, as she lay back in the farmer's black-leather elbow chair, -where his wife had kindly placed and pillowed her; and while she -spoke, her eyes were half closed and her lips were wreathed with -smiles; "engaged to be married--and to you, Harry! I can scarcely' -realise it. Is this the end of all our ballroom flirtations, our Park -drives, and gallops in the Row?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nay, not the end of any; but a continuance of them all, I hope."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Scarcely; people don't flirt after marriage--together, at least. But -it will be the end of all mamma's grand schemes for me. She always -hoped I should twine strawberry leaves with my marriage wreath. -Heavens, how nearly I was having a wreath of seaweed!" she added, with -a shudder and a little gasping laugh as I kissed her hand. "O, my poor -Harry, with an arm broken, and by my means I shall never forgive -myself--never!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Better an arm than if my heart had been broken by your means, -Estelle," said I, in a low voice. After a little she said calmly and -in an earnest tone, while her colour came and went more than once,</p> - -<p class="normal">"We must be <i>secret</i>, secret as we are sincere; and yet such a system -is repugnant to me, and to my pride of heart."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Secret, Estelle!" (How delicious to call her simply Estelle!) "Why?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is most necessary--yet awhile, at least."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your mamma's objections?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"More than that."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What--more?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"By papa's will mamma has entire control over all her fortune and -mine, too, and should I marry without her full approbation and -consent, she may bequeath both if she pleases to my cousin Naseby, -leaving but a pittance to me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But what will not one undergo for love?" said I, gazing tenderly into -her eyes.</p> - -<p class="normal">She smiled sadly, but made no response; perhaps she thought of what -love might have of luxury on a subaltern's pay and his "expectations."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Fear not, Estelle," said I, "for your sake our engagement shall be a -secret one."</p> - -<p class="normal">All my doubts and fears had already given place to the confidence of -avowed and reciprocated affection, and in the security of that I was -blindly happy. How my heart had been wont to throb when I used -mentally to imagine the last interview I should have with her ere -going forth to the East, with the story of my love untold; leaving her -in ignorance, or partially so, of the sweet but subtle link that bound -my existence to hers! <i>Now</i>, the love was told; the link had become a -tie, and pain of the anticipated parting became all the more keen -apparently, and I prospectively reckoned one by one the weeks, the -days, yea, almost the hours I might yet spend in the society of -Estelle. I was not much given to daydreams or illusions, but, I asked -of myself, was not all this most strange if I was not dreaming now? -Could it be that, within a few hours--a time so short--Estelle and I -had braved such peril together, and that I had achieved her plight, -her troth; the promise of her hand; the acknowledgment of her love, -and that all was fulfilled; the coveted and dearest object of my -secret thoughts and tenderest wishes!</p> - -<p class="normal">Whether our engagement were secret or not mattered little to me now. -Assured of her regard, I felt in her presence and society all that -calm delight and sense of repose which were so pleasing after my late -tumult of anxiety, pique, jealousy, and uncertainty. By chance or some -intuition the farmer and his wife left us for a time alone, while -waiting the arrival of our friends; and never while life lasts shall I -forget the joy of that calm morning spent alone with Estelle in -Rhuddlan's quaint little drawing-room, the windows of which faced the -green Denbigh hills, on which the warm August sun shone cheerily; and -often did the memory of it come back to me when I was far away, when I -was shivering amid the misery of the half-frozen trenches before -Sebastopol, or relieving the out pickets, when Inkermann lights were -waxing pale and dim as dawn stole over those snow-clad wastes, where -so thick lay the graves of men and horses, while the eternal boom and -flash went on without ceasing from the Russian bastions and the allied -batteries. I felt as if I had gained life anew, and with it Estelle -Cressingham. Great, indeed, was the revulsion of feeling after such -peril undergone; after a night of such horror and suffering, to sit by -her side, to hang over her, inspired to the full by that emotion of -tenderness and rapture which no man can feel but once in life, -when the first woman he has really loved admits that he has not -done so in vain. I placed on her finger--<i>the</i> engaged finger--an -emerald-and-diamond ring that I valued highly, as it had once been my -mother's, and in its place took one of hers, a single pearl set in -blue-and-gold enamel. The once proud beauty seemed so humble, gentle, -and loving now, as she reclined with her head on my shoulder, and -looked at me from time to time with a sweet quiet smile in the soft -depths of her dark eyes I forgot that she was an earl's daughter, with -a noble dowry and an ambitious mother, and that I was but a sub of the -Royal Welsh, with little more than his pay. I forgot that the route -for Varna hung over my head like the sword of Damocles; that a -separation, certain and inevitable, was hourly drawing closer and -closer, though the accident which had occurred might protract it a -little now.</p> - -<p class="normal">Estelle Cressingham was a grand creature, certainly. She naturally -seemed to adopt statuesque positions, and thus every movement, however -careless and unstudied, was full of artistic grace. Even the misshapen -garments of Mrs. Evan Rhuddlan could not quite disfigure her. The turn -of her head was stately, and at times her glance, quick and flashing, -had a pride in it that she was quite unconscious of. She was, as -Caradoc had said, "decidedly a splendid woman--young lady, rather--but -of the magnificent order." But there were tender and womanly touches, -a gentler nature, in the character of Estelle, that lay under the -artificial strata of that cumbrous society in which she had been -reared. She had many pets at home in London and at Walcot Park--birds -and dogs, which she fed with her own hands, and little children, who -were her pensioners; and if her nose seemed a proud one, with an -aristocratic curve of nostril, her short upper lip would quiver -occasionally when she heard a tale of sorrow or cruelty. And now, from -our mutual daydream, we were roused by the sound of wheels, of hoofs, -and several voices, as some of our friends from the Court arrived.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_17" href="#div1Ref_17">CHAPTER XVII.--WHAT FOLLOWED IT.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">To expatiate upon the joy of all when we found ourselves safe in -Craigaderyn Court again were a needless task. Lady Estelle was -conveyed at once to her own room, and placed in charge of Mademoiselle -Pompon. For two entire days I saw nothing of her, and could but hover -on the terrace which her windows overlooked, in the hope of seeing -her; but the same doctor who came daily to dress my arm had to attend -her, as she was weak, feverish, and rather hysterical after all she -had undergone; while I, with my broken limb, found myself somewhat of -a hero in our little circle.</p> - -<p class="normal">"This adventure of yours will make the Bôd Mynach the eighth wonder of -Wales, if it gets into print," said Sir Madoc.</p> - -<p class="normal">This chance was Lady Naseby's fear. She was "full of annoyance and -perplexity," as she said, "lest some of those busybodies who write for -the ephemeral columns of the daily press should hear of the affair, -and ventilate it in some manner that was garbled, sensational, and, -what was worse than either, unpunishable."</p> - -<p class="normal">She thanked me with great courtesy, but without cordiality, for having -saved her daughter's life at the expense of a broken limb, as it was -by sheer strength that I prevented Estelle being torn from the boat -and me. Her ladyship, however, soon dismissed the subject, and now -Tiny, the snappish white shock, which for some hours had been -forgotten and shamefully neglected, came in for as many caresses as -her daughter, if not more.</p> - -<p class="normal">Anxious, for many obvious reasons, to gain the esteem of this cold and -unapproachable dowager--even to love her, for her daughter's sake, -most unlovable though she was--I was ever assiduous in my attentions; -and these seemed to excite quietly the ridicule of Winifred Lloyd, -while Dora said that she believed Lady Estelle must have quarrelled -with me, and that I had transferred my affections to her mamma.</p> - -<p class="normal">But little Dora saw and knew more than I supposed. On the second day -after the affair, when she came with her light tripping step down the -perron of the mansion, and joined me on the terrace, where I was -idling with a cigar, I said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"By the bye, why <i>did</i> you leave us, Dora, in that remarkable manner, -and not return?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mr. Clavell overtook me, and insisted upon my keeping an engagement -to him. Moreover," she added, waggishly, "under my music-master I have -learned that many a delightful duet becomes most discordant when -attempted as a trio."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And for that reason you left us?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Precisely," replied the lively girl, as she removed her hat, and -permitted the wealth of her golden hair to float out on the wind. -"Save for your poor arm being broken, and the terrible risks you ran, -I might laugh at the whole affair; for it was quite romantic--like -something out of a play or novel; but it quite put an end to the -ball."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And now that Tom Clavell has gone back to his depôt at Chester, you -can scarcely forgive me?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I saw that you were dying to be alone with Lady Estelle," she -retorted, "and <i>now</i> don't you thank me?"</p> - -<p class="normal">I certainly felt a gratitude I did not express, but doubted whether -her elder sister would have approved of Dora's complicity in the -matter; and affecting to misunderstand her I said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why thank you now?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Because," said Dora, looking at me, with her blue eyes half closed, -"if on the top of a mountain an acquaintance ripens fast, good -heavens, how must it have been with you two at the bottom of the sea!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And she laughed merrily at her own conceit, while swinging her hat to -and fro by its ribbons. Lord Pottersleigh shook his head as if he -disliked the whole affair, and nervously scanned the daily papers with -spectacles on his thin aquiline nose, in expectation of seeing some -absurd, perhaps impertinent, paragraph about it; and such was the old -man's aristocratic vanity, that I verily believe, had he seen such, he -would there and then have relinquished all his expectations--for he -undoubtedly had them--of making Estelle Lady Pottersleigh, and the -partner of his higher honours that were to come.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lady Naseby owes you a debt of gratitude, Mr. Hardinge, for saving -the life of her daughter--and I, too," he added, "owe you an -everlasting debt of gratitude."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You, my lord?" said I, turning round in the library, where we -happened to be alone.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; for in saving her you saved one in whom I have the deepest -interest. So, my dear Mr. Hardinge," he continued, pompously, looking -up from the <i>Times</i>, "if I can do aught for you at the Horse Guards, -command me, my young friend, command me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thanks, my lord," said I, curtly; for his tone of patronage, and the -cause thereof, were distasteful to me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have of course heard the rumour of--of an engagement?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"With Lady Estelle Cressingham?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Exactly," said he, laughing till he brought on a fit of coughing-- -"exactly--ha, ha--ugh, ugh! How the deuce these things ooze out at -clubs and in society, I cannot conceive; for even the world of London -seems like a village in that way. Ah, nowhere out of our aristocracy -could a man find such a wife as Lady Estelle!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I quite agree with you; but there is a point beyond that."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Indeed! what may that be?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"To get her!" said I, defiantly, enraged by the old man's cool -presumption.</p> - -<p class="normal">Was this reference to "a rumour" merely his senile vanity, or had -Estelle ignored something that really existed?</p> - -<p class="normal">Caradoc's congratulations, though I carefully kept my own counsel, -were as warm in reality as those of Guilfoyle were in pretence.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Wish you every joy," said the latter, in a low tone, as we met in the -billiard-room, where he was practising strokes with Sir Madoc.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't quite understand."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You hold the winning-cards now, I think," said he, with a cold glare -in his eye.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sir?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I congratulate you on escaping so many perils with the Lady Estelle, -and being thereby a winner."</p> - -<p class="normal">I had just left Pottersleigh, and was not disposed to endure much from -Guilfoyle.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The winner of what?" I asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The future esteem of the Countess," he sneered.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Perhaps she will present me with a diamond ring on the head of it," -said I, turning on my heel, while Sir Madoc laughed at the hit; but -whatever he felt, Guilfoyle cloaked it pretty well by laughing, and, -as a Parthian shot, quoting, with some point, and with unruffled -exterior, a line or two from the fourth book of the <i>Æneid</i>, -concerning the storm which drew Dido and her hero into the cave.</p> - -<p class="normal">The bearing of Winifred Lloyd now became somewhat of a riddle to me; -and on the morning of the third day, when we all met at the breakfast -table (which was littered by cards and notes of congratulation), and -when Lady Estelle appeared, looking so pale and beautiful, declining -Mademoiselle Babette's cosmetics and pearl-powder alike, in the -loveliest morning-dress that Swan and Edgar could produce, I was -conscious that she watched us with an interest that seemed wistful, -tearful, and earnest. Whether I had a tell-tale face, I know not. -Nothing, however, could be gathered from that of Estelle, or her mode -of greeting me and inquiring about the progress of my broken arm -towards recovery. My ring was on her finger; but as she wore several, -it passed unnoticed, and even Dora's quick eye failed to detect it.</p> - -<p class="normal">Winifred had become very taciturn; and when I asked her to drive with -me in the open carriage--as for a time I could not ride--she declined -rather curtly, and with something of petulance, even disdain, in her -tone. She never had the usual inquiries made by others concerning my -fracture, nor joined with Dora in the playful rivalry of the ladies -cutting for me, if no servant was near; for at table I was of course -helpless. She smiled seldom, but laughed frequently; and yet it struck -me there was something unwonted in the ring of her laughter, as if it -came not from her heart. The girl had a secret sorrow evidently. Was -Master Phil Caradoc at the bottom of this? If not, who then? I watched -her from time to time, and observed that once, when our eyes met, she -seemed confused, and coloured perceptibly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Surely," thought I, "she is not resenting my half-flirtation with her -the other day, when we visited her pet goat!"</p> - -<p class="normal">She was restless, absent, listlessly indifferent, and occasionally -preoccupied in manner; and in vain did I say to her more than once,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Miss Lloyd--Winifred--what troubles you? what has vexed you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nothing troubles me, Mr. Hardinge."</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>Mr.?</i>"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, then, Harry--and nothing vexes me. What leads you to think so?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Her full-fringed dark eyes looked clearly into mine; they seemed -moist, yet defiant, and she tossed her pretty little head wilfully and -petulantly. I felt that I had in some way displeased her; but dared -not press the matter, for, with all her softness of heart, she had a -little Welsh temper of her own.</p> - -<p class="normal">Phil Caradoc gave me his entire confidence, especially after dinner, -when men become full of talk, and inspired by bland and generous -impulses. He related, without reserve, the whole episode that occurred -in the conservatory; and I felt some compunction or annoyance that -circumstances prevented me from having the same frankness with him, -for none would have rejoiced in my success more warmly than he.</p> - -<p class="normal">"For the life of me, Harry, I can't make out what Miss Lloyd means," -said Phil, in a low voice, as he made his Cliquot effervesce, by -stirring it with a macaroon; "she was ready enough to love me as a -friend, and all that sort of thing."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have asked her, then?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pointedly--hardly know what I said, though--one feels so deuced queer -when making love--in earnest, I mean."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A man can do no more than ask."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Except asking again; but tell me, old fellow, have I a chance?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"How should I know, Phil? But I think that the pattern sub of the -Royal Welsh Fusileers, made up, like Don Juan,</p> - -<div class="poem1"> -<p class="t0">"'By love, by youth, and by an army tailor,'</p> -</div> - -<p class="continue">should have a particularly good chance."</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>You</i> can afford to laugh at me, Harry."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Far from it, Phil; I haven't such a thought, believe me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Seeing how friendly you are with these girls--with her especially--I -thought you might know this. Is any other fellow spooney upon Miss -Lloyd?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"A good many may well be; she is lovely."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, does any one stand in her good graces?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can't say, indeed, Caradoc," said I, as my thoughts reverted to that -episode at the goat's-house, and others not dissimilar, with some -emotions of compunction, as I looked into Phil's honest brown eyes.</p> - -<p class="normal">He fancied that Winifred avoided him. In that idea he erred. She -admired and loved him as a friend--a gentleman who had done her great -honour; but she never thought of analysing his emotions farther than -to wish him well, and to wish him away from Craigaderyn, after that -scene in the conservatory; and remembering it in all its points, she -was careful not to trust herself alone with him, lest the subject -might be renewed; and yet she found the necessity of approaching it -one day, when a sudden recollection struck her, as they were riding -home together, and had cantered a little way in advance of their -party.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Now that I think of it, Mr. Caradoc," said she, "you must give me -that likeness which you wear. I really cannot permit you to keep it, -even in jest."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jest!" repeated Phil, sadly and reproachfully; "do you think so -meanly of me as to imagine that I would jest with you or with it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"But I can see no reason why you should retain it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Perhaps there is none--and yet, there is. It is the face of one I -shall never, never forget; and it is a memento of happy days spent -with you--a memento that other eyes than mine shall never look upon."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do not speak thus, Mr. Caradoc, I implore you!" said Winifred, -looking down on her horse's mane.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You will permit me to keep it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"For a time," said she, trying to smile, but her lips quivered, "Thank -you, dear Winifred."</p> - -<p class="normal">"If shown to none."</p> - -<p class="normal">"'While I live none shall see; and if I die in action--as many shall -surely do, and why not I as well as happier fellows?--it will be heard -of no more?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Caradoc's voice became quite tremulous, either because of Miss Lloyd's -obduracy, or that he felt, as many people do, rather pathetic at the -thought of his own demise. He had already possessed himself of her -whip-hand, when her horse began to rear, and in a minute more they -were in the lime avenue; and this proved the last opportunity he had -of reasoning with her on the subject that was nearest his heart. He -now wished that he had never met Winifred Lloyd, or that, having met, -and learned to love her--oddly enough, when his passion was not -returned--he could be what her <i>ideal</i> was. "In what," thought he, "am -I wanting? Am I too rough, too soldierly, too blunt, unwinning, or -what?" It was none of these; for Caradoc was a well-mannered, -courteous, gentle, and pleasing young fellow, and by women unanimously -deemed handsome and <i>distingué</i>. All that day he was unusually cast -down and taciturn, though he strove to take an interest in the -conversation around him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"By Jove, Hardinge," said he, "I wish you had never brought me here, -to renew the hopes I had begun to entertain in London."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Don't lose heart yet, Phil," said I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"But I have to leave for the seat of war--leave her to the chance of -being loved by others, without even a promise--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"To what troubles we are exposed in life!" said I, sententiously, and -feeling perhaps selfishly secure in my own affair.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Greater troubles perhaps in death," added Phil, gloomily, as he -gnawed his moustache. "I sometimes wonder whether man was made for the -world, or the world was made for man."</p> - -<p class="normal">"In what respect," said I, surprised by the train of thought so -unusual in him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Look at the newly-born infant, and you will find it difficult to -determine. 'He begins his life,' as Pliny says, 'in punishment, and -only for being born.'"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come Phil," said I, "don't get into the blues; and as for Pliny, I -left him with Euclid, Straith's <i>Fortification</i>, and gunnery, at -Sandhurst."</p> - -<p class="normal">The morning mail brought letters from the depôt-adjutant to Phil and -me. Their official aspect, as Owen Gwyllim laid them on the breakfast -table, attracted the attention of all. The eyes of Winifred were on -me, and mine turned instinctively and sadly to Lady Estelle, who grew -ashy pale, but seemed intent on some letters of her own. The -adjutant's epistles were brief. Caradoc was requested to join at once, -his short leave being cancelled, as he had to go with a draft of -eighty rank-and-file for the East. My leave was, extended for a -fortnight, in consequence of a medical certificate received concerning -the accident that had befallen me.</p> - -<p class="normal">So that night saw poor good-hearted Phil depart; and the memory of his -thick brown hair and handsome brown moustache, his clear hazel eyes -and honest English face dwelt not in the thoughts of her with whom he -had left his heart behind.</p> - -<p class="normal">He had the regimental goat in his custody; and when Winifred caressed -and kissed her pet, ere it was lifted into the vehicle that was to -convey it to Chester, Phil eyed her wistfully; and I knew that he -would have given the best of his heart's blood to have felt but one of -those kisses on his nut-brown cheek!</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_18" href="#div1Ref_18">CHAPTER XVIII.--GUILFOYLE.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">My Lord Pottersleigh and the adventurer Hawkesby Guilfoyle--for an -artful, presumptuous, and very singular adventurer he eventually -proved to be--could not detect that there was a secret understanding, -and still less that there was any engagement, between Lady Estelle and -me; yet both were sharp enough to fancy that there was something wrong -so far as they were concerned--something understood by us which to -them was incomprehensible; and the latter now referred in vain to -Baden, Berlin, Catzenelnbogen, and other places where they had met so -pleasantly on the Continent. Engaged solemnly and tenderly to Estelle, -I had yet the absurd annoyance of beholding Pottersleigh, who was -assured of her mother's countenance and favour (though he would have -been a more seemly suitor for herself), and whose years and position -gave him perfect confidence, hovering or shambling perpetually about -her, absorbing her time if not her attention, mumbling his -overstrained compliments into her unwilling ear, touching her hand or -tapered arm, and even patting her lovely white shoulders from time to -time with his withered paws, and every way giving himself such -fatherly and lover-like airs of proprietary oddly mingled that I could -with pleasure have punched his aristocratic old head. We frequently -laughed at all this even when he was present; for by a glance rather -than a word, Estelle could convey to me all she thought and felt. -There was something delightful in this secret understanding, this -secret community of thought and interest, with one so young and -beautiful--more than all, when blended with it was the charm of the -most perfect success in a first affair of love; and I thought myself -one of the happiest fellows in the world.</p> - -<p class="normal">Superb as her toilettes were at all times, she seemed to make little -Babette Pompon take extra pains with them now, and I felt delighted -accordingly, for such infinite care seemed to express a desire to -please me. Our next departure from the Court was Mr. Hawkesby -Guilfoyle, whom Sir Madoc and all his visitors had begun to view with -a coolness and disfavour of which the party in question found it -convenient to seem quite oblivious; but it reached its culminating -point through a very small matter. One day after luncheon we had gone -so far as Penmaen Mawr. The four ladies were in the open carriage; I -occupied the rumble; Sir Madoc, Lord Pottersleigh, and Guilfoyle were -mounted, and we were all enjoying to the fullest extent that glorious -combination of marine and mountain scenery peculiar to the Welsh -coast; the air was full of ozone and the sky was full of sunshine. We -were all happy, and even Winifred seemed in unusually high spirits; as -for Dora, she was never otherwise. The well-hung carriage rolled -pleasantly along, between the beautiful green hills, past quiet -villages and ancient churches, vast yawning slate quarries, green -mounds and gray stones that marked where battles had been, with -occasional glimpses of the Irish Sea, that stretched away to the dim -horizon like a sheet of glittering glass. Estelle, by arrangement, -sat with her back to the horses, so that she and I could freely -converse with our eyes, from time to time, under the shade of her -skilfully-managed parasol.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Madoc on this day was peculiarly enthusiastic, and having mounted -what the girls called his "Welsh hobby," was disposed to give it full -rein. We halted in a little sequestered glen, a lovely spot embosomed -among trees, on the southern slope of the hill. The horses were -unbitted; Owen Gwyllim had put the champagne' bottles to cool in a -runnel, where their long gilded necks and swollen corks stood -invitingly up amid the rich green grass that almost hid the murmuring -water. We had come by Caerhun, through an old and little-frequented -road, where Sir Madoc insisted on pointing out to us all the many -erect old battle-stones by the wayside; for his mind was now full of -quaint stories, and the memory of heroes with barbarous names. Thus -when Owen uncorked the Cliquot, he drank more than one guttural Welsh -toast, and told us how, often in his boyhood, the road had been -obstructed for weeks by masses of rock that fell thundering from the -mountain above; and in his love of the olden time or detestation of -change, I believe he would have preferred such barriers to progress -still, rather than have seen the lines of road and rail that now sweep -between the mountain and the sea on the way to Holyhead.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It was in this dell or <i>glyn</i>," said Sir Madoc, as he seated his sturdy -figure on the grass, though the ladies did not leave the carriage, -"that Llewellyn ap Jorwerth took prisoner the luckless William de -Breas, whom he hanged at Aber, in the time of Henry III."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why did he hang him?" asked Guilfoyle, holding his glass for Owen to -refill it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Because he was a handsome fellow, and found too much favour in the -eyes of his princess, whom he dragged to the window that she might see -his body hanging lifeless on the gibbet."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Deuced hard lines," said Guilfoyle, laughing. "I thought he might -have been hung because he hadn't a pedigree, or some other enormity in -Welsh eyes." As Sir Madoc looked at the speaker his eyes sparkled, for -the remark was a singularly gratuitous one.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You English," said he, "laugh at what you are pleased to consider our -little weakness in that respect; and yet the best names in the peerage -are apt to be deduced from some corporal or sergeant of William's -Norman rabble."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Heavens, papa! when I change my name of Lloyd, I hope it won't be for -that of Mrs. John Smith or Robinson?" said Dora, merrily, as she heard -that Sir Madoc's tone was sharp.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, but you must admit that these fortuitous circumstances are -deemed of small account now; for as Dick Cypher sings,</p> - -<p class="normal">"'A peer and a 'prentice now dress much the same, -And you can't tell the difference excepting by name.'"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't know who your friend Dick Cypher may be," replied Sir Madoc, -quietly, though evidently greatly ruffled, "but Burke and Debrett -record as ancient, names we deem but those of yesterday, and when -compared with ours are as the stunted gorsebush to pine or oak--yes, -sir! or as the donkey that crops thistles by the wayside when compared -to the Arab horse!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"God bless my soul!" exclaimed Pottersleigh, letting his hat sink -farther on the nape of his neck, as he placed his gold glasses on his -long thin nose and gazed at Sir Madoc, who tossed an empty bottle into -the runnel, and continued:--"In Wales we have the lines of Kynaston, -who descend from Rhodric Mawr, King of all Wales, and the daughter and -coheir of the Bloody Wolf; the Mostyns, from the Lord of Abergeleu who -founded the eighth noble tribe; the Vaughans, who come from that King -Rhodric who married the daughter of Meuric ap Dyfnwall ap Arthur ap -Sitsylt, though that was only in the year 800; and we have the -Lloyds----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"O, papa," exclaimed Winifred, seeing that Estelle was laughing -heartily, "we cannot listen to more; and I am sure that your -muster-roll of terrible names must have quite convinced Mr. Guilfoyle -of his error."</p> - -<p class="normal">"If it ever existed--I did but jest," said he, bowing and smiling as -he turned to her.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Madoc's gust of patriotic ire passed away at the sound of his -daughter's voice; but from that moment his manner to Guilfoyle -underwent a marked change, for he had already more than once contrived -to wound him on this his most tender point. So the usually suave and -kind old man became very cool to him as they rode homeward; and early -that evening Guilfoyle retired to his room, alleging that he had to -write letters.</p> - -<p class="normal">After dinner, as we idled for a little time in the smoking-room prior -to joining the ladies, Lord Pottersleigh led the conversation -gradually back to our evening excursion, and with some hesitation -began to speak of Guilfoyle.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You will pardon me, my dear Sir Madoc, for venturing to speak -slightingly of any friend of yours; but----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mr. Guilfoyle is no friend of mine," said the other, hastily; "he -dropped among us from the clouds, as it were. When with Lady Naseby I -met him on the beach at Llandudno. He had done her some service on the -Continent, at Catzeneln--what's-its-name?--I invited him on the -strength of their past acquaintance--that's all."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then, briefly, get rid of him if you can."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What do <i>you</i> say, Harry?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I say with Lord Pottersleigh."</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Madoc fidgeted, for his Welsh ideas of hospitality were somewhat -shocked by the idea of "getting rid" of a guest.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I assure you, Sir Madoc," resumed the peer, "that he is quite -out of his place amongst us, quite; and despite his usually assumed -suavity--for it is assumed--he lacks intensely <i>l'odeur de la bonne -société</i>, though he affects it; and I overheard two of your late -guests making some very dubious remarks concerning him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The deuce you did!" exclaimed Sir Madoc, tossing away his half-smoked -cigar.</p> - -<p class="normal">"They spoke quite audibly, as if they cared not who might hear them."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who were they?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Officers of the 19th, from Chester. 'Guilfoyle!' I heard that fast -boy Clavell exclaim, as if with surprise, to another; 'is that fellow, -who--' 'The very same.' 'Then how comes he to be a guest here?' 'Just -what I was asking of myself, as he is tabooed everywhere. You know -they say--' '<i>They</i>--who?' 'O, that ubiquitous and irresponsible party -so difficult to grapple with--that though he was attaché at some -German place, he has been in several conspiracies to pigeon young -muffs just come of age. There was particularly one poor fellow of ours -whom he rooked at Hamburg of every sixpence, and who was afterwards -found drowned in the Alster. And lately I have heard that he was -proprietor, or part proprietor, of a gaming-hell in Berlin.' 'By -Jove!' exclaimed little Clavell, but can all this be proved?' 'No.' -'Why?' 'He lays his plans too deeply and surely.' Then they walked -towards the marquee, and I thought I had hear, enough--quite," added -his lordship, snuffing.</p> - -<p class="normal">Long before Pottersleigh was done, Sir Madoc had blushed purple with -stifled rage and mortification. He said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"My lord, you should have mentioned all this instantly."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Truth is, I knew not how to approach the subject."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And I have introduced this fellow to my daughters, to my friends, and -to Craigaderyn! D--n me, I shall choke!" he exclaimed, as he started -from his chair. "He is deep as Llyn Tegid! I have already lost -considerable sums to him at billiards, and I always thought his -success at cards miraculous. But an end shall be put to this -instantly!--Owen! Owen Gwyllim!"</p> - -<p class="normal">He kicked a spittoon to the other end of the room, rang the bell -furiously for the butler, and dashed off a note to Mr. Guilfoyle. It -was sufficiently curt and pointed. He expressed "regret that a gun -would not be at his service on the coming 1st of September; but that -the carriage would await his orders, for Chester or elsewhere."</p> - -<p class="normal">Guilfoyle had doubtless been accustomed to meet with affronts such as -this. Desiring his baggage to be sent after him, he departed that -night with his two horses, his groom (and diamond ring); but, prior to -doing so, he had the effrontery to leave P.P.C. cards for Lady Naseby -and Estelle, saying that "he should not forget their kind invitation -to Walcot Park;" and rode off, scheming vengeance on me, to whom he -evidently attributed the whole matter, as he informed Owen Gwyllim -that he "would yet repay me, through his solicitor, perhaps, for the -interest I had taken in his affairs."</p> - -<p class="normal">This threw a temporary cloud over our little party, and good Sir Madoc -felt a kind of sorrow for Guilfoyle as he surmised how little money he -might have in his purse, forgetting that he was proprietor of a pair -of horses. To prevent her <i>amour propre</i> being wounded, we most -unfortunately did not reveal this man's real character to Lady Naseby; -thus, to Sir Madoc's hot temper was attributed his sudden departure.</p> - -<p class="normal">Though Lady Estelle was excessively provoked that, through her and her -mother, whom his service on the Continent had prejudiced in his -favour, and through his alleged acquaintance with me, he had become -Sir Madoc's guest, in a day or two the whole <i>contretemps</i> was -forgotten; but I was fated not to have seen or heard the last of Mr. -Hawkesby Guilfoyle.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_19" href="#div1Ref_19">CHAPTER XIX.--TWO LOVES FOR ONE HEART.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">By the peculiarity of our position kept much apart, or seldom finding -opportunities, even in a house like Craigaderyn Court, for being -alone, as it was perpetually thronged by visitors, we had to content -ourselves with the joy of stolen glances that lit up the eye with an -expression we alone could read, or that was understood by ourselves -only; by tender touches of the hand that thrilled to the heart; and by -inflections of the voice, which, do as we might, would at times become -soft and tremulous. Our life was now full of petty stratagems and -pretty lover-like enigmas, especially when in the presence of Lady -Naseby; and now I also became afraid of Winifred Lloyd, who, -unoccupied, so far as I could see, by any love-affair of her own, was -almost certain, I thought, to see through mine. "There is no conquest -without the affections," said Ninon de l'Enclos; "and what mole is so -blind as a woman in love?" Yet Estelle was careful to a degree in her -bearing, and never permitted her fondness of me to lull her into a -sense of security from observation. I learned, however, from my ally -Dora, that Lady Naseby was so provoked by what Estelle not inaptly -termed our "late <i>fiasco</i>," that, save for the weight such a -proceeding might have given it, they and the Viscount, too, would have -quitted Craigaderyn Court, So they remained; but, thought I, what -right had <i>he</i> to be concerned in the matter? And unless I greatly -erred, I felt certain that the Countess cared not how soon I received -my marching orders for that fatal shore where so many of us were to -leave our bones.</p> - -<p class="normal">Yet many a stolen kiss and snatched caress or pressure of the hand, -many a whispered assurance of love, made Estelle and me supremely -happy, while the few days that remained of my leave glided -quickly--ah, too quickly!--past; and all desire for "glory" apart, I -was not sorry when I saw that my fractured arm would prevent my being -sent with the next draft, and cause my retention for a little time -longer in England. "They who love must drink deeply of the cup of -trembling," says some one; "for at times there will arise in their -hearts a nameless terror, a sickening anxiety for the future, whose -brightness all depends upon this one cherished treasure, which often -proves a foreboding of some real anguish looming in the distant -hours."</p> - -<p class="normal">As yet no forebodings came to mar my happiness; it was without alloy, -save the prospect of a certain and, as we trusted to Providence, a -temporary separation; yet it was well that I saw not the future, or -what those distant hours had in store for me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Estelle," said I, one day when a happy chance threw us together for a -few minutes in an arbour of the garden, where we sometimes met at a -certain hour, and separated after by different paths, like a pair of -conspirators, "when shall a period be put to all this mystery--this -painful, though joyous, false position in which we find ourselves?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We can but wait and hope, Harry--wait and hope!" said she, while her -head drooped on my shoulder, and my arm went round her.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Wait and hope, dearest, for what? My promotion?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"That would bring the end no nearer," said she, with a sad, sickly -smile.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, certainly; even to be colonel of the Royal Welsh instead of a -mere sub would not enhance my value much in Lady Naseby's estimation," -said I, with some bitterness. "For what then, darling?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Some change in mamma's views regarding me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"She will never change!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You know, Harry, that were you rich, I might marry you now--yes, and -go to Turkey with you, too!" said she, with a brightness in her eyes.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Would to Heaven, then, that I were rich! But being poor--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is impossible."</p> - -<p class="normal">And we both sighed heavily.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am under orders for the East, and <i>must</i> take my turn of duty -there, risking all the chances of war, ere I can think of home or -marriage, Estelle; but when we part, if I am not to write to you, how -shall I ever know that you think of me? how hear of your health and -welfare? that you remain true to me--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"O, doubt not that!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nor do I; but it would be so sweet to see your writing, and imagine -your voice reiterating the troth you plighted to me in that terrible -time."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I shall write to you, dear, dear Harry, for I can do that freely and -openly; but of you, alas! alas! I can only hear through our friends at -the Court here, for you can neither write to me in London nor at -Walcot Park."</p> - -<p class="normal">"May I not ask Miss Lloyd to receive enclosures for you? I shall be -writing to her, and we are such old friends that she would think -nothing of it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Too old friends, I fear," said she, with a half-smiling but pointed -glance; "but for Heaven's sake think not of that. She would never -consent, nor should I wish her to do so. I can of course receive what -letters I choose; but servants will pry, and consider what certain -coats of arms, monograms, and postal marks mean; so my Crimean -correspondent would be shrewdly suspected, and myself subjected to -much annoyance by mamma and her views."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Her <i>views!</i> This is the second time you have referred to them," said -I, anxiously; "and they are--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"That I should marry my cousin Naseby, whom I always disliked," said -Estelle, in a sad and sweetly modulated voice; "or Lord Pottersleigh, -whose wealth and influence are so great that a short time must see him -created an earl; but he has no chance <i>now</i>, dear Harry!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Long, lovingly, and tenderly she gazed into my eyes, and her glance -and her manner seemed so truthful and genuine that I felt all the -rapture of trusting her fearlessly, and that neither time nor distance -would alter or lessen her regard for me; and a thousand times in "the -distant hours" that came did I live over and over again that scene in -the arbour, when the warm flush of the August evening was lying deep -on the Welsh woods and mountains, when all the mullioned windows of -the quaint old mansion were glittering in light, and the soft coo of -the wild pigeons was heard as they winged their way to the summit of -Craigaderyn, which is usually alive with them, and there the fierce -hawk and the ravenous cormorant know well when to find their prey.</p> - -<p class="normal">The time for my departure drew near; and already but a day remained to -me. Caradoc and Charley Gwynne had already sailed in a troopship for -Varna, from which the entire army was about to embark for a landing on -the Russian coast, and ill or well, my presence with the regimental -depôt was imperative. My bullock trunks had been packed by Owen -Gwyllim, and the carriage was ordered to convey me next evening, after -an early dinner. The latter passed slowly and heavily enough, and -afterwards, instead of remaining all together, as might have been -expected, circumstances separated us for an hour or so. Lady Naseby -was indisposed; so was Lord Pottersleigh, whom his old enemy had -confined by the feet to this rooms, yet he hoped to be in service -order, to enact the sportsman on the coming 1st of September, a period -to which he looked forward with disgust and horror, as involving an -enormous amount of useless fatigue, with the chances of shooting -himself or some one else. Sir Madoc had certain country business to -attend; and on the three young ladies retiring to the drawing-room, I -was left to think over my approaching departure through the medium of -burgundy and a cigar.</p> - -<p class="normal">My sword arm was nearly well now; but still I should have made but a -poor affair of it, if compelled to resort to inside and outside cuts, -to point and parry, with a burly Muscovite. To know that I had but a -few hours left me now, and not to spend them with Estelle Cressingham, -seemed intolerable! Before me, from the window, spread the far extent -of grassy chase steeped in the evening sunshine; above the green woods -were the peaks of Snowdon and Carneydd Llewellyn, dim and blue in the -distance; and while gazing at them wistfully, I reflected on all I -should have to see and undergo, to hope and fear and suffer--the miles -I should have to traverse by sea and land--ere I again heard, if ever, -the pleasant rustle of the leaves in these old woods, the voice of the -wild pigeon or the croak of the rooks among the old Tudor gables and -chimneys of Craigaderyn. And then again I thought of Estelle.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I <i>must</i> see her, and alone, too, at all risks; perhaps dear little -Dora will assist me," I muttered, and went towards the drawing-room, -which was now considerably involved in shadow, being on the western -side of the Court; and I felt with the tender Rosalind, when her lover -said, "For these two hours, Rosalind, I will leave thee," "Alas, dear -love, I cannot lack thee two hours."</p> - -<p class="normal">I entered the room and found only Winifred Lloyd. She was seated in -the deep bay of a very picturesque old oriel window, which seemed to -frame her as if in a picture. Her chin was resting in the hollow of -her left hand, and she was gazing outward dreamily on vacancy, or -along the flower-terraces of the house; but she looked hastily round, -and held out a hand to me as I approached.</p> - -<p class="normal">I caressed the pretty hand, and then dropped it; and not knowing very -well what to say, leaned over the back of her chair.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I suppose," she began, "you are thinking--thinking--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"How far more pleasing to the eye are a pair of fair white shoulders -to the same amount of silk or satin," said I smilingly, as I patted -her neck with my glove.</p> - -<p class="normal">She shrugged the white shoulders in question, and said petulantly, -with half averted face,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is it possible that your departure has no place in your thoughts?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Alas, yes! for do I not leave Craigaderyn by sunset? and its golden -farewell rays are lingering on blue Snowdon even now," said I, with a -forced smile; for though I had come in quest of Estelle, something--I -know not what--drew me to Winifred just then.</p> - -<p class="normal">Her eyebrows were very black, but slightly arched, and they almost met -over her nose; and I gazed into the orbs below them, so dark, so -clear, and beautiful--eyes that could neither conceal the emotions of -her heart, nor the pleasure or sorrow she felt; and I thought how -easily a man might be lured to forget the world for her, as friendship -between the sexes--especially in youth--is perilous; and some such -thought, perhaps, occurred to her, for she turned her face abruptly -from me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are surely not angry with me?" said I, bending nearer her ear.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Angry--I with you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why should I be so?" she asked, looking down upon her folded hands -that trembled in her lap--for she was evidently repressing some -emotion; thinking, perhaps, of poor Phil Caradoc, who was then -ploughing the waters of the Mediterranean with Carneydd Llewellyn to -console him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You should not have come here," said she, after a pause.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not into the drawing-room?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Unless to meet Estelle Cressingham."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do not say this," said I, nervously and imploringly, in a low voice; -"what is Estelle to me?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Indeed!" said the little scornful lip. "Her mamma summoned her, but -she may be here shortly."</p> - -<p class="normal">Doubtless Lady Naseby had some dread of the leave-taking.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I shall be so glad to see her once again ere I go."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of course."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I hope that you and she will often think and speak of me when I am -gone."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are a delightful egotist, Harry Hardinge; but I trust our -memories may be reciprocal."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We have ever been such friends, and must be, you know, Winifred."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, Harry; why should we <i>not</i> be friends?" she asked, with a dash -of passionate earnestness in her tone, while she gazed at me with a -curious expression in her large, soft, and long-lashed eyes.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Have you any message for--for----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Whom?" she asked, sharply.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Philip Caradoc."</p> - -<p class="normal">"None."</p> - -<p class="normal">"None!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Save kindest regards and warmest wishes. What is Mr. Caradoc to me?" -Then she gave a little shiver, as she added, "Our conversation is -taking a very strange tone."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I cannot conceive in how I have annoyed you," said I, with something -of sorrow and wonder in my heart.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Perhaps; but you have not annoyed me, though you are not quite what -you used to be; and none are so blind as those who will not see."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am quite perplexed. I think we know each other pretty well, -Winifred?" said I, very softly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I know you certainly," was the dubious response.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well--and I you?" said I, laughing.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Scarcely. Woman, you should be aware, is a privileged enigma."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, I was about to say that, whatever happens, we must ever be dear -friends, and think of each other kindly and tenderly, for the pleasant -times that are past and gone."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What can happen to make us otherwise?" she asked, in a strange voice.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I--may be killed," said I, not knowing very well what to say or -suggest; "so, while there is a chance of such a contingency, let us -part kindly; not so coldly as this, dear Winifred; and kiss me ere I -go."</p> - -<p class="normal">Her lips, warm and tremulous, touched mine for an instant; but her -eyes were sad and wild, and her poor little face grew ashy white as -she hastened away, leaving me with Estelle, who was approaching -through the long and shaded room; and when with her, Winifred Lloyd -and the momentary emotion that had sprung up--emotion that I cared not -and dared not <i>then</i> to analyse--were utterly forgotten.</p> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Our interview was a very silent one. We had barely time for a few -words, and heavy on my heart as lead weighed the conviction that I had -to part from her--my love so recently won, so firmly promised and -affianced. I knew that the days of my sojourn at Winchester must be -few now; and with the chances of war before me, and temptations and -aristocratic ambition left behind with her, how dubious and how remote -were the chances of our meeting again!</p> - -<p class="normal">Moments there were when I felt blindly desperate, and with my arms -round Estelle.</p> - -<p class="normal">When returning, would she still love me, as Desdemona loved her Moor, -for the dangers I had dared? The days of chivalry and romance have -gone; but the "old, old story" yet remains to us, fresh as when first -told in Eden.</p> - -<p class="normal">"For life or death, for good or for evil, for weal or woe, darling -Estelle, I leave my heart in your keeping!" said I, in a low -passionate whisper; "in twelve months, perhaps, I may claim you as my -wife."</p> - -<p class="normal">"L'homme propose, et Dieu dispose," said she, quietly and tenderly. "I -yet hope to see you, were it but for a day, at Walcot Park, ere you -sail."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bless you for the hope your words give me!" said I, as Owen Gwyllim -came to announce that the carriage was at the door, and to give me -Lady Naseby's and Lord Pottersleigh's cards and farewell wishes. And -from that moment all the rest of my leave-taking seemed purely -mechanical; and not only Sir Madoc, his two daughters, and Estelle, -were on the terrace of the mansion to bid me adieu, but all the -hearty, hot-tempered, high-cheekboned old Welsh domestics, most of -whom had known me since boyhood, were also there.</p> - -<p class="normal">The impulsive Dora brought me my courier-bag, a flask filled with -brandy, and dainty sandwiches cut and prepared by Winifred's own kind -little hands (for in doing this for me she would trust neither the -butler nor Mrs. Gwenny Davis the housekeeper), and then she held up -her bright face to be kissed; but inspired by I know not what emotion -of doubt or dread, I only touched with my lips the hands of Lady -Estelle and Miss Lloyd. Both girls stood a little apart from each -other, pale as death, tremulous with suppressed emotion, and with -their lashes matted and their eyes filled with tears, that pride and -the presence of others restrained from falling. They were calm -externally, but their hearts were full of secret thoughts, to which I -was long in getting the clue. In the eyes of Estelle there was that -glance or expression of loving intensity which most men have seen -<i>once</i>--it may be twice--in a woman's eye, and have never, never -forgotten.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Madoc's brown manly hand shook mine heartily, and he clapped me on -the back.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I hope to see you yet ere you leave England, my boy, and such hopes -always take the sting from an adieu," said he, with a voice that -quivered nevertheless. "Sorry you can't stay for the 1st of -September--the partridges will be in splendid order; but there is -shooting enough of another kind in the preserves you are going to."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And may never come back from," was the comforting addendum of old -Mrs. Davis, as she applied her black-silk apron to her eyes.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, Harry," said Sir Madoc, "you gave a smile so like your mother -just now! She was handsome; but you will be never like her, were you -as beautiful as Absalom."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is well that poor mamma can't hear all this," said Dora, laughing -through her tears.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your dear mamma, my girl, was very fond of her and of him, too," said -honest Sir Madoc; and then he whispered, "If ever you want cash, -Harry, don't forget me, and Coutts and Co.--the dingy den in the -Strand. Farewell--anwylbach!--good-bye!"</p> - -<p class="normal">A few minutes more and all the tableau on the steps had passed away. I -was bowling along the tall lime avenue and down the steep mountain -road, up which Phil Caradoc and I had travelled but a few weeks -before. How much had passed since <i>then!</i> and how much was inevitably to -pass ere I should again see these familiar scenes! What had I said, or -left unsaid? What had I done, what had passed, or how was it, that as -the train sped with me beyond brave old Chester, on and on, on and on, -monotonously clanking, grinding, jarring, and occasionally shrieking, -while intrenched among railway rugs, with a choice cigar between my -teeth, and while I was verging into that pleasant frame of mind when -soft and happy visions are born of the half-drowsy brain, lulled as it -were by rapidity of motion and the sameness of recurring sounds--how -was it, I say, that the strange, unfathomable expression I had seen in -the soft pleading eyes of dear Winifred--distance was already making -her "dear"--mingled in my memory with the smileless, grave, and tender -farewell glance of my pale Estelle; and that the sweet innocent kiss -of the former was remembered with sadness and delight?</p> - -<p class="normal">I strove to analyse my ideas, and then thrust them from me, as I -lowered the carriage window and looked forth upon the flying landscape -and the starry night, and muttered,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Poor Winny--God bless her! But <i>two loves for one heart</i> will never, -never do. I have been at Craigaderyn too long!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And I pictured to myself the drawing-room there: Estelle, perhaps, at -the piano to conceal her emotions; or listening, it might be, to the -twaddle of old Pottersleigh. Winny gazing out upon the starlit -terrace, trying to realise the prospect--as women proposed to will -do--if she had married Phil Caradoc; or thinking of--heaven knows -what! And old Sir Madoc in his arm-chair, and dreaming, while Dora -nestled by his side, of the old times, and the boy--to wit, myself--he -loved so well.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_20" href="#div1Ref_20">CHAPTER XX.-FEARS.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Caradoc and many other good fellows were gone eastward, and save Hugh -Price and a newly-fledged ensign, I was the only officer with the -depôt, and being senior had the command. The former had always some -affair of the heart on the tapis; the latter was a mere boy, fresh -from Harrow, so neither was companion for me. Back once more to the -prosaic life of heavy drill and much useless duty in Winchester -barracks, the picturesque and joyous past at Craigaderyn--after I had -written a letter to Sir Madoc full of remembrances to the ladies-- -seemed somewhat like a dream.</p> - -<p class="normal">My engagement with Estelle--our rides, drives, and rambles by the wild -green hills of Mynedd Hiraethrog; in the chase and long lime avenue; -our chance meetings in the garden arbour; by the fountain, where the -lilies floated and the gold fish shot to and fro; over all, that wild -boat adventure, by which our lives were to be knit up as one in the -future--seemed too like a dream, of which her ring on my finger alone -remained to convince me of the reality, as no letters could pass -between us--at least none from me to her. Thus I grew fond of courting -solitude after the duties of the day were over, and I could fling -sword, sash, and belt aside; and usually I quitted early the jollity -of the battalion mess, that I might indulge in visions and conjure up -bright fancies amid the gray smoke wreaths of a quiet cigar, in that -humble bachelor's quarter already described; while the moonlight -silvered the spires and red-tiled roofs of Winchester, and when all -became still in the crowded barrack, after the tattoo-drums had -beaten, and the notes of the last bugle had warned--like the Norman -curfew of old--the extinction of all lights and fires.</p> - -<p class="normal">I had seen many a drama and read many a romance; but now I seemed to -be personally the hero of either one or other. Engaged to the daughter -of an earl; but in <i>secret</i>, and unknown to all! And how or when was -that engagement to end--to be brought to a successful issue? On these -points my ideas were painfully vague and full of anxiety. Were we yet -to meet--were it but for an hour--ere war separated us more -completely, by sea as well as land? Returning, it might be mutilated -and disfigured, should I still find her loving, tender, and true? and -if I fell in action, how long might I hope to be remembered ere -Estelle--But I could not with patience contemplate the chances of -another replacing or supplanting me. Occasionally, as if to kill time, -I was seized by fits of unwonted zeal, and found plenty of work to do, -apart from parades, guards, sword-exercise, and revolver-pistol -practice--for hourly recruits, many of whom could not speak a word of -English, were coming in to replace those that had sailed with Phil -Caradoc; and it is one of the essential parts of the duty of the -officer commanding a regimental depôt to see after the arms, -accoutrements, and clothing of his men; and also, that so far as drill -goes, they are made perfect soldiers. Few or none of these recruits -were natives of the counties outside Offa's Dyke; but when the news of -the Alma came, and all England thrilled with the story of the uphill -charge of the Royal Welsh, more than one London paper enviously spread -the rumour, that our regiment was Cambrian only in name; till it was -flatly contradicted by the colonel--but the story nearly gave hot -peppery Sir Madoc a fit of apoplexy.</p> - -<p class="normal">Besides other duties there was no small number of books--goodly sized -folios--of which I had the supervision, ten at least exactly similar -to those which are kept at headquarters; and all these tasks were -varied by an occasional ball or rout such as a cathedral and garrison -town can furnish; or a court-martial, or one of inquiry, concerning -Mrs. Private Jones resenting--<i>vi et armis</i>--that the canteen-keeper -should cut her bacon and tobacco, butter and bread, with the same -knife; or to give some Giles Chawbacon fifty lashes about daybreak for -a violation of the Red-book, in a hollow square, where men's teeth -chattered in the chilly air, or they yawned behind their glazed stocks -and shivered with disgust, at a punishment for which the army was -indebted to William of Orange, and which is now happily a thing of the -past. So the month of August drew to a close, and a box of partridges -duly came from Sir Madoc--the spoil of his gun on the slopes of Mynedd -Hiraethrog, perhaps; with a letter which acquainted me that Lady -Naseby and her daughter had been for fully a fortnight at Walcot Park -in Hampshire, but that he supposed I was probably aware of the -circumstance, and that Pottersleigh was with them.</p> - -<p class="normal">Fully a fortnight, and neither letter nor card of invitation, though -they knew that I was in Winchester! How or why was this? A chill came -over me, though I certainly had no fear of the Viscount's influence; -but then I reflected that Estelle could not, and that Lady Naseby -would not, invite me--each for reasons of her own. What, then, -remained for me to do, but wait the event with patience, or endeavour -to seek her out, by throwing myself in her way? I writhed at the idea -of a fortnight having escaped us, while the coming of the fatal route -for the East hung over me. There was something revolting and -humiliating to my spirit in acting the part of a prowler about Walcot -Park; but who is a more humble slave than a lover? The declaration of -war had animated the services, both by sea and land, with a new or -revived interest for all, with women especially. Thus our parades, -reviews, and even our marches of exercise were frequently witnessed by -all the beauty and fashion of the city and county; and among them I -always looked in vain for the carriage and liveries of the Countess. -Was Estelle ill, or was their absence from these spectacles part of a -system to be pursued by the former?</p> - -<p class="normal">Walcot Park was, I knew, only a few miles from the barracks on the -Whitchurch-road. I had spent many an hour riding there merely to see -the place which was associated with Estelle, when she had been absent -from it in London or elsewhere; and now I had doubly an attraction to -make me turn my horse's head in that direction, after Sir Madoc's -letter came; so the second day saw me take the way northward from the -old cathedral city, in mufti, to elude observation. The evening was a -lovely one, and those swelling hills and fertile valleys, wide -expanses of woodland already becoming crisp by the heat of the past -summer, with clumps of birch and elder, the wild ash and the oak, -which make up the staple features of Hampshire scenery, were in all -their autumnal beauty and repose. The tinkling of the waggoner's bells -on the dusty highway, was still heard, though the shrill whistle of -the locomotive seemed to hint that, like the old stage-coachman, he -should ere long find his occupation gone; and mellowed on the soft and -ambient air there came the merry evening chimes from more than one -quaint, village-church--the broad square Norman tower of which -stood--the landmark of its district--in outline distinct and dark -against the golden flush of the western sky. Dusk was almost closing -when I crossed that noted trouting-stream, the Teste; and passed -through Whitchurch.</p> - -<p class="normal">As I trotted leisurely along the single street of which the little -market borough is chiefly composed, at the door of a small inn I -perceived a stable-boy holding by their bridles a black horse and a -roan mare. The form of the latter seemed familiar to me. I could not -mistake the height of forehead, the depth of chest, and roundness of -barrel, or a peculiar white spot on the off-shoulder, and in the -former recognised the roadster which Guilfoyle had brought with him to -Craigaderyn. On seeing that I drew my reins and looked rather -scrutinisingly at the animal, the groom, stable helper, or whatever he -was, touched his cap, on which I inquired,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Whose nag is this, my man?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can't say as I knows, sir; but the gentleman, with another, is inside -the bar, having a drop of summut," was the answer.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Does he reside hereabout?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"At Walcot Park he do."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Walcot Park!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"My Lady Naseby's place; he's been there for a couple of days at -least, with Mr. Sharpus, my lady's lawyer from London."</p> - -<p class="normal">I rode on and spurred my horse to a maddening pace for some distance, -and then permitting the reins to drop on his neck, gave way to the -tide of perplexing, harassing, and exasperating thoughts that flowed -upon me. I remembered that we had arranged at Craigaderyn not to -inform Lady Naseby of the real character of her chosen continental -acquaintance, a foolish and fatal mistake, as the fellow would seem to -have had sufficient presumption to present himself at Walcot Park, and -there remain until exposed and expelled. But how came it to pass that -such as he was patronised and fostered, as it were, by "the family -solicitor," and patented by being his companion? Surely a legal man, -however great a rascal professionally and personally, was too wary to -adopt openly a blackleg as his friend and protégé!</p> - -<p class="normal">I felt that Lady Naseby should instantly be warned of Guilfoyle's real -character; but by whom was this to be done? Tied up by my secret -arrangements with Estelle, I could neither write nor call uninvited; -but why had she not, as she had promised, written to me, or given me -some sign of her being so near Winchester as Walcot Park? When I -recalled her apparent preference for this man, when Caradoc and I -first went to Wales, their frequent recurrence to past companionship -abroad, their duets together, and so forth, her angry defence of him -to myself, together with an interest he had acquired in the eyes of -her usually unapproachable mother, something of my old emotions of -pique and doubt, and a jealousy for which I blushed, began to mingle -with my perplexity and mortification, and the fear that <i>he</i> could -have any influence on her destiny or mine!</p> - -<p class="normal">I recalled all the conversation overheard by Pottersleigh, and greater -grew my astonishment and indignation. I felt it imperative that -something should be done instantly, and resolved to telegraph or write -to Sir Madoc, requesting him to procure the dismission of this -intruder from Walcot Park as promptly as he had despatched him from -Craigaderyn. From a part of the road where it wound over an upland -slope I could see the Jointure House which formed the residence of -Lady Naseby and of that Estelle who was a law, a light, a guiding star -to me, and towards whom every thought and aspiration turned. Walcot -Park was a spacious domain, and studded by clumps of stately old -trees, which had been planted after the Revolution of 1688 by a peer -of the Naseby family, who was one of the first to desert his -hereditary king at Rochester. The mansion itself dated from the same -stormy period, and was built entirely of red brick with white stone -corners and cornices. Its peristyle of six Ionic columns glistened -white in the moonlight, and was distinctly visible from where I sat on -horseback. The shadow of the square façade of the entire edifice fell -purple and dark far across the park. There were lights in several of -the windows, and I knew that my Estelle must be in one of those -rooms--but which?</p> - -<p class="normal">At that moment all my soul yearned for her; could I but for an instant -have seen her, or heard her voice! She dwelt there, visible to and -approachable by others, and yet I dared not visit her. The fact of her -presence there seemed to pervade and charm all the place, and with a -sad, loving, and yet exasperated interest, I continued to survey it. I -was hovering there, but aimlessly, and without any defined purpose, -other than the vague chance of seeing or being near her. Walcot I knew -was her favourite place, and there she kept all her pets, for she had -many: a parrot sent from the Cape by the captain of a frigate to whom -she had spoken but once at a ball; a spaniel from Malta, the gift of -some forgotten rifleman; a noble staghound, given by a Highland -officer who had danced with her once--once only--and never forgot it; -a squirrel, the gift of Sir Madoc; and an old horse or two, her -father's favourite hacks, turned loose in the park as perpetual -pensioners.</p> - -<p class="normal">Could she really have loved me as she said she did, if she was already -behaving so coldly to me now? No letter or note, no invitation--she -had surely influence enough with her mother to have procured me -that!--no notice taken of my vicinity, of my presence with the depôt -again! What shadow was this that seemed already to be falling on our -sunny love? Whence the doubt that had sprung up within me, and the -coldness that seemed between us? Full of these thoughts, I was gazing -wistfully at the house, when I perceived the dark figures of two -horsemen riding leisurely along the winding approach that led to the -white peristyle, and felt certain that they were Guilfoyle and his -legal friend Mr. Sharpus (of Sharpus and Juggles) mounted on the -identical nags I had seen at the inn-door; and inspired by emotions of -a very mingled character, I galloped back to the barracks, never -drawing my bridle for the entire twelve miles of the way, until I -threw it to my man Evans; and hurrying to my room, wrote instantly a -most pressing letter to Sir Madoc, informing him of what I had seen -and heard. I was not without thoughts of communicating with Lord -Pottersleigh; but, for obvious reasons, shrunk from <i>his</i> intervention -in the Cressingham family circle.</p> - -<p class="normal">I knew that it would be delivered at Craigaderyn on the morrow, and -deemed that now twenty-four hours must be the utmost limit of Mr. -Hawkesby Guilfoyle's sojourn in his present quarters, and in a sphere -which he insulted by his presence; but three, four, even five days -passed, and no reply came from Sir Madoc, who was then, though I knew -it not, shooting with some friends in South Wales, and did not receive -my epistle until it was somewhat late for him to act on it. During -these intervening days I was in a species of fever. One Sunday I -incidentally heard, at mess, that Lady Naseby's party, now a pretty -numerous one, had been at service in the cathedral, and to hear the -bishop preach. She had come in state, in the carriage, attended by -several gentlemen on horseback, and two tall fellows in livery, one -carrying her prayer-books, the other a long cane and huge nosegay; -and there I might have met them all face to face, and seen Estelle -once more, had my evil destiny not assigned to me the command -of the main guard, and thus detained me in barracks; but Price of -ours--susceptible as the Tupman of <i>Pickwick</i>--had seen her, and came -to mess raving about her beauty.</p> - -<p class="normal">Every hour I could spare from duty was spent in hovering, like a -spectre or a spy--an unquiet spirit certainly--in the vicinity of -Walcot Park, till the lodge-keepers, who had been wont to touch their -hats civilly at first, began ere long to view me with mistrust; and my -horse knew every crook and turn of the Whitchurch-road quite as well -as the way to his own stable. On the evening of the fifth day after I -had written to Sir Madoc--a pleasant evening in the first days of -September--I was again riding leisurely among the deep green lanes -that border on Walcot Park, and which lay between dark green hedgerows -then studded by scarlet dogberries, and the overarching branches of -apple, pear, and damson trees, my heart, as usual, full of vague -doubts, decided longings, and most undecided intentions, when I began -slowly to walk my horse up a long, steep, and picturesque road, the -vista of which was closed by an old village church, in the low and -moss-grown wall surrounding which was a green wicket. It was on just -such an evening as the last I have described, when the farewell gleam -of the sun shone level along the fields, when the many-coloured -foliage rustled in the gentle wind, and the voices of the blackbird, -the thrush, and the lark came sweetly at times from the darkening -copsewood, and when, as Clare writes in his rhyming calendar,</p> - -<div class="poem1"> -<p class="t2" style="text-indent:-8px"> -"The wagons haste the corn to load,<br> -And hurry down the dusty road;<br> -The driving boy with eager eye<br> -Watches the church clock, passing by--<br> -Whose gilt hands glitter in the sun--<br> -To see how far the hours have run;<br> -Right happy in the breathless day,<br> -To see time wearing fast away."</p> -</div> - -<p class="normal">Nearly covered with ivy, the square tower of the little church--a fane -old as the days when the Saxons bent their bows in vain at Hastings; -yea, old as the time of St. Ethelwold (the famous architect and Bishop -of Winchester)--peeped up amid the rich autumnal foliage that almost -hid it from the view. At the wicket, some hundred yards from me, in -the twilight--for though the sun had not set, the density of the -copsewood about the place rendered the light rather dim and -obscure--were a lady and gentleman, the latter mounted, and the former -on foot. At first they seemed to be in close and earnest conversation; -then the lady gesticulated earnestly, raising her hands and face to -him imploringly; but twice he thrust her back, almost violently, with -the handle of his whip. This was a strange and unpleasant episode to -encounter. I knew not whether to advance or retire. I feared to -intrude on what I supposed was something more than a lovers' quarrel, -or, from the man's utter indifference, was perhaps a matrimonial -squabble; and I was equally loth to retire, and leave a woman--a lady -evidently--to the violence or passion of this person, upon whose love -or mercy--it might be both--by her gestures and even the distant tones -of her voice, she was so evidently throwing herself in vain.</p> - -<p class="normal">I checked my horse's pace, and, amid the thick rank grass of the -narrow lane, his footsteps were unheeded by the two actors in this -scene; moreover, without backing him well into one of the thick -hedges, I could not have turned to retrace my way.</p> - -<p class="normal">Her hands were clasped now; she had dropped her parasol, and her face, -a very white one, was upturned pleadingly to his; but to whatever she -said, this horseman, whose back was to me, replied scornfully and -derisively by a low mocking laugh, which somehow I seemed to have -heard before, but when, or where, I quite failed to remember. Anon she -drew something from her bosom, and, kissing it, held it towards him, -as if seeking to influence him, by an appeal through it to some past -time of love, or truth, or happiness, or all together. Whatever it was -she thus displayed, he snatched it roughly, even fiercely, from her -with a curse, and, again thrusting her violently from him--so violently, -that I believe he must have used his foot and the off-stirrup -iron---she fell heavily against the low wall, which, at the same moment, -he cleared by a flying leap, and then disappeared in the network of -lanes, orchards, and hedgerows that lie about the churchyard. A low wail -escaped her; and when I came cantering up, and dismounted, she was lying -on the path beside the churchyard wicket in tears and despair. Her -appearance was perfectly ladylike, and most prepossessing; yet I knew -not very clearly what to say or how to interfere in the matter, though -manhood and courtesy rendered some action imperatively necessary.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I trust you are not hurt," said I, taking her hand and assisting her -to rise.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thank you, sir--not bodily hurt," she replied, in a low and broken -voice, while scarcely venturing to look at me, and pressing her left -hand upon her heart, as if to restrain emotion, or as if she felt a -pain there.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Did that person rob you?" asked I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"O no, no, sir," she answered, hurriedly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"But he seemed to snatch or wrench something from you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," said she, with hesitation.</p> - -<p class="normal">"By violence, too?"</p> - -<p class="normal">She did not reply, but covered her face with her handkerchief, and bit -it, apparently in efforts to control her sobs.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can I assist you--be of service to you in any way?" I urged, in a -pleading tone; for her whole air and appearance interested me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, sir; none can assist me now."</p> - -<p class="normal">"None?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Save God, and even He seems to abandon me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What is the meaning of this despair?" I asked, after a pause. "It is -a lovers' quarrel, I presume; and if so--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"O no, sir; he is no lover of mine--now, at least."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He--who?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"The gentleman who has just left me," said she, evasively. "But permit -me to pass you, sir; I must return to Whitchurch."</p> - -<p class="normal">I bowed, and led my horse aside, that she might pass down the lane.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I thank you, sir, for your kindness," said she, bowing, as I lifted -my hat; and then she seemed to totter away weakly and feebly, -supporting or guiding herself, as if blind, by the rude low wall; and -I could perceive that her left hand, which was now ungloved, was -small, delicate, and of exceeding beauty in form. Her manner and air -were hurried; her voice and eyes were agitated; she seemed a ladylike -little creature, but plainly and darkly attired in a kind of second -mourning. Her figure, if <i>petite</i>, was very graceful and girlish, too, -though she was nearer thirty, perhaps, than twenty. Her face was -delicate in feature, and charmingly soft and feminine in expression. -Her eyes were of that clear dark gray which seems almost black at -night, and their lashes were long and tremulous, lending a chastened -or Madonna tone to her face, which, when taken together with her -sadness of manner and a certain languor that seemed to be the result -of ill-health, proved very prepossessing. With all this there was -something, I thought, of the widow in her aspect and dress; but this -was merely fancy.</p> - -<p class="normal">Ere I remounted, and while observing her, I perceived that she -tottered, as if overcome by weakness, emotion, or both. She sank -against the churchyard wall, and nearly fell; on this, I again -approached, and said with all softness and respect:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pardon me, and do not deem me, though a stranger, intrusive; you are -ill and weary, and unable to walk alone. Permit me to offer my arm, -for a little way at least, down this steep and rugged road."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thanks," she replied; "you are very kind, sir; once at the foot of -this lane, I shall easily make my way alone. I am not afraid of -strangers," she added, with a strange smile; "I have been much cast -among them of late."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You reside at Whitchurch?" said I, as we proceeded slowly together, -occasionally treading the fallen apples under foot among the long -grass.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is, then, your home?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have no other--at present," said she, in a choking voice, and -scarcely making an effort to restrain her tears, while I detected on a -finger of the ungloved hand, the beauty of which I so much admired, a -plain gold hoop--the marriage ring. So she was a wife; and the -unseemly quarrel I had seen must have been a matrimonial one. Thus I -became more assured in my manner.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am almost a stranger here," said I, "as I belong to the garrison at -Winchester."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are an officer?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, madam, of the Royal Welsh Fusileers."</p> - -<p class="normal">She simply bowed, but did not respond to my information by saying -<i>who</i> she was.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Though a soldier, sir," said she, after a pause, "I dare say you will -be aware that the hardest battles of this world are <i>not</i> fought in -the field."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where then?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where we might least look for struggles of the soul: in many a -well-ordered drawing-room; in many a poor garret; in many a lovely -bower and sunny garden, or in a green and shady lane like this; fought -in secrecy and the silence of the heart, and in tears that are hot and -salt as blood!"</p> - -<p class="normal">She <i>is</i> very pretty, thought I; but I hope she won't become -melodramatic, hysterical, or anything of that sort!</p> - -<p class="normal">"Darkness will be set in ere you can reach Whitchurch, at our present -rate of progression," said I; "and your--your--" (I was about to say -husband) "relations or friends will be anxious about you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Alas, no, sir! I have no one to miss or to regret me," she replied, -mournfully; "but I must not intrude selfishly my sorrows on a -stranger."</p> - -<p class="normal">"There is no appearance of the--the person who annoyed you returning," -said I, looking backward up the long narrow lane we were descending.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Little chance is there of that," said she, bitterly; "<i>he</i> will return -no more."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are certain of that?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Too fatally certain!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have quarrelled, then?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No; it is worse than a quarrel," said she, with her pale lips -quivering.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He is an enemy?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"My enemy?--my tempter--my evil spirit--he is my husband!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pardon me; I did not mean to be curious, when I have no right to be -so; but here is the highway; I too am going towards Whitchurch--my way -to the barracks lies in that direction; and I shall have much pleasure -in escorting you to your home, if you will permit me," said I, seized -by an impulse of gallantry, humanity, or both, which I ere long had -cause to repent.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sir, I thank you, and shall detain you no longer," she replied, -hurriedly; "I am something of a wanderer now, and my rooms are at the -ivy-clad inn by the roadside."</p> - -<p class="normal">This was the place where I had seen Guilfoyle's roan mare, an evening -or so past.</p> - -<p class="normal">We had now reached the end of the narrow and secluded lane, a famous -one in that locality as the trysting-place of lovers, and were -standing irresolutely near the main road that leads to Whitchurch and -Winchester, when a large and handsome carriage, drawn by a pair of -spanking dark gray horses, approached us rapidly.</p> - -<p class="normal">Throwing my nag's bridle over my left arm, I was in the act of -offering my right hand to this mysterious lady in farewell, when her -eyes caught sight of the carriage; a half-stifled sob escaped her; she -reeled again, and would have fallen, had I not thrown my arm round -her, and by its firm support upheld her. At that moment the carriage -bowled past. The face of a lady was at the open window, looking out -upon us with wonder and interest, as she saw a lady and gentleman to -all appearance embracing, or at least on very good terms with each -other, at the corner of a shady lane, a little way off the Queen's -highway; and something like an exclamation of dismay escaped me on -recognising the colourless haughty face, the dark eyes, the black -hair, and bonnet of that orange tint so becoming to one of her -complexion--she of whom my whole soul was full, Lady Estelle -Cressingham!</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_21" href="#div1Ref_21">CHAPTER XXI .-GEORGETTE FRANKLIN.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Had Estelle recognised me? If so, what might she--nay, what must -she--think, and how misconstrue the whole situation? Should I ride -after the carriage, or write at all risks, and explain the matter, or -commit the event to fate? That might be perilous. She may not have -recognised me, I thought: the twilight, the shade, the place might -have concealed my identity; but if not, they were all the more against -me. I was now in greater and more horrible perplexity than ever, and I -wished the unhappy little woman, the cause of all, in a very warm -climate indeed.</p> - -<p class="normal">Thus, while longing with all the energies of my life to see Estelle, -to be seen by her <i>there</i>, at a time so liable to misconception if -left unexplained, might be death to my dearest hopes, and destruction -to the success I had achieved.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why were you so agitated by the sight of Lady Naseby's carriage?" I -asked, with an annoyance of tone that I cared not to conceal.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Giddiness, perhaps; but was I agitated?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of course you were--nearly fell; would have fallen flat, indeed, but -for me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I thank you, sir," was the gentle reply; for my asperity of manner -was either unnoticed or unheeded by her; "but you seemed scarcely less -so."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I, madam!--why the deuce should I have been agitated?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Unless I greatly err, you were, and are so still."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Indeed!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do you know the ladies?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Were there two?" asked I, with increased annoyance.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The Countess and her daughter."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I saw but one."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And--O, pardon my curiosity, dear sir--you know them?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Intimately;--and what then?" I asked, with growing irritation.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Intimately!" she repeated, with surprise.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There is nothing very singular in that, I suppose?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"And, sir, you visit them?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have not as yet, but hope to do soon. We were all together in the -same house in North Wales."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah! at Craigaderyn Court?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; Sir Madoc Lloyd's. Do you know Sir Madoc?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have not that pleasure."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who, then, that you are acquainted with knows him?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"My husband."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your husband!" said I, glancing at the plain hoop on the delicate -little hand, which she was now gloving nervously.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He was there with you; must have been conversing with you often. I -saw you all at church together one Sunday afternoon, and frequently on -the terraces and on the lawn; while!"--she covered her face with her -hands--"while I loitered and lurked like an outcast!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your husband, madam?" I queried again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mr. Hawkesby Guilfoyle."</p> - -<p class="normal">Whew! Here was a discovery: it quite took my breath away, and I looked -with deeper interest on the sweet and pale and patient little face.</p> - -<p class="normal">I now remembered the letter I had picked up and returned to him; his -confusion about it, and the horse he alleged to have lost by at a race -that had not come off; his irritation, the postal marks, and the name -of <i>Georgette</i>.</p> - -<p class="normal">After such a termination to his visit to Craigaderyn, I could fancy -that his situation as a guest or visitor at Walcot Park, even after he -found the ladies there were ignorant of the nature of Sir Madoc's curt -note to him, must be far from enviable, for such as he must live in -hourly dread of insult, slight, or exposure; but how was I now -situated with regard to her I loved?</p> - -<p class="normal">Deemed, perhaps, guilty in her eyes, and without a crime; and if aware -of the situation, the malevolent Guilfoyle would be sure to avail -himself of it to the fullest extent.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lady Estelle is very lovely, as I could see," said my companion.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Very; but you saw her--when?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"In Craigaderyn church, most fully and favourably."</p> - -<p class="normal">And now I recalled the pale-faced little woman in black, who had been -pointed out to me by Winifred Lloyd, and who had been found in a swoon -among the gravestones by old Farmer Rhuddlan.</p> - -<p class="normal">In all this there was some mystery, which I felt curious enough to -probe, as Guilfoyle had never by word or hint at any time given those -among whom he moved reason to believe he was aught else than a -bachelor, and a very eligible one, too; for if my once rival, as I -believed him to be, was not a creditable, he was certainly a -plausible, one; and here lay with me the means of an <i>exposé</i> beyond -even that which had taken place at Craigaderyn Court.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are his wife, madam, and yet--does he, for purposes of his own, -disavow you?" said I, after a pause, not knowing very well how to put -my leading question.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is so, sir--for infamous purposes of his own."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But you have him in your power; you have all the air of a lady of -birth and education--why not come forward and assert your position?"</p> - -<p class="normal">The woman's soft gray eyes were usually filled by an expression of -great and deep sadness; but there were times when, as she spoke, they -flashed with fire, and there were others, when her whole face seemed -to glitter with "the white light of passion" as she thought of her -wrongs. Restraining her emotion, she replied,</p> - -<p class="normal">"To assert my claims; that is exactly what I cannot do--now at least."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Because he has destroyed all the proofs that existed of our unhappy -and most miserable marriage."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Destroyed them! how?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Very simply, by putting them in the fire before my face."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But a record--a register--must exist somewhere."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We were married at sea, and the ship, in the chaplain's books of -which the marriage I have no doubt was recorded, perished. Proofs I -have none. But tell me, sir, is it true, that--that he is to be -married to the daughter of Lady Naseby?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"To Estelle Cressingham?" I exclaimed, while much of amusement mingled -with the angry scorn of my manner.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," she replied, eagerly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, certainly not; what on earth can have put such an idea into your -head, my good woman?"</p> - -<p class="normal">My hauteur of tone passed unheeded, as she replied:</p> - -<p class="normal">"I saw her portrait in the Royal Academy, and heard a gentleman who -stood near me say to another, that it was so rumoured; that he--Mr. -Guilfoyle--had come with her from the Continent, and that he was going -after her down to North Wales. He had said so at the club."</p> - -<p class="normal">I almost ground my teeth on hearing this. That his contemptible name -should have been linked with hers by empty gossips in public places -like the Royal Academy and "his club," where none dared think of mine, -was intolerable.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I followed him to Wales," she continued. "I saw nothing at -Craigaderyn church, or elsewhere, on her part to justify the story; -when I met my husband on the lawn at the <i>fête</i>--for I was there, -though uninvited--he laughed bitterly at the rumour, and said she was -contracted to Lord Pottersleigh, who, as I might perceive, was ever by -her side. He then gave me money, which I flung on the earth; ordered -me on peril of my life to leave the place, lest he might give notice -to the police that I had no right to be there. But though I have long -since ceased to love, I cannot help hovering near him, and from Wales -I followed him here; for I know that now he is at Walcot Park."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I can assure you, for your ease, that the Lady Estelle is engaged, -but to a very different person from old Lord Pottersleigh," said I, -twirling the ends of my moustache with undisguised satisfaction, if -not with a little superciliousness; "your husband, however, seems a -man of means, Mrs. Guilfoyle."</p> - -<p class="normal">She gave me a bitter smile, as she replied, "Yes, at times; and drawn -from various resources. He laughs to scorn now my marriage ring; and -yet he wears the diamond one which I gave him in the days when we were -engaged lovers, and which had once been my dear father's."</p> - -<p class="normal">The diamond which <i>she</i> gave him! Here, then, was another, and the -most probable version of the history of that remarkable brilliant.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of what was it that he deprived you by force, before his horse leaped -the wall?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"A locket which I wore at my neck, suspended by a ribbon," said she, -as her tears began to fall again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He has the family solicitor with him at Walcot Park, I understand," -said I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"They are visiting there together. Mr. Sharpus came on business, and -my husband accompanied him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why not appeal to this legal man?</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have done so many times."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And he--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Fears Mr. Guilfoyle and dare not move in the matter, or affects to -disbelieve me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What power has this--your husband, over him?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"God alone knows--I do not," she replied, clasping her hands; "but Mr. -Sharpus quails like a criminal under the eye of Hawkesby Guilfoyle, -who seems also to possess some strange power over Lady Naseby, I -think."</p> - -<p class="normal">Could such really be? It seemed impossible; everything appeared to -forbid it; and yet I was not insensible to a conviction that the -dowager countess was rather pleased with, than influenced by, him. -Could he have acted in secret the part of lover to <i>her</i>, and so -flattered her weakness by adulation? Old women and old men, too, are -at times absurd enough for anything; and now the words of Caradoc, on -the night he lost money to Guilfoyle at billiards, recurred to me, -when in his blunt way he averred they had all some secret -understanding, adding, "By Jove! I can't make it out at all." My mind -was a kind of chaos as I walked onward with my new friend, and leading -my horse by the bridle we entered Whitchurch together. In the dusk I -left her at the inn door, promising to visit her on the morrow, and -consult with her on the means for farther exposing her husband; for -although her story--for all I knew to the contrary--might be an entire -fabrication, I was not then in a mood of mind to view it as such. As I -bade her adieu, a dog-cart, driven by a servant,--whose livery was -familiar to me, passed quickly. Two women were in it, one of whom -mentioned my name. I looked up and recognised Mademoiselle Babette -Pompon, Lady Naseby's soubrette, who had evidently been shopping; and -a natural dread that she, out of a love of gossip, or the malevolence -peculiar to her class, might mention having seen me at the inn porch -with a fair friend, was now added to the annoyance caused by the -episode at the lane end--an episode to which the said parting would -seem but an addendum or sequel; and I galloped home to my quarters in -a frame of thought far from enviable, and one which neither brandy nor -seltzer at the mess-house could allay.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_22" href="#div1Ref_22">CHAPTER XXII.--GEORGETTE FRANKLIN'S STORY.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Next day I heard the stranger's story, and it was a sad one. Georgette -Franklin--for such was her unmarried name--was the last surviving -child of George Franklin, a decayed gentleman, who dwelt in Salop, -near the Welsh border--we need not precisely say where, but within -view of the green hills of Denbigh; for the swelling undulations of -the beautiful Clwydian range formed the background to the prospect -from the windows of that quaint old house which was nearly all that -survived of his hereditary patrimony. Stoke Franklin--so named as it -occupied the site of a timber dwelling of the Saxon times, coeval -perhaps with Offa's Dyke--was still surrounded by a defensive ditch or -moat, where now no water lay, but where, in the season, the primroses -grew in golden sheets on the emerald turf. It was an isolated edifice, -built of dark-red brick, with stone corners, stone mullions to its -quaint old sunken windows, and ogee pediments or gables above them, -also of stone. From foundation to chimneys it was quaint in style, -ancient in date, and picturesque in aspect. Long lines of elms, and in -some places pollard willows, marked the boundaries of what had been -the demesne of the Franklins; but piecemeal it had passed away to more -careful neighbours, and now little remained to George Franklin but the -ground whereon the old mansion-house stood, and that sombre green -patch in God's-acre, the neighbouring churchyard, where his wife and -their four children lay, near the ancient yew, the greenery of which -had decorated the altar in the yule feasts of centuries ago, and whose -sturdy branches had furnished bow-staves for the archers who shot -under his ancestors at Bosworth, at Shrewsbury, and Flodden Field.</p> - -<p class="normal">George Franklin was not a misanthrope; far from it; but he lived very -much alone in the old house. His oaken library, so solemnly tranquil, -with its heavy dark draperies and book-hidden walls, when the evening -sun stole through the deep mullions of the lozenged and painted -windows, was his favourite resort. And a cozy room it proved in -winter, when the adjacent meres were frozen, and the scalp of Moel -Fammau was powdered with snow. There he was wont to sit, with -Georgette by his knee, he reading and she working; a bright-faced, -brown-haired, and lively girl, whose golden canaries and green -love-birds hung in every window; for the house was quite alive with -her feathered pets, and was as full of sound as an aviary with their -voices in summer. One warm evening in autumn, when Georgette was -verging on her eighteenth year, she and her father were seated near -the house-door, under a shady chestnut-tree. The sunshine lay bright -on the greensward, and on the wilderness of flowers and shrubs that -grew close to the massive red walls of the old mansion. Mr. Franklin -was idly lingering over a book and sipping a glass of some dark and -full-bodied old port--almost the last bottle that remained in his now -but ill-replenished cellar. And a very perfect picture the old man -made. His thin but stately figure; his features so patrician in -profile; his dress somewhat old in fashion; his hands, though faded, -so shapely, with a diamond ring on one finger, <i>the</i> diamond ring of -which we have heard so much lately; and the handsome girl who hovered -about him, attending to his little wants, varying her kind offices -with playful caresses, while her white neck and her golden-brown hair -glittered in the sunshine--all this seemed to harmonise well with the -old house that formed the background to the picture. The evening was -quiet and still. The voices of Georgette's birds, her caged canaries -and piping bullfinches, came through the open windows; but there were -no other sounds, save once or twice when the notes of a distant -hunting-horn, prolonged and sad, came on the passing wind, and then -the old man would raise his head, and his clear eye would sparkle,</p> - -<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-10px; font-size:80%"> -"As he thought of the days that had long since gone by,<br> -When his spirit was bold and his courage was high;"</p> - - -<p class="continue">and when he, too, had followed that sound, and ridden across the -stiffest country, neck and neck with the best horsemen in Salop and -Cheshire.</p> - -<p class="normal">Suddenly there came a shout, and a huntsman in red, minus his black -velvet cap, was seen to clear a beech-hedge on the border of the lawn; -and ere an exclamation of annoyance or indignation could escape old -George Franklin, that his privacy should be invaded, even by a -sportsman, in this unwonted manner, a cry of terror escaped Georgette; -for it was evident that the gentleman's horse had become quite -unmanageable, as the bridle-rein had given way; and after its terrible -leap, it came tearing at a mad pace straight towards the house, and -dashing itself head foremost against a tree, hurled the rider -senseless on the ground. He rolled to the very feet of Georgette and -her father, both of whom were full of pity and compassion, the former -all the more so that the stranger was undoubtedly a handsome man, and -barely yet in the prime of life. Aid was promptly summoned, and the -village doctor, anxious to serve, for a time at least, one whom he -deemed a wealthy patient, earnestly seconded, and even enforced, the -suggestion of the hospitable George Franklin, that the sufferer, whose -head was contused, and whose shoulder-blade had narrowly escaped -fracture, should neither be removed nor disturbed. Hence he was at -once assigned a room in the old mansion, with Georgette's old Welsh -nurse, now the housekeeper, to attend him. He was a man, however, of a -strong constitution, "one of those fellows who are hard to kill," as -he phrased it; thus, on the third morning after the accident, he was -well enough to make his way to the breakfast room.</p> - -<p class="normal">Georgette, attired in a most becoming muslin dress, and looking fresh, -rosy, and innocent, as a young girl can only look who has left her -couch after a healthy slumber to greet the sunny morning, was standing -on a chair in an oriel, attending to the wants of one of her feathered -pets; suddenly the chair slipped, and she was about to fall, when a -strong arm, in the sleeve of a scarlet hunting-coat, encircled and -supported her. This little <i>contretemps</i> made both parties at once at -home, and on easy terms.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mr. Guilfoyle!" exclaimed the girl, for it was he.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Miss Franklin, I presume?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Are you well already?" she asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nearly so," said he, smilingly, as he took in all the girl's beauty -at a glance, together with the pleasant view beyond the antique oriel, -where the morning sun came down on the shining leaves, covering all -the dewy ground, as it were, with drops of golden light; and the -quaint old house, he thought, seemed such a pleasant home.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How happy papa will be!" said the young lady, colouring slightly -under his somewhat critical gray--or rather green--eye. "I should have -nursed you myself, instead of old nurse Wynne," she added, archly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"In that case I should have been in no hurry to announce my -convalescence," said he, rather pointedly; "may I ask your name--the -first one, I mean? Somehow, I fancy that I can judge of character by -the name."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Georgette Franklin."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Georgette!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am called after papa."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A charming name!" he exclaimed, but in a low tone.</p> - -<p class="normal">Naturally frank and honest, purely innocent, and assured of her own -position, and of that of her father--for though poor now, he was one -of England's old untitled aristocracy--the girl felt neither -awkwardness nor shyness with her new friend, who, though polished in -manner, easy, and not ungraceful, was a thorough man of the world, and -selfishly ready to take advantage of every place and person who came -in his way; and a very simple one, indeed, was the kind old gentleman -who now came to welcome his visitor, to express fears that he had left -his couch too soon; and critically and keenly this hawk, who was now -in the dove's nest, eyed him, and saw, by the thinness of his hair, -his spare figure and wrinkled face, "delicately lined by such -characters as a silver <i>stylus</i> might produce upon a waxen tablet," -that his years could not be many now; yet his keen gray eyes were full -of bright intelligence still, and were shaded by lashes as long and -silky as those of his daughter.</p> - -<p class="normal">Hunting and breakfast were discussed together. Mr. Guilfoyle seemed, -or affected to be, an enthusiast in old English sports, professing -that he loved them for themselves and from their associations; and -quite won George Franklin's heart by stigmatising the "iron horse" of -civilisation, which was now bearing all before it; and his host seemed -to grow young again, as he recurred to the field exploits of his -earlier years, over the same ground which Mr. Guilfoyle--who had been -on a visit to the house of some friend twenty miles distant--had -hunted so recently: round beautiful Ellesmere, by Halston and Hordley, -by the flat fields of Creamore, by the base of wooded Hawkstone, where -he had made many a terrible flying leap, and away by Acton Reynald; -all this ground had Guilfoyle gone over but lately, and, as the event -proved, almost fatally for his own bones, and more fatally for his -future peace of mind, as he pretty plainly indicated to Miss Franklin -on every available opportunity, in the softest and most well-chosen -language. Though able to leave his room, he was neither permitted to -leave the house nor attempt to mount; so he wrote to his friend, had -some of his wardrobe sent over to Stoke Franklin, and, encouraged by -the hearty hospitality of its owner, took up his quarters there for an -indefinite period; at least, until his hunting friend should depart -for Madeira, whither he had promised to accompany him; for Mr. -Hawkesby Guilfoyle seemed somewhat of a cosmopolitan, and rather -peripatetic in his habits. He had been over one half the world, -according to his own accounts, and fully intended to go over the -other; so he proved a very agreeable companion to the hitherto lonely -father and daughter in that secluded mansion in Salop. Merciful it is, -indeed, that none of us can lift the veil that hides the future; thus -little could George Franklin foresee the influence this man was to -exert over the fate of his daughter and himself, when he listened to -his plausible anecdotes, or sat alone and happy in his shady old -library, communing pleasantly with his ancient favourites--with -Geoffrey Chaucer, the knightly pages of Froissart, Dame Juliana -Berners on hunting and hawking, and works, rare as manuscripts, that -came from the antique press of Caxton and De Worde. Mr. Guilfoyle -found himself in very pleasant quarters, indeed. It was ever his -principle to improve the occasion or the shining hour. Georgette was -highly accomplished, and knew more than one language; so did he; so -week after week stole pleasantly away.</p> - -<p class="normal">By them the touching airs of Wales, the merry <i>chansons</i> of Wronger, -were played and sung together; and she it was, and no Princess of -Catzenelnbogen, who taught him that wild German farewell, with its -burden of "Leb'wohl! Leb'wohl!" we had heard at Craigaderyn Court. -Even Petrarch was not omitted by them; for he knew, or pretended to -know, a smattering of Italian, and translated the tenderest speeches -of Laura's lover with a <i>point</i> that caused the young girl's heart to -vibrate with new and strange emotions. And now, ever and anon, there -was a heightened flush on her soft cheek, a bright sparkle in her dark -gray eye, a lightness in all her motions; she had moments of merry -laughter, alternated by others of dreamy sadness--that yet was not all -sadness--which showed that Georgette was in love.</p> - -<p class="normal">And Guilfoyle, in his own fashion, loved her, too; but he had learned -that of all George Franklin's once noble estate, the house alone -remained, and that at his death even it must inevitably go to the -spoiler; so, though to love Georgette was very pleasant and sweet, -matrimony with her was not to be thought of. Money was the god of -Guilfoyle's idolatry, and he thought of the wonder of his "fast" -friends when they asked, "What did he get with his wife?" and how they -should laugh if they heard he had married for love. Yet Georgette had -become besotted--there is no other word for it, save infatuated--by -him; by one who had made flippant love with strange facility to many. -By degrees he artfully strove to warp or poison the girl's mind; but -finding that instinctively her innocence took the alarm after a time, -though she long misunderstood him, he quite as artfully changed his -tactics, and spoke sorrowfully of his imperative and approaching -departure for Madeira, of the agony such a separation would cause him; -"it might be for years, and it might be for ever," and so forth, -while, reclining in tears on his breast, the girl heard him. Taking -the right time, when she was thoroughly subdued or softened by love, -and fear lest she should lose him, he prayed her to elope or consent -to a private marriage--he was not without hopes that his hunting -friend might officiate as parson. This, he urged, would keep them true -to each other until his return and their final reunion; but to this -measure she would not consent.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come with me, then, to Madeira; we shall be back in a month, at -latest."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But think of dear papa--my poor old papa," replied Georgette, -piteously; "worn as he is with years and infirmity, I cannot leave him -even for so short a time; for who will soothe his pillow when I am -gone?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Old moth--Mrs. Wynne can do all that; at least, until we return," -said he, almost impatiently.</p> - -<p class="normal">"But must you really go to Madeira?" pleaded the gentle voice.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I must, indeed: business of the first importance compels me; in fact, -my funds are there," he added, with charming candour, as his hunting -friend had promised to frank him to Funchal and back again to London. -"We shall be gone but a short time, and when we return this dear old -house shall be brighter than ever, and together we shall enliven his -old age. We shall kneel at his feet, darling Georgie, and implore--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why not kneel <i>now</i>," urged Georgette, "and beg his consent and -blessing?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nay, that would be inopportune, absurd, melodramatic, and all that -sort of thing. Returning, we shall be linked in the fondest affection; -returning, he will be unable to resist our united supplications. Come, -darling, come with me. Let us despise the silly rules of society, and -the cold conventionalities of this heartless world! Let us live but -for each other, Georgie; and O, how happy we shall be, when we have -passed, through the medium of romance, into the prose of wedded life; -though that life, my darling, shall not be altogether without romance -to us!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Overcome by the intensity of her affection for this man, her first and -only lover, the poor girl never analysed the inflated sophistries he -poured into her too willing ear, but sank, half fainting with delight, -upon his shoulder. Guilfoyle clasped her fondly in his arms; he -covered her brow, her eyes--and handsome eyes they were--her lips, and -braided hair, with kisses, and in his forcible but somewhat fatuous -language, poured forth his raptures, his love, and his vows of -attachment.</p> - -<p class="normal">Suddenly a terror came over her, and starting from his arm, she half -repulsed him, with a sudden and sorrowful expression of alarm in her -eye.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Leave me, Hawkesby," said she, "leave me, I implore you; I cannot -desert papa, now especially, when most he needs my aid. O, I feel -faint, very faint and ill! I doubt not your love, O, doubt not mine; -but--but--'</p> - -<p class="normal">"I must and do doubt it," said he, sadly and gloomily. "But enough of -this; to-morrow I sail from Liverpool, and <i>then</i> all shall be at an -end."</p> - -<p class="normal">"O God, how lonely I shall be!" wailed the girl; "I would, dear -Hawkesby, that you had never come here."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Or had broken my neck when my horse cleared yonder hedge," said he, -as his arm again went round her, and the strong deep love with which -he had so artfully succeeded in inspiring her, triumphed over every -sentiment of filial regard, of reason, and humanity. She forgot the -old parent who doted on her; the stately old ancestral home, that was -incrusted with the heraldic honours of the past; she forgot her -position in the world, and fled with the <i>parvenu</i> Guilfoyle.</p> - -<p class="normal">That night the swift express from Shrewsbury to Birkenhead, as it -swept through the beautiful scenery by Chirk and Oswestry, while the -wooded Wrekin sank flat and far behind, bore her irrevocably from her -home; but her father's pale, white, and wondering face was ever and -always upbraidingly before her. As Guilfoyle had foreseen, no proper -marriage could be celebrated at Liverpool ere the ship sailed from the -Mersey. He hurried her on board, and his hunting friend--a dissipated -man of the world, ordered to Madeira for the benefit of his -health--received the pale, shrinking, and already conscience-stricken -girl in the noisy cabin of the great steamer with a critical eye and -remarkably knowing smile, while his manner, that for the time was -veiled by well-bred courtesy, might have taught the poor dove that she -was in the snares of an unscrupulous fowler.</p> - -<p class="normal">But ere the great ship had made the half of her voyage--about six -days--in her sickness of body and soul, the girl had made a friend and -confidant of the captain, a jolly and good-hearted man, who had girls -of his own at home; and he, summoning a clergyman who chanced to be on -board, under some very decided threats compelled Guilfoyle to perform -the part he had promised; so he and Georgette were duly wedded in the -cabin, while, under sail and steam, the vessel cleft the blue waves of -the western ocean, and her ensign was displayed in honour of the -event. But there the pleasure and the honour ended, too; and Guilfoyle -soon showed himself in his true colours, as a selfish and infamous -<i>roué</i>.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Alas!" said she, weeping, "he no longer called me the pet names I -loved so well; or made a fuss with me, and caressed me, as he was wont -to do among the pleasant woods of Stoke Franklin. I felt that, though -he was my husband, he was a lover no longer! We had not been a -fortnight at Madeira when we heard that the vessel, on board of which -we were married, had perished at sea with all on board, including her -temporary chaplain. Then it was that Mr. Guilfoyle tore from me the -sole evidence of that solemn ceremony given to me by the clergyman, -and cast it in the flames before my face, declaring that then he was -free! Of our past love I had no relic but a gold locket containing his -likeness and bearing a date, the 1st of September, the day on which we -were married, with our initials, H. H. and G., and even that he rent -from me yesterday. Alas for the treachery of which some human hearts -are capable! We were <i>one</i> no longer now, as the old song has it:</p> - -<div class="poem1"> -<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-2em">"'That time!--'tis now "long, long ago!"<br> -Its hopes and joys all passed away!</p> -<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-1.5em">On life's calm tide three bubbles glow;<br> -And pleasure, youth, and love are they,</p> -<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-1.5em">Hope paints them bright as bright can be,<br> -Or did, when he and I were <i>we!</i>'</p> -</div> - -<p class="continue">As a finishing stroke to his cruelty and perfidy, he suddenly quitted -Madeira, after some gambling transaction which brought the alcalde of -Funchal and other authorities upon him. He effected his escape -disguised as a vendor of sombreros and canary birds, and got clear -off, leaving a note by the tenor of which he bequeathed me to his -friend, with whom he left me at a solitary <i>quinta</i> among the -mountains."</p> - -<p class="normal">Though dissipated and "fast" by nature and habit, the latter was at -heart an English gentleman; and pitying the forlorn girl abandoned in -a foreign colony under circumstances so terrible, he sent her home; -and one day, some six months after her flight, saw her once more -standing irresolutely at the closed gate of the old manor-house of -Stoke Franklin.</p> - -<p class="normal">The latter was empty now; the windows were closed, the bird-cages hung -there no more; the golden and purple crocuses she had planted were -peeping up from the fragrant earth, untended now; the pathways were -already covered with grass and mosses; untrimmed ivy nearly hid the -now unopened door; the old vanes creaked mournfully in the wind; and -save the drowsy hum of the bees, all spoke to her hopeless, -despairing, and remorseful heart of the silence and desolation that -follow death. The odour of last year's dead leaves was heavy on the -air. After a time she learned how rapidly her father had changed in -aspect, and how he had sunk after her disappearance--her desertion of -him; and how there came a time when the fine old gentleman, whose thin -figure half stooping, with his head bent forward musingly, his scant -white hair floating over the collar of his somewhat faded coat, his -kindly but wrinkled face, his tasselled cane trailing behind him from -his folded hands, whilom so familiar in the green lanes about Stoke -Franklin, and who was always welcomed by the children that gambolled -on the village green or around the old stone cross, and the decayed -wooden stocks that stood thereby, appeared no more. A sudden illness -carried him off, or he passed away in his sleep, none knew precisely -which; and then another mound under the old yew-tree was all that -remained to mark where the last of the Franklins, the last of an old, -old Saxon line, was laid.</p> - -<p class="normal">I promised to assist her if I could, though without the advice of a -legal friend I knew not very clearly what to do; besides, knowing what -lawyers usually are, I had never included one in the circle even of my -acquaintances. Estelle's long silence, and the late episode in the -lane, chiefly occupied my thoughts while riding back to the barracks, -where somewhat of a shock awaited me.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_23" href="#div1Ref_23">CHAPTER XXIII.--TURNING THE TABLES.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Though the dower-house of Walcot Park dated from the days of Dutch -William, when taste was declining fast in England, internally it had -all the comforts of modern life, and its large double drawing-room was -replete with every elegance that art could furnish or luxury -require--gilt china, and buhl cabinets, and console mirrors which -reproduced again and again, in far and shadowy perspectives, the -winged lions of St. Mark in <i>verde antique</i>; Laocoon and his sons -writhing in the coils of the serpents; Majolica vases, where tritons, -nymphs, and dolphins were entwined; Titian's cavaliers sallow and -sombre in ruffs and half-armour, with pointed moustachios and -imperious eyes; or red-haired Venetian dames with long stomachers, -long fingers, and Bologna spaniels; or Rubens' blowsy belles, all -flesh and bone, with sturdy limbs, and ruddy cheeks and elbows; but -the mirrors reflected more about the very time that I was lingering at -Whitchurch; to wit, a group, a trio composed of Lady Naseby, her -daughter, and Mr. Guilfoyle; and within that room, so elegant and -luxurious, was being fought by Estelle, silently and bitterly, one of -those struggles of the heart, or battles of life, which, as poor -Georgette Franklin said truly, were harder than those which were -fought in the field by armed men. Guilfoyle was smiling, and looking -very bland and pleased, indeed, to all appearance; Lady Naseby's -usually calm and unimpressionable face, so handsome and noble in its -contour, wore an expression of profound disdain and contempt; while -that of Lady Estelle was as pale as marble. She seemed to be icy cold; -her pink nostrils were dilated, her lips and eyelids were quivering; -but with hands folded before her, lest she should clench them and -betray herself, she listened to what passed between her mother and -their visitor.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It was, as you say, a strange scene, of course, Mr. Guilfoyle, the -woman fainting--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Reclining."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, yes, reclining in the arms of Mr. Hardinge in that lonely -lane," said the Countess; "but we need refer to it no more. He must be -a very reckless person, as Pompon saw him take leave of this creature -with great tenderness, she says, at the door of that obscure inn at -Whitchurch; so that explains all."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not quite," replied Guilfoyle.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Perhaps not; but then it is no affair of ours, at all events, I must -own that I always wondered what the Lloyds--Sir Madoc especially--saw -in that young man, a mere subaltern of the line!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Precisely my view of the matter, Lady Naseby."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Besides, your little baronet people are great sticklers for rank and -dignity, and often affect a greater exclusiveness than those who rank -above them."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But as for this unfortunate woman," resumed Guilfoyle, who was loth -to quit the subject.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We have heard of her in our neighbourhood before," said Lady Naseby; -"at least, Pompon has. She is good to all, especially the poor."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, doesn't care to hide her candle under a bushel, eh?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"What do you mean, Mr. Guilfoyle?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Simply that vanity is often mistaken for generosity, profusion for -benevolence."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are somewhat of a cynic, I know."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nay, pardon me, I hope not."</p> - -<p class="normal">"She is too poorly clad in general, Pompon says, to be able to indulge -in profusion," continued Lady Naseby, while Lady Estelle glanced at -the speakers alternately, in silence and with apparent calmness.</p> - -<p class="normal">But Guilfoyle, who read her eyes and heart, and knew her secret -thoughts, gloated on the pain she was enduring.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No doubt the unfortunate creature is much to be pitied," said he; -"but when a woman has lost respect for herself, she cannot expect much -of it from others. The poor little soiled love-bird has probably left -some pretty semi-detached villa at Chertsey or St. John's Wood to -follow its faithless redcoat to Hampshire, and hence the touching -tableau in the lane," he added, with his mocking and strangely unreal -laugh.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mr. Guilfoyle!" said the Countess, in a tone of expostulation, while -her daughter darted a glance of inexpressible scorn at him. But he -continued coolly, "Well, perhaps I should not speak so slightingly of -her, after what she has given herself out to be."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And what is that?" asked Lady Naseby.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Only--his wife."</p> - -<p class="normal">"His wife!" exclaimed Estelle, starting in spite of herself. "Yes, -Lady Estelle; but it may not be, nay, I hope is not, the case."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You should rather hope that it is so."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But we all know what military men are--never particular to a shade; -and though excuses must be made for the temptations that surround -them, and also for youth, I approve of the continental system, which -generally excludes subaltern officers from society."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Wife!" repeated Estelle; "O, it cannot be!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"What is it to <i>you</i>--to us?" asked mamma, with a slight asperity of -tone.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, wife or not, she certainly wears a wedding-ring, and he has -been more than once to visit her in that inn at Whitchurch. Of one -visit our mutual friend Mr. Sharpus is cognisant. If you doubt this, -ask him, and he will not contradict <i>me</i>."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have not said that I doubt you, Mr. Guilfoyle," said Estelle, with -intense hauteur, while for a moment--but a moment only--her eyes -flashed, her breast heaved, her hands were clenched, a burning colour -suffused her face, and her feet were firmly planted on the carpet; yet -she asked quietly, "Why do we hear this scandalous story at all? What -is it to mamma--what to me?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"More, perhaps, than you care to admit," said he, in a low voice, as -the Countess rose to place Tiny in his mother-of-pearl basket.</p> - -<p class="normal">Guilfoyle at Craigaderyn had acted as eavesdropper, and on more than -one occasion had watched and followed, overseen and overheard us, and -knew perfectly all about our secret engagement, her mother's views and -opposition to any alliance save a noble or at least a moneyed one; and -of all the stories he had the unblushing effrontery to tell, the -present was perhaps the most daring. He had contrived, during the -short visit he had paid to Walcot Park, under the wing of Mr. Sharpus, -to let Estelle know by covert hints and remarks all he knew, and all -he might yet disclose to her mother, to the young Earl of Naseby, to -Lord Pottersleigh, Sir Madoc, and others; and feeling herself in his -power, with all her lofty spirit the poor girl cowered before him, and -he felt this instinctively, as he turned his green eyes exultingly -upon her. But for a delicate, proud, and sensitive girl to have the -secrets of her heart laid bare, and at the mercy of a man like this, -was beyond all measure exasperating. And this strange narrative of -his, coming after what she had seen, and all that Pompon with French -exaggeration had related, crushed her completely for the time.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have another little item to add to our Hardinge romance," said he, -with his strange, hard, dry, crackling laugh, and a smile of positive -delight in his shifty green eyes, while he toyed with the long ears of -Tiny the shock, which had resumed its place in Lady Naseby's lap. "You -remember the locket with the initials 'H. H. G.' and the date 1st -September which Miss Dora Lloyd mentioned when we were at -Craigaderyn?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have some recollection of it," replied Lady Naseby, languidly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Curiously enough, as I rode past the spot where you saw that touching -and interesting interview--the lane, I mean--I perceived something -glittering among the grass. Dismounting, I picked up that identical -locket, which doubtless the lady had dropped, thus losing it within a -few days of its bestowal, if we are to judge by the date."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you have it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Here."</p> - -<p class="normal">Opening his leather portemonnaie, he drew from it a gold locket, to -which a black-velvet ribbon was attached, and said with the utmost -deliberation, "The initials represent those of Henry Hardinge and his -inamorata, and behold!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Pressing a spring, the secret of which he knew very well, the locket -flew open, and within it were seen the photograph of the pale woman -whom they saw in Craigaderyn church, and opposite to it one of <i>me</i>, -inserted by himself, pilfered from the album of Winifred Lloyd, as we -afterwards ascertained.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Aha! the moral Mr. Henry Hardinge with his <i>petite femme entretenue</i>, -as the French so happily term it."</p> - -<p class="normal">Lady Estelle was quite calm now in her demeanour, and she surveyed the -locket with a contemptuous smile; but her face was as white as marble. -She felt conscious that it was so, and hence sat with her back to the -nearest window, lest her mother should perceive that she was affected.</p> - -<p class="normal">Guilfoyle, smilingly, stood by her, stroking his dyed moustache.</p> - -<p class="normal">"This must be restored to its owner," said he.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Permit me to do so," said Lady Estelle.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You, Estelle--you!" exclaimed her usually placid mother, becoming -almost excited now; "why should you touch the wretched creature's -ornament?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"As an act of charity it should be restored to her, or to <i>him</i>," she -added, through her clenched teeth; and taking the locket, she left the -room for her own, ere her mother could reply; and there she gave way -to a paroxysm of tears, that sprang from sorrow, rage, and shame that -she had for a moment permitted herself to have been deluded by me, and -thus be placed in the power of Guilfoyle. Her lips, usually of a rosy -tint, were colourless now; her upper one quivered from time to time, -as she shuddered with emotions she strove in vain to repress; and her -proud hot blood flowed furiously under her transparent skin, as she -threw open her desk, and sought to apply herself to the task of -writing me that which was to be her first, her last, and only letter. -For her heart swelled with thoughts of love and disappointment, pride, -reproach, disdain, and hate, as she spoiled and tore up sheet after -sheet of note-paper in her confusion and perplexity, and at last -relinquished the idea of writing at all.</p> - -<p class="normal">Thus, while I was scheming how to expose Mr. Hawkesby Guilfoyle, and -have him cast forth from that circle in which he was an intruder, he -turned the tables with a vengeance, and provided me with a wife to -boot. But finding, or suspecting, that he was beginning to be viewed -with doubt, that very day, after having done all possible mischief, he -quitted Walcot Park with Lady Naseby's solicitor, who, strange to say, -seemed to be his most particular friend. He had made no impression -favourable to himself on the heart of Estelle; but he hoped that he -had succeeded in ruining me, as I could neither write nor clear myself -of an allegation of which I was then, of course, ignorant. She was -unjust to me; but she certainly--whatever came to pass in the gloomy -and stormy future--loved me <i>then</i>.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_24" href="#div1Ref_24">CHAPTER XXIV.--BITTER THOUGHTS.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">As yet I knew nothing of all that has been detailed in the foregoing -chapter, consequently the entire measure of my vengeance against -Guilfoyle was not quite full. I had, however, a revival of my old -doubts, anxiety, and perplexity, in not hearing from Walcot Park in -some fashion, by an invitation, or otherwise privately from Estelle -herself, as, by our prearrangement, there was nothing to prevent her -writing to me; and to these were added now a dread of what they had -seen on that unlucky evening, and the reasonable misconstructions to -which the scene was liable. More than one of my mess-room friends had -received cards of invitation from Lady Naseby; why then was I, whom -she had met so recently, apparently forgotten?</p> - -<p class="normal">After the relation of her story, I left Mrs. Guilfoyle in such -a state of mental prostration and distress, that I was not without -well-founded fears that she might commit some rash act, perhaps -suicide, to add to the vile complication of our affairs. Next day I -was detailed for guard, and could not leave the barracks, either to -consult with my new unhappy acquaintance, or for my accustomed canter -in the vicinity of Walcot Park. A presentiment that something -unpleasant would happen ere long hung over me, and a day and a night -of irritation and hot impatience had to be endured, varied only by the -exceedingly monotonous duties that usually occupy the attention of the -officer who commands a guard, such as explaining all the standing -orders to the soldiers composing it, inspecting the reliefs going out -to their posts and those returning from them, and going the round of -those posts by night; but on this occasion, the routine was varied by -a fire near Winchester, so we were kept under arms for some hours in a -torrent of rain, with the gates barricaded, till the barrack engines -returned. On the following morning, just when dismissing my old guard -after being relieved by the new one, I perceived a servant in the -well-known Naseby livery--light-blue and silver--ride out of the -barracks; and with a fluttering in my heart, that was born of hope and -apprehension, I hastened to my room.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Packet for you, sir," said my man Evans, "just left by a flunkey in -red breeches."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You mean a servant of Lady Naseby's."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I mean, sir," persisted Evans, "a flunky who eyed me very -superciliously, and seemed to think a private soldier as low and -pitiful as himself," added the Welshman, whom the pompous bearing of -the knight of the shoulder-knot had ruffled.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You were not rude to him, I hope."</p> - -<p class="normal">"O no, sir. I only said that, though the Queen didn't like bad -bargains, I'd give him a shilling in her name to play the triangles."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That will do; you may go," said I, taking from his hand a small -packet sealed in pink paper, and addressed to me by Lady Estelle; and -my heart beat more painfully than ever with hope and fear as I tore it -open.</p> - -<p class="normal">A locket dropped out--<i>the</i> locket just described--in which I was -bewildered to find a likeness of myself, and with it the ring I had -placed on the hand of Estelle in Rhuddlan's cottage--the emerald -encircled by diamonds--on the morning after our escape from a terrible -fate! I have said that a shock awaited me at the barrack; but that the -locket should come to me, accompanied by Estelle's ring, so astonished -and perplexed me, that some time elapsed before I perceived there was -a little note in the box which contained them.</p> - -<p class="normal">It ran thus:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lady E. Cressingham begs that Mr. Hardinge will return the -accompanying locket and ring to the lady to whom they properly -belong--she whom he meets in the lane near Walcot Park, and whom he -should lose no time in presenting to the world in her own character. -Farther communications are unnecessary, as Mr. Guilfoyle has explained -all, and Lady E. Cressingham leaves to-day for London."</p> - -<p class="normal">The handwriting was very tremulous, as if she had written when under -no ordinary excitement; and now, as the use to which the two episodes, -at the lane and the inn-door, had been put by the artful Guilfoyle -became plain to me, I was filled by a dangerous fury at the false -position in which they placed me with her I loved and with whom I had -been so successful. For a minute the room seemed to swim round me, -each corner in pursuit of the other. We had both been wronged--myself -chiefly; and though I knew that Guilfoyle had been at work, I could -not precisely know how; but I thought the Spartan was right when, on -being asked if his sword was sharp, he replied, "Yes, sharper even -than calumny!" This wretched fellow had daringly calumniated me, and -to clear that calumny, to have an instant interview with Estelle, -became the immediate and burning desire of my heart. I rushed to my -desk, and opened it with such impulsive fury that I severely injured -my arm, so recently broken--broken in her service--and as yet but -scarcely well. I spread paper before me, but my fingers were -powerless; if able to hold the pen, I was now unable to write, and the -whole limb was alternately benumbed and full of acute agony; and -though Hugh Price of ours was a very good fellow, I had no friend--at -least, none like Phil Caradoc--in the dépôt battalion in whom I could -confide or with whom consult, in this emergency.</p> - -<p class="normal">I despatched Evans for the senior surgeon, who alleged that the -original setting, dressing, and so forth of my fractured limb had been -most unsatisfactory; that if I was not careful, inflammation might set -in, and if so, that instant amputation alone could save my life. Being -almost in a fever, he placed me on the sick-list, with orders not to -leave my room for some days, and reduced me to claret-and-water.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A pleasant predicament this!" thought I, grinding my teeth.</p> - -<p class="normal">Estelle, through whom all this came to pass, lost to me, apparently -through no fault of my own, and I unable to communicate with her or -explain anything; for now she was in London, where I feared she might, -in pique or rage, take Pottersleigh, Naseby, or even, for all I knew, -accept Guilfoyle, a terrible compromise of her name. But she had -plenty of other admirers, and disappointed women marry every day in -disgust of some one. Next I thought of the regiment abroad wondering -"when that fellow Hardinge would join"--promotion, honour, profession, -and love in the balance against health, and all likely to be lost!</p> - -<p class="normal">"Rest, rest," said the battalion Sangrado, whom my condition rather -perplexed; "don't worry yourself about anything. Rest, mental and -bodily, alone can cure you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is a fine thing to talk," I muttered, while tossing on my pillow; -for I was confined to bed in my dull little room, and for three days -was left entirely to my own corroding thoughts.</p> - -<p class="normal">I had but one crumb of comfort, one lingering hope. She had not asked -me to return <i>her</i> ring, nor did I mean to do so, if possible. Once -again my arm was slung in a black-silk scarf, which Estelle had -insisted on making for me at Craigaderyn. Alas! would the joys of that -time ever return to us again? I sent Evans, in uniform and not in my -livery, to Whitchurch with the locket, after extracting my likeness -therefrom; but he returned with it, saying that the lady had left the -inn for London, having no doubt followed her husband. I knew not -exactly of what I was accused--a <i>liaison</i> of some kind apparently, of -which the strongest proofs had been put before the Cressinghams. If, -when able, I wrote to explain that the two meetings with Mrs. -Guilfoyle were quite fortuitous, would Estelle believe me? Without -inquiry or explanation, she had coldly and abruptly cast me off; and -it was terrible that one I loved so well should think evil or with -scorn of me. What would honest old Sir Madoc's view of the matter be, -and what the kind and noble-hearted Winifred's, who loved me as a -sister, if they heard of this story, whatever it was?</p> - -<p class="normal">Vengeance--swift, sudden, and sure--was what I panted for; and moments -there were when I writhed under the laws that prevented me from -discovering and beating to a jelly this fellow Guilfoyle, or even -shooting him down like a mad dog, though I would gladly have risked my -own life to punish him in the mode that was no longer approved of now -in England; and I pictured to myself views of having him over in -France, in the Bois de Boulogne, or on the level sands of Dunkirk, the -spire of St. Eloi in the distance, the gray sky above us, the sea for -a background, no sound in our ears but its chafing on the long strip -of beach, and his villainous face covered by my levelled pistol at ten -paces, or less--yea, even after I had let him have the first shot, by -tossing or otherwise. And as these fierce thoughts burned within me, -all the deeper and fiercer that they were futile and found no -utterance, I glanced longingly at my sword, which hung on the wall, or -handled my pistols with grim anticipative joy; and reflected on how -many there are in this world who, in the wild sense of justice, or the -longing for a just revenge on felons whom the laws protect, fear the -police while they have no fear of God, even in this boasted age of -civilisation; and I remembered a terrible <i>duel à la mort</i> in which I -had once borne a part in Germany.</p> -<br> - -<p class="normal">A July evening was closing in Altona, when I found myself in the -garden of Rainville's Hotel, which overlooks the Elbe. The windows of -the house, an edifice of quaint aspect, occupied successively in years -past by General Dumourier and gossiping old Bourienne, were open, and -lights and music, the din of many voices--Germans are always loud and -noisy--and the odour of many cigars and meerschaums, came forth, to -mingle with the fragrance of the summer flowers that decked the -tea-garden, the trees of which were hung with garlands of coloured -lanterns. A golden haze from the quarter where the sun had set -enveloped all the lazy Elbe, and strings of orange-tinted lights -showed here and there the gas-lamps of Hamburg reflected in its bosom.</p> - -<p class="normal">In dark outline against that western flush were seen the masts and -hulls of the countless vessels that covered the basin of the river and -the Brandenburger Hafen. Waiters were hurrying about with coffee, -ices, and confectionery, lager-beer in tankards, and cognac in crystal -cruets; pretty Vierlander girls, in their grotesque costume, the -bodice a mass of golden embroidery, were tripping about coyly, -offering their bouquets for sale; and to the music of a fine German -band, the dancing had begun on a prepared platform. There were -mingling lovely Jewesses of half-Teutonic blood, covered with jewels; -spruce clerks from the Admiralit-strasse, and stout citizens from the -Neuer-wall; officers and soldiers from the Prussian garrison; girls of -good style from the fashionable streets about the Alsterdamm, and -others that were questionable from the quarter about the Grosse -Theater Strasse.</p> - -<p class="normal">I was seated in an arbour with a young Russian officer named -Paulovitch Count Volhonski, who was travelling like myself, and whom I -had met at the table-d'hôte of the Rolandsburg, in the Breitestrasse. -As an Englishman, apt at all times to undervalue the Russian -character, I was agreeably surprised to find that this young captain -of the Imperial Guard could speak several European, and at least two -of the dead, languages with equal facility. He was a good musician, -sang well, and was moreover remarkably handsome, though his keen dark -eyes and strongly marked brows, with a most decided aquiline nose, -required all the softness that a mouth well curved and as delicately -cut as that of a woman could be, to relieve them, and something of -pride and hauteur, if not of sternness, that formed the normal -expression of his face. His complexion was remarkably pure and clear, -his hair was dark and shorn very short, and he had a handsome -moustache, well pointed up. We had frequented several places of -amusement together, and had agreed to travel in company so far as -Berlin, and this was to be our last night in Altona. The waiter had -barely placed our wine upon the table and poured it out, when there -entered our arbour, and seated himself uninvited beside us, a great -burly German officer in undress uniform, and who in a stentorian voice -ordered a bottle of lager-beer, and lighting his huge meerschaum -without a word or glance of courtesy or apology, surveyed us boldly -with a cool defiant stare. This was so offensive, that Volhonski's -usually pale face flushed crimson, and we instinctively looked at each -other inquiringly.</p> - -<p class="normal">The German next lay back in his seat, coughed loudly, expectorated in -all directions in that abominable manner peculiar to his country, -placed his heavy military boots with a thundering crash upon two -vacant chairs, drank his beer, and threw down the metal flagon roughly -on the table, eyeing us from time to time with a sneering glance that -was alike insulting and unwarrantable. But this man, whom we -afterwards learned to be a noted bully and duellist, Captain Ludwig -Schwartz, of the Prussian 95th or Thuringians, evidently wished to -provoke a quarrel with either or both of us, as some Prussian officers -and Hamburg girls, who were watching his proceedings from an alley of -the garden, seemed to think, and to enjoy the situation. But for their -presence and mocking bearing, Volhonski and I would probably, for the -sake of peace, have retired and gone elsewhere; however, their -laughter and remarks rendered the intrusive insolence of their friend -the more intolerable. It chanced that a little puff of wind blew the -ashes of Volhonski's cigar all over the face and big brown beard of -the German, who, while eyeing him fiercely, slowly extricated the pipe -from his heavy dense moustache, and striking his clenched hand on the -table so as to make everything thereon dance, he said, imperiously, -"The Herr Graf will apologise?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"For what?" asked Volhonski, haughtily.</p> - -<p class="normal">"For what!--der Teufel!--do you ask for what?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ja, Herr Captain."</p> - -<p class="normal">"For permitting those cigar ashes to go over all my person."</p> - -<p class="normal">"In the first place, your precious person had no right to be there; in -the second, appeal to the wind, and fight with it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I shall not fight with <i>it!</i>" thundered the German; "and I demand an -instant apology."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Absurd!" replied Volhonski, coolly; "I have no apology to make, -fellow. Apologise to another I might; but certainly not to such as -you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You dare to jest--to--to--to trifle with me?" spluttered the German, -gasping and swelling with rage.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I never jest or trifle with strangers; do you wish to quarrel?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, Herr Graf," sneered the German; "do you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then how am I to construe your conduct and words?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"As you please. But know this, Herr Graf: that though I ever avoid -quarrelling, I instantly crush or repel the slightest appearance of -insult, and you have <i>insulted</i> me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ja, ja!" muttered the German officers, in blue surtouts and brass -shoulder-scales, who now crowded about us.</p> - -<p class="normal">Volhonski smiled disdainfully, and drew from his pocket a -richly-inlaid card-case; then taking from it an enamelled card, with a -bow that was marked and formal, yet haughty, he presented it to -Captain Ludwig Schwartz, who deliberately tore it in two, and said, in -a low fierce voice,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bah! I challenge you, Schelm, to meet me with pistols, or hand to -hand without masks, and without seconds, if you choose."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Agreed," replied Volhonski, now pale with passion, knowing well that -after such a defiance as that, and before such company, it would be a -duel without cessation, a combat <i>à la mort</i>. "Where?" he asked, -briefly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The Heiligengeist Feld."</p> - -<p class="normal">"When?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"To-morrow at daybreak"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Agreed; till then adieu, Herr Captain;" and touching their caps to -each other in salute, they separated.</p> - -<p class="normal">Next morning, when the dense mists, as yet unexhaled by the sun, lay -heavy and frouzy about the margin of the Elbe, and were curling up -from the deep moats and wooded ramparts of the Holstein Thor of -Hamburg, we met on the plain which lies between that city and Altona; -it is open, grassy, interspersed with trees, and is named the Field of -the Holy Ghost. A sequestered place was chosen; Volhonski was attended -by me, Captain Schwartz by another captain of his regiment; but -several of his brother officers were present as spectators, and all -these wore the tight blue surtout, buttoned to the throat, with the -shoulder-scales, adopted by the Prussians before Waterloo; and they -wore through their left skirt a sword of the same straight and spring -shell-hilted fashion, used in the British service at Fontenoy and -Culloden, and retained by the Prussians still. The morning was chill, -and above the gray wreaths of mists enveloping the plain rose, on one -side, the red brick towers and green coppered spires of St. Michael, -St. Nicolai, and other churches. Opposite were the pointed roofs of -Altona, and many a tall poplar tree. Volhonski, being brave, polite, -and scrupulous in all his transactions, was naturally exasperated on -finding himself in this dangerous and unsought-for predicament, after -being so grossly and unwarrantably insulted on the preceding night. He -was pale, but assumed a smiling expression, as if he thought it as -good a joke as any one else to be paraded thus at daybreak, when we -quitted our hackney droski at the corner of the great cemetery and -traversed the field, luckily reaching the appointed spot the same -moment as our antagonists.</p> - -<p class="normal">We gravely saluted each other. While I was examining and preparing the -pistols, Volhonski gave me a sealed letter, saying, quite calmly, "I -have but one relation in the world--my little sister Valérie, now at -St. Petersburg. See," he added, giving me the miniature of a beautiful -young girl, golden-haired and dark-eyed; "if I am butchered by this -beer-bloated Teuton, you will write to her, enclosing this miniature, -my letter, and all my rings."</p> - -<p class="normal">I pressed his hand in silence, and handed our pistols for inspection -to the other second, a captain, named Leopold Döpke, of the Thuringian -Infantry.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Now, Herr Graf, we fight till one, at least, is killed," said -Schwartz, grimly.</p> - -<p class="normal">Volhonski bowed in assent.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Be quick, gentlemen," said the German officers; "already the rising -sun is gilding the vane of St. Michael's."</p> - -<p class="normal">Volhonski glanced at it earnestly, and his fine dark eyes clouded for -a moment. Perhaps he was thinking of his sister, or of how and where -he might be lying when the sun's rays were lower down that lofty brick -spire, which is a hundred feet higher than the cross of St. Paul's in -London. In the German fashion a circle was drawn upon the greensward, -on which the diamond dew of a lovely summer morning glittered. -Volhonski and Schwartz were placed within that circle, from which they -were not permitted to retire; neither were they to fire until the -signal was given.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mein Herren," said Captain Döpke, who seemed to think no more of the -affair than if it had been a pigeon match, "when I give the signal by -throwing up my glove and uttering the word you may fire at discretion, -or as soon as you have your aim, and at what distance you please; but -it must be <i>within</i> the circumference of this ring. The first who -steps beyond it falls by my hand, as a violation of the laws of the -duel."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Be quick," growled Schwartz; "for the night watch in St. Michael's -tower have telescopes, and the Burgher Guard are already under arms at -the Holstein Thor."</p> - -<p class="normal">Twelve paces apart within that deadly ring stood Volhonski and -Schwartz, facing each other. The former wore a black surtout buttoned -up to the throat; the latter his uniform and spike helmet. He untied -and cast aside his silver gorget, lest it might afford a mark for his -adversary's pistol. His face was flushed with cruelty, triumph, and -the lust of blood, that came from past successful duels. Volhonski -looked calm; but his eyes and heart were glowing with hatred and a -longing for a just revenge.</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>Fire!</i>" cried Captain Döpke, as if commanding a platoon, and tossing -up his pipe-clayed glove.</p> - -<p class="normal">Both pistols exploded at the same instant, and Schwartz uttered a -cruel and insulting laugh as Volhonski wheeled round and staggered -wildly; his left arm was broken by a ball.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Fresh pistols!" cried Schwartz.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is not this enough for honour?" said I, starting forward. "No--stand -back!" exclaimed Captain Döpke.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ach Gott! Herr Englander, your turn will come next," thundered -Schwartz, as we gave them other pistols and proceeded deliberately to -reload the first brace, yet warm after being discharged.</p> - -<p class="normal">No word of command was expected now; both duellists aimed steadily. -Schwartz fired first and a terrible curse, hoarse and guttural, -escaped him, as his ball whistled harmlessly past the left ear of -Volhonski, whose face was now ghastly with pain, rage, and hatred. -Drawing nearer and nearer, till the muzzle of his pistol was barely -two feet from the forehead of Schwartz, he gave a grim and terrible -smile for a moment. We were rooted to the spot; no one stirred; no one -spoke, or seemed to breathe; and just as a cold perspiration flowed in -beadlike drops over the face of the merciless Schwartz; it seemed to -vanish with his spike helmet in smoke, as Volhonski fired and--blew -his brains out! We sprang into the droski, and I felt as if a terrible -crime had been committed when we drove at full speed across the -neutral ground, called the Hamburgerburg, which lies between the city -and the river gate of Altona, along a street of low taverns and -dancing-rooms; and there, when past the sentinels in Danish uniform, -the Lion of Denmark and the red-striped sentry boxes indicated that we -were safe within the frontier of Holstein. So intense were our -feelings <i>then</i>, that the few short fleeting moments crowded into that -short compass of time seemed as an age, so full were they of fierce, -exciting, and revolting thoughts; but these were past and gone; and -<i>now</i>, as I recalled this merciless episode, times there were when I -felt in my heart that I could freely risk my life in the same fashion -to kill Guilfoyle, even as Volhonski killed the remorseless German -bully Schwartz.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_25" href="#div1Ref_25">CHAPTER XXV.--SURPRISES.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Supposing her to have left Walcot Park, as her letter informed me, I -rode in that direction no more; and though I knew the family address -in London, I could neither write in exculpation of myself nor procure -leave to follow her. All furloughs were now forbidden or withdrawn, as -the new detachments for the East expected hourly the order to depart. -Thus I passed my days pretty much as one may do those which precede or -follow a funeral. I performed all my military duties, went to mess, -rose and retired to bed, mechanically, my mind occupied by one -thought--the anxious longing to do something by which to clear myself -and regain Estelle; and feeling in Winchester Barracks somewhat as -Ixion might have felt on his fabled wheel, or the son of Clymene on -his rock; and so I writhed under the false position in which another's -art and malice had placed me; writhed aimlessly and fruitlessly, save -that, although tied up by my promise of secrecy to Estelle, I had -written a full and candid detail of the whole affair to Sir Madoc, and -entreated his good offices for me. Vainly did Price, little Tom -Clavell (the 19th depôt had come in), Raymond Mostyn of the Rifles, -and other friends say, when noticing my preoccupation, "Come, old -fellow, rouse yourself; don't mope. Are you game for pool to-day?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pool with a recently-broken arm!" I would reply.</p> - -<p class="normal">"True--I forgot. Well, let us take Mostyn's drag to Southampton -to-morrow--it is Sunday, no drill going--cross to the Isle of Wight, -dine at the hotel, and with our field-glasses--the binoculars--see the -girls bathing at Freshwater."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't approve of gentlemen overlooking ladies bathing."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What the deuce do you approve of?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Being let alone, Price; as the girls say to you, I suspect."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not always--not always, old fellow," replied Hugh, with a very -self-satisfied smile, as he caressed and curled his fair moustache.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nor the married ones either," added Mostyn, a tall showy officer in a -braided green patrol jacket; "for when you were in North Wales, -Hardinge, our friend Price got into a precious mess with a selfish old -sposo, who thought he should keep his pretty wife all to himself, or -at least from flirting with a redcoat."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Perhaps he was less irritated by the rifle green."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come with me into the city," urged Clavell; "the Dean's lady gives a -kettledrum before mess, and I can take a friend."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Parish scandal, cathedral-town gossip, coffee, ices, and Italian -confectionery. Thanks, Tom, no."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have met some very pretty girls there," retorted Clavell, "and it -is great fun to lean over their chairs and see them look up at one -over their fans shyly, half-laughing at, and half-approving of, the -balderdash poured into their ears."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A sensible way of winning favour and spending time."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I vote for the Isle of Wight," continued Clavell; "I saw la belle -Cressingham taking a header there the other day in splendid style. -Only fancy that high-born creature taking a regular header!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>Who</i> did you say?" said I, turning so suddenly that little Tom was -startled, and let the glass drop from his eye.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lady Estelle Cressingham; you remember her of course. She had on a -most becoming bathing-costume; I could make that out with my glass -from the cliffs."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Clavell, she is in London," said I, coldly; "and moreover is unlikely -to indulge in headers, as she can't swim."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I know better, excuse me," said Mostyn, who, I knew, had dined but -lately at Walcot Park; "she told me that she had been recently -bathing, and had studied at the Ecole de Natation on the Quai d'Orsay -in Paris."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is more than she ever told me," thought I, as my mind reverted to -our terrible adventure. I became silent and perplexed, and covertly -looked with rather sad envy on the handsome and unthinking Mostyn, who -had enjoyed the pleasure of seeing and talking to Estelle since I had -done so.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is difficult," says David Hume, "for a man to speak long of -himself without vanity; therefore I will be <i>short;</i>" and having much -to narrate, I feel compelled to follow the example of the Scottish -historian, for events now came thick and fast.</p> - -<p class="normal">I had barely got rid of my well-meaning comrades, and was relapsing -into gloomy reverie in my little room, when I heard voices, and heavy -footsteps ascending the wooden stair that led thereto. Some one was -laughing, and talking to Evans in Welsh; till the latter threw open -the door, and, with a military salute, ushered in Sir Madoc Lloyd, -looking just as I had seen him last, save that the moors had embrowned -him, in his riding-coat, white-corded breeches, and yellow-topped -boots, and whip in hand, for his horse was in the barrack yard.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Welcome, Sir Madoc.--That will do, Evans; be at hand when I ring.--So -kind of you, this; so like you!" I exclaimed.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not at all, not at all, Harry. So these are your quarters? Plain and -undecorated, certainly; boots, bottles, boxes, a coal-scuttle--her -Majesty's property by the look of it--a sword and camp-bed; humble -splendour for the suitor of an earl's daughter, and the rival of a -rich viscount. Ah, you sly dog, you devilish sly dog!" he added, as he -seated himself on the edge of the table, winked portentously, and -poked me under the small ribs with the shank of his hunting-whip, "I -suspected that something of this kind would follow that aquatic -excursion of yours; and Winifred says she always knew of it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Winifred--Miss Lloyd!" said I, nervously.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why didn't you speak to <i>me</i>, and consult with me, about the matter -when at Craigaderyn? I am certain that I should have made all square -with the Countess. Egad, Harry, I will back you to any amount, for the -sake of those that are dead and gone," he added, shaking my hand -warmly, while his eyes glistened under the shaggy dark brows that in -hue contrasted so strongly with the whiteness of his silky hair.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You got my letter, Sir Madoc?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, and I am here in consequence. It cut short my shooting, though."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am so sorry--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Tush; no apologies. The season opened gloriously; but I missed you -sorely, Harry, when tramping alone over turnip fields, through miles -of beans and yellow stubble, though I had some jolly days of it down -in South Wales. Lady Naseby--</p> - -<p class="normal">"She knows nothing of the secret engagement?" said I, hurriedly and -anxiously.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nothing as yet."</p> - -<p class="normal">"As yet! Must she be told?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of course; but I shall make all that right, by-and-by. She believes -now in the real character of her attaché, Mr. Guilfoyle, who intruded -himself among us, and who has disappeared. Your perfect innocence has -been proved alike to her and her daughter, and now you may win at a -canter. The photo of you in the locket was abstracted from Winifred's -album, and has <i>her</i> name written on the back of it. You are to ride -over with me to Walcot Park, where I have left Winifred, as she -refused flatly to come to Winchester--why, I know not. She will afford -you an opportunity of slipping the ring again on your fair one's -finger, and doing anything else that may suggest itself at such a -time--you comprehend, eh? Winny bluntly asked Lady Naseby's permission -to invite you, as you were so soon to leave England."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The dear girl! God bless her!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"So say I. Lady Naseby said at first that though you had been -maligned, there had also been a <i>contretemps</i> of which even her French -maid was cognisant; that she hated all <i>contretemps</i> and so forth; but -Winny--you know how sweet the girl is, and how irresistible--carried -her point, so you spend this evening there. Tell Evans to have your -nag ready within the hour. That fellow is not forgetting his -mother-tongue among the Sassenachs. He comes from our namesake's -place, <i>Dolwrheiddiog</i>, 'the meadow of the salmon.' I know it well."</p> - -<p class="normal">"If I could but meet Guilfoyle--" I was beginning.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Forget him. I cannot comprehend how he found such favour in the sight -of Lady Naseby; but when I called him a thoroughbred rascal, she -quietly fanned herself, and fondling her beastly little cur said, 'My -dear Sir Madoc, this teaches us how careful we ought to be in choosing -our acquaintance, and how little we really know as to the true -character, the inner life and habits of our nearest friends. But our -mutual legal adviser Mr. Sharpus always spoke of Mr. Guilfoyle as a -man of the greatest probity, and of excellent means.' 'Probably,' said -I; 'but I never liked that fellow Sharpus; he always looked like a man -who has done something of which he is ashamed, and that is not the -usual expression of a legal face.'"</p> - -<p class="normal">So poor Winifred Lloyd had been my chief good angel; yet <i>she</i> was the -last whom I should have chosen as ambassadress in a love affair of -mine. She was a volunteer in the matter, and a most friendly one to -boot. Were this a novel, and not "an owre true tale," I think I should -have loved Winny; for "how comes it," asks a writer, "that the heroes -of novels seem to have in general a bad taste by their choice of -wives? The unsuccessful lady is the one we should have preferred. -Rebecca is infinitely more calculated to interest than Rowena."</p> - -<p class="normal">My heart was brimming with joy, and with gratitude to Sir Madoc and -his elder daughter; the cloud that overhung me had been exhaled in -sunshine, and all again was happiness. I was about to pour forth my -thanks to my good old friend, whose beaming and rubicund face was as -bright as it could be with pleasure, when there came a sharp single -knock on the door of my room.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come in!" said I, mechanically.</p> - -<p class="normal">My visitor was the sergeant-major of the dépôt battalion, a tall thin -old fellow who had burned powder at Burmah and Cabul, and who -instantly raised his hand to his forage-cap, saying,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Beg pardon, sir; the adjutant's compliments--the route has just come -for your draft of the Royal Welsh, and all the others, for the East."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is this certain!" asked Sir Madoc, hurriedly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Quite, sir; it will be in orders this evening. They all embark -to-morrow at midday."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where?" asked I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"At Southampton, as usual. The first bugle will sound after <i>réveil</i> -to-morrow."</p> - -<p class="normal">The door closed on my formal visitor, who left me a little bewildered -by this sudden sequel to the visit of Sir Madoc, who wrung my hand -warmly and said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Heaven bless and protect you, Harry! I feel for you like a son of my -own going forth in this most useless war. And so we are actually to -lose you, and so soon, too!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"But only for a little time, I hope, Sir Madoc," said I, cheerfully, -thinking more of my early meeting with Estelle than the long -separation the morrow must inevitably bring about. I ordered Evans to -pack up and prepare everything, to leave my P.P.C. cards with a few -persons I named; and avoiding Price, Clavell, Mostyn, and others, rode -with Sir Madoc towards Walcot Park, as my mind somehow foreboded, amid -all my joy and excitement, for what I feared would be the <i>last</i> time.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_26" href="#div1Ref_26">CHAPTER XXVI.--WITHOUT PURCHASE.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Close to, and yet quietly secluded from, the mighty tide of busy -humanity that daily surges to and fro between the Bank and the Mansion -House, all up Cheapside and Cornhill, in a small dark court off the -latter, was the office of Messrs. Sharpus and Juggles, solicitors. The -brick edifice towered to the height of many stories; a score of names -appeared on each side of the doorway in large letters; and many long -dark passages and intricate stairs led to the two dingy rooms where -those human spiders sat and spun the webs and meshes of the law. Their -dens had a damp and mouldy odour; no ray from heaven ever fell into -them, but a cold gray reflected light came from the white encaustic -tiles, with which the opposite wall of the court was faced for that -purpose; and of that borrowed light even the lower room, where their -half-starved clerks worked into the still hours of the night--a -veritable cave of Trophonius, if one might judge by their sad, seedy, -and dejected appearance--was deprived from its situation; and in all -these courts and chambers gas was burned daily in those terrible -seasons when the London fogs assume somewhat the solidity and hue of -pea-soup. Mr. Sharpus sat in his private room, surrounded by boxes of -wood or japanned tin and ticketed dockets of papers, that were mouldy -and dirty--as their contents too probably were--while fly-blown -prospectuses, plans, and advertisements of lands, houses, and -messuages for sale, and so forth, covered the discoloured walls.</p> - -<p class="normal">Juggles, his partner, was a suave, slimy, and meekly-mannered man, -"with the eye of a serpent and the voice of a dove;" but our present -business is with the former, who was a thin round-shouldered -individual, with a cold keen face, an impending forehead, sunken dark -gray eyes, the expression of which varied between cunning and -solemnity, pride, vulgar assurance, and occasionally restlessness. -Shrewd of head and stony of heart, he was not quite the kind of man at -whose mercy one would wish to be. He had a hard-worked and sometimes -worried aspect; but now an abject white fear, with an unmistakably -hunted expression, came over his face, when one of the clerks from the -lower den ushered in, without much ceremony, Mr. Guilfoyle, who had in -his hand a sporting paper, which he was reading as he entered.</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>You</i> here again?" exclaimed Sharpus, laying down his pen, and -carefully closing the door.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, by Jove, again!" replied Guilfoyle, with barely a nod, and -seating himself with his hat on.</p> - -<p class="normal">"So soon!" groaned Sharpus; and reseating himself, he eyed, with an -expression of haggard hate, Guilfoyle, who continued to read from the -paper hurriedly, excitedly, and half aloud, some report of a -steeplechase.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The Devil--threw his rider--remounted; at the next fence Raglan took -the lead, followed by Fairy and Beauty, and Beau, the Devil lying -next; last fence but one taken by the quintette almost simultaneously, -when Raglan, Beauty, and Beau came away together, the first-named -winning a very fine race by half a length--Beauty being third, and -close upon Beau, but Fairy was nowhere. D--nation! there is a pot of -money gone, or not won, which amounts to the same thing in the end!" -and crushing up the paper, he threw it on the writing-table of -Sharpus.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Wanting more money?" said the latter, in a hollow voice.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Precisely so; out at the elbows--in low water--phrase it as you will. -I have sold even my horse at last," replied the other, folding his -arms, and regarding the lawyer mockingly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And the ring given you by--by the King of Bavaria?" said Sharpus, -with a sickly smile.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I retain but a paste imitation of that remarkable brilliant; and that -I may present you as a mark of my regard and esteem."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I thought you had made something by a mercantile transaction, as you -phrased it, when last on the Continent?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"So I did; 'the mercantile transaction' being nothing less than -breaking the bank at Homburg, by steadily and successfully backing the -red, and sending home all those who came for wool most decidedly -<i>shorn</i>."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You should have saved some of those ill-gotten gains for future -contingencies," said Sharpus.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How much easier it is to advise and to speculate than to act with -care and decision!" sneered Guilfoyle.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I pity your poor wife," said the lawyer, sincerely enough.</p> - -<p class="normal">"She has no documentary proof that she is such," replied Guilfoyle, -angrily. "Pshaw! what is pity? an emotion that is often at war with -reason and with sense, too; for a handsome face or a well-turned ankle -may make us pity the most undeserving object."</p> - -<p class="normal">The lawyer sighed, and at that moment sincerely pitied himself; for it -had chanced that, in earlier years, an intimacy with Guilfoyle led to -the latter discovering that which gave him such absolute power as to -reduce him--Sharpus--to be his very slave. This was nothing less than -the <i>forgery</i> of a bill in the name of Guilfoyle; who, before -relinquishing the privilege of prosecution, on retiring the document, -had obtained a complete holograph confession of the act, which he now -retained as a wrench for money, and held over the head of Sharpus, -thereby compelling him to act as he pleased. After a minute's silence, -during which the two men had been surveying each other, the one with -hate and fear, the other with malignant triumph, Guilfoyle said, "I -did Lady Naseby, as you know, a service at Berlin, when at very low -water; being seen with her won me credit, which I failed not to turn -to advantage. I followed her and her daughter through all Germany--at -Ems, Gerolstein, Baden, and then to Wales, where I was in clover at -Craigaderyn. I was a fool to fly my hawks at game so high as the -peerage; and I feel sure it was that beast of a fellow Hardinge, of -the Royal Welsh, who blew the gaff upon me, and prevented me from -entering stakes, as I intended to do, for one of the daughters of that -horse-and-cow-breeding old Welsh baronet; and they are, bar one, the -handsomest girls in England."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And that one?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is Lady Estelle Cressingham."</p> - -<p class="normal">Even the ghastly lawyer smiled at his profound assurance.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Have you no remorse when you think of Miss Franklin?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No more than you have, when you have sucked a client dry, and leave -him to die in the streets," replied Guilfoyle, with his strange dry -mocking laugh; "remorse is the word for a fool--the unpunished crime, -I have read somewhere, is never regretted. Men mourn the consequences, -but never the sin or a crime itself. As for Hardinge, d--n him!" he -added, grinding his teeth; "I thought to put a spoke in his wheel, by -passing off Georgette as his wife, but Taffy came to his aid, and the -true story was told; and yet, do you know, there were times when I -played my cards exceedingly well with the Cressinghams. Besides, you -always represented me to be a man of fortune."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have invariably done so," groaned Sharpus.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And have stumped out pretty well to maintain the story, while hinting -of--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Coal-mines in Labuan, shares in others in Mexico, and all manner of -things, to account for the sums wrung from me--from my wife and -children. But, God help me, I can do no more!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bah! what do they or you want with that villa at Hampstead? But you -are a good fellow, Sharpus; and, thanks to your assistance, I worked -the oracle pretty well at Walcot Park for Mr. Henry Hardinge."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Against him, you mean?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of course; but, unluckily, our story wouldn't stand testing."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Could you expect it to do so?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"But I put a hitch in his gallop there, anyhow. By Jove, I was a great -fool not to make love to the old woman, instead of her daughter."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Meaning Lady Naseby?" said Sharpus, with surprise.</p> - -<p class="normal">"So Burke and Debrett name her. She is just at that age--twice her -daughter's--when the soft sex become remarkably soft indeed, and apt -to make fools of themselves."</p> - -<p class="normal">"She would indeed have been one had she listened to you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thanks, old tape-and-parchment; I did not come here for a character, -but to show you the state of my cash-book."</p> - -<p class="normal">Again the lawyer groaned, and Guilfoyle laughed louder than ever. -Delight to have a lawyer under his heel rendered him merciless; but -even a worm will turn, so Sharpus said sternly, "How have you lived -since the last remittance--extortion?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Call it as you will," replied the other, putting his glass in his -eye, and smilingly switching his leg with his cane; "I have lived as -most men do who live by their wits, and the follies, or it may be the -<i>crimes</i>--O, you wince!--of others; meeting debts and emergencies as -they come, content with the peace or action of the present, and never -regretting the past, or fearing the future! With the help of an ace, -king, and queen, when my betting-book or a stroke of billiards failed -me, and with your great kindness, my dear old Sharpus, I have, till -now, always kept my funds far above zero."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your life is a great sham--a very labyrinth of deceit!" exclaimed the -lawyer, furiously.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And yours, friend Sharpus?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is spent in slaving for my family, and endeavouring to atone for, or -to buy the concealment of, one great error--the error that made -you--ay, men such as you--my master!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Guilfoyle laughed heartily, and said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"I require 600<i>l</i>. instantly!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not a penny--not another penny!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We shall see. Sharpus, though a bad lot, I know that you are not the -utter rogue that most of your profession are--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Leave my office, scoundrel, or I shall kill you!" said Sharpus, in a -low voice of concentrated passion, as he became deadly pale, and a -dangerous white gleam came into his stealthy restless eyes, which -seemed to search in vain for a weapon.</p> - -<p class="normal">"If I leave your office it will be for the purpose of laying before -the nearest police-magistrate a certain document you may remember to -have written; and I am so loth to kill the goose that lays my golden -eggs," continued the other, in his quiet mocking tone. "But remember, -Mr. Sharpus," he added, in a lofty and bullying manner, as he grasped -the shoulder of the listener, "that the forgery of a document is not -deemed an error in legal practice here, as in Spain or Scotland, -but a <i>crime</i> meriting penal servitude; and shall I tell you what that -means--you, who have now wealth, ease, position, a handsome wife, and -several children? You will be torn from all these for ever, as a -felon!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Drops of perspiration poured over the poor wretch's temples as his -tormentor continued: "Think of being in Millbank, beside the muggy -Thames, and the years that would find you there, a bondsman and a -slave, who for the least misconduct would be lashed like a faulty -hound, and ironed in a blackhole. Hard work, aggravated by the -consciousness of infamy; clad in the gray livery of disgrace; your -name effaced from the Law List, and for it substituted the letter or -number on your prison garb!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"For God's sake, hush!" implored the wretched lawyer, in terror, lest -the speaker's voice might reach the room of Juggles, or the ears of -the clerks below; "hush, and I shall do all you wish."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come--that is acting like a reasonable being."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Will 200<i>l</i>. do you--this time?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Two hundred devils! I want 600<i>l</i>. at least."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I shall be ruined with my partner; he must know ere long where all -these moneys have gone."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That is nothing to me; tell him if you dare."</p> - -<p class="normal">Sharpus burst into tears, and said, piteously,</p> - -<p class="normal">"At present I can give but 200<i>l</i>.--the rest shall follow."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, you can do something else for me, and I may trouble you no -more."</p> - -<p class="normal">"How?" asked Sharpus, eagerly and incredulously, with a dreary and -bewildered air.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Get me some employment, where there is little to do; I hate -brain-work."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Employment!--where? with whom?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Civil or military, I care not which."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Military! impossible--too old. Stay, I have it!" exclaimed the -lawyer; "you have been in the Militia, I know."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Three months in the Royal Diddlesex."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What say you to an appointment in Lord Aberdeen's new Land Transport -Corps? It will be easily got--a handsome uniform and great <i>éclat</i>, -though the officers are nearly all taken from the ranks. The duties -are simple enough--conveyance of baggage, and carrying off the wounded -<i>after</i> an action."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not to bury the dead?--ugly work that."</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, no."</p> - -<p class="normal">"By Jove, I'll go!" he exclaimed, as Sharpus filled up the cheque.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sharpus strove in vain to conceal his delight.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have of course done a few things which would hardly bear the 'light -of the world's bull's-eye' turned upon them, but the Horse Guards know -nothing of them. You have noble and powerful clients, and can do this -easily for me. Bravo!" And they actually shook hands over the matter, -as if over a bargain.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sharpus lost no time in using the necessary influence, and--though not -exactly a cadet after Mr. Cardwell's heart--this commission was -decidedly one without purchase; and on the strength of having been -once in the boasted constitutional force, "Henry Hawkesby Guilfoyle, -gent., <i>late</i> Lieutenant, Diddlesex Militia," appeared in the -<i>Gazette</i> ere long, as one of twenty-four comets of the long-since -disbanded Land Transport Corps, for service in the Crimea.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_27" href="#div1Ref_27">CHAPTER XXVII.--RECONCILIATION.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">As Sir Madoc and I proceeded along the to me well-known Whitchurch -road, I asked myself mentally, could it really be that I was again -looking with farewell eyes on all this fair English scenery, and -perhaps for the last time; for our departure to the seat of war, where -we were to be face to face and foot to foot with an enemy, was very -different from other voyages to a peaceful British colony? Now, varied -by autumnal tints, brown, golden, or orange, I saw the long and shady -lane where Estelle had last seen me, and near it the low churchyard -wall, where our evil genius had rent away the locket from his wife. -Sir Madoc's eyes were turned chiefly to the tawny stubble-fields, and -he sighed with regret, as he saw the brown coveys of partridges -whirring up, that he had not his patent breech-loader in lieu of a -hunting-whip.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Estelle--Estelle!" thought I. "How many temptations in mighty -London, and in the country, too--in Brighton, that other London by the -sea, and wherever she may go--will beset one so noble and so -beautiful--allurements that may teach her to forget and banish from -her memory the poor Fusileer subaltern, to whom she seems as the -centre of the universe!"</p> - -<p class="normal">The evening was a lovely one, and the scenery was beautiful. Chestnuts -and oaks were, at every turn of the way we rode, forming natural -arches and avenues, beyond which were pleasant glimpses of quaint -cottages, whose walls and roofs were nearly hidden by masses of roses -and honeysuckle; short square village spires and ivy-covered -parsonages; widespreading pastures, where the sleepy cattle browsed -amid purple clover and golden cowslips, with the glory of the ruddy -sunset falling aslant upon them, while the ambient air was full of -earthy and leafy fragrance; for many fallen leaves, the earliest spoil -of autumn, lay with bursting cones in cool and sunless dells, or by -the wayside, where the fern and foxglove mingled under the old thick -hedgerows. And so I was looking, as I have said, on all this peaceful -scene, perhaps for the <i>last</i> time; yet there was no sadness in my -heart, for the revulsion or change of feeling, from the gloom and -tumultuous anxiety of many, many days past, and even of that morning, -was great indeed to me, especially when we cantered through the -handsome iron gates of Walcot Park, the once suspicious keeper of -which gave me an unmistakable glance of recognition. I felt like one -in a dream as I threw my reins to a servant, and was led upstairs by -Sir Madoc.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where is Lady Estelle?" he asked of another valet, to whom I gave my -sword in the hall.</p> - -<p class="normal">"In the front drawing-room."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Alone?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I think so, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"All right, Harry!"</p> - -<p class="normal">But he suddenly affected to remember that he had something to say to -his own groom, and as he turned back, I was ushered into the long and -stately apartment. I had a dreamy sense of being amid many buhl tables -and glass shades, much drapery, and several mirrors that reproduced -everything, amid which I saw Estelle advancing cordially to meet me. -She had a bright smile in her face, and held out both her hands; but I -could scarcely speak.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Estelle," I whispered, "joy--joy! It is indeed joy, to see you once -again!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then you quite forgive me, dearest Harry?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Forgive you? O Estelle!" I exclaimed, in a low and passionate voice, -as she turned up her adorable face to meet mine half-way.</p> - -<p class="normal">I knew from past experience that caresses from her meant much more -than they did from most women; for Estelle, though proud and reticent, -and apparently cold and calm, was reluctant to give and to accept -them; so now I felt all the truth and sincerity of this reunion. "A -lovers' quarrel is but love renewed;" we, however, had not quarrelled, -but been cruelly wrenched asunder by the art and cunning of another.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Are you on duty, Mr. Hardinge?" said a voice; and from a window where -she had been sitting, quite unseen and unnoticed by me, Winny Lloyd -came forth, looking, as I thought, a little paler and sadder than when -I had seen her last at Craigaderyn Court.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What makes you think I am on duty, dear Miss Lloyd?--or rather let me -say, my dear, dear good friend and guardian angel Winifred, to whose -intercession I owe all the happiness of a time like this," said I, -pressing her hand caressingly between both of mine.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Because you are in undress uniform, of course," said she, almost -petulantly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I can wear no other costume now; we bid good-bye to mufti, the sable -livery of civilisation, to-morrow."</p> - -<p class="normal">"How?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We march at daybreak."</p> - -<p class="normal">"For the East?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; for the East, at last."</p> - -<p class="normal">"So soon?" exclaimed both girls at once.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The order came within an hour or little more, when Sir Madoc was with -me."</p> - -<p class="normal">The eyes of the girls were full of sudden tears, and they gazed on me -with an honest emotion of tenderness and real interest, that, -considering the rare beauty and high position of both, were alike -flattering and bewildering; and I felt that this was one of those -moments when, to be a soldier or a sailor on the eve of departure to -the seat of war, was indeed worth something.</p> - -<p class="normal">And Winifred, the impulsive Welsh fairy, so fresh-hearted, so simple -in her motives, and sweet in her disposition, uttered something very -like a little sob in her slender white throat, adding apologetically -to Estelle, "We have been such old friends, Harry Hardinge and I."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You never wrote to me, Estelle," said I, softly, yet reproachfully.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I dared not; you remember our arrangement," she replied, with -hesitation.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nor was I invited here, like Mostyn, Clavell, and others; thus I had -no opportunity of--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I had no control, darling Harry, over mamma's dinner-list: I could -but suggest to mamma; and then there was that terrible story. But here -comes mamma!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And turning, I found myself face to face with the tall, handsome, -and stately Countess of Naseby, whom--nathless her chilling manner -and lofty presence--I hoped yet to hail as a very creditable -mother-in-law.</p> - -<p class="normal">I was on the eve of departure, to go where glory waited me. I might -cross her exclusive path no more; so my Lady Naseby seemed quite -disposed to bury the hatchet, and received me with that which was--for -her--unusual kindness, and an <i>enmpressement</i> which made the eyes of -her daughter to sparkle with pleasure. A late dinner made a sad hole -in the time I had hoped to spend with Estelle; yet I had the pleasure -of sitting beside her--a pleasure that was clouded by the conviction -that my presence would soon be imperatively requisite at the barracks, -where so much was to be done ere morning, and that I should be -compelled to abridge even this, my farewell visit, to pleasant Walcot -Park, and all who were there. Fortunately, Lady Naseby went quietly to -sleep in her boudoir after dinner, with Tiny on her lap; Sir Madoc -obligingly went into the library to write; and Winifred suggested a -turn in the conservatory, where for a little time she adroitly left -Estelle and me together.</p> - -<p class="normal">There is no utility in dwelling on how we sealed our reconciliation -and renewed our troth, when once more I placed my ring upon her -finger; or in rehearsing the soft and tender words--perhaps (O -heaven!) the "twaddle"--we spoke for an indescribable few minutes, and -how each said to the other that our apparent separation had been as a -living death. But now all that misery was over; we loved each other -more than ever, and the grave alone could part us finally; words, the -prompting of the heart, came readily, till our emotions became too -deep, and she agreed that I should write to her boldly, "as ere long -mamma, through good Sir Madoc, must know all." And so we leaned -against a great flower-stand, almost hidden by gorgeous azaleas, our -hands tightly clasped in each other, eyes looking fondly into eyes, -and feeling that the depth of our tenderness formed for us one of -those few-and-far-between portions of existence when time seems to -stand still, when silence is made eloquent by the beatings of the -heart, when we almost forget we are mortal, and feel as if earth had -become heaven. From this species of happy trance we were roughly -roused by the crash of a great majolica vase containing a giant -cactus, and a voice exclaiming querulously,</p> - -<p class="normal">"God bless my soul!--Pardon me; I did not know any one was here."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The devil you didn't!" was my blunt rejoinder.</p> - -<p class="normal">And there, with gold glasses on his long aristocratic nose, and in his -richly-tasselled <i>robe de chamber</i> and embroidered slippers, stood my -Lord Pottersleigh, whom I knew not to be at Walcot Park, as he had -been nursing his gout upstairs; and now I wished his lordship in a -hotter climate than the quarters of the 2nd West India for his -unwelcome interruption. Of what he had seen or what he thought I cared -not a rush, so far as <i>he</i> was concerned; and a few minutes later saw -me, after a hurried farewell to all, with the pleasure of remembered -kisses on my lips, and my heart full of mingled joy and sadness, -triumph and prayerful hope for the perilous future, flying at full -gallop back to Winchester.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_28" href="#div1Ref_28">CHAPTER XXVIII.--ON BOARD THE URGENT.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">"Weather bit your chain, and cast loose the topsails!" cried a hoarse -voice, rousing me from a reverie into which I had fallen--one of those -waking-dreams in which I am so apt to indulge.</p> - -<p class="normal">By this time the quarter-boats had been hoisted in, and the anchor got -up "reluctant from its oozy cave"--no slight matter in the great -troopship Urgent--when there was a stiff breeze even under the lee of -the Isle of Wight; and as her head pitched into the sea, the water -rushed through the hawse-holes, and the chain cables surged in such a -fashion as almost to start the windlass-barrel when it revolved -beneath the strength of many sturdy arms, and tough, though bending, -handspikes. Leaning over the taffrail, and looking at the dim outline -of the coast of Hampshire from St. Helen's Roads, to which two tugs -had brought us from the great tidal dock at Southampton to a temporary -anchorage, and seeing Portsmouth, with its spires and shipping steeped -in a golden evening haze, I recalled the events of the past bustling -day--could it be that only <i>a day</i> had passed?--since "the first bugle -sounded after <i>réveil</i>," and all our detachments, five in number, -destined for the army of the East had paraded amid the gray light of -dawn, in the barrack-square at Winchester, in heavy marching order, -with packs, blankets, and kettles, and marched thence, their caps and -muskets decked with laurel-leaves, the drums and fifes playing many a -patriotic air, accompanied by the cheers of our comrades, and the -tears of the girls who were left behind us--the girls "who doat upon -the military."</p> - -<p class="normal">Yet so had we marched--the drafts of the Scots Royals and Kentish -Buffs, the two oldest regiments in the world, leading the way; then -came those of the 7th Fusileers, my own of the Royal Welsh, the 46th, -and the wild boys of the 88th bringing up the rear--to the railway -station, when they were packed in carriages, eight file to each -compartment--packed like sheep for the slaughter, yet all were singing -merrily, their spirits high though their purses were empty, the last -of their "clearings" having gone in the grog-shop and canteen over -night; and there by that railway platform many saw the last they were -to see, in this life, at least, of those they loved best on earth--the -wife of her husband, the parent of the child--separated all, with the -sound of the fatal drum in their ears, and the sadness of remembered -kisses on their lips, or tear-wetted cheeks, till, with a shriek and a -snort, the iron horse swept them away on his rapid journey. I caught -the enthusiasm of the brave fellows around me. It was impossible not -to do so; and yet, amid it all, there was the recollection of a -woman's face, so pale and beautiful, as I had seen it last (when -bidding a brief and formal farewell at the drawing-room door of Walcot -Park), with her mouth half open, her sorrowful eyes full of -earnestness, and the tender under lip clenched by the teeth above it, -as if to restrain emotion and repress tears--the face of Estelle -Cressingham.</p> - -<p class="normal">My heart and thoughts were with her, while mechanically I had, as in -duty bound, to see to the most prosaic wants of my detachment, -consisting of one officer (Hugh Price), two sergeants, and forty rank -and file of the Royal Welsh. To the latter were issued their coarse -canvas fatigue-frocks. I had to see their muskets racked, their berths -allotted, the messes and watches formed, the ammunition secured, and -fifty other things required by her Majesty's regulations. All baggage -not required for the voyage was sent below; and we heartily quizzed -poor Price, whose bullock trunks were alleged to contain only cambric -handkerchiefs, odd tiny kids, variously-tinted locks of hair, and -faded ribbons. But strict orders were issued concerning smoking, as we -had gunpowder in the lower hold; and a number of four-wheeled -hospital-waggons for the Land Transport Corps, grimly suggestive, as -each vehicle was divided into four compartments, fitted to receive -four killed or wounded men, on commodious stretchers, with -under-carriages, canopies, and medicine-chests.</p> - -<p class="normal">Some of my brother officers were glad enough, glory apart, to be -leaving Jews and lawyers, "shent. per shent." and legal roguery, -behind them. One of the former tribe, having followed Raymond Mostyn -concerning a bill discounted at only sixty per cent., came alongside, -insisting that the balance should be taken half in cash, and half in a -"warranted Correggio," with some villainous wine for the voyage, and -some jewelry "for the girls at Malta;" but he was swamped in his boat -under the counter, when the first mate unceremoniously cast loose the -painter, and sent old Moses--"Mammon incarnate"--to leeward, shrieking -and cursing in rage and terror. So my short reverie was completely -broken now, as the great ship, with her deck crowded by soldiers in -forage-caps and gray greatcoats, swayed round, and our skipper, an old -man-o'-war lieutenant, from the poop continued his orders with that -promptitude and tone of authority which are best learned under the -long pennant.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Make sail on her, my lads, with a will!" he cried. And the watch -rushed to the coils at the belaying-pins, aided by the soldiers told -off for deck duty. "Cast loose the topsails! hoist away, and sheet -home!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bear a hand, forecastle, there! cat and fish the anchor!" added the -first mate; and in a few minutes, with a heavy head sea--the same sea -where, by that shore now lessening in the distance, Danish Canute -taught his servile Saxon courtiers the lesson of humility--we bore -past Sandown Bay, with its old square fort of bluff King Harry's day -upon its level beach: and Portsmouth's spires and Selsey Point sunk -fast upon our lee, while our bugles were announcing sunset. And then -something of sadness and silence seemed to steal over the once noisy -groups, as they gathered by the starboard side, when we cleared the -Isle of Wight. When the yards were squared, more sail was made on the -Urgent; and before the north wind we stood down the Channel, and ere -the same bugles sounded again, for all save the deck-watches to -turn-in below, we were standing well over to the coast of France. The -white cliffs had melted into the world of waters, and we had bidden a -long good-night to dear old England. The twinkling light on St. -Catharine's Point lingered long at the horizon, and was watched by -many an eye, as Mostyn, Clavell, and I, with others, cigar in mouth, -walked to and fro on the poop, surmising what awaited us in the land -for which we were bound.</p> - -<p class="normal">As yet the land forces of the Allies had not come to blows with the -Russians; but the imperial fort and mole at Odessa (works constructed -at vast cost and care by Catharine and Alexander) had been destroyed, -and all their ships of war lying there had been burnt or sunk by the -Anglo-French fleet. The Russians had taken and burned our war-steamer -the Tiger, and cruelly bombarded Sinope. The Turks had driven them -across the Danube, and defeated them at Giurgevo, but had lost a -subsequent battle in Armenia. Napier had bombarded and destroyed the -forts upon the Aland Isles in the Baltic; and we on board the Urgent, -with many other successive drafts departing eastward, from every -British port south of Aberdeen, were full of ardour and of hope to be -in time to share in the landing that was to be made at <i>last</i> upon the -coast of the enemy, though no one knew <i>where</i>.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_29" href="#div1Ref_29">CHAPTER XXIX.--"ICH DIEN."</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">And now, while the stately troopship Urgent is passing under the guns -of old Gib, and ploughing the waters of the Mediterranean, I may -explain that which may have been a puzzle to the non-military -reader--the meaning of "the Red Dragon." In the breasts of all who -serve or have served in the army there exists an <i>esprit de corps</i>, a -filial attachment, to all that belongs to their regiment, to its past -history, its conduct in peace and war, its badges won in battle--those -honours which are the heraldry of the service, and connected with the -glory of the empire--in its officers and soldiers of all ranks. This -sentiment is more peculiar to some regiments, perhaps, than others, -especially those which, like the Scottish and Irish, have distinct -nationalities to represent and uphold; but to none is it more -applicable than the old Fusileers, whose motto is at the head of this -chapter. By <i>esprit de corps</i> the good and brave are excited to fresh -feats of valour, and the evil-disposed are frequently deterred from -risking disgrace by a secret consciousness of the duty it inculcates, -and what is required of them by their comrades; for, like a Highland -clan, a regiment has its own peculiar annals and traditions. It is a -community, a family, a brotherhood, and should be the soldier's happy -though movable home, while a regiment great in history "bears so far a -resemblance to the immortal gods as to be old in power and glory, yet -to have always the freshness of youth."</p> - -<p class="normal">So it is and has been with mine, which was first embodied at Ludlow, -in Shropshire, in 1689, from thirteen companies of soldiers, raised -specially in Wales, under Lord Herbert, of Cherbury, whose cousin, -Colonel Charles Herbert, M.P. for Montgomery, was killed, at the head -of the Fusileers, in his buff coat and cuirass, at the battle of -Aughrim, after having led them through a bog up to the waist belt, -under a terrible fire from the Irish. His successor, the valiant Toby -Purcell, who had been major of the regiment, greatly distinguished -himself at the battle of the Boyne, and the huge spurs, worn by him on -that memorable occasion, are <i>still</i> preserved in the corps, being -always in possession of the senior major for the time being.</p> - -<p class="normal">To attempt a memoir of the regiment would be to compile a history of -all the wars of Britain since the Revolution. Suffice it to say, that -on every field, in the wars of the Spanish Succession, those of -Flanders (where "our army swore so terribly"), at Minden, in America, -Egypt, and the ever-glorious Peninsula, the Welsh Fusileers have been -in the van of honour, and, like their Scottish comrades, might well -term themselves "second to none."</p> - -<p class="normal">Among the last shots fired <i>after</i> Waterloo were those discharged by -the Fusileers, when, on the 24th of June, six days subsequent to the -battle, they entered Cambrai by the old breach near the Port du Paris. -As it is common for corps from mountainous districts to have some pet -animal--as the Highlanders often have a stag--as a fond symbol to -remind them of home and country, the regiment has the privilege of -passing in review preceded by a goat with gilded horns, adorned with -ringlets of flowers, and a plate inscribed with its badge.</p> - -<p class="normal">No record is preserved of the actual loss of the regiment at Bunker's -Hill, though the assertion of Cooper, the American novelist, that on -that bloody day "the Welsh Fusileers had not a man left to saddle -their goat," which went into action with them, would seem to be -corroborated by the fact that only <i>five</i> grenadiers escaped; while -Mrs. Adams, in a letter to her husband, the future President of the -United States, says of that battle, "our enemies were cut down like -grass; <i>and but one officer of all the Welsh Fusileers remains to tell -his story</i>." When old Billy, the favourite goat of the 23rd, departed -this life in peace in the Caribbean Isles, whence he had accompanied -the regiment from Canada in 1844, her Majesty the Queen, on learning -that he was greatly lamented by the soldiers, sent to them, from -Windsor Park, a magnificent pair of the pure Cashmerian breed, which -had been presented to her by the Shah of Persia. On every 1st of -March, on the anniversary of their tutelary patron--St. David--the -officers give a splendid entertainment; and when the cloth is removed, -and the leek duly eaten, the first toast is a bumper to the health of -the Prince of Wales; the memory of old Toby Purcell is not forgotten, -and, as the order has it, the band plays "'The noble Race of Shenkin,' -while a drum-boy mounted on the goat, which is richly caparisoned for -the occasion, is led thrice round the table by the drum-major."</p> - -<p class="normal">At Boston, in 1775, a goat somewhat resented this exhibition, by -breaking away from the mess-room, and rushing into the barracks with -all his trappings on. There are few battlefields honourable to Britain -where the Welsh Fusileers have not left their bones. The colours which -wave over their ranks show a goodly list of hard-won honours--"bloody -and hard-won honours," says a writer. "Arthur himself, Cadwallader, -Glendower, and many an ancient Cambrian chief, might in ghostly -form--if ghosts can grudge--envy their bold descendants the fame of -these modern exploits, and confess that the lance and the corselet, -the falchion and the mace, have done no greater deeds than those of -the firelock and the buff-belt, the bayonet and sixty rounds of -ball-cartridge." On their colours are the two badges of Edward the -Black Prince--the Rising Sun and the Red Dragon; "a dragon addorsed -gules, passant, on a mountain vert," as the heralds have it. This was -the ancient symbol of the Cambrian Principality, with the significant -motto, <i>Ich dien</i>, "I serve." And now, at the very time the Urgent was -entering the Mediterranean, the regiment was on its way, with others, -to win fresh laurels by the shores of the Black Sea; and with his -horns gaily gilded, and a handsome, regimental, silver plate clasped -on his forehead, Cameydd Llewellyn, whilom the caressed pet of the -gentle Winny Lloyd, was landing with them at Kalamita Bay, and the -hordes of Menschikoff were pouring forward from Sebastopol.<a name="div4Ref_02" href="#div4_02"><sup>[2]</sup></a></p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_30" href="#div1Ref_30">CHAPTER XXX.--NEWS OF BATTLE.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">We came in sight of Malta at daybreak on the 28th of September, and -about noon dropped our anchor in the Marsamuscetta, or quarantine -harbour, where all ships under the rank of a frigate must go. This -celebrated isle, the master-key of the Mediterranean, the link that -connects us with Egypt and India, was a new scene to me. Mostyn and -some others on board the Urgent had been quartered there before, and -while I was surveying the vast strength of its batteries of white -sandstone, with those apparently countless cannon, that peer through -the deep embrasures, or frown <i>en barbette</i> over the sea; the quaint -appearance of those streets of stairs, which Byron anathematised; the -singular architecture of the houses, so Moorish in style and aspect, -with heavy, overhanging balconies and flat roofs all connected, so -that the dwellers therein can make a common promenade of them; the -groups of picturesque, half-nude, and tawny Maltese; the monks and -clerical students in rusty black cloaks and triangular hats; the Greek -sailors, in short jackets and baggy blue breeches; the numbers of -scarlet uniforms, and those of the Chasseurs de Vincennes (for two -French three-deckers full of the latter had just come in); the naked -boys who dived for halfpence in the harbour, and jabbered a dialect -that was more Arabic than Italian--while surveying all this from the -poop, through my field-glass, Mostyn was pointing out to me the great -cathedral of St. John, some of the auberges of the knights, and -anticipating the pleasure of a fruit lunch in the Strada Reale, a -drive to Monte Benjemma, a dinner at Morell's, in the Strada Forni, a -cigar on the ramparts, and then dropping into the opera-house, which -was built by the Grand-master Manoel Vilhena, and where the best -singers from La Scala may be heard in the season; and Price of ours -was already soft and poetical in the ideas of faldettas of lace, black -eyes, short skirts, and taper ankles, and anticipating or suggesting -various soft things. While the soldiers clustered in the waist, as -thick as bees, the officers were all busy with their lorgnettes on the -poop, or in preparation for a run ashore, when the bells of Valetta -began to ring a merry peal, the ships in the harbour to show all their -colours, and a gun flashed redly from the massive granite ramparts of -St. Elmo, a place of enormous strength, having in its lower bastions a -sunk barrack, capable of holding two thousand infantry.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Another gun!" exclaimed little Tom Clavell, as a second cannon sent -its peal over the flat roofs, and another; "a salute, by Jove! What is -up--is this an anniversary?"</p> - -<p class="normal">It was <i>no</i> anniversary, however, and on the troopship coming to -anchor in the crowded and busy harbour, and the quarantine boat coming -on board, we soon learned what was "up;" the news spread like -lightning through the vessel, from lip to lip and ear to ear; the hum -grew into a roar, and ended in the soldiers and sailors giving three -hearty cheers, to which many responded from other ships, and from the -shore; while the bands of the Chasseurs de Vincennes, on board the -three-deckers, struck up the "Marseillaise."</p> - -<p class="normal">News had just come in that four days ago a battle had been fought by -Lord Raglan and Marshal St. Arnaud at a place called the Alma in Crim -Tartary; that the allied troops after terrible slaughter were -victorious, and the Russians were in full retreat. That evening a few -of us dined at the mess of the Buffs, a battalion of which was -quartered in the castle of St. Elmo. The officers occupied one of the -knights' palaces--the Auberge de Bavière--near that bastion where the -Scottish hero of Alexandria is lying in the grave that so becomes his -fate and character. This auberge is a handsome building overlooking -the blue sea, which almost washes its walls; and there we heard the -first hasty details of that glorious battle, the story of which filled -our hearts with regret and envy that we had not borne a share in it, -and which formed a source of terrible anxiety to the poor wives of -many officers who had left them behind at Malta, and who could only -see the fatal lists after their transmission to London. We heard the -brief story of that tremendous uphill charge made by the Light -Division--the Welsh Fusileers, the 19th, 33rd, 88th, and other -regiments--supported by the Guards and Highlanders; that the 33rd -alone had <i>nineteen</i> reliefs shot under their two colours, which were -perforated by sixty-five bullet-holes. We heard how Colonel Chesters -of ours, and eight of his officers, fell dead at the same moment, and -that Charley Gwynne, Phil Caradoc, and many more were wounded.</p> - -<p class="normal">"On, on, my gallant 23rd!" were the last words of Chesters, as he fell -from his horse.</p> - -<p class="normal">We heard how two of our boy ensigns, Buller and little Anstruther of -Balcaskie, were shot dead with the colours in their hands; how -Connelly, Wynne, young Radcliffe, and many more, all fell sword in -hand; how the regiment had fought like tigers, and that Sir George -Brown, after his horse was shot under him, led them on foot, with his -hat in his hand, crying, "Hurrah for the Royal Welsh! Come on, my -boys!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And on they went, till Private Evans planted the Red Dragon on the -great redoubt, where nine hundred men were lying dead. The heights -were taken by a rush, and the first gun captured from the Russians was -by Major Bell of ours, who brought it out of the field. A passionate -glow of triumph and exultation filled my heart; I felt proud of our -army, but of my regiment in particular, for the brave fellows of the -Buffs were loud in their commendations of the 23rd; proud that I wore -the same uniform and the same badges in which so many had perished -with honour. None but a soldier, perhaps, can feel or understand all -this, or that <i>esprit de corps</i> already referred to, and which sums up -love of country, kindred, pride of self and profession, in one. But -anon came the chilling and mortifying thought that I enjoyed only -reflected honours. Why was I now seated amid the splendour and luxury -of a mess in the Auberge de Bavière? Why was I not yonder, where so -many had won glory or a grave? How provoking was the chance, the mere -chain of military contingencies, by which I had lost all participation -in that great battle, the first fought in Europe since Waterloo--this -Alma, that was now in all men's mouths, and in the heart of many a -wife and mother, fought and won while we had been sailing on the sea, -and while the unconscious folks at home throughout the British Isles -were going about their peaceful avocations; when thousands of men and -women, parents and wives, whose tenderest thoughts were with our -gallant little host, were ignorant that those they loved best on earth -perhaps were already cold, mutilated, and buried in hasty graves -beneath its surface, in a place before unheard of, or by them unknown.</p> - -<p class="normal">So great was the slaughter in my own regiment, that though I was only -a lieutenant, there seemed to be every prospect of my winning ere long -the huge spurs won by Toby Purcell at the Boyne Water; but my turn of -sharp service was coming; for, though I could not foresee it all then, -Inkermann was yet to be fought, the Quarries to be contested, the -Mamelon and Redan to be stormed, and Sebastopol itself had yet to -fall. Had I shared in that battle by the Alma, I might have perished, -and been lost to Estelle for ever; leaving her, perhaps, to be wooed -and won by another, when I was dead and forgotten like the last year's -snow. This reflection cooled my ardour a little; for love made me -selfish, or disposed to be more economical of my person, after my -enthusiasm and the fumes of the Buffs' champagne passed away; and now -from Malta I wrote the first letter I had ever addressed to her, full -of what the reader may imagine, and sent with it a suite of those -delicate and beautiful gold filigree ornaments, for the manufacture of -which the Maltese jewellers are so famed; and when I sealed my packet -at the Clarendon in the Strada San Paola, I sighed while reflecting -that I could receive no answer to it, with assurances of her love and -sorrow, until after I had been face to face with those same Muscovites -whom my comrades had hurled from the heights of the Alma.</p> - -<p class="normal">Three days after this intelligence arrived we quitted Malta, and had a -fair and rapid run for the Dardanelles. The first morning found us, -with many a consort full of troops, skirting, under easy sail, the -barren-looking isle of Cerigo--of old, the fabled abode of the goddess -of love, now the Botany Bay of the Ionians; its picturesque old town -and fort encircled by a chain of bare, brown, and rugged mountains, -whose peaks the rising sun was tipping with fire. As if to remind us -that we were near the land of Minerva, and of the curious Ascalaphus,</p> - -<p class="center" style="text-indent:20%; font-size:90%"> -"Begat in Stygian shades<br> -On Orphnè, famed among Avernal maids,"</p> - -<p class="continue">many little dusky owls perched on the yards and booms, where they -permitted themselves to be caught. Ere long the Isthmus of Corinth -came in sight--that long tract of rock connecting the bleak-looking -Morea with the Grecian continent, and uniting two chains of lofty -mountains, the classical names of which recalled the days of our -school-boy tasks; thence on to Candia, the hills of which rose so pale -and white from the deep indigo blue of the sea, that they seemed as if -sheeted with the snow of an early winter; but when we drew nearer the -shore, the land-wind wafted towards us the aromatic odour that arises -from the rank luxuriance of the vast quantity of flowers and shrubs -which there grow wild, and form food for the wild goats and hares.</p> - -<p class="normal">Every hour produced some new, or rather ancient, object of interest as -we ploughed the classic waters of the Ægean Sea, and no man among us, -who had read and knew the past glories, traditions, and poetry of the -shores we looked on, could hear uttered without deep interest the -names of those isles and bays--that on yonder plain, as we skirted the -mainland of Asia, stood the Troy of Priam; that yonder hill towering -in the background, a purple cone against a golden sky, was Mount Ida -capped with snow, Scamander flowing at its foot; Ida, where Paris, the -princely shepherd, adjudged the prize of beauty to Venus, and whence -the assembled gods beheld the Trojan strife; for every rock and peak -we looked on was full of the memories of ancient days, and of that -"bright land of battle and of song," which Byron loved with all a -poet's enthusiasm. Dusk was closing as we entered the Hellespont; the -castles of Europe and Asia were, however, distinctly visible, and we -could see the red lights that shone in the Turkish fort, and the -windmills whirling on the Sigean promontory, as we glided, with -squared yards, before a fair and steady breeze, into those famous -straits which Mohammed IV. fortified to secure his city and fleets -against the fiery energy of the Venetians; and now, as I do not mean -"to talk guide-book," our next chapter will find us in the land of -strife and toil, of battle and the pest; in that Crim Tartary which, -to so many among us, was to prove the land of death and doom.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_31" href="#div1Ref_31">CHAPTER XXXI.-UNDER CANVAS.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The 4th of October found me with my regiment (my detachment "handed -over," and responsibility, so far as it was concerned, past) before -Sebastopol, which our army had now environed, on <i>one</i> side at least. -And now I was face to face with the Russians at last, and war had -become a terrible reality. Tents had been landed, and all the troops -were fairly under canvas. Our camp was strengthened by a chain of -intrenchments dug all round it, and connected with those of the -French, which extended to the sea on their left, while our right lay -towards the valley of Inkermann, at the entrance of which, on a chalky -cliff, 190 feet high at its greatest elevation, rose the city of -Sebastopol, with all its lofty white mansions, that ran in parallel -streets up the steep acclivity. In memory I can see it now, as I used -to see it then, from the trenches, the advanced rifle-pits, or through -the triangular door of my tent, with all its green-domed churches, its -great round frowning batteries, forts Alexander and Constantine and -others, perforated for cannon, tier above tier; and far inland -apparently, for a distance after even the suburbs had ceased, were -seen the tall slender masts of the numerous shipping that had taken -shelter in the far recesses of the harbour, nearly to the mouth of the -Tchernaya, from our fleets (which now commanded all the Black Sea). -And a pretty sight they formed in a sunny day, when all their white -canvas was hanging idly on the yards to dry.</p> - -<p class="normal">Nearer the mouth of the great harbour were the enormous dark hulls of -the line-of-battle ships--the Three Godheads of 120 guns, the -Silistria of 84, the Paris and Constantine, 120 each, and other -vessels of that splendid fleet which was soon after sunk to bar our -entrance. Daily the Russians threw shot and shell at us, while we -worked hard to get under cover. The sound of those missiles was -strange and exciting at first to the ears of the uninitiated; but -after a time the terrible novelty of it passed away, or was heard with -indifference; and with indifference, too, even those who had not been -at Alma learned to look on the killed and wounded, who were daily and -nightly borne from the trenches to the rear, the latter to be under -the care of the toil-worn surgeons, and the former to lie for a time -in the dead-tents. The siege-train was long in arriving. "War tries -the strength of the military framework," says Napier. "It is in peace -the framework itself must be formed, otherwise barbarians would be the -leading soldiers of the world. <i>A perfect army can only be made by -civil institutions</i>." Yet with us such was the state of the -"framework," by the results of a beggarly system of political economy, -that when war was declared--a war after forty years of peace--our -arsenals had not a sufficient quantity of shells for the first -battering-train, and the fuses issued had been in store rotting and -decaying since the days of Toulouse and Waterloo. This was but one -among the many instances of gross mismanagement which characterised -many arrangements of the expedition. And taking advantage of the -delays, nightly the Russians, with marvellous rapidity, were throwing -up additional batteries of enormous strength, mounted with cannon -taken from the six line-of-battle ships which, by a desperate -resolve of Prince Menschikoff's, were ultimately sunk across the -harbour-mouth, where we could see the sea-birds, scared by the adverse -cannonade, perching at times on their masts and royal-yards, which -long remained visible above the water. Occasionally our war-steamers -came near, and then their crews amused themselves by throwing shells -into the town. Far up the inlet lay a Russian man-of-war, with a -cannon ingeniously slung in her rigging. The shot from this, as they -could slue it in any direction, greatly annoyed our sappers, and -killed many of them, before one well-directed ball silenced it for -ever.</p> - -<p class="normal">Two thousand seamen with their officers, forming the Naval Brigade of -gallant memory, were landed from our fleet, bringing with them a -magnificent battering-train of ship-guns of the largest calibre; and -these hardy and active fellows lent most efficient aid in dragging -their ordnance and the stores over the rough and hilly ground that -lies between Balaclava and the city. They were all in exuberant -spirits at the prospect of a protracted "spree" ashore; for as such -they viewed the circumstance of their forming a part of the combined -forces destined to take Sebastopol, and they amused and astonished the -redcoats by their freaks and pranks under fire, and their ready -alacrity, jollity, and muscular strength. Guns of enormous weight and -long range were fast being brought into position; the trenches were -"pushed" with vigour; and now the work of a regular siege--the -consecutive history of which forms no part of my narrative--was begun -in stern earnest when the batteries opened on the 16th October. Our -armies were placed in a semicircle, commanding the southern side of -this great fortified city and arsenal of the Black Sea. They were in -full possession of the heights which overlook it, and were most -favourably posted for the usual operations of a siege, which would -never have been necessary had it been entered after Alma was won. A -deep and beautiful ravine, intersecting the elevated ground, extended -from the harbour of the doomed city to Balaclava, dividing the area of -the allied camp into two portions. The French, I have said, were on -the left, and we held the right.</p> - -<p class="normal">On the very day our batteries opened, I received the notification of -my appointment to a company. This rapid promotion was consequent to -the sad casualties of the Alma; and two days after, when the -trench-guards were relieved, and I came off duty before daybreak, I -crept back to my tent cold, miserable, and weary, to find my man -Evans--brother of the gallant private of the same name who planted the -Red Dragon on the great redoubt--busy preparing a breakfast for -<i>three</i>, with the information that Caradoc and Gwynne, who had been on -board the Hydaspes, an hospital ship for officers, had rejoined the -night before, and had added their repast to mine for the sake of -society. But food and other condiments were already scarce in the -camp, and tidings that they had come from Balaclava with their -haversacks <i>full</i>, caused more than one hungry fellow to visit my -humble abode, the canvas walls of which flapped drearily in the wind, -that came sweeping up the valley of Inkermann. Without undressing, as -the morning was almost in, I threw myself upon my camp-bed, which -served me in lieu of a sofa, and strove, with the aid of a plaid, a -railway-rug, and blanket, to get some warmth into my limbs, after the -chill of a night spent in the damp trenches; while Evans, poor fellow, -was doing his best to boil our green and ill-ground coffee in a -camp-kettle on a fire made of half-dried drift-wood, outside my tent, -which was pitched in a line with thousands of others, on the slope of -the hill that overlooked the valley where the Tchernaya flows. Though -the season was considerably advanced now, the days were hot, but the -nights were correspondingly chill; and at times a white dense fog came -rolling up from the Euxine, rendering still greater the discomfort of -a bell-tent, as it penetrated every crevice, and rendered everything -therein--one's bedding and wearing apparel, even that which was packed -in overlands and bullock-trunks--damp, while sugar, salt, and bread -became quite moist. Luckily, somehow it did not seem to affect our -ammunition. Then there came high winds, which blew every night, -whistling over the hill-tops, singing amongst the tent-ropes, and -bellowing down the valley of Inkermann.</p> - -<p class="normal">These blasts sometimes cast the tent-ropes loose by uprooting the -pegs, causing fears lest the pole--whereon hung the revolvers, swords, -pans, and kettles of the occupants--might snap, and compel them, when -hoping to enjoy a comfortable night's rest off duty, to come forth -shivering from bed to grope for the loosened pegs amid the muddy soil -or wet grass, and by the aid of a stone or a stray shot--if the mallet -was not forthcoming--to secure them once more. This might be varied by -a shower of rain, which sputtered in your face as you lay abed, till -the canvas became thoroughly wetted, and so tightened. Anon it might -shrink; then the ropes would strain, and unless you were in time to -relax them, down might come the whole domicile in a wet mass on those -who were within it. Now and then a random shot fired from Sebastopol, -or the whistling shell, with a sound like t'wit-t'wit-t'wit, -describing a fiery arc as it soared athwart the midnight sky on its -errand of destruction, varied the silence and darkness of the hour. -The clink of shovels and pickaxes came ever and anon from the -trenches, where the miners and working-parties were pushing their sap -towards the city. The sentinels walked their weary round, or stood -still, each on his post shivering, it might be, in the passing blast, -but looking fixedly and steadily towards the enemy. The rest slept -soundly after their day of toil and danger, watching, starvation, and -misery; forgetful of the Russian watchfires that burned in the -distance, heedless of the perils of the coming day, and of <i>where</i> the -coming night might find them. And so the night would pass, till the -morning bugle sounded; then the stir and bustle began, and there was -no longer rest for any, from the general of the day down to the goat -of the Welsh Fusileers; the cooking, and cleaning of arms, parade of -reliefs for outpost and the trenches, proceeded; but these without -sound of trumpet or drum, as men detailed for such duties do -everything silently; neither do their sentries take any complimentary -notice of officers passing near their posts. Ere long a thousand white -puffs, spirting up from the broken ground between us and the city, -would indicate the rifle-pits, where the skirmishers lay <i>en perdue</i>, -taking quiet pot-shots at each other from behind stones, caper-bushes, -sand-bags, and sap-rollers; and shimmering through haze and smoke--the -blue smoke of the "villainous saltpetre"--rose the city itself, with -its green spires and domes, white mansions, and bristling batteries.</p> - -<p class="normal">And so I saw it through the tent-door as the morning drew on, and the -golden sunshine began to stream down the long valley of Inkermann, -"the city of caverns;" while our foragers were on the alert, and -Turkish horses laden with hay, and strings of low four-wheeled arabas, -driven by Tartars in fur skull-caps, brown jackets, and loose white -trousers, would vary the many costumes of the camp. And the morning -sunshine fell on other things which were less lively,--the long mounds -of fresh earth where the dead lay, many of them covered with white -lime dust to insure speedy decay. And then began that daily cannonade -against the city--the cannonade that was to last till we <i>alone</i> -expended more than one hundred thousand barrels of gunpowder, and -heaven alone knows how many tons of shot and shell.</p> - -<p class="normal">Often I lay in that tent, with the roar of the guns in my ears, -pondering over the comfort of stone walls, of English sea-coal fires, -and oftener still of her who was so far away, she so nobly born and -rich, surrounded, as I knew she must always be, by all that wealth and -luxury, rank and station could confer; and I thought longingly, "O for -aunt Margaret's mirror, or Surrey's magic glass, or for the far-seeing -telescope of the nursery tale, that I might see her once again!" -Estelle's promises of writing to me had not been fulfilled as yet, or -her answers to my loving and earnest letters from Malta and the Crimea -had miscarried.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Welcome, Caradoc! welcome, Gwynne!" cried I, springing off the -camp-bed as my two friends entered the tent, of which I was the sole -occupant, as my lieutenant was on board the Hydaspes ill with fever, -and my ensign, a poor boy fresh from Westminster school, was under one -of the horrid mounds in the shot-strewn valley.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Harry, old fellow, how are you?--how goes it? Missed the Alma, eh?" -said they cheerfully, as we warmly shook hands.</p> - -<p class="normal">"All the better, perhaps," said Mostyn, who now joined us, while Price -and Clavell soon after dropped in also; so two had to sit on the -camp-bed, while the rest squatted on chests or buckets, and as for a -table, we never missed it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you were hit, Caradoc?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"In the calf of the left leg, Harry, prodded by the rusty bayonet of a -fellow who lay wounded on the ground, and who continued to fire -<i>after</i> us when we had left him in the rear, till one of ours gave him -the <i>coup de grâce</i> with the butt-end of his musket. Would you believe -it?--the goat went up hill with us, and I couldn't, even while the -bullets fell like hail about us, resist caressing it, for the sake of -the donor."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Poor Winny Lloyd!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why poor?" asked Phil.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, pretty, then. I saw her just before I left Southampton."</p> - -<p class="normal">"This goat seems to be the peculiar care of Caradoc," said Gwynne; "he -rivals its keeper, little Dicky Roll the drummer, in his anxiety to -procure leaves, and buds of spurge, birch, and bird-cherry for it."</p> - -<p class="normal">Phil Caradoc laughed, and muttered something about being "fond of -animals;" but a soft expression was in his handsome brown eyes, and I -knew he was thinking of sweet Winifred Lloyd, of his bootless suit, -and the pleasant woods of Craigaderyn.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you, Charley, were hit, too? Saw your name in the <i>Gazette</i>," -said I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A ball right through the left fore-arm, clean as a whistle; but it is -almost well."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And now to breakfast. Look sharp, Evans, there's a good fellow! A -morning walk from Balaclava to the front gives one an appetite," said -I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, that one may not often have, like us, the wherewith to satisfy. -An appetite is the most troublesome thing one can have in the vicinity -of Sebastopol," replied Phil.</p> - -<p class="normal">A strange-looking group we were when contrasted with our appearance -when last we met.</p> - -<p class="normal">Probably not one of us had enjoyed the luxury of a complete wash for a -week, and the use of the razor having long been relinquished, our -beards rivalled that of Carneydd Llewellyn in size, if not in hue. The -scarlet uniforms, with lace and wings<a name="div4Ref_03" href="#div4_03"><sup>[3]</sup></a> of gold, in which we had -landed, we had marched and fought and slept in for weeks, were purple, -covered with discolorations, and patched with any stuff that came to -hand. Our trousers had turned from Oxford gray to something of a red -hue, with Crimean mud. Each of us had a revolver in his sash (which we -then wore round the waist), and a canvas haversack or well-worn -courier-bag slung over his shoulder, to contain whatever he might pick -up, beg, borrow, or buy (some were less particular) in the shape of -biscuits, eggs, fowls, or potatoes. Caradoc carried a dead duck by the -legs as he entered, and Charley Gwynne had a loaf of Russian bread -hung by a cord over his left shoulder, like a pilgrim at La Scala -Santa; while Price had actually secured a lump of cheese from the wife -of a Tartar, a fair one, with whom the universal lover had found -favour when foraging in the lovely Baidar Valley. We were already too -miserable to laugh at each other's appearance, and our tatters had -ceased to be a matter of novelty. If such was the condition of our -officers, that of the privates was fully worse; and thanks to our -wretched commissariat and ambulance arrangements, the splendid -<i>physique</i> of our men had begun to disappear; but their pluck was -undying as ever.</p> - -<p class="normal">On this morning we six were to have a breakfast such as rarely fell to -our lot in the Crimea; for Evans, my Welsh factotum and <i>fidus -Achates</i>, was a clever fellow, and speedily had prepared for us, at a -fire improvised under the shelter of a rock, a large kettle of -steaming coffee, which, sans milk, we drank from tin canteens, -tumblers, or anything suitable, and Gwynne's loaf was shared -fraternally among us, together with a brace of fowls found by him in a -Tartar cottage. "Lineal descendants of the cock that crew to Mahomet, -no doubt," said he; "and now, thanks to Evans, there they are, brown, -savoury, appetising, gizzard under one wing, liver under the -other--done to a turn, and on an old ramrod."</p> - -<p class="normal">And while discussing them, the events of the siege were also -discussed, as coolly as we were wont to do the most ordinary field -man[oe]uvres at home.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The deuce!" said I, "how the breeze comes under the wall of this -wretched tent!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Don't abuse the tent, Harry," said Caradoc; "I am thankful to find -myself in one, after being on board the Hydaspes. It must be a -veritable luxury to be able to sleep, even on a camp-bed and alone, -after being in a hospital, with one sufferer on your right, another on -your left, dead or dying, groaning and in agony. May God kindly keep -us all from the 'bloody hospital of Scutari,' after all I have heard -of it!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You were with us last night in the trenches, Mostyn?" said I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, putting Gwynne's Hythe theories into practice from a rifle pit. -I am certain that I potted at least three of the Ruskies as coolly as -ever I did grouse in Scotland. All squeamishness has left me now, -though I could not help shuddering when first I saw a man's heels in -the air, after firing at him. You will never guess what happened on -our left. A stout vivandière of the 3rd Zouaves, while in the act of -giving me a <i>petit verre</i> from her little keg, was taken--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"By the enemy?" exclaimed Price.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not at all--with the pains of maternity; and actually while the shot -and shell were flying over our heads."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And what were the trench casualties?" asked Gwynne.</p> - -<p class="normal">"About a hundred and twenty of all ranks, killed, wounded, and -missing. A piece more of the fowl--thanks."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A guardsman was killed last night, I have heard," said Hugh Price.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; poor Evelyn of the Coldstreams; he was first blinded by dust and -earth blown into his eyes by the ricochetting of a 36-pound shot, and -as he was groping about in an exposed place between the gabions, he -fell close by me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Wounded?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mortally--hit in the head; he' was just able to whisper some woman's -name, and then expired. He purchased all his steps up to the majority, -so there's a pot of money gone. I think I could enjoy a quiet weed -now; but, Clavell, there was surely an awful shindy in your quarter -last night?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," replied Tom, who, since he had been under fire, seemed to have -grown an inch taller; "a sortie."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A sortie?" said two or three, laughing.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, something deuced like it," said Tom, testily, as he stroked the -place where his moustache was to be. "I was asleep between the gabions -about twelve at night, when all at once a terrible uproar awoke me. -'Stand to your arms, men, stand to your arms!' cried our adjutant; -'the Russians are scouring the trenches!' I sprang up, and tumbled -against a bulky brute in a spike-helmet and long coat, with a smoking -revolver in his hand, just as a sergeant of ours shot him. It was all -confusion--I can tell you nothing about it; but we will see it all in -the <i>Times</i> by and by. 'Sound for the reserves!' cried one. 'By God, -they have taken the second parallel!' cried another. 'Fire!' 'Don't -fire yet!' But our recruits began to blaze away at random. The -Russians, however, fell back; it might have been only a reconnoitring -party; but, anyhow, they have levanted with the major of the 93rd -Highlanders."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The deuce they have!" we exclaimed. And this episode of the major's -capture was to have more interest for me than I could then foresee.</p> - -<p class="normal">"These cigars, five in number," continued Tom, "were given to me by a -poor dying Zouave, who had lost his way and fallen among us. I gave -him a mouthful of brandy from my canteen, after which he said, Take -these, monsieur l'officier; they are all I have in the world now, and, -as you smoke them, think of poor Paul Ferrière of the 3rd Zouaves, -once a jolly student of the Ecole de Médecine, dying now, like a -beggar's dog!' he added, bitterly. 'Nay,' said I, 'like a brave -soldier.' 'Monsieur is right,' said he, with a smile. Our surgeons -could do nothing for him, and so he expired quite easily, while -watching his own blood gradually filling up a hole in the earth near -him!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, the Crimea, bad as it is," said Caradoc, as he prepared and lit -one of the Frenchman's cigars, "is better than serving in India, I -think; 'that union of well-born paupers,' as some fellow has it, 'a -penal servitude for those convicted of being younger sons.'"</p> - -<p class="normal">"By Jove, I can't agree with you," said Mostyn, who had served in -India, and was also a younger son; "but glory is a fine thing, no -doubt."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Glory be hanged!" said Gwynne, testily; "a little bit of it goes a -long way with me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"See, there go some of the Naval Brigade to have a little ball -practice with a big Lancaster!" cried Tom Clavell, starting to the -tent-door.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Getting another gun into position apparently," added Raymond Mostyn.</p> - -<p class="normal">As they spoke, a party of seamen, whiskered and bronzed, armed with -cutlasses and pistols, their officers with swords drawn, swept past -the tent-door at a swinging trot, all singing cheerily a forecastle -song, of which the monotonous burden seemed to be,</p> -<div class="poem1"> - -<p class="t2" style="text-indent:-2em"> -"O that I had her, <i>O</i> that I had her,<br> -Seated on my knee!</p> -<p class="t2" style="text-indent:-2em">O that I had her, <i>O</i> that I had her,<br> -A black girl though she be!"</p> -</div> - -<p class="continue">tallying on the while to the drag-ropes of a great Lancaster gun, -which they trundled up the slope, crushing stones, caper-bushes, and -everything under its enormous grinding wheels, till they got it into -position; and a loud ringing cheer, accompanied by a deep and sullen -boom, ere long announced that they had slued it round and sent one -more globe of iron to add to the hundreds that were daily hurled -against Sebastopol. On this occasion the fire of this especial -Lancaster gun was ordered to be directed against a bastion on the -extreme left of the city, where the officer in command, a man of -remarkable bravery, who had led several sorties against us, seemed to -work his cannon and direct their fire with uncommon skill; and it was -hoped that we should ere long dismount or disable them, and if -possible breach the place.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_32" href="#div1Ref_32">CHAPTER XXXII.--IN THE TRENCHES.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">It was while the infantry and Naval Brigade were still before -Sebastopol, toiling, trenching, and pounding with cannon and mortar at -all its southern side, we had our ardour fired, our enthusiasm -kindled, and our sorrow keenly excited by the tidings of that glorious -but terrible death ride, the charge of the six hundred cavalry at -Balaclava; and of how only one hundred and fifty came alive out of -that mouth of fire, the valley where rained "the red artillery"--the -13th Hussars were said to have brought only twelve men out of the -action, and the 17th Lancers twenty--and how nobly they were avenged -by our "heavies" under the gallant Scarlett; and of the stern stand -made against six thousand Russian horse by the "thin red line" of the -Sutherland Highlanders.</p> - -<p class="normal">On the day these tidings were circulated in the trenches by many who -had witnessed the events, we seemed to redouble our energies, and shot -and shell were poured with greater fury than ever on the city, while -sharper, nearer, and more deadly were the contests of man and man in -the rifle-pits between it and the trenches. Then followed the sortie -made by Menschikoff, supposing that most of the allied forces had been -drawn towards Balaclava--a movement met by the infantry and artillery -of the second division under Sir De Lacy Evans, and repulsed with a -slaughter which naturally added to the hatred on both sides; and -innumerable were the stories told, and authenticated, of the Russians -murdering our helpless wounded in cold blood. On the night of the 2nd -November I was again in the trenches opposite to the eastern flank of -Sebastopol, the whole regiment being on duty covering the batteries -and working-parties.</p> - -<p class="normal">The day passed as usual in exciting and desultory firing, the Russians -and our fellows watching each other like lynxes, and never missing an -opportunity for taking a quiet shot at each other. A strong battalion -of the former was in our front, lurking among some mounds and thick -<i>abattis</i>, formed of trees felled and pegged to the earth with their -branches towards us; and above the barrier and the broken ground that -lay between it and the advanced trench-ground, strewed with fragments -of rusty iron nails, broken bottles, and the other amiable contents of -exploded bombs, torn, rent, upheaved, or sunk into deep holes by the -explosion of mines and countermines, shells and rockets, we could see -their bearded visages, their flat caps and tall figures, cross-belted -and clad in long gray shapeless coats, as from time to time they -yelled and started up to take aim at some unwary Welsh Fusileer, -heedless that from some <i>other</i> point some comrade's bullet avenged -him, or anticipated his fate. To attempt a description of the trenches -to a non-military reader, in what Byron terms "engineering slang," -would be useless, perhaps; suffice it to say that we were pretty -secure from round shot, but never from shells, the trenches or zigzags -being dug fairly parallel to the opposing batteries, with a thick bank -of earth towards Sebastopol, a banquette for our men to mount on when -firing became necessary.</p> - -<p class="normal">Near us was a battery manned by our Royal Artillery--the guns being -run through rude portholes made in the earthen bank, with the addition -of sand-bags, baskets, and stuffed gabions, to protect the gunners. -All was in splendid order there: the breeching-guns ever ready for -action; the sponges, rammers, and handspikes lying beside the wheels; -the shot piled close by as tidily as if in Woolwich-yard; the carbines -of the men placed in racks against the gabions; the officers laughing -over an old <i>Punch</i>, or making sketches, varied by caricatures of the -Russians, their men sitting close by in their greatcoats, smoking and -singing while awaiting orders, and listening with perfect indifference -to the casual dropping fire maintained by us against the enemy in the -abbatis or pits along our front, though almost every shot was the -knell of a human existence.</p> - -<p class="normal">Death and danger were now strangely familiar to us all, and we cared -as little for the <i>whish</i> of a round bullet or the sharp <i>ping</i> of the -Minie, while it cut the air, as for the deep hoarse booming of the -breaching-guns; it was the cry of "bomb!" from the look out men, that -usually made us start, and sprawl on our faces, or scamper away, for -shelter, to crouch with our heads stooped in our favourite or fancied -places of security among the gabions, till a soaring monster, with -death and mutilation in its womb, with its hoarse puffing that rose to -a whistle, concussed all the air by the crash of its explosion.</p> - -<p class="normal">Our men were all in their greatcoats, with their white belts outside; -and, save when a section or so started angrily to arms, as those -fellows in the abattis became more annoying, they sat quietly on the -ground or against the wall of the trench, smoking, chatting with -perfect equanimity, and occasionally taking a sip of rum or raki from -their canteens; for, after weeks and months of this kind of duty, -especially after the severity of the Crimean war set in, our older -soldiers seemed utterly indifferent as to whether they lived or died.</p> - -<p class="normal">All of them, even such boys as Tom Clavell, had been front to front -with death, again and again. Among ourselves, even, there was an -incessant scramble for food; hence in the expression of their -faces and eyes there was something hard, set, fierce, and -undefinable--half-wolfish at times, devil-may-care always; for in a -few weeks after the landing at Eupatoria, they had seen more and lived -longer than one can do in years upon years of a life of peace.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What do you see, Hugh, that you look so earnestly to the front?" I -asked of Price, who was lying on his breast with a rifle close beside -him, and his field-glass, to which his eyes were applied, wedged in a -cranny between two sand-bags.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A Russian devil has made a bolt out of the abattis into yonder hole -made by a shell."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And what of that?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am waiting to pot him, as he can't stay there long," replied Price, -usually the best of good-natured fellows, but now looking with a -tiger-like stare through the same lorgnette which he had used on many -a day at the Derby, and many a night at the opera; "there he comes," -he added. In a moment the Minie rifle, already sighted, was firmly at -the shoulder of Price, who fired; a mass like a gray bundle, with -hands and arms outspread, rolled over and over again on the ground, -and then lay still; at <i>another</i> time it might have seemed most -terribly still!</p> - -<p class="normal">"Potted, by Jove!" exclaimed Hugh, as he restored the rifle to -Sergeant Rhuddlan, and quietly resumed his cigar.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A jolly good shot, sir, at four hundred yards," added the -non-commissioned officer, as he proceeded to reload and cap.</p> - -<p class="normal">At that time the life of a Russian was deemed by us of no more account -than that of a hare or rabbit in the shooting season; but, if reckless -of the lives of others, it must be remembered that we were equally -reckless of our own; and, with all its horrors, war is not without -producing some of the gentler emotions. Thus, even on those weary, -exciting, and perilous days and nights in the trenches, under the -influence of <i>camaraderie</i>, of general danger, and the most common -chance of a sudden and terrible death, men grew communicative, and -while interchanging their canteens and tobacco-pouches they were apt -to speak of friends and relations that were far away: the old mother, -whose nightly prayers went up for the absent; the ailing sister, who -had died since war had been declared; the absent wife, left on the -shore at Southampton with a begging-pass to her own parish; the little -baby that had been born since the transport sailed; the old fireside, -where their place remained vacant, their figure but a shadowy -remembrance; the girls they had left behind them; their -disappointments in life; their sorrows and joys and hopes for the -future; the green lanes, the green fields, the pleasant and familiar -places they never more might see: and officers and privates talked of -such things in common; so true it is that</p> - -<p class="center" style="font-size:90%"> -"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."</p> - -<p class="normal">On the 3rd of November, Caradoc and I were sitting in a sheltered -corner, between the gabions, chatting on some of the themes I have -enumerated, when a little commotion was observable among our men, and -we saw the adjutant and the major--the worthy holder of Toby Purcell's -spurs, he who had carried off the first gun at Alma, B-- of ours, -and who, since Colonel Chesters was killed, had commanded the -regiment--coming directly towards us.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What the deuce is up?" said I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Their faces look important," added Caradoc.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sorry to disturb you; not that there is much pleasure here, -certainly," said the major, smiling; "but the adjutant tells me that -you, Hardinge, are the first officer for duty."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We are all on duty," replied I, laughing; "if we are not, I don't -know what duty is. Well, major, what is to be done?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are to convey a message from Lord Raglan into Sebastopol."</p> - -<p class="normal">"To Sebastopol?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, to that pleasant city by the sea," said the adjutant.</p> - -<p class="normal">"To Prince Menschikoff?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No," replied the major; "to the officer commanding the nearest post."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Under a flag of truce?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of course; it would be perilous work otherwise."</p> - -<p class="normal">"About what is the message?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"The capture of Major MacG--, of the 93rd, who was carried off by a -kind of sortie the other night, and who is supposed to have been -afterwards killed in cold blood."</p> - -<p class="normal">The seizure of the major of the Sutherland Highlanders, a brave old -fellow who had on his breast medals for Candahar, Afghanistan, and -Maharajapore, had created much interest in the army at this time, when -we so readily believed the Russians liable to commit atrocities on -wounded and prisoners.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lord Raglan wishes distinct information on the subject," added the -adjutant, after a pause.</p> - -<p class="normal">"All right, I am his man," said I, starting up and looking carefully -to the chambers and capping of my Colt, ere I replaced it in its -pouch; and knocking some dust and mud off my somewhat dilapidated -regimentals, added, "now for a drummer and a flag of truce."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are to go to the officer in command of that bastion on the -Russian left," said the major.</p> - -<p class="normal">"To that wasp of a fellow who is so active, and whose scoundrels have -killed so many of our wounded men, firing even on the burial parties?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"The same. You must be sharp, wary, and watchful."</p> - -<p class="normal">"His name?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, that you may perhaps learn, not that it matters much; even Lord -Raglan cannot know that; but, doubtless, it will be something like a -sneeze or two, ending in 'off' or 'iski.'"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Success, Harry!" cried Caradoc.</p> - -<p class="normal">A few minutes after this saw me issue from the trenches of the right -attack, attended by Dicky Roll, with his drum slung before him; in my -right hand I carried a Cossack lance, to which a white handkerchief of -the largest dimensions was attached to attract attention, as the -Russians were not particular to a shade as to what or whom they fired -on, and the cruel and infamous massacre of an English boat's crew at -Hango was fresh in the minds of us all; consequently I was not without -feeling a certain emotion of anxiety, mingled with ardour and joy at -the prospect of Estelle seeing my name in the despatches, as Dicky and -I now advanced into the broken and open ground that lay between our -parallel and the abattis, amid which I saw head after head appear, as -the white emblem I bore announced that <i>pro tem</i>, hostilities in that -quarter must cease, by the rules of war.</p> - -<p class="normal">Dicky Roll, who, poor little fellow, had been fraternally sharing his -breakfast and blanket with the goat, and did not seem happy in his -mind at our increasing proximity to "them Roosian hogres," as he -called them, beat a vigorous <i>chamade</i> on his drum, and I waved my -impromptu banner. I was glad when a Russian drum responded, as flags -of truce had been more than once fired upon, on the miserable plea -that communications under them were merely designed for the purpose of -gaining intelligence, of reconnoitring Sebastopol and its outposts. -Hence our progress was watched with the deepest interest by the whole -regiment and others, all of whom were now lining the banquette of the -parallels, or clustering at the embrasures and fascines of the -breaching batteries.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_33" href="#div1Ref_33">CHAPTER XXXIII.-THE FLAG OF TRUCE.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">In the rifle-pits many of our men lay dead or dying, and a few paces -beyond them brought me among Russians in the same pitiable condition. -One, who had been shot through the chest, lay on his back, half in and -half out of his lurking hole; his eyes were glazing, bubbles of blood -and froth were oozing through his thick black moustaches, which were -matted by the cartridges he had bitten. Another was shot through the -lungs, and his breath seemed to come with a wheezing sound through the -orifice.</p> - -<p class="normal">There, too, lay the luckless Russian "potted" by Hugh Price. He was -one of the imperial 26th, for that number was on his shoulder-straps. -On his breast were several copper medals. Others who were able, taking -advantage of the cessation of hostilities, were crawling away on their -hands or knees towards the town or trenches, in search of water, of -succour, and of some kind friend to bind their wounds; and encouraged -by the lull in the firing, the little birds were twittering about -those ghastly pits in search of biscuit-crumbs or other food.</p> - -<p class="normal">The ground was studded thickly with rusty fragments of exploded -shells, nails, bottles, grape and canister shot; other places were -furrowed up, or almost paved with half-buried cannon-balls of every -calibre; and here and there, in the crater made by a mine, lay a -forgotten corpse in sodden uniform, gray faced with red; and yet -singularly enough, amid these horrors, there were springing through -the fertile earth many aromatic shrubs, and a vast number of the -<i>colchicum autumnale</i>, a beautiful blue crocus-like flower, with which -the Crimea abounds.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Russian drum, hoarse, wooden, and ill-braced, again sounded, and -mine replied; then we saw an officer coming towards us from the -entanglements of the abattis, with his sword sheathed and waving a -white handkerchief. He was a tall grim-looking man, of what rank I -could not determine, as all the enemy's officers in the field, from -the general down to the last-joined praperchick, or ensign, wore long, -ungraceful greatcoats of brownish gray cloth, having simply facings -and shoulder-straps. He carried a wooden canteen and an old battered -telescope, worn crosswise by two leather straps, and had several -silver medals, won doubtless in battle against Schamyl in Circassia.</p> - -<p class="normal">It is a common belief in England that every Russian gentleman speaks -French; but though he may do so better than another foreigner--for he -who can pronounce Muscovite "words of ten or twelve consonants apiece" -may well speak anything--it is chiefly the language of the court and -of diplomacy; and in this instance, when, after saluting each other -profoundly, and eyeing each other with stern scrutiny, I addressed the -officer in the language of our allies, he replied in German, which I -knew very imperfectly.</p> - -<p class="normal">I made him understand, however, that my message was for the officer in -command of the left bastion.</p> - -<p class="normal">He replied, that to be taken into Sebastopol, or even to be led -nearer, required that the eyes of myself and the drummer should be -blindfolded, to which I assented; and he proceeded carefully to muffle -Dicky Roll and me in such a manner as to place us in utter darkness. -He then gave me his arm, I took the drummer by the hand, and in this -grotesque fashion, which excited some laughter in the trenches, the -trio proceeded, stumbling and awkwardly, towards the city.</p> - -<p class="normal">I heard the increasing buzz of many voices around us, the unbarring of -a heavy wicket, the clatter of musket-butts on the pavement, and -occasionally a hoarse order or word of command issued in what seemed -the language of necromancy. Caissons, and wagons heavily laden, -rattled along the streets; I felt that I was <i>inside</i> Sebastopol; but -dared not without permission unbind my eyes, save at the risk of being -run through the body by this fellow in the long coat, or made a -prisoner of war, and despatched towards Perecop with my hands tied to -the mane of a Cossack pony.</p> - -<p class="normal">The sensation and the conviction were most tantalising; but I was -compelled to submit, and knew that we were proceeding through the -thoroughfares of that place towards which I had daily turned my -field-glass with the most intense curiosity, and which we knew to be -one vast garrison rather than a town, with whole streets of barracks, -arsenals, and government houses.</p> - -<p class="normal">A change of sounds and of atmosphere warned me that we were within -doors. My guide withdrew the bandages, and then Dicky and I looked -around us, dazzled with light, after being in darkness for nearly half -an hour. I was in a large whitewashed room, plainly furnished, -uncarpeted, heated by a stove of stone in one corner, with an <i>eikon</i> -in another. On the table of polished deal lay some books, a copy or -two of the <i>Invalide Russe</i>, the <i>Moskauer Zeitung</i>, Panaeff's -<i>Russian Snobs</i>, the vernacular for that familiar word being -<i>khlishch</i>. On the walls hung maps and documents--orders of the day, -perhaps--in Russian.</p> - -<p class="normal">Through the two large windows, which we were warned not to approach, I -obtained a glimpse of the hill on which the residence of Prince -Menschikoff was situated. On one side I saw that the streets ran in -parallel lines down to the water edge; on the other to where the new -naval arsenals lay, in the old Tartar town which was known by the name -of Achtiare in the days of Thomas Mackenzie, the Scoto-Russian admiral -who first created Sebastopol, and whose <i>khutor</i>, farm or forest for -producing masts, excited so much speculation among our Highland -Brigade. Everywhere I saw great cannon bristling, all painted -pea-green, with a white cross on the breech.</p> - -<p class="normal">The jingle of spurs caused me to turn, and Dicky to lift his hand to -his cap in salute. We saw a tall and handsome Russian officer, of -imposing appearance, enter the room. His eyes were dark, yet sharp and -keen in expression; he had black strongly-marked eyebrows and an -aquiline nose, with a complexion as clear as a woman's, a pretty ample -beard, and close-shorn hair. He, too, wore the inevitable greatcoat; -but it was open in this instance, and I could see the richly-laced -green uniform and curious flat silver epaulettes of the Vladimir -Regiment, with the usual number of medals and crosses, for all the -armies of Nicholas were well decorated. He bowed with great courtesy, -and said in French,</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have, I understand, a message for me from my Lord Raglan?"</p> - -<p class="normal">I bowed.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Before I listen to it you must have some refreshment; your drummer -can wait outside."</p> - -<p class="normal">I bowed again. A soldier-servant placed on the table decanters of -Crimskoi wine, with a silver salver of biscuits and pastilla, or -little cakes made of fruit and honey; and of these I was not loath to -partake, while the soldier in attendance led away Dicky Roll, who eyed -me wistfully, and said, as he went out,</p> - -<p class="normal">"For God's sake don't forget me, Captain Hardinge; I don't like the -look of them long-coated beggars at all."</p> - -<p class="normal">I was somewhat of Dicky's opinion; and being anxious enough to get -back to the trenches, stated briefly my message.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have, I fear, come on a bootless errand," replied the Russian, -"as no officer of your army was, to my knowledge, either killed or -taken by us on the night in question; though certainly a man may -easily be hit in the dark, and crawl away to some nook or corner, and -there die and lie unseen. But the Pulkovnick Ochterlony, who keeps the -list of prisoners, will be the best person to afford you information -on the matter. Remain with me, and assist yourself to the Crimskoi, -while I despatch a message to him."</p> - -<p class="normal">He drew a glazed card from an embossed case, and pencilling a -memorandum thereon, sent his orderly with it, while we seated -ourselves, entered into conversation, and pushed the decanter -fraternally to and fro.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have just come from hearing the Bishop of Sebastopol preach in the -great church to all the garrison off duty," said he, laughing; "and he -has been promising us great things--honour in this world, and glory in -the next--if we succeed in driving you all into the Euxine."</p> - -<p class="normal">"There are plenty of opportunities afforded here of going to heaven."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A good many, too, of going the other way; however, I must not tell -you all, or even a part, of what the bishop said. He did all that -eloquence could do to fire the religious enthusiasm--superstition, if -you will--of our soldiers and his language was burning."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then you are on the eve of another sortie," said I, unwarily.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have not said so," he replied, abruptly, while his eyes gleamed, -and handing me his silver cigar-case, on which was engraved a coronet, -we lapsed into silence.</p> - -<p class="normal">The sermon he referred to was that most remarkable one preached on the -evening of Saturday, the 4th of November, before one of the most -memorable events of the war. In that discourse, this Russian-Greek -bishop, with his coronal mitre on his head, glittering with precious -gems, a crozier whilom borne by St. Sergius in his hand, his silver -beard floating to his girdle over magnificent vestments, stood on the -altar-steps of the great church, and assured the masses of armed men -who thronged it to the portal that the blessing of God was upon their -forthcoming enterprise and the defence of the city; that crowns of -eternal glory awaited all those martyrs who fell in battle against the -heretical French and the island curs who had dared to levy war on holy -Russia and their father the Emperor.</p> - -<p class="normal">He told them that the English were monsters of cruelty, who tortured -their prisoners, committing unheard-of barbarities on all who fell -into their hands; that "they were bloodthirsty and abominable -heretics, whose extermination was the solemn duty of all who wished to -win the favour of God and of the Emperor." He farther assured them -that the British camp contained enormous treasures--the spoil of -India, vessels of silver and gold, sacks and casks filled with -precious stones--one-third of which was to become the property of the -victors; and he conjured them, by the memory of Michael and Feodor, -who sealed their belief in Christ with their blood, before the savage -Batu-Khan, by the black flag unfurled by Demetri Donskoi when he -marched against Mamai the Tartar, "by the forty times forty churches -of Moscow the holy," and the memory of the French retreat from it, to -stand firm and fail not; and a hoarse and prayerful murmur of assent -responded to him.</p> - -<p class="normal">My present host was too well-bred to tell all he had just heard, -whether he believed it or not. After a pause, "If another sortie is -made," said I, "the slaughter will be frightful."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bah!" replied he, cynically, while tipping the white ashes from his -cigar, "a few thousands are not missed among the millions of Russia; I -presume we only get rid of those who are unnecessary in the general -scheme of creation."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Peasants and serfs, I suppose?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, perhaps so--peasants and serfs, as you islanders suppose all -our people to be."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nay, as you Russians deem them."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We shall not dispute the matter, please," said he, coldly; and now, -as I sat looking at him, a memory of his face and voice came over me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Count Volhonski!" I exclaimed, "have you quite forgotten me and the -duel with the Prussian at Altona?"</p> - -<p class="normal">He started and took his cigar from his mouth.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The Hospodeen Hardinge!" said he, grasping my hand with honest -warmth; "I must have been blind not to recognise you; but I never -before saw you in your scarlet uniform."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is more purple than scarlet now, Count."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, our own finery is not much to boast of, though we are in a -city, and you are under canvas. But how does the atmosphere of Crim -Tartary agree with you?" he asked, laughing.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A little too much gunpowder in it, perhaps."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am sorry, indeed, to find that you and I are enemies, after those -pleasant days spent in Hamburg and Altona; but when we last parted in -Denmark--you remember our mutual flight across the frontier--you were -but a subaltern, a praperchick, a sub-lieutenant, I think."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am a captain now."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah--the Alma did that, I presume."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Exactly."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You will have plenty of promotion in your army, I expect, ere this -war is ended. You shall all be promoted in heaven, I hope, ere holy -Russia is vanquished."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, Count, and you--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am now Pulkovnick of the Vladimir Infantry."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Did the Alma do that?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No; the Grand-Duchess Olga, to whom the regiment belongs, promoted me -from the Guards, as a reward for restoring her glove, which she -dropped one evening at a masked ball given in the hall of St. Vladimir -by the Emperor; so my rank was easily won."</p> - -<p class="normal">A knock rang on the door; spurs and a steel scabbard clattered on the -floor, and then entered a stately old officer in the splendid uniform -of the Infantry of the Guard, the gilded plate on his high and -peculiarly-shaped cap bearing the perforation of more than one bullet, -and his breast being scarcely broad enough for all the orders that -covered it. He bowed to Volhonski, and saluted me with his right hand, -in which he carried a bundle of documents like lists. The Count -introduced him as "the Pulkovnick Ochterlony, commanding the -Ochterlony Battalion of the Imperial Guard." He was not at all like a -Russian, having clear gray eyes and a straight nose, and still less -like one did he seem when he addressed me in almost pure English.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have," said he, "gone over all the lists of officers of the Allies -now prisoners in Sebastopol, or taken since the siege and sent towards -Yekaterinoslav, and can find among them no such name as that of Major -MacG--, of the 93rd Regiment of Scottish Highlanders. If traces of him -are found, dead or alive, a message to that effect shall at once be -sent to my Lord Raglan."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I thank you, sir," said I, rising and regarding him curiously; "you -speak very pure English for a Russian!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am a Russian by birth and breeding only; in blood and race I am a -countryman of your own."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Indeed!" said I, coldly and haughtily, "how comes it to pass that an -Englishman--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Excuse me, sir," said he, with a manner quite as haughty as my own, -"I did not say that I was an Englishman; but as we have no time to -make explanations on the subject, let us have together a glass of -Crimskoi, and part, for the time, friends."</p> - -<p class="normal">His manner was so suave, his bearing so stately, and his tone so -conciliating--moreover his age seemed so great--that I clinked my -glass with his, and withdrew with Volhonski, who, sooth to say, seemed -exceedingly loath to part with me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who the deuce is that officer?" I asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I introduced him to you by name. He is the colonel of the Ochterlony -Battalion of the Guard, which was raised by his father, one of the -many Scottish soldiers of fortune who served the Empress Catharine; -and the man is Russian to the core in all save blood, which he cannot -help; but here is the gate, and you must be again blinded by Tolstoff. -Adieu! May our next meeting be equally pleasant and propitious!"</p> - -<p class="normal">As we separated, there burst from the soldiery who thronged near the -gates a roar of hatred and execration, excited doubtless by the -bishop's harangue; and poor Dicky Roll shrunk close to my side as we -passed out. The ancient Scoto-Muscovite, I afterwards learned, was -styled Ochterlony of Guynde, the soldiers of whose regiment had -enjoyed from his father's time the peculiar privilege of retaining and -wearing their old cap-plates, so long as a scrap of the brass -remained, if they had once been perforated by a shot in action; and it -is known that this identical old officer--who had some three or four -nephews in the Russian Guards--had been visiting his paternal place of -Guynde, in Forfarshire, but a few months before the war broke out.</p> - -<p class="normal">In a few minutes more, Dicky Roll and I found ourselves, with our eyes -unbandaged, once more in that pleasant locality midway between the -abattis and the trenches, towards which we made our way in all haste, -that I might report the issue of my mission concerning the Scotch -major, who, as events proved, was found alive and unhurt, luckily; and -the moment my white flag disappeared among the gabions--where all -crowded round me for news, and where I became the hero of an -hour--again the firing was resumed on both sides with all its former -fury, and the old game went on--shot and shell, dust, the crash of -stones and fascines, thirst, hunger, slaughter, and mutilation. That -the Russians had some great essay <i>in petto</i>, the words of Volhonski -left us no doubt, nor were we long kept in ignorance of what was -impending over us.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_34" href="#div1Ref_34">CHAPTER XXXIV.--GUILFOYLE REDIVIVUS.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Quietly and before day dawned the trench-guards were relieved, and -we marched wearily back towards the camp. I had dismissed my company, -and was betaking me to my tent, threading my way along the streets -formed by those of each regiment, when an ambulance wagon, -four-wheeled and covered by a canvas hood, drew near. It was drawn by -four half-starved-looking horses; the drivers were in the saddles; and -an escort rode behind, muffled in their blue cloaks. It was laden, no -doubt, with boots warranted not to fit, and bags of green or unripe -coffee for the troops, who had no means of grinding it or of cooking -it, firewood being our scarcest commodity. An officer of the Land -Transport Corps, in cloak and forage-cap, was riding leisurely in rear -of the whole, and as he passed I heard him singing, for his own -edification, apparently: the refrain of his ditty was,</p> - -<div class="poem1"> -<p class="t2" style="text-indent:-10px"> -"Ach nein! ach nein! ich darf es nich.<br> -Leb'wohl! Leb'wohl!"</p> -</div> - -<p class="normal">"Heavens!" thought I, pausing in my progress, "can this be my -quondam acquaintance, the <i>attaché</i> at the Court of Catzenelnbogen -here--<i>here</i>, in the Crimea!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can you direct me to the commissariat quarter of the Second -Division?" asked the singer, a little pompously.</p> - -<p class="normal">"By all the devils it is Guilfoyle!" I exclaimed.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oho--You are Hardinge of the 23rd--well met, Horatio!" said he, -reining-in his horse, and with an air of perfect coolness.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How came <i>you</i> to be here, sir?" I asked, sternly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I question your right to ask, if I do not your tone," he replied; -"however, if you feel interested in my movements, I may mention that I -was going to the dogs or the devil, and thought I might as well take -Sebastopol on the way."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is not taken yet--but you, I hope, may be."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thanks for your good wishes," was the unabashed reply; "however, I am -wide enough awake, sir; be assured that I cut my eye-teeth some years -ago."</p> - -<p class="normal">To find that such a creature as he had crept into her Majesty's -service, even into such an unaristocratic force as the Land Transport -Corps, and actually wore a sword and epaulettes, bewildered me, -excited my indignation and disgust; and I felt degraded that by a -reflected light he was sharing our dangers, our horrors, and the -honours of the war. I had never seen his name in the <i>Gazette</i>, as -being appointed a cornet of the Transport Corps, and the surprise I -felt was mingled with profound contempt, and something of amusement, -too, at his <i>insouciance</i> and cool effrontery. This made me partially -forget the rage and hatred he had excited in me by the mischievous -game he had played at Walcot Park, his plot to ruin me with Estelle -Cressingham--a plot from which I had been so victoriously -disentangled. Hence circumstance, change of position and place, -induced me to talk to the fellow in a way that I should not have done -at home or elsewhere.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How came you to deprive England of the advantages of your society?" I -asked, in a sneering tone, of which he was too well-bred not to be -conscious; so he replied in the same manner,</p> - -<p class="normal">"A verse of an old song may best explain it:</p> - -<div class="poem1"> -<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-40px; font-size:90%"> -"'A plague on ill luck, now the ready's all gone,<br> -To the wars poor Pilgarlick must trudge;</p> -<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-20px;; font-size:90%">But had I the cash to rake on as I've done,<br> -The devil a foot I would budge!'</p> -</div> - -<p class="continue">"And so Pilgarlick is serving his ungrateful country," he added, with -the mocking laugh that I remembered of old.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You can actually laugh at your own--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Don't say anything unpleasant," said he, shortening his reins; "I do -so, but only as Reynard, who has lost his brush, laughs at the more -clever fox who has kept his from the hounds," he added, with a glance -of malevolence. "So you were not at the Alma? Doubtless it was -pleasanter to break a bone quietly at home than risk all your limbs -here in action."</p> - -<p class="normal">Disdaining to notice either his sneer or the inference to be -drawn from his remark, I asked, "What has become of that unhappy -creature--your wife?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"As you call her."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Georgette Franklin--well?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It matters little now, and is no business of yours."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That I know well--I only pitied her; but why do I waste words or time -with such as you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"So you would like to know what has become of her, eh?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Very much."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well," said he, grinding his teeth with anger or hate, perhaps both, -"there is a den in the Walworth-road, above a rag, bone, and -old-bottle shop, the master of which was not unknown to the police, as -apt to be roaming about intent to commit, as no doubt he often did, -felony; for a few articles of bijouterie, such as a bunch of -skeleton-keys, a crowbar, a brace of knuckle-dusters, and a 'barker,' -with a piece of wax-candle, were found upon his person, after an -investigation thereof, suggestive that his habits were nocturnal, and -that the propensities of his digits were knavish; and the landlord of -this den gave her lodgings--and there she died, this Georgette -Franklin, in whom you are so interested--died not without suspicion of -suicide. Now are <i>you</i> satisfied?" he added, holding a cigar between -the first and second fingers of his right hand, and gazing lazily at -the smoke wreaths as they curled upward in the chill morning air.</p> - -<p class="normal">There was something sublimely infernal--if I may be permitted the -paradox--in the gusto with which the fellow told all this, and in the -sneering expression of his face; and I could see his green eyes and -his white teeth glisten in the light of a great rocket--some secret -signal--that soared up from Fort Alexander, and broke with a thousand -sparkles, curving downward through the murky morning sky.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pass on, sir," said I, sternly; "and the best I can wish you is that -some Russian bullet may avenge her and rid the earth of you."</p> - -<p class="normal">And with his old mocking laugh, he galloped after his wagon, as he -turned back in his saddle, "Compliments to old Taffy Lloyd, when you -write--may leave him my brilliant in my will if he behaves himself."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_35" href="#div1Ref_35">CHAPTER XXXV.--THE NIGHT BEFORE INKERMANN.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">I told Phil Caradoc of the strange meeting with Mr. Hawkesby -Guilfoyle, and his emotions of astonishment and disgust almost -exceeded mine, though mingled with something of amusement, to think -that such a personage should be with the army before Sebastopol in any -capacity; and he predicted that he must inevitably do something that -would not add to the budding laurels of the Land Transport Corps, -which we scarcely recognised as a fighting force, though armed, of -course, for any sudden emergency. On this morning, the mail had come -in from Constantinople; but there was still no letter for me--no -letter from her with whom I had left my heart, and all its fondest -aspirations--yea, my very soul it seemed--in England, far away.</p> - -<p class="normal">Many mails had gone missing; and I strove to flatter and to console -myself by the vague hope, that the letters of Estelle were lying -perhaps in the Gulf of Salonica, or in the Greek Archipelago, rather -than adopt the bitter and wounding conviction that none were written -at all. I counted the days and weeks that had elapsed since our -detachments sailed from Southampton; the weeks had now become months; -we were in November; yet, save when once or twice I had seen her name -among the fashionable intelligence in a stray newspaper, I knew and -heard nothing of Estelle, of her whose existence and future I so -fondly thought were for ever woven up with mine. For a time I had been -weak enough to conceal from kind-hearted Phil Caradoc the fact that I -had not been getting answers to my letters; and often over a quiet -cigar and a bottle of Greek wine I have listened nervously to his -congratulations on my success and hopes, blended with his own personal -regrets that Winifred Lloyd could not love him. He had sent to her and -Dora, from Malta and from Constantinople, some of those beautiful -articles of bijouterie, which the shops of the former and the bazaars -of the latter can so exquisitely produce to please the taste of women, -and they had been accepted with "kindest thanks," a commonplace on -which poor Phil seemed to base some hope of future success.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Winifred Lloyd is very lovely," said I, as we sat in my tent that -night over a bottle of Crimskoi; "sweet and pure, happy in spirit, and -gentle in heart--all that a man could desire his wife and the mother -of his children to be."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"But what, Phil?" said I, curtly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"She cannot love me, and she will never be mine," sighed Caradoc.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Never despair of that; we have to take Sebastopol yet; and that once -achieved, we shall all go merrily sailing home to England."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That I doubt much; some of the regiments here will be taken for the -Indian reliefs--our fighting here will count as service in Europe--but -surely the war cannot end with the fall of Sebastopol. A war between -three of the greatest countries in the world to dwindle down to the -somewhat ill-conducted siege of a fortified town would be absurd."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ill-conducted, Phil?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of course.. We leave the city open for supplies of all kinds on the -Russian side, and have never, as we should have done, seized the -Isthmus of Perecop, and cut off the whole Crimea from the empire."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Errors perhaps; but by the way, Phil, have you still Miss Lloyd's -miniature about you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do let me have a look at it. I am an old friend, you know."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I gave her my solemn word that while I lived no man should look upon -it, Harry," said Phil, whose colour deepened. "When I am carried to -the dead-tent, if that day comes, or to the burial-trench, as many -better fellows have been, you may keep it or send it to her, which you -will, though I would rather it were buried with me."</p> - -<p class="normal">His eyes filled with tender enthusiasm, and his voice faltered with -genuine emotion as he spoke.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pass the bottle, Phil, and don't be romantic--one more cigar is in -the box, and it is at your service," said I.</p> - -<p class="normal">But full of his own thoughts, which were all of her, Caradoc made no -immediate reply. He sat with his eyes fixed sadly on the glowing -embers of my little fire; for, thanks to the ingenuity of Evans, I had -actually a <i>fire</i> in my tent. He had made an excavation in the earth, -with a flue constructed out of the fragments of tin ammunition boxes, -and the cases which had held preserved meat. This conveyed the smoke -underneath the low wall of the tent, outside of which he had erected -another flue some three feet high of the same materials, to which were -added a few stones and some mud. The smoke at times was scarcely -endurable, and made one's eyes to water; but I was not yet "old -soldier" enough to heat a cannon-ball to sleep with, so Evans' patent -grate had quite a reputation in the regiment, and added greatly to the -comfort, if such a term can be used, of my somewhat draughty abode.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Deuced hard lines, this sort of thing, Harry," said Caradoc, after a -pause, as, bearded and patched, unshaven and unkempt, we cowered over -the fire in our cloaks and wrappers; "I mean for men accustomed to -better things, especially to those of expensive tastes and extravagant -habits--your guardsman and man of pleasure, the lounger about town, -whose day was wont to begin about two P.M., and to end at four next -morning. Yet they are plucky for all that; by Jove! there is an amount -of mettle or stamina in our fellows such as those of no other nation -possess, the resolution to die game any way."</p> - -<p class="normal">I fully agreed with him; for among our officers I knew hundreds of -men, like Raymond Mostyn and others I could name, who were enduring -this miserable gipsy-like life, and who, when at home, had hunters and -harriers in the country, a house in town, a villa at St. John's Wood -or elsewhere, with a tiny brougham and tiger for some "fair one with -the golden locks," a yacht at Cowes, a forest in the Highlands, a box -at the Opera, a French cook, perhaps, and vines and pines and other -rarities from their own forcing-pits and hothouses, and who were now -thankful for a mouthful of rum and hard ship-biscuit and some -half-roasted coffee boiled in a camp-kettle; and for what, or to what -useful end or purpose, was all this being endured? Perhaps the -non-reception of letters from Estelle was making me cynical, and -leading me to deem the great god of war but a rowdy, and the goddess -his sister no better than she should be, glory a delusion and a humbug -after all. But just when Phil, as the night was now far advanced, was -muffling himself prior to facing the cold frosty blast that swept up -the valley of Inkermann, and proceeding to his own tent, which was on -the other flank of the regiment, the visage of Evans, red as a lobster -with cold, while his greatcoat was whitened with hoar-frost, appeared -at the piece of tied canvas, which passed muster as a door.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Letter for you, sir--an English one."</p> - -<p class="normal">"For me! how, at this hour?" I exclaimed, starting up.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It came by the mail this morning, sir; but was in the bag for the -88th. The address is almost obliterated, as you see, so the 88th -officers were tossing-up for it, when Mr. Mostyn--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pshaw! give me the letter," said I, impatiently. "It is from Sir -Madoc--<i>only</i> Sir Madoc!" I added, with unconcealed disappointment; -and in proportion as my countenance lowered, Phil's brightened with -interest.</p> - -<p class="normal">I tore open what appeared to be a pretty long letter.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It seems to have a postscript," said Phil, lingering ere he went.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Kindest regards to Caradoc from Winny and Dora."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is that all?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"All that seems to refer to you, Phil."</p> - -<p class="normal">Phil sighed, and said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, a letter is an uncommon luxury here, so I shall not disturb -you. Good night, old fellow."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Good night; and keep clear of the tent-pegs."</p> - -<p class="normal">Again the canvas door was tied, and I was alone; so drawing the -lantern, that hung on the tent-pole, close to the empty flour-cask, -which now did duty as a table, I sat down to read the characteristic -epistle of my good old fatherly friend, Sir Madoc Lloyd, which was -dated from Craigaderyn Court. After some rambling remarks about the -war, and the mode in which he thought it should be conducted, and some -smart abuse of the administration in general, and Lord Aberdeen in -particular, over all of which I ran my eyes impatiently, at last they -caught a name that made my heart thrill, for this was the first letter -that had reached me from England.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lady Estelle's admirer Pottersleigh has been raised to an -earldom--Heaven only knows why or for what--his own distinguished -services, he says. It was all in last night's <i>Gazette</i>--that her -Majesty had been pleased to direct letters patent, &c., granting the -dignity of Earl of the United Kingdom, unto Viscount Pottersleigh, -K.G., and the heirs male of his body (good joke that, Harry: reckoning -his chickens before they are hatched), by the name and title of -Aberconway, in the principality of Wales. For some weeks past he has -been at Walcot Park, with the Cressinghams--seems quite to live there, -in fact. He has been very assiduous in his attentions to a certain -young lady there; he always flatters her quietly, and it seems to -please her; a sure sign it would seem to me that she is not displeased -with the flatterer. People say it is old Lady Naseby whom he affects; -but I don't think so; neither does Winny. You will probably have heard -much of this kind of gossip from Lady Estelle herself. She certainly -got your Malta letter, and one from the camp before Sebastopol--so -Winny, who is in her confidence, told me. You only can know if she -replied--Winny rather thinks not; but I hope she may be faithful to -you as Oriana herself.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I heard all about poor Caradoc's affair from Dora; but Winny has -refused another offer of marriage--a most eligible one, too--from Sir -Watkins Vaughan; and since then he was nearly done for in another -fashion: for when he and I were cub-hunting last month near Hawkstone, -his horse, a hard-mouthed brute, swerved as we were crossing a fence, -and rolled over him; so between her blunt refusal and his ugly spill, -he is rather to be pitied. I don't understand Winny at all. I should -not like my girls to throw themselves away; but hay should be made -while the sun shines, and baronets are not to be found under every -bush. Beauty fades; it is but a thing of a season; and the most -blooming girl, in time, becomes passé and wrinkled, or it may be fat -and fusby, as her grandmother was before her. And then Sir Watkins -represents one of the best families in Wales, not so old as <i>us</i> -certainly, but still he is descended in a direct line from Gryffyth -Vychan, who was Lord of Glyndwyrdwy in Merionethshire, in Stephen's -time."</p> - -<p class="normal">(Why should Winifred Lloyd refuse and refuse again thus? As certain -little passages between us in days gone by came flashing back to my -memory, I felt my cheek flush by that wretched camp-fire, and then I -thrust the thoughts aside as vanity.)</p> - -<p class="normal">"Poor Winny has not been very well of late," the letter proceeded. -"When she and Dora were decorating their poor mamma's grave, in the -old Welsh fashion, on Palm Sunday, at Craigaderyn church, I fear she -must have caught cold; it ended in a touch of fever, and I think the -dear girl grew delirious, for she had a strange dream about the ghost -of Jorwerth Du--you remember that absurd old story?--but the ghost was -<i>you</i>, and the red-haired daughter of the Gwylliad Cochion, who -spirited you away, was--whom think you?--but Lady Estelle!</p> - -<p class="normal">"We had a jolly shooting-season at Vaughan's place in South Wales. -With Don and our double-barrelled breech-loader we soon filled a -spring-cart, and brought it back in state, with all the hares and the -long bright tails of the pheasants hanging over it. Vaughan--who will -not relinquish his hope of Winny--and a lot of other fine fellows--old -friends, some of them--are coming to have their annual Christmas -shooting with me, and I have got two kegs of ammunition all ready in -the gun-room. How I wish you were to be with us, Harry!</p> - -<p class="normal">"Golden plover and teal, too, are appearing here now, and flocks of -white Norwegian pigeons in Scotland; all indications that we shall -have an unusually severe winter; so God help you poor fellows under -canvas in the Crimea! In common with all the girls in England, Winny -and Dora are busy making mufflings, knitted vests and cuffs, and so -forth for the troops; and I have despatched some special hampers of -good things, made up and packed by Owen Gwyllim and Gwenny Davis, the -housekeeper, for our own lads of the 23rd to make merry with at -Christmas, or on St. David's day."</p> - -<p class="normal">(The warm wrappers arrived for us in summer, and as for the "special -hampers," they were never heard of at all.)</p> - -<p class="normal">And so, with many warm wishes, almost prayers, for my preservation -from danger, and offers of money if I required it, the letter of my -kind old friend ended; but it gave me food for much thought, and far -into the hours of the chill night I sat and pondered over it. Why did -Winny refuse so excellent an offer as that of Sir Watkins, whom I knew -to be a wealthy and good-looking young baronet? I scarcely dared to -ask myself, and so, as before, dismissed <i>that</i> subject. Why had not -Estelle's answers reached me, if she had actually written then? That -Lady Naseby had surreptitiously intercepted our correspondence, I -could not believe, though she might forbid it. Was my Lord -Pottersleigh, now Earl of Aberconway, at work; or had they, like many -others, perished at sea? Heaven alone new. His flatteries "pleased -her," his, the senile dotard! And he had taken up his residence at -Walcot Park; his earldom, too! I was full of sadness, mortification, -and bitter thoughts; thoughts too deep and fierce for utterance or -description. Could it be that the earldom and wealth on one hand were -proving too strong for love, with the stringent tenor of her father's -will on the other?</p> - -<p class="normal">At the opera and theatre I had seen Estelle's beautiful eyes fill with -tears, as she sympathised with the maudlin love and mimic sorrow, the -wrongs or mishaps, of some well-rouged gipsy in rags, some peasant in -a steeple-crowned hat and red bandages, some half-naked fisherman, -like Masaniello, and her bosom would heave with emotion and -enthusiasm; and yet with all this natural commiseration and -fellow-feeling, she, who could almost weep with the hero or heroine of -the melodrama, while their situation was enhanced by the effects of -the orchestra, the lime-light, and the stage-carpenter, was perhaps -casting me from her heart and her memory, as coolly as if I were an -old ball-dress! So I strove yet awhile to think and to hope that her -letters were with the lost mails at the bottom of the Ægean or the -Black Sea; but Sir Madoc's letter occasioned me grave and painful -doubts; and memory went sadly back to many a little but -well-remembered episode of tenderness, a word, a glance, a stolen -caress, when we rode or drove by the Elwey or Llyn Aled, in the long -lime avenue, in the Martens' dingle, and in the woods and gardens of -pleasant Craigaderyn. The wretched light in my lantern was beginning -to fail; my little fire had died quite out, and the poor sentry -shivering outside had long since ceased to warm his hands at the flue. -The tent was cold and chill as a tomb, and I was just about to turn -in, when a sound, which a soldier never hears without starting -instinctively to his weapons, struck my ear.</p> - -<p class="normal">A drum, far on the right, was beating <i>the long roll!</i> Hundreds of -others repeated that inexorable summons all over the camp, while many -a bugle was blown, as the whole army stood to their arms. It was the -morning of the battle of Inkermann!</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_36" href="#div1Ref_36">CHAPTER XXXVI.--THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">We had all long since forgotten the discomfort of early rising. In my -case I had never been to bed, so to buckle on my sword and revolver -was the work of one moment; in another I was threading my way among -the streets of tents, from which our men, cold, damp, pale, and -worn-looking, were pouring towards their various muster-places, many -of them arranging their belts as they hurried forward.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What is the row? what is up?" were the inquiries of all.</p> - -<p class="normal">But no one knew, and on all hands the mounted officers were riding -about and crying,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Fall in, 19th Regiment!" "Fall in, 23rd Fusileers!" and so on. "Stand -to your arms; turn out the whole; uncase the colours, gentlemen!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is gunpowder-plot day," cried a laughing aide-de-camp, galloping -past with such speed and recklessness that he nearly rode me down.</p> - -<p class="normal">It proved to be a sortie from Sebastopol, made chiefly by a new -division of troops brought up by forced marches from Bessarabia and -Wallachia, many of them in wagons, kabitkas, and conveyances of all -kinds; and all these men, to the number of many thousands, left the -beleaguered city inflamed by the sermon I have described, by harangues -of a similar kind, by the money or martyrdom they hoped to win, and -by a plentiful distribution of coarse and ardent raki; while to -Osten-Sacken, Volhonski, and other officers of rank, one of the Grand -Dukes held out threats of degradation and Siberia if we were not -attacked and the siege raised! All our men, without breakfast or other -food, got briskly under arms, by regiments, brigades, and divisions; -they were in their gray greatcoats, hence some terrible mistakes -occurred in the hurry and confusion; many of our officers, however, -went into action in <i>scarlet</i>, with their epaulettes on--most fatally -for themselves. All the bells in Sebastopol--and some of these were -magnificent in size and tone--rang a tocsin, while the troops -composing the sortie, at the early hour of three A.M., stole, under -cloud of darkness and a thick mist, into the ravines near the -Tchernaya, to menace the British right, our weakest point; and, -unknown to our out-guards, and generally unheard by them--though more -than one wary old soldier asserted that he heard "something like the -rumble of artillery wheels"--in the gloom and obscurity several large -pieces of cannon were got into position, so as completely to command -the ground occupied by us. Cautiously and noiselessly the masses of -Russian infantry had stolen on, the sound of their footsteps hidden by -the jangle of the bells, till they, to the number of more than 50,000 -men, were on the flank as well as in front of our line; and the first -indication we had of their close vicinity was when our outlying -pickets, amid the dense fog of that fatal November morning, found -themselves all but surrounded by this vast force, and fighting -desperately!</p> - -<p class="normal">Knapsacks were generally thrown aside, and the muskets of the pickets -were in some instances so wet by overnight exposure, that they failed -to explode, so others taken from the dead and wounded were substituted -for them. There was firing fast and furious on every hand; the -musketry flashing like red streaks through the gray gloom, towards the -head of the beautiful valley of Inkermann, even before our regiment -was formed and moved forward to the support of the pickets, who were -retreating towards a small two-gun battery which had been erected, but -afterwards abandoned during the progress of the siege. The great -Russian cannon now opened like thunder from those hills which had been -reached unseen by us, and then began one of the closest, because -confused, most ferocious, and bloody conflicts of modern times. The -Russian has certainly that peculiar quality of race, "which is -superior to the common fighting courage possessed indiscriminately by -all classes--the passive concentrated firmness which can take every -advantage so long as a chance is left, and die without a word at last, -when hope gives place to the sullen resignation of despair."</p> - -<p class="normal">Descriptions of battles bear a strong family likeness, and the history -of one can only be written, even by a participant, long after it is -all over, and after notes are compared on all sides; so to the -subaltern, or any one under the rank of a general, during its -progress, it is all vile hurly-burly and confusion worse confounded; -and never in the annals of war was this more the case than at -Inkermann. Though hidden by mist at the time, the scene of this -contest was both picturesque and beautiful. In the foreground, a -romantic old bridge spanned the sluggish Tchernaya, which winds from -the Baidar valley through the most luxurious verdure, and thence into -the harbour of Sebastopol between precipitous white cliffs, which are -literally honeycombed with chapels and cells: thus Inkermann is well -named the "City of the Caverns." These are supposed to have been -executed by Greek monks during the reigns of the emperors in the -middle ages, and when the Arians were persecuted in the Chersonesus, -many of them found shelter in these singular and all but inaccessible -dwellings. Sarcophagi of stone, generally empty, are found in many of -the cells, which are connected with each other by stairs cut in the -living rock, and of these stairs and holes the skirmishers were not -slow to avail themselves. Over all these caverns are the ivied ruins -of an ancient fort but whether it was the Ctenos of Chersonesus -Taurica, built by Diophantes to guard the Heruclean wall, or was the -Theodori of the Greeks, mattered little to us then, as we moved to get -under fire beneath its shadow; and now, as if to farther distract the -attention of the Allies from the real point of assault--which at first -seemed to indicate a movement towards Balaclava--all the batteries of -the city opened a fearful cannonade, which tore to shreds the tents in -the camp, and did terrible execution on every hand. Louder and louder, -deeper and hoarser grew the sounds of strife; yet nothing was seen by -us save the red flashes of the musketry, owing to the density of the -fog, and the tall brushwood through which we had to move being in some -places quite breast-high; and so we struggled forward in line, till -suddenly we found the foe within pistol-shot of us, and our men -falling fast on every side. Till now, to many in our ranks, who saw -these long gray-coated and flat-capped or spike-helmeted masses, the -enemy had been a species of myth, read of chiefly in the newspapers; -<i>now</i> they were palpable and real, and war, having ceased to be a -dream, had become a terrible fact. Vague expectancy had given place to -the actual excitement of the hour of battle, the hour when a man would -reflect soberly if he could; but when every moment may be his last, -little time or chance is given for reflection.</p> - -<p class="normal">In this quarter were but twelve thousand British, to oppose the mighty -force of Osten-Sacken. Upon his advancing masses the brave fellows of -the 55th or Westmoreland Foot had kept up a brisk fire from the rude -embrasures of the small redoubt, till they were almost surrounded by a -force outnumbering them by forty to one, and compelled to fall back, -while the batteries on the hills swept their ranks with an iron -shower. But now the 41st Welsh, and 49th or Hertfordshire, came into -action, with their white-and-green colours waving, and storming up the -hill bore back the Russian hordes, hundreds of whom--as they were -massed in oblong columns--fell beneath the fatal fire of our Minie -rifles, and the desperate fury of the steady shoulder-to-shoulder -bayonet charge which followed it.</p> - -<p class="normal">On these two regiments the batteries from the distant slope dealt -death and destruction; again the Russians rallied at its foot, and -advanced up the corpse-strewn ground to renew an attack before which -the two now decimated regiments were compelled to retire. Their number -and force were as overwhelming as their courage, inflamed by raki and -intense religious fervour, was undeniable; for deep in all their -hearts had sunk the closing words of the bishop's prayer: "Bless and -strengthen them, O Lord, and give them a manly heart against their -enemies. Send them an angel of light, and to their enemies an angel of -darkness and horror to scatter them, and place a stumbling-block -before them to weaken their hearts, and turn their courage into -flight." And for a time the Russians seemed to have it all their own -way, and deemed their bishop a prophet. Our whole army was now under -arms, but upon our right fell the brunt of the attack, and old Lord -Raglan was soon among us, managing his field-glass and charger with -one hand and a half-empty sleeve. Under Brigadier-general Strangeways, -who was soon after mortally wounded, our artillery, when the mist -lifted a little, opened on the Russian batteries, and soon silenced -their fire; but the 20th and 47th Lancashire, after making a gallant -attempt to recapture the petty redoubt, were repulsed; but not until -they had been in possession of it for a few dearly-bought minutes, -during which, all wedged together in wild <i>mêlée</i>, the most hideous -slaughter took place, with the bayonet and clubbed musket; and the -moment they gave way, the inhuman Russians murdered all our wounded -men, many of whom were found afterwards cold and stiff, with hands -uplifted and horror in their faces, as if they had died in the act of -supplication.</p> - -<p class="normal">Driven from that fatal redoubt at last by the Guards under the Duke of -Cambridge, it was held by a few hundred Coldstreamers against at least -<i>six thousand</i> of the enemy. Thrice, with wild yells the gray-coated -masses, with all their bayonets glittering, swept madly and bravely -uphill, and thrice they were hurled back with defeat and slaughter. -Fresh troops were now pouring from Sebastopol, flushed with fury by -the scene, and in all the confidence that Russia and their cause were -alike holy, that defeat was impossible, and the redoubt was -surrounded.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then back to back, pale with fury, their eyes flashing, their teeth -set, fearless and resolute, their feet encumbered with the dying and -the dead, fought the Coldstream Guardsmen, struggling for very life; -the ground a slippery puddle with blood and brains, and again and -again the clash of the bayonets was heard as the musket barrels were -crossed. Their ammunition was soon expended; but clubbing their -weapons they dashed at the enemy with the butt-ends; and hurling even -stones at their heads, broke through the dense masses, and leaving at -least one thousand Muscovites dead behind them, rejoined their -comrades, whom Sir George Cathcart was leading to the advance, when a -ball whistled through his heart, and he fell to rise no more.</p> - -<p class="normal">The combat was quite unequal; our troops began slowly to retire -towards their own lines, but fighting every inch of the way and -pressed hard by the Russians, who bayonetted or brained by the -butt-end every wounded man they found; and by eleven o'clock they were -close to the tents of the Second Division.</p> - -<p class="normal">The rain of bullets sowed thickly all the turf like a leaden shower, -and shred away clouds of leaves and twigs from the gorse and other -bushes; but long ere the foe had come thus far, we had our share and -more in the terrible game. Exchanging fire with them at twenty yards' -distance, the roar of the musketry, the shouts and cheers, the yells -of defiance or agony, the explosion of shells overhead, the hoarse -sound of the round shot, as they tore up the earth in deeper furrows -than ever ploughshare formed, made a very hell of Inkermann, that -valley of blood and suffering, of death and cruelty; but dense clouds -of smoke, replacing the mist, enveloped it for a time, and veiled many -of its horrors from the eye.</p> - -<p class="normal">Bathurst and Sayer, Vane and Millet of ours were all down by this -time; many of our men had also fallen; and from the death-clutch or -the relaxed fingers of more than one poor ensign had the tattered -colour which bore the Red Dragon been taken, by those who were fated -to fall under it in turn. I could see nothing of Caradoc; but I heard -that three balls had struck the revolver in his belt. Poor Hugh Price -fell near me, shot through the chest, and was afterwards found, like -many others, with his brains dashed out. In the third repulse of the -Russians, as we rushed headlong after them with levelled bayonets, I -found myself suddenly opposed by an officer of rank mounted on a gray -horse, the flanks and trappings of which were splashed by blood, -whether its own or that of the rider, I knew not. Furiously, by every -energy, with his voice, which was loud and authoritative, and by -brandishing his sword, he was endeavouring to rally his men, a mingled -mass of the Vladimir Battalion and the flat-capped Kazan Light -Infantry.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pot that fellow; down with him!" cried several voices; "maybe he's -old Osten-Sacken himself."</p> - -<p class="normal">Many shots missed him, as the men fired with fixed bayonets, when -suddenly he turned his vengeance on me, and checking his horse for a -second, cut at my head with his sword. Stooping, I avoided his attack, -but shot his horse in the head. Heavily the animal tumbled forward, -with its nose between its knees; and as the rider fell from the saddle -and his cap flew off, I recognised Volhonski. A dozen of Fusileers had -their bayonets at his throat, when I struck them up with my sword, and -interceding, took him prisoner.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Allow me, if taken, to preserve my sword," said he, in somewhat -broken English.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, no; by ----, no! disarm him, Captain Hardinge," cried several of -our men, who had already shot more than one Russian officer when in -the act of killing the wounded.</p> - -<p class="normal">He smiled with proud disdain, and snapping the blade across his knee, -threw the fragments from him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Though it is a disgrace alike for Russian to retreat or yield, I -yield myself to you, Captain Hardinge," said he in French, and -presenting his hand; but ere I could take it, I felt a shot strike me -on the back part of the head. Luckily it was a partially spent one, -though I knew it not then.</p> - -<p class="normal">A sickness, a faintness, came over me, and I had a wild and clamorous -fear that all was up with me then; but I strove to ignore the emotion, -to brandish my sword, to shout to my company, "Come on, men, come on!" -to carry my head erect, soldierlike and proudly. Alas for human nerves -and poor human nature! My voice failed me; I reeled. "Spare me, -blessed God!" I prayed, then fell forward on my face, and felt the -rush of our own men, as they swept forward in the charge to the front; -and then darkness seemed to steal over my sight, and unconsciousness -over every other sense, and I remembered no more.</p> - -<p class="normal">So while I lay senseless there, the tide of battle turned in the -valley, and re-turned again. But not till General Canrobert, with -three regiments of fiery little Zouaves, five of other infantry, and a -strong force of artillery, made a furious attack on the Russian flank, -with all his drums beating the <i>pas de charge</i>. The issue of the -battle was then no longer doubtful.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Russians wavered and broke, and with a strange wail of despair, -such as that they gave at Alma, when they feared that the angel of -light had left them, they fled towards Sebastopol, trodden down like -sheep by the French and British soldiers, all mingled pell-mell, in -fierce and vengeful pursuit. By three in the afternoon all was over, -and we had won another victory.</p> - -<p class="normal">But our losses were terrible. Seven of our generals were killed or -wounded; we had two thousand five hundred and nine officers and men -killed, wounded, or missing; but more than fourteen thousand Russians -lay on the ground which had been by both armies so nobly contested, -and of these five thousand were killed.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_37" href="#div1Ref_37">CHAPTER XXXVII.--THE ANGEL OF HORROR.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">When consciousness returned, I found the dull red evening sun shining -down the long valley of Inkermann, and that, save moans and cries for -aid and water, all seemed terribly still now.</p> - -<p class="normal">A sense of weakness and oppression, of incapacity for action and -motion, were my first sensations. I feared that other shot must have -struck me after I had fallen, and that both my legs were broken. The -cause of this, after a time, became plain enough: a dead artillery -horse was lying completely over my thighs, and above it and them lay -the wheel of a shattered gun carriage; and weak as I was then, to -attempt extrication from either unaided was hopeless. Thus I was -compelled to lie helplessly amid a sickening puddle of blood, -enduring a thirst that is unspeakable, but which was caused by -physical causes and excitement, with the anxiety consequent on the -battle. The aspect of the dead horse, which first attracted me, was -horrible. A twelve-pound shot had struck him below the eyes, making a -hole clean through his head; the brain had dropped out, and lay with -his tongue and teeth upon the grass. The dead and wounded lay thickly -around me, as indeed they did over all the field. Some of the former, -though with eyes unclosed and jaws relaxed, had a placid expression in -their white waxen faces. These had died of gun-shot wounds. The -expressions of pain or anguish lingered longest in those who had -perished by the bayonet. Over all the valley lay bodies in heaps, -singly or by two and threes, with swarms of flies settling over them; -shakoes, glazed helmets, bearskin-caps, bent bayonets, broken muskets, -swords, hairy knapsacks, bread-bags, shreds of clothing, torn from the -dead and the living by showers of grape and canister, cooking-kettles, -round shot and fragments of shells, with pools of noisome blood, lay -on every hand.</p> - -<p class="normal">Truly the Angel of Horror, and of Death, too, had been there. I saw -several poor fellows, British as well as Russian, expire within the -first few minutes I was able to look around me. One whose breast bore -several medals and orders, an officer of the Kazan Light Infantry, -prayed very devoutly and crossed himself in his own blood ere he -expired. Near me a corporal of my own regiment named Prouse, who had -been shot through the brain, played fatuously for a time with a -handful of grass, and then, lying gently back, passed away without a -moan. A Zouave, a brown, brawny, and soldier-like fellow, who seemed -out of his senses also, was very talkative and noisy.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ouf!" I heard him say; "it is as wearisome as a sermon or a funeral -this! Were I a general, the capture of Sebastopol should be as easy as -a game of dominoes.--Yes, Isabeau, ma belle coquette, kiss me and hold -up my head. Vive la gloire! Vive l'eau de vie! A bas la mélancolie! A -bas la Russe!" he added through his clenched teeth hoarsely, as he -fell back. The jaw relaxed, his head turned on one side, and all was -over.</p> - -<p class="normal">Of Volhonski I could see nothing except his gray horse, which lay -dead, in all its trappings, a few yards off; but I afterwards learned -that he had been retaken by the Russians on their advance after the -fall of poor Sir George Cathcart.</p> - -<p class="normal">There was an acute pain in the arm that had been -injured--fractured--when saving Estelle; and as a kind of stupor, -filled by sad and dreamy thoughts, stole over me, they were all of -her. The roar of the battle had passed away, but there was a kind of -drowsy hum in my ears, and, for a time, strangely enough, I fancied -myself with her in the Park or Rotten-row. I seemed to see the -brilliant scene in all the glory of the season: the carriages; the -horses, bay or black, with their shining skins and glittering -harness; the powdered coachmen on their stately hammer-cloths; the -gaily-liveried footmen; the ladies cantering past in thousands, so -exquisitely dressed, so perfectly mounted, so wonderful in their -loveliness--women the most beautiful in the world; and there, too, -were the young girls, whose season was to come, and the ample -dowagers, whose seasons were long since past, lying back among the -cushions, amid ermine and fur; and with all this Estelle was laughing -and cantering by my side. Then we were at the opera--another fantastic -dream--the voices of Grisi and Mario were blending there, and as its -music seemed to die away, once more we were at Craigaderyn, under its -shady woods, with the green Welsh hills, snow-capped Snowdon and -Carneydd Llewellyn, in the distance, and voices and music and -laughter--some memory of Dora's fête--seemed to be about us. So while -lying there, on that ghastly field of Inkermann, between sleeping and -waking, I dreamed of her who was so far away--of the sweet -companionship that might never come again; of the secret tie that -bound us; of the soft dark eyes that whilom had looked lovingly into -mine; of the sweetly-modulated voice that was now falling merrily, -perhaps, on other ears, and might fall on mine no more. And a vague -sense of happiness, mingled with the pain caused by the half-spent -shot and the wild confusion and suffering of the time, stole over me. -Waking, these memories became</p> -<div class="poem1"> -<p class="t0"> -"Sad as remembered kisses after death,<br> -And sweet as those by hopeless <i>fancy</i> feigned<br> -On lips that are for others--deep as love,<br> -Deep as first love, and wild with all regret,<br> -O death in life--the days that are no more!"</p> -</div> - -<p class="continue">From all this I was thoroughly roused by a voice crying, "Up, up, -wounded--all you who are able! Cavalry are coming this way--you will -be trod to death. Arrah, get out of <i>that</i>, every man-jack of yees!"</p> - -<p class="normal">The excited speaker was an Irish hussar, picking his way across the -field at a quick trot.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was a false alarm; but the rumble of wheels certainly came next -day, and an ambulance-wagon passed slowly, picking up the wounded, who -groaned or screamed as their fractured limbs were handled, and their -wounds burst out afresh through the clotted blood. I waved an arm, and -the scarlet sleeve attracted attention.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There is a wounded officer--one of the 23rd Fusileers," cried a -driver from his saddle.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where?" asked a mounted officer in the blue cloak and cap of the Land -Transport Corps.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Under that dead horse, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"One of the 23rd; let us see--Hardinge, by all the devils!" said -the officer, who proved to be no other than Hawkesby Guilfoyle. -"So-ho--steady, steady!" he added, while secretly touching his horse -with the spurs to make it rear and plunge in three several attempts to -tread me under its hoofs; but the terrible aspect of the dead animal -smashed by the cannon-shot so scared the one he rode, that he bore on -the curb in vain.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Coward! coward!" I exclaimed, "if God spares me you shall hear of -this."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The fellow is mad or tipsy," said he; "drive on."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But, sir--sir!" urged the driver in perplexity.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Villain! you are my evil fate," said I faintly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I tell you the fellow is mad--drive on, I command you, or by----, -I'll make a prisoner of you!" thundered Guilfoyle, drawing a pistol -from his holster, while his shifty green eyes grew white with -suppressed passion and malice; so the ambulance-cart was driven on, -and I was left to my fate.</p> - -<p class="normal">Giddy and infuriated by pain and just indignation, I lay under my cold -and ghastly load, perishing of thirst, and looking vainly about for -assistance.</p> - -<p class="normal">Scarcely were they gone, when out of the dense thick brushwood, that -grew in clumps and tufts over all the valley, there stole forth two -Russian soldiers, with their bayonets fixed, and their faces distorted -and pale with engendered fanaticism and fury at their defeat. There -was a cruel gleam in their eyes as they crept stealthily about. Either -they feared to fire or their ammunition was expended, for I saw them -deliberately pass their bayonets through the bodies of four or five -wounded men, and pin the writhing creatures to the earth. I lay very -still, expecting that my turn would soon come. The dead horse served -to conceal me for a little; but I panted rather than breathed, and my -breath came in gasps as they drew near me; for on discovering that I -was an officer, my gold wings and lace would be sure to kindle their -spirit of acquisition. I had my revolver in my right hand, and -remembered with grim joy that of its six chambers, three were yet -undischarged. Just as the first Russian came straight towards me, I -shot him through the head, and he fell backward like a log; the second -uttered a howl, and came rushing on with his butt in the air and his -bayonet pointed down. I fired both barrels. One ball took him right in -the shoulder, the other in the throat, and he fell wallowing in blood, -but not until he had hurled his musket at me. The barrel struck me -crosswise on the head, and I again became insensible. Moonlight was -stealing over the valley when consciousness returned again, and I felt -more stiff and more helpless than ever. Something was stirring near -me; I looked up, and uttered an exclamation on seeing our regimental -goat, Carneydd Llewellyn, quietly cropping some herbage among the -débris of dead bodies and weapons that lay around me. Like Caradoc, I -had made somewhat a pet of it. The poor animal knew my voice, and on -coming towards me, permitted me to stroke and pat it; and a strong -emotion of wonder and regard filled my heart as I did so, for it was a -curious coincidence that this animal, once the pet of Winifred Lloyd, -should discover me there upon the field of Inkermann.</p> - -<p class="normal">After a little I heard a voice, in English, cry, "Here is our goat at -last, by the living Jingo!" and Dicky Roll, its custodian--from whose -tent it had escaped, when a shot from the batteries broke the -pole--came joyfully towards it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Roll, Dicky Roll," cried I, "for God's sake bring some of our -fellows, and have me taken from here!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Captain Hardinge! are you wounded, sir?" asked the little drummer, -stooping in commiseration over me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Badly, I fear, but cannot tell with certainty."</p> - -<p class="normal">Dicky shouted in his shrill boyish voice, and in a few minutes some of -our pioneers and bandsmen came that way with stretchers. I was -speedily freed from my superincumbent load, and very gently and -carefully borne rearward to my tent, when it was found that a couple -of contusions on the head were all I had suffered, and that a little -rest and quiet would soon make me fit for duty again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You must be more than ever careful of our goat, Dicky," said I, as -the small warrior, who was not much taller than his own bearskin cap, -was about to leave me (by the bye, my poor fellow Evans had been cut -in two by a round shot). "But for Carneydd Llewellyn, I might have -lain all night on the field."</p> - -<p class="normal">"There is a date scratched on one of his horns, sir," said Roll; "I -saw it to-day for the first time."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A date!--what date?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sunday, 21st August."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sunday, 21st August," I repeated; "what can that refer to?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't know, sir--<i>do you?</i>"</p> - -<p class="normal">The drummer saluted and left the tent. I lay on my camp-bed weak and -feverish, so weak, that I could almost have wept; for now came -powerfully back to memory that episode, till then forgotten--the -Sunday ramble I had with Winifred Lloyd when we visited the goat, by -the woods of Craigaderyn, by the cavern in the glen, by the Maen Hir -or the Giant's Grave, and the rocking stone, and all that passed that -day, and how she wept when I kissed her. Poor Winifred! her pretty -white hand must have engraved the date which the little drummer -referred to--a date which was evidently dwelling more in her artless -mind than in mine.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_38" href="#div1Ref_38">CHAPTER XXXVIII.--THE CAMP AGAIN.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">After the living were mustered next morning, and burial parties -detailed to inter the dead, Caradoc and one or two others dropped into -my tent to share some tiffin and a cigar or two with me; for, as Digby -Grand has it, "whatever people's feelings may be, they go to dine all -the same."</p> - -<p class="normal">Poor Phil looked as pale and weary, if not more so, than I did. He was -on the sick-list also, and had his head tied up by a bloody bandage, -necessitated by a pretty trenchant sword-cut, dealt, as we afterwards -discovered on comparing notes, by Volhonski just before his recapture.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I was first knocked over by Cathcart's riderless horse--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Poor old Cathcart--a Waterloo man!" said Gwynne, parenthetically. -"Well, Phil?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It was wounded and mad with terror," continued Caradoc; "then the -splinter of a shell struck me on the left leg. Still I limped to the -front, keeping the men together and close to the colours, till that -fellow you call Volhonski cut me across the head; even my bearskin -failed to protect me from his sabre. Then, but not till <i>then</i>, when -blood blinded me, I threw up the sponge and went to the rear."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What news of our friends in the 19th?" I asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"O, the old story, many killed and wounded."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Little Tom Clavell?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Untouched. Had the staff of the Queen's colours smashed in his hands -by a grape shot. Tom is now a bigger man than ever," said Charley -Gwynne. "By the way, he was talking of Miss Dora Lloyd last night in -my bunk between the gabions, wondering what she and the girls in -England think of all this sort of thing."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thank God, they know nothing about it!" said Caradoc, lighting a -fresh cigar with a twisted cartridge paper; "the hearts of some of -them would break, could they see but yonder valley."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Poor Hugh Price!" observed Charley, with a sigh and a grimace, for he -had a bayonet prod in the right arm; "he was fairly murdered in cold -blood by one of those Kazan fellows--brained clean by the heel of a -musket, ere our bandsmen could carry him off to the hospital tents; -but I am thankful the assassin did not escape."</p> - -<p class="normal">"How?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He too was finished the next moment by Evan Rhuddlan."</p> - -<p class="normal">Other instances of assassination, especially by a Russian major, were -mentioned, and execrations both loud and deep were muttered by us all -at these atrocities, which ultimately caused Lord Raglan to send a -firm remonstrance on the subject to Sebastopol.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is it true, Charley, that the Duke of Cambridge has gone on board -ship, sick and exhausted?" asked I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I believe so."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And that Marshal Canrobert was wounded yesterday?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, and had his horse shot under him, too."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The poor Coldstreamers were fearfully cut up in the redoubt!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I saw eight of their officers interred in one grave this morning, and -three of the Grenadier Guards in another."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Poor fellows!" sighed Caradoc; "so full of life but a few hours ago."</p> - -<p class="normal">For a time the conversation, being of this nature, languished; it was -the reverse of lively, so we smoked in silence. We were all in rather -low spirits. This was simply caused by reaction after the fierce -excitement of yesterday, and to regret for the friends who had -fallen--the brave and true-hearted fellows we had lost for ever. -Victorious though we were, we experienced but little exultation; and -from my tent door, we saw the burial parties, British and French, hard -at work in their shirt sleeves, interring the slain in great trenches, -where they were flung over each other in rows, with all their gory -clothing and accoutrements, just as they were found; and there they -lay in ghastly ranks, their pallid faces turned to heaven, the hope of -many a heart and household that were far away from that horrible -valley; their joys, their sorrows, their histories, and their passing -agonies all ended now, with no tears on their cheek save those with -which the hand of God bedews the dead face of the poor soldier.</p> - -<p class="normal">A ring or a watch, or it might be a lock of hair, taken, or perhaps -hastily shorn by a friendly hand from the head of a dead officer as he -was borne away to these pits--the head that some one loved so well, -hanging earthward heavily and untended--shorn for a widowed wife or -anxious mother, then at home in peaceful England, or some secluded -Scottish glen; and there his obsequies were closed by the bearded and -surpliced chaplain, who stood book in hand by the edge of the ghastly -trench, burying the dead wholesale by the thousand; and amid the boom -of the everlasting and unrelenting cannonade, now going on at the left -attack, might be heard the solemn sentences attuned to brighter hopes -elsewhere than on earth, where "Death seemed scoffed at and derided by -the reckless bully Life."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Here is an old swell, with no end of decorations," said a couple of -our privates, as they trailed past the body of a Russian officer, one -half of whose head had been shot away, and they threw him into a -trench where the gray-coats lay in hundreds. The "old swell" proved to -be the brave Pulkovnich Ochterlony of Guynde; he who had led his -regiment so bravely at Bayazid on the mountain slopes of the Aghri -Tagh in Armenia, when, in the preceding August, the Russians had -defeated the Turks, and laid two thousand scarlet fezzes in the dust. -The episode of meeting with Guilfoyle, his conduct after the action, -and the character he had borne as a civilian, formed a topic of -some interest for my friends, who were vehement in urging me to -denounce this distinguished "cornet" of the wagon-corps to the -commander-in-chief. And this I resolved to do so soon as I was -sufficiently recovered to write, or to visit Lord Raglan in person.</p> - -<p class="normal">But to take action in the matter soon proved impossible, as he was -taken prisoner the next day by some Cossacks who were scouting near -the Baidar Valley, and who instantly carried him off. Some there were -in the camp who gave this capture the very different name of wilful -desertion, from two reasons; first, he had been gambling to a -wonderful extent, and with all his usual success, so that he had -completely rooked many of his brother officers, nearly all of whom -were deserving men from the ranks; and second, that on the day after -he was taken, the Russians opened a dreadful fire of shot and shell on -one of our magazines, the exact <i>locale</i> of which could only have been -indicated to them by some traitor safe within their own lines; and -none knew better than I the savage treachery of which he was capable.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was now asserted that we should not assault Sebastopol until the -arrival of fresh reinforcements, which were expected by the way of -Constantinople in a few weeks. There were said to be fifteen thousand -French, and our own 97th, or Earl of Ulster's, and 99th Lanarkshire -coming from Greece, with the 28th from Malta; but that we were likely -to <i>winter</i> before the besieged city was now becoming pretty evident -to the Allies, and none of us liked the prospect, the French perhaps -least of all, with the freezing memories of their old Russian war and -the retreat from flaming Moscow still spoken of in their ranks; and -the cruel and taunting boast of the Emperor Nicholas concerning -Russia's two most conquering generals--January and February.</p> - -<p class="normal">So when the wood for the erection of huts began to arrive at -Balaclava, and the winter siege became a prospect that was inevitable, -I thought of having a wigwam built for myself and two other officers; -and confess that as the season advanced, some such habitation would -have been more acceptable than my bell-tent, which, like much more of -our warlike gear, had probably lain in some of John Bull's shabby -peace-at-any-price repositories since Waterloo, and was all decaying. -Hence the door was always closed with difficulty, especially on cold -nights, the straps being rotten and the buckles rusty. Add to this, -that our camp-bedding and clothes were alike dropping to pieces--the -result of constant wet and damp. Already no two soldiers in our ranks -were clad alike; they looked like well-armed vagrants, and wore -comically-patched clothing, with caps of all kinds, gleaned off the -late field or near the burial trenches. Some of the Rifles, in lieu of -dark green, were fain to wear smocks made by themselves from old -blankets, and leggings made of the same material or old sacking, and -many linesmen, who were less fortunate, had to content them with the -rags of their uniforms. Happy indeed were the Highlanders, who had no -trousers that wore out. Alas for those to whom a flower in the -button-hole, kid gloves, glazed boots, and Rimmel's essences, were as -the necessaries of life! But ere the wished-for materials for <i>my</i> hut -arrived, circumstances I could little have foreseen found me quarters -in a very different place. Every other day I was again on duty in the -trenches, and without the aid of my field-glass could distinctly see -the dark groups of the enemy's outposts, extending from the right up -the valley of Inkermann, towards Balaclava.</p> - -<p class="normal">The rain rendered our nights and days in the trenches simply horrible; -as we had to shiver there for four-and-twenty hours, literally in mud -that rose nearly to our knees, and was sometimes frozen--especially -towards the darkest and earliest hours of the morning, when the cold -would cause even strong and brave fellows almost to sob with weakness -and debility, while we huddled together like sheep for animal warmth, -listening the while, perhaps, for a sound that might indicate a -Russian mine beneath us. Those who had tobacco smoked, of course, and -shared it freely with less fortunate comrades, who had none; and under -circumstances such as ours, great indeed was the solace of a pipe, -though some found their tobacco too wet to smoke; then the Russians -and the rain were cursed alike. The latter also often reduced the -biscuits in our havresacks to a wet and dirty pulp; but hunger made us -thankful to have it, even in that condition.</p> - -<p class="normal">"By Jove," one would say, "how the rain comes down! Awful, isn't it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Won't spoil our uniforms, Bill, anyhow."</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, lads, they are past spoiling," said I, and often had to add, -"keep your firelocks under your greatcoats, men, and look to your -ammunition."</p> - -<p class="normal">And such care was imperatively necessary, for on dark nights -especially we never knew the moment when an attempt to scour the -trenches might bring on another Inkermann. So we would sit cowering -between the gabions, while ever and anon the fiery bombs, often shot -at random, came in quick succession through the dark sky of night, -making bright and glittering arcs as they sped on their message of -destruction, sometimes falling short and bursting in mid-air, or on -the earth and throwing up a column of dust and stones, and sometimes -fairly into the trenches, scattering death and mutilation among us. -Erelong, as the season drew on, we had the snow to add to our -miseries, and for many an hour under the lee of a gabion I have sat, -half awake and half torpid, watching the white flakes falling, like -glittering particles, athwart the slanting moonlight on the pale and -upturned faces and glistening eyes of the dead, on their black and -gaping wounds, and tattered uniform; for many perished nightly in the -trenches, on some occasions over a hundred; and at times and places -their bodies were so frozen to the earth, that to remove or tear them -up was impossible, so they had to be left where they lay, or be -covered up <i>pro tem</i>, with a little loose soil, broken by a sapper's -pickaxe. And with the endurance of all this bodily misery, I had the -additional grief that no letters ever came from Estelle for me. My -dream-castle was beginning to crumble down. I began to feel vaguely -that something had been taken out of my life, that life itself was -less worth having now, and that the beauty of the past was fading -completely away. I had but one conviction or wish--that I had never -met, had never known, or had never learned to love her.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_39" href="#div1Ref_39">CHAPTER XXXIX.--A MAIL FROM ENGLAND.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">THE dreamy conviction or thought with which the last chapter closes, -proved, perhaps, but a foreshadowing of that which was looming in the -future. On the day after that terrible storm of wind, rain, and hail -in the Black Sea, when some five hundred seamen were drowned, and when -so many vessels perished, causing an immense loss to the Allies; a -terrific gale, such as our oldest naval officers had never seen; when -the tents in camp were uprooted in thousands, and swept in rags before -the blast; when the horses broke loose from their picketing-ropes, and -forty were found dead from cold and exposure; when every imaginable -article was blown hither and thither through the air; and when, -without food, fire, or shelter, even the sick and wounded passed a -night of privation and misery such as no human pen can describe, and -many of the Light Division were thankful to take shelter in the old -caverns and cells of Inkermann--on the 15th of November, the day -subsequent to this terrible destruction by land and water, there -occurred an episode in my own story which shall never be forgotten by -me.</p> - -<p class="normal">Singular to say, amid all the vile hurly-burly incident to the storm, -a disturbance increased by the roar of the Russian batteries, and a -sortie on the French, a mail from England reached our division, and it -contained one letter for me.</p> - -<p class="normal">Prior to my opening it, as I failed to recognise the writing, Phil -Caradoc (wearing a blanket in the fashion of a poncho-wrapper, a -garment to which his black bearskin cap formed an odd finish) entered -my tent, which had just been re-erected with great difficulty, and I -saw that he had a newspaper in his hand, and very cloudy expression in -his usually clear brown eyes.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What is up, Phil?" said; "a bad report of our work laid before the -public, or what?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Worse than that," said he, seating himself on the empty flour-cask -which served me for a table. "Can you steel yourself to hear bad -news?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"From home?" I asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, yes," said he, hesitating, and a chill came over my heart as I -said involuntarily,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Estelle?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, about Lady Cressingham."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What--what--don't keep me in suspense!" I exclaimed, starting up.</p> - -<p class="normal">"She is, I fear, lost to you for ever, Hardinge."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ill--dead--O, Phil, don't say dead!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, no."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thank God! What, then, is the matter?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"She is--married, that is all."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Married!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Poor Harry! I am deuced sorry for you. Look at this paper. Perhaps I -shouldn't have shown it to you; but some one less a friend--Mostyn or -Clavell--might have thrown it in your way. Besides, you <i>must</i> have -learned the affair in time. Take courage," he added, after a pause, -during which a very stunned sensation pervaded me; "be a man; she is -not worth regretting."</p> - -<p class="normal">"To whom is she married?" I asked, in a low voice.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pottersleigh," said he, placing in my hand the paper, which was a -<i>Morning Post</i>.</p> - -<p class="normal">I crushed it up into a ball, and then, spreading it out on the head of -the inverted cask, read, while my hands trembled, and my heart grew -sick with many contending emotions, a long paragraph which Phil -indicated, and which ran somewhat as follows, my friend the while -standing quietly by my side, manipulating a cheroot prior to lighting -it with a cinder from my little fire. The piece of fashionable gossip -was headed, "Marriage of the Right Hon. the Earl of Aberconway and the -Lady Estelle Cressingham;" and detailed, in the usual style of such -announcements, that, on a certain--I forget which day <i>now</i>--the -lovely and secluded little village of Walcot, in Hampshire, presented -quite a festive appearance in honour of the above-named event, the -union of the young and beautiful daughter of the late Earl of Naseby -to our veteran statesman; that along the route from the gates of -Walcot Park to the porch of the village church were erected several -arches of evergreen, tastefully surmounted by banners and appropriate -mottoes. Among the former "we observed the arms of the now united -noble houses of Potter and Cressingham, and the standards of the -Allies now before Sebastopol. The beautiful old church of Walcot was -adorned with flowers, and crowded to excess long before the hour -appointed. The lovely bride was charmingly attired in white satin, -elegantly trimmed with white lace, and wore a wreath of orange -blossoms on her splendid dark hair, covered with a long veil, <i>à la -juive</i>. The bridesmaids, six in number, were as follows:" but I omit -their names as well as the list of gifts bestowed upon the noble -bride, who was given away by her cousin, the young earl. "Lord -Aberconway, with his ribbon of the Garter, wore the peculiar uniform -of the Pottersleigh Yeomanry."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Rather a necessary addition," said Phil, parenthetically; "his -lordship could scarcely have figured in the ribbon alone."</p> - -<p class="normal">"--Yeomanry, of which gallant regiment he is colonel, and looked hale -and well for his years. After a choice <i>déjeûner</i> provided for a -distinguished circle, the newly-wedded pair left Walcot Park, amid the -most joyous demonstrations, for Pottersleigh Hall, the ancestral seat -of the noble Earl, to spend the honeymoon."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A precious flourish of penny whistles!" said Phil, when I had read, -deliberately folded the paper, and thrust it into the fire, to the end -that I might not be troubled by the temptation to read it all over -again; and then we looked at each other steadily for a minute in -silence. Forsaken! I remembered my strange forebodings now, when I had -ridden to Walcot Park. They were married--married, she and old -Pottersleigh! My heart seemed full of tears, yet when seating myself -wearily on the camp-bed, I laughed bitterly and scornfully, as I -thought over the inflated newspaper paragraph, and that the <i>sangre -azul</i> of the Earl of Aberconway must be thin and blue indeed, when -compared with the red blood of my less noble self.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come, Harry, don't laugh--in that fashion at least," said Caradoc. -"I've some brandy here," he added, unslinging his canteen, "I got from -a confiding little vivandière of the 10th Regiment, Infanterie de -Ligne. Don't mix it with the waters of Marah, the springs of -bitterness, but take a good caulker neat, and keep up your heart. -<i>Varium et mutabile semper</i>--you know the last word is feminine. That -is it, my boy--nothing more. Even the wisest man in the world, though -he dearly loved them, could never make women out; and I fear, Harry, -that you and I are not even the wisest men in the Welsh Fusileers. And -now as a consolation,</p> -<div class="poem1"> -<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-15px"> -"'And that your sorrow may not be a dumb one,<br> -Write odes on the inconstancy of woman.'"</p> -</div> - -<p class="normal">"I loved that girl very truly, very honestly, and very tenderly, -Phil," said I, in a low voice, and heedless of how he had been running -on; "and she kissed me when I left her, as I then thought and hoped a -woman only kisses <i>once</i> on earth. In my sleep I have had a -foreshadowing of this. Can it be that the slumber of the body is but -the waking of the soul, that such thoughts came to me of what was to -be?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"The question is too abstruse for me," said Caradoc, stroking his -brown beard, which was now of considerable length and volume; "but -don't worry yourself, Harry; you have but tasted, as I foresaw you -would, of the hollow-heartedness, the puerile usages, the petty -intrigues, and the high-born snobbery of those exclusives 'the upper -ten thousand.' Don't think me republican for saying so; but 'there is -one glory of the sun and another of the moon,' as some one writes; -'and there is one style of beauty among women which is angelic, and -another which is <i>not</i>,' referring, I presume, to beauty of the -spirit. We were both fated to be unlucky in our loves," continued -Caradoc, taking a vigorous pull at the little plug-hole of his -canteen, a tiny wooden barrel slung over his shoulder by a strap; "but -do take courage, old fellow, and remember there are other women in the -world in plenty."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But not for me," said I, bitterly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Tush! think of me, of my affair--I mean my mistake with Miss Lloyd."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But she never loved you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Neither did this Lady Estelle, now Countess of Aberconway" (I ground -my teeth), "love you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"She said she did; and what has it all come to? promises broken, a -plight violated, a heart trod under foot."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come, come; don't be melodramatic--it's d--d absurd, and no use. -Besides, there sounds the bugle for orders, and we shall have to -relieve the trenches in an hour. So take another cigar ere you go."</p> - -<p class="normal">"She never loved me--never! never! you are right, Phil."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And yet I believe she did."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Did!" said I, angrily; "what do you mean now, Caradoc? I am in no -mood to study paradoxes."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I mean that she loved you to a certain extent; but not well enough to -sacrifice herself and her--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Don't say position--hang it!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No--no."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What then?" I asked, impatiently.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Her little luxuries, and all that she must have lost by the tenor of -her father's will and her mother's bad will, or that she should have -omitted to gain, had she married you, a simple captain of the 23rd -Foot, instead of this old Potter--this Earl of Aberconway."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A simple captain, indeed!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pshaw, Harry, be a man, and think no more about the affair. It is as -a tale that is told, a song that is sung, a bottle of tolerable wine -that has become a marine."</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>L'infidelité</i> du <i>corps</i>, ou l'infidelité du <i>c[oe]ur</i>, I care not -now which it was; but I am done with her now and for ever," I -exclaimed, with a sudden gust of rage, while clasping on my sword.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Done--so I should think, when she is married."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But to such a contemptible dotard."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, there is some revenge in that."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And she could cast me aside like an old garment," said I, lapsing -into tenderness again; "I, to whose neck she clung as she did on that -evening we parted. There must have been some trickery--some treachery, -of which we are the victims!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Don't go on in this way, like a moonstruck boy, or, by Jove, the -whole regiment will find it out; so calm yourself, for we go to the -front in an hour;" and wringing my hand this kind-hearted fellow, -whose offhand consolation was but ill-calculated to soothe me, left -for his own tent, as he had forgotten his revolver.</p> - -<p class="normal">I was almost stupefied by the shock. Could the story be real? I looked -to the little grate (poor Evans' contrivance) where the charred -remains of the <i>Morning Post</i> still flickered in the wind. Was I the -same man of an hour ago? "The plains of life were free to traverse," -as an elegant female writer says, "but the sunshine of old lay across -them no longer. There were roses, but they were scentless--fruits, but -they were tasteless--wine, but it had lost its flavour. Well, every -created being must come to an hour like this, when he feels there is -nothing pleasant to the palate, or grateful to the sense, agreeable to -the ear, or refreshing to the heart; when man delights him not and -woman still less, and when he is sick of the dream of existence."</p> - -<p class="normal">To this state had I come, and yet I had neither seen nor heard the -last of her.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Estelle--Estelle!" I exclaimed in a low voice, and my arms went out -into vacancy, to fall back on the camp-bed whereon I reclined. -Abandoned for another; forgotten it might too probably--nay, must be. -I stared up, and looked from the triangular door of the tent over the -wilderness of zigzags, the sand-bags, and fascines of the trenches; -over the gun-batteries to the white houses and green domes of -Sebastopol, and all down the long valley of Inkermann, where the -graves of the dead lay so thick and where the Russian pickets were -quietly cooking their dinners; but I could see nothing distinctly. -The whole features of the scenery seemed blurred, faint, and blended, -for my head was swimming, my heart was sick, and all, all this was -the doing of Estelle! Did no memory of sweet Winifred Lloyd come -to me in my desolation of the heart? None! I could but think of the -cold-blooded treachery of the one I had lost. My letter! I suddenly -remembered it, and tore it open, thinking that the writer, whose hand, -as I have said, I failed to recognise, might cast some light upon the -matter; and to my increasing bewilderment, it proved to be from -Winifred herself. A letter from her, and to <i>me</i>; what could it mean? -But the first few words sufficed to explain.</p> - -<p class="normal">Craigaderyn, . . . .</p> - -<p class="normal">"My dear Captain Hardinge,--Papa has sprained his whip hand when -hunting with Sir Watkins Vaughan, and so compels me to write for him." -(Why should compulsion be necessary? thought I.) "You will, no doubt, -have heard all about Lady Estelle's marriage by this time. She was -engaged to Lord Pottersleigh <i>before</i> she came here, it would seem, -and matters were brought to an issue soon after your transport sailed. -She wished Dora and me to be among her bridesmaids, but we declined; -nor would papa have permitted us, had we desired to be present at the -ceremony. She bade me say, if I wrote to you, that you must forgive -her, as she is the victim of circumstances; that she shall ever esteem -and love you as a brother, and so forth; but I agree with papa, who -says that she is a cold-hearted jilt, undeserving of any man's love, -and that he 'will never forgive her, even if he lived as long as -Gwyllim ap Howel ap Jorwerth ap Tregaian,' the Old Parr of Wales.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We are all well at Craigaderyn, and all here send you and Mr. Caradoc -kindest love. We are quite alone just now, and I often idle over my -music, playing 'The Men of Harlech,' and other Welsh airs to papa. -More often I wander and ride about the Martens' dingle, by Carneydd -Llewellyn's hut--you remember it?--by Glendower's oak, by the Elwey, -Llyn Aled, and the rocking stone, and think--think very much of you -and poor Mr. Caradoc, and all that might have been." (Pretty pointed -this--with which--Phil or me? Could I be uncertain?) "Next to hearing -from you, our greatest pleasure at Craigaderyn is to hear about you -and our own Welsh Fusileers, of whose bravery at Alma we are so justly -proud; so we devour the newspapers with avidity and too often with -sorrow. How is my dear pet goat?"</p> - -<p class="normal">And so, with a pretty little prayer that I might be spared, her letter -ended; and hearing the voices of the adjutant and sergeant-major, I -thrust it into my pocket, and set off to relieve the trenches, with -less of enthusiasm and more recklessness of life than ever before -possessed me, and without reflecting that I did not deserve to receive -a letter so kind and prayerful as that of the dear little Welsh girl, -who was so far away. It was cold that night in the trenches, nathless -the Russian <i>fire</i>--yea, cold enough to freeze the marrow in one's -bones; but my heart seemed colder still. In the morning, four of my -company were found dead between the gabions, without a wound, and with -their muskets in their hands. The poor fellows had gone to their last -account--slipt away in sheer exhaustion, through lack of food, warmth, -and clothing--and this was glory!</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_40" href="#div1Ref_40">CHAPTER XL.--A PERILOUS DUTY.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">I have said that, ere the regular hutting of the army for the winter -siege began, quarters were found for me by fate elsewhere; a -circumstance which came about in the following manner. All may have -heard of the famous solitary ride of Lieutenant Maxse of the Royal -Navy, to open a communication between headquarters and Balaclava; and -it was my chance to have a similar solitary ride to perform, but, -unfortunately, to fail in achieving the end that was in view. One -afternoon, on being informed by the adjutant of ours that I was wanted -at headquarters, I assumed my sword and sash--indeed, these -appurtenances were rarely off us--and putting my tattered uniform in -such order as the somewhat limited means of my "toilet-table" -admitted, repaired at once, and not without considerable surprise, and -some vague misgivings, to the house inhabited by Lord Raglan. I had -there to wait for some time, as he was busy with some of the -headquarter staff, and had just been holding a conference with certain -French officers of rank, who were accompanied by their aides and -orderlies. Among them I saw the fat and full-faced but soldier-like -Marshal Pelissier, the future Duc de Malakoff, with his cavalry escort -and banner; and grouped about the place, or departing therefrom, I saw -Chasseurs d'Afrique in sky-blue jackets and scarlet trousers; Imperial -Cuirassiers in helmets and corslets of glittering steel; French horse -artillery with caps of fur and pelisses covered with red braid. There, -too, were many of our own staff officers, with their plumed hats; even -the Turkish cavalry escort of some pasha, stolid-looking fellows in -scarlet fezzes, were there, their unslung carbines resting on the -right thigh; and I saw some of our Land Transport Corps, in red -jackets braided with black, loitering about, as if some important -movement was on the tapis; but whatever had been suggested, nothing -was fated to come of it.</p> - -<p class="normal">Through the buzz and Babel of several languages, I was ushered at -last, by an orderly sergeant, into the little dingy room where the -Commander-in-chief of our Eastern army usually held his councils or -consultations, received reports, and prepared his plans. The military -secretary, the chief of the staff, the adjutant-general, and some -other officers, whose uniforms were all threadbare, darned, and -discoloured, and whose epaulettes were tattered, frayed, and reduced -almost to black wire, were seated with him at a table, which was -littered with letters, reports, despatches, telegrams, and plans of -Sebastopol, with the zigzags, the harbour, the valley of the -Tchernaya, and of the whole Crimea. And it was not without an emotion -of interest and pleasure, that I found myself before our old and -amiable leader, the one-armed Lord Raglan--he whose kindly nature, -charity, urbanity, and queer signature as <i>Fitzroy Somerset</i>, when -military secretary, had been so long known in our army during the days -of peace; and to whom the widow or the orphan of a soldier never -appealed in vain.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Glad to see you, Captain Hardinge," said he, bowing in answer to my -salute; "I have a little piece of duty for you to perform, and the -chief of the staff" (here he turned to the future hero of the attack -on the Redan) "has kindly reminded me of how well you managed the -affair of the flag of truce sent to the officer on the Russian left, -concerning the major of the 93rd Highlanders."</p> - -<p class="normal">I bowed again and waited.</p> - -<p class="normal">"My personal aides," he continued, "are all knocked up or engaged -elsewhere just now, and I have here a despatch for Marshal Canrobert, -requiring an immediate answer, as there is said to be an insurrection -among the Polish troops within Sebastopol, and if so, you will readily -perceive the necessity for taking instant advantage of it. At this -precise time, the Marshal is at a Tartar village on the road to -Kokoz." (Here his lordship pointed to a map of the Crimea.) "It lies -beyond the Pass of Baidar, which you will perceive indicated there, -and consequently is about thirty English miles to our rear and right. -You can neither miss him nor the village, I think, by any possibility, -as it is occupied by his own old corps, the 3rd Zouaves, a French line -regiment, and four field guns. You will deliver to him this letter, -and bring me his answer without delay."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Unless I fail, my lord."</p> - -<p class="normal">"As Richelieu says in the play, 'there is no such word as fail!'" he -replied, smiling. "But, however, in case of danger, for there <i>are</i> -Cossacks about, you must take heed to destroy the despatch."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Very good, my lord--I shall go with pleasure."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have a horse, I presume?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I had not thought of that, my lord--a horse, no; here I can scarcely -feed myself, and find no use for a horse."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Take mine--I have a spare one," said the chief of the staff, who was -then a major-general and C.B. He rang the hand-bell for the orderly -sergeant, to whom he gave a message. Then I had a glass or two of -sherry from a simple black bottle; Lord Raglan gave me his missive -sealed, and shook my hand with that energy peculiar to the one-armed, -and a few minutes more saw me mounted on a fine black horse, belonging -to the chief of the staff, and departing on my lonely mission. The -animal I rode--round in the barrel, high in the forehead, and deep in -the chest, sound on its feet and light in hand--was a thorough English -roadster--a nag more difficult to find in perfection than even the -hunter or racer; but his owner was fated to see him no more.</p> - -<p class="normal">I rode over to the lines of the regiment, to let some of our -fellows--who all envied me, yet wished me well--know of the duty -assigned me. What was it to me whether or not <i>she</i> saw my name in -despatches, in orders, or in the death list? Whether I distinguished -myself or died mattered little to me, and less now to her. It was a -bitter conviction; so excitement and forgetfulness alike of the past -and of the present were all I sought--all I cared for. Caradoc, -however, wisely and kindly suggested some alteration or modification -in my uniform, as the country through which I had to pass was -certainly liable to sudden raids by scouting Cossacks. So, for my red -coat and bearskin, I hastily substituted the blue undress surtout, -forage cap, and gray greatcoat. I had my sword, revolver, and -ammunition pouch at my waist-belt. Perceiving that I was gloomy and -sullen, and somewhat low-spirited in eye and bearing, Caradoc and -Charley Gwynne, who could not comprehend what had "been up" with me -for some time past, and who openly assured me that they envied me this -chance of "honourable mention," accompanied me a little way beyond the -line of sentries on our right flank.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Au revoir, old fellow! Keep up your heart and remember all I have -said to you," were Phil's parting words, "and together we shall sing -and be merry. I hope to keep the 1st of March in Sebastopol, and there -to chorus our old mess room song;" and as he waved his hand to me, the -light-hearted fellow sang a verse of a ditty we were wont to indulge -in on St. David's-day, while Toby Purcell's spurs were laid on the -table, and the band, preceded by the goat led by the drum-major with a -salver of leeks, marched in procession round it:</p> -<div class="poem0"> -<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-15px"> -"Then pledge me a toast to the glory of Wales--<br> -To her sons and her daughters, her hills and her vales;<br> -Once more--here's a toast to the mighty of old--<br> -To the fair and the gentle, the wise and the bold;<br> -Here's a health to whoever, by land or by sea,<br> -Has been true to the Wales of the brave and the free!"</p> -</div> - -<p class="normal">And poor Phil Caradoc's voice, carolling this local ditty, was the -last sound I heard, as I took the path that led first towards -Balaclava and thence to the place of my destination, while the sun of -the last day of November was shedding lurid and farewell gleams on the -spires and white walls of Sebastopol. Many descriptions have rendered -the name and features of Balaclava so familiar to all, with its old -Genoese fort, its white Arnaout dwellings shaded by poplars and other -trees, that I mean to skip farther notice of it, and also of the mud -and misery of the place itself--the beautiful and landlocked harbour, -once so secluded, then crowded with man-of-war boats and steam -launches, and made horrible by the swollen and sweltering carcasses of -hundreds of troop-horses, which our seamen and marines used as -stepping-stones when leaping from boat to boat or to the shore. Some -little episodes made an impression upon me, which I am unlikely to -forget, after approaching Balaclava by a cleft between those rocky -heights where our cavalry were encamped, and where, by ignominiously -making draught-horses of their troopers for the conveyance of planks, -they were busily erecting a town of huts that looked like a "backwood" -hamlet. A picturesque group was formed by some of the kilted Highland -Brigade, brawny and bearded men, their muscular limbs displayed by -their singular costume, piling a cairn above the trench where some of -their dead comrades lay, thus fulfilling one of the oldest customs of -their country--in the words of Ossian, "raising the stones above the -mighty, that they might speak to the little sons of future years." -Elsewhere I saw two Frenchmen carrying a corpse on a stretcher, from -which they coolly tilted it into a freshly dug hole, and began to -cover it up, singing the while as cheerily as the grave-digger in -<i>Hamlet</i>, which I deemed a striking proof of the demoralising effect -of war--for their comrade was literally buried exactly as a dog would -have been in England; and yet, that the last element of civilisation -might not be wanting, a gang of "navvies" were laying down the -sleepers for the first portion of the camp-railway, through the main -street of Balaclava, the Bella-chiare of the adventurous Genoese.</p> - -<p class="normal">Though I did not loiter there, the narrow way was so deep with mud, -and so encumbered by the débris and material of war, that my progress -was very slow, and darkness was closing in on land and sea when I -wheeled off to the left in the direction of Kokoz, after obtaining -some brandy from a vivandière of the 12th French Infantry--not the -pretty girl with the semi-uniform, the saucy smile, and slender -ankles, who beats the drum and pirouettes so prettily as the orthodox -stage vivandière--but a stout French female party, muffled in a -bloodstained Russian greatcoat, with a tawny imp squalling at her -back. I passed the ground whereon the picturesque Sardinian army was -afterwards to encamp, and soon entered the lovely Baidar valley. The -mountains and the dense forests made me think of Wales, for on my -right lay a deep ravine with rocks and water that reflected the stars; -on my left were abrupt but well-wooded crags, and I could not but look -first on one side, and then on the other, with some uneasiness; for -Russian riflemen might be lurking among the latter, and stray Cossacks -might come prowling down the former, far in rear of Canrobert's -advanced post at the Tartar village. A column such as he had with him -might penetrate with ease to a distance most perilous for a single -horseman; and this valley, lovely though it was--the Tempe of the -Crimea--I was particularly anxious to leave behind me. I have said -that I felt reckless of peril, and so I did, being reckless enough and -ready enough to face any danger in front; yet I disliked the idea of -being quietly "potted" by some Muscovite boor lying <i>en perdue</i>, -behind a bush, and then being brained or bayoneted by him afterwards; -for I knew well that those who were capable of murdering our helpless -wounded on the field, would have few compunctions elsewhere. -Reflection now brought another idea--a very unpleasant one--to mind. -Though I was in <i>rear</i> of this French advanced post, there was nothing -to prevent Cossack scouts--active and ubiquitous as the Uhlans of -Prussia--from deeming me a spy and treating me as such, if they found -me there; for was not Major André executed most ignominiously by the -Americans on that very charge, though taken in the uniform of the -Cameronian regiment?</p> - -<p class="normal">Unfortunately for me, there were and are two roads through the Baidar -valley: one by the pass, of recent construction; and the other, the -ancient horse-road, which is old, perhaps, as the days of the Greeks -of Klimatum. A zigzag ascent, and a gallery hewn through the granite -rocks for some fifty yards or so, lead to a road from whence, by its -lofty position, the whole line of shore can be seen for miles, and the -sea, as I saw it then, dotted by the red top-lights of our men-o'-war -and transports. The other follows for some little distance, certainly, -the same route nearly, but comes ere long to the Devil's Staircase, -the steps of which are trunks of trees alternated by others hewn out -of the solid rock; and this perilous path lies, for some part of the -way at least, between dark, shadowy, and enormous masses of impending -cliffs, where any number of men might be taken by surprise. And -certainly I felt my heart beat faster, with the mingled emotions of -fierce excitement and stern joy, as I hooked my sword-hilt close up to -my waist-belt, assured myself that the caps were on my revolver, and -spurred my roadster forward. Darkness was completely set in now, and -before me there twinkled one solitary star at the distant end of the -gloomy and rocky tunnel through which I was pursuing my solitary way.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_41" href="#div1Ref_41">CHAPTER XLI.--THE CARAVANSERAI.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">I pursued the old road just described, urging my horse to a trot where -I dare do so, but often being compelled--by the rough construction and -nature of the way, and at times by my painful doubts as to whether I -was pursuing the right one--to moderate his pace to a walk. -Frequently, too, I had to dismount and lead him by the bridle, -especially at such parts as those steps of wood and stone by the -Merdven or Devil's Staircase, when after passing through forests of -beech and elm, walnut and filbert trees, I found myself on the summit -of a rock, which I have since learned is two thousand feet above the -Euxine, and from whence the snow-capped summits of the Caucasus can be -seen when the weather is clear. Around me were the mountains of Yaila, -rising in peaks and cliffs of every imaginable form, and fragments of -rock like inverted stalactites started up here and there amidst the -star-lighted scenery. Anon the way lay through a forest entirely of -oaks, where the fallen leaves of the past year lay deep, and the heavy -odour of their decay filled all the atmosphere. The country seemed -very lonely; no shepherd's cot appeared in sight, and an intense -conviction of utter solitude oppressed me. Frequently I reined in my -horse and hearkened for a sound, but in vain. I knew a smattering of -Arabic and that polyglot gibberish which we call Hindostani, but -feared that neither would be of much service to me if I met a Tartar; -and as for a Greek or Cossack, the revolver would be the only means of -conferring with them. Once the sound of a distant bell struck my ear, -announcing some service by night in a church or monastery among the -hills; and soon, on my left, towered up the range of which -Mangoup-Kaleh is the chief, crowned with the ruins of a deserted -Karaite or Jewish tower, and which overlooks Sebastopol on one side, -and Sebastopol on the other. After a time I came to a place where some -buffaloes were grazing, beside a fountain that plashed from a little -archway into a basin of stone. This betokened that some habitation -must be in the vicinity; but that which perplexed me most, was the -circumstance that there the old road was crossed by another: thus I -was at a loss which to pursue. One might lead me to the shore of the -Black Sea; another back towards Sebastopol, or to the Russian pickets -in the valley of Inkermann; and the third, if it failed to be the way -to Kokoz, might be a path to greater perils still.</p> - -<p class="normal">While in this state of doubt, a light, hitherto unnoticed, attracted -my attention. It glimmered among some trees about a mile distant on my -left, and I rode warily towards it, prepared to fight or fly, as the -event might require. Other lights rapidly appeared, and a few minutes -more brought me before a long rambling building of Turkish aspect, -having large windows filled in with glass, a tiled roof, and broad -eaves. On one side was a spacious yard enclosed by a low wall, wherein -were several horses, oxen, and buffaloes tethered to the kabitkas or -quaintly-constructed country carts; on the other was a kind of open -shed like a penfold, where lighted lanterns were hanging and candles -burning in tin sconces; and by these I could perceive a number of -bearded Armenians and Tartars seated with chibouks and coffee before -them, chatting gaily and laughing merrily at the somewhat broad and -coarse jokes of a Stamboul Hadji, a pretended holy mendicant, whose -person was as unwashed and whose attire was as meagre and tattered as -that of any wandering Faquir I had ever seen in Hindostan. His beard -was ample, and of wonderful blackness; his glittering eyes, set under -beetling brows, were restless and cunning; his turban had once been -green, the sacred colour; and he carried a staff, a wallet, a -sandal-wood rosary of ninety-nine beads, and a bottle, which probably -held water when nothing stronger could be procured. The Tartars, six -in number, were lithe, active, and gaily-dressed fellows, with large -white fur caps, short jackets of red or blue striped stuff, and loose, -baggy, dark blue trousers, girt by scarlet sashes, wherein were stuck -their daggers and brass-butted pistols; for, though all civilians, -they were nevertheless well armed.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Armenians seemed to be itinerant merchants, or pedlars, as their -packages were close beside them; and two Tartar women--the wife and -daughter probably of the keeper of the khan--who were in attendance, -bringing fresh relays of coffee, cakes, and tobacco, wore each a white -feredji, which permitted nothing of their form to be seen, save the -sparkling dark eyes and yellow-booted feet, as it covered them so -completely that each looked like nothing else than a walking and -talking bundle of white linen. The whole group, as I came upon it thus -suddenly, when seen by the flickering light of the candles and -lanterns, had a very picturesque effect; but the idea flashed upon me, -that as all these men were, too probably, subjects of the Russian -empire, I ran some risk among them; and on my unexpected appearance -the Tartars started, eyed each other and me, in doubt how to act, and -instinctively laid hands on their weapons, like men who were wont to -use them. The Armenians changed colour and laid down their pipes, -fearing that I was but the precursor of a foraging party; and even the -Hadji paused in his story, and placed a hand under his short cloak, -where no doubt a weapon was concealed. All seemed doubtful what to -make of me. I heard "Bashi-bazouk" (Irregular) muttered, and "Frank," -too. My gray greatcoat enabled me, in their unprofessional eyes, to -pass for anything. If a Russian officer, they feared me; if one of the -Allies, I was the friend--however unworthy an instrument--of the -successor of Mahomet; one of those who had come to fight his battles -against the infidels of the Russian-Greek church; so either way I was -pretty secure of the Tartars' good will; and boldly riding forward, I -proceeded to "air" some of the Arabic I had picked up in the East, by -uttering the usual greeting; to which the keeper of the khan replied -by a low salaam, bending down as if to take the dust from my right -boot and carry it to his lips, while more than once he said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>Hosh ghieldiniz!</i>" (<i>i. e</i>., Welcome!)</p> - -<p class="normal">Then a Tartar, as a token of goodwill, took a pipe from his mouth and -presented it to me, while another offered me sliced water-melon on an -English delph-plate.</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>Aan coon slaheet nahss?</i>" (Have you any coppers?) whined the Hadji.</p> - -<p class="normal">I gave him a five-piastre piece, on which he salaamed to the earth -again and again, saying,</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>Kattel herac! kattel herac!</i>" (Thank you, sir.)</p> - -<p class="normal">The meeting was a narrow escape, for I might have fallen among -Russians; but fortunately not one of their nation happened at that -moment to be about the place. I laid some money on the low board -around which they were seated, and asked for coffee and a chibouk, -which were brought to me, when I dismounted. However, I remained near -my horse, that I might vault into the saddle and be off on the -shortest notice. On inquiring if I was on the right road for Kokoz, -the host of the establishment shook his head, and informed me that I -was several versts to the left of it. I next asked whether there were -any Russian troops in the immediate neighbourhood. Still eyeing me -keenly and dubiously, several of the Tartars replied in the -affirmative; and the tattered Hadji, whose goodwill I had won by my -peace-offering, told me that a party of Cossacks were now hovering in -the Baidar Valley, the very place through which I had passed, and must -have to repass, unless for safety I remained with Canrobert's flying -column. But then my orders were to return with his answer, and without -delay. Here was a pleasant predicament! After mature consideration I -resolved to wait for daylight, when the Hadji promised to be my guide -to the Tartar village, where the Franks were posted, and which he led -me to understand was nearer the base of Mangoup-Kaleh than the town of -Kokoz; and in the meantime, he added, he should resume a story, in the -narration of which he had been interrupted by my arrival. This -announcement was greeted with a hearty clapping of hands; the women -came nearer; all adjusted themselves in attitudes of attention, for -oral storytelling is the staple literature of the East. Thus their -thoughts, suspicions, and conjectures were drawn from me; and as all -seemed good-humoured, I resolved to make the best of the situation and -remain passive and patient, though every moment expecting to hear the -clank of hoofs or the jingle of accoutrements, and to see the glitter -of Cossack lances; and while I sat there, surveying the singular group -of which I formed one, the quaint aspect of the caravanserai on one -side, the dark forest lands and starlit mountains on the other, my -thoughts, in spite of me, reverted to the news I had so lately -heard--to her I had now lost for ever, and who, in her splendid -English home, was far away from all such wild scenes and stirring -perils as those which surrounded me.</p> - -<p class="normal">The story told by the Hadji referred to a piece of court scandal, -which, had he related it somewhere nearer the Golden Horn, might have -cost him his head; and to me it became chiefly remarkable from the -circumstance that, soon after the Crimean War, a portion of it -actually found its way as news from the East into the London papers; -but all who heard it in the khan listened with eyes dilated and mouth -agape, for it was replete with that treachery and lust of cruelty -which are so peculiarly oriental. After extolling in flowing and -exaggerated terms the beauty of Djemila Sultana, whom he called the -third and youngest daughter of the Sultan Abdul Medjid, the Hadji told -us that he had been present when she was bestowed in marriage upon -Mahmoud Jel-al-adeen Pasha, to whom, notwithstanding the charms of -this royal lady, the possession of her hand was anything but enviable, -as oriental princesses usually treat worse than slaves their husbands, -leading them most wretched lives, in consequence of their tyrannical -spirit, their caprice, pride, and jealousy of other women. Now the -Sultana Djemila was no exception to this somewhat general rule, and -having discovered by the aid of her royal papa's chief astrologer, the -Munadjim Bashee, that her husband had purchased and secluded in a -pretty little kiosk near the waterside at Pera a beautiful Circassian, -whom he was wont to visit during pretended absences on military duty, -she found means to have the girl carried off, and ordered the Capi -Aga, or chief of the White Eunuchs, an unscrupulous Greek, to -decapitate her; an operation which he performed by one stroke of his -sabre, for the neck of the victim was very slender, and shapely as -that of a white swan. Not contented with this, she resolved still -farther to be revenged upon her husband the Pasha when he returned to -dinner.</p> - -<p class="normal">Seating herself in the divan-hanee while the meal of which the Pasha -was to partake alone--as women, no matter what their rank may be, -never eat with men in the East--was being spread, she rose up at his -entrance, and rendering the usual homage accorded by wives (much to -his astonishment), she then clapped her white hands, on which the -diamonds flashed, as a signal to serve up the dinner. Crushed and -abashed by a long system of domestic tyranny and despair, Mahmoud -Jel-al-adeen, who feared his wife as he had never feared the Russians, -against whom he had fought valiantly at Silistria, failed to perceive -the malignant light that glittered in the beautiful black eyes of -Djemila. But a fear of coming evil was upon him, as on that day, when -he had ridden past the great Arsenal, he had seen a crow fly towards -him; in the East an infallible sign of something about to befall him, -as it was a crow that first informed Adam that Abel was slain.</p> - -<p class="normal">"So I pray you, Djemila, neither to taunt nor revile me to-day," said -he, "for a strange gloom is upon me."</p> - -<p class="normal">She laughed mockingly, and Mahmoud shivered, for this laugh was often -the precursor of taunts that could never be recalled or forgotten, and -of having his beard rent, his turban knocked off, and his lips--the -same lips at whose utterance his brigade of three thousand Mahomediyes -trembled--beaten with the heel of her tiny slipper. But she began to -storm as was her wont; and then, while her husband's fingers went into -the pillau from time to time, there began their usual taunting -discussion, with quotations from the Koran, "which, as all the world -knows, or ought to know," continued the Hadji, "is the one and only -book for laws, civil, moral, religious, and domestic."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Doth not the Prophet say," she exclaimed, closing the slender tips of -her henna-dyed fingers, "in the fourth chapter entitled 'Women,' and -revealed at Mecca, act with equity towards them?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; but he adds, 'If ye act not with equity towards orphans of the -female sex, take in marriage such other as please you, two, three, or -four; but not more."</p> - -<p class="normal">"So--so; and your fancy was for a slave!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>Was?</i>" stammered Mahmoud; then he added, defiantly, yet tremulous -with apprehension the while, "A Circassian, whose skin is as the egg -of an ostrich--her hair as a shower of sunbeams."</p> - -<p class="normal">"This to me!" she exclaimed; and starting from the divan, she smote -him thrice on the mouth with the heel of her embroidered slipper.</p> - -<p class="normal">The eyes of the Pasha flashed fire; yet remembering who she was, he -sighed and restrained his futile wrath, and said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"If you will quote the Prophet, remember that he says in chapter iv., -'Men shall have pre-eminence above women, because of those advantages -wherein God hath caused one of them to excel the other.'"</p> - -<p class="normal">Djemila laughed derisively and fanned herself.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who dared to tell you of this slave girl?" asked Mahmoud, glancing -nervously at the pretty little slipper; "who, I demand?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"The wire of the Infidels, that passes over men's houses, and reveals -the secrets of all things therein--even those of the harem," said she, -laughing, but with fierce triumph now; "yea, telling more than is -known by the Munadjim Bashee himself."</p> - -<p class="normal">The Pasha knew not what to say to this; he quaffed some sherbet to -keep himself cool, and then ground his teeth, resolving, if he dared, -to have all the telegraph wires in his neighbourhood cut down; indeed, -about this time, such was the terror the Turks had of those mysterious -speaking wires, that in Constantinople, to prevent their destruction -as telltales, a few human heads were placed upon the supporting poles -by order of Stamboul Effendi, or chief of the police.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thou shalt be stoned by order of my brother, and according to the -holy law!" said Djemila, her proud lips curling and quivering.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Woman, she is but a slave--an odalisque!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Whom you would marry before the kadi?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," said Mahmoud, through his teeth, for his temper was rising -fast.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you love her?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Alas, yes--God and the Prophet alone know how well!" said the Pasha, -whose head drooped as he mentally compared the sweet gentleness of his -Circassian girl with the fiery fury of the royal bride he had been -compelled to espouse, as <i>a cheap reward</i> for his military services.</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>Chabauk!</i>" exclaimed Djemila. "Serve the next dish. Eat, eat, I say, -and no more of this!"</p> - -<p class="normal">The cover was removed by a trembling servant, and there lay before the -Pasha Mahmoud the head of the poor Circassian girl--the masses of -golden hair he had so frequently caressed, the eyes, now glazed, he -had loved to look on, and the now pale lips he had kissed a thousand -times in that lonely kiosk beside the sea.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There is your dessert--<i>alfiert olsun!</i>" (May it do you good!) -exclaimed Djemila, with flashing eyes and set teeth.</p> - -<p class="normal">Mahmoud, horror-struck, had only power to exclaim, as he threw his -hands and turned his eyes upward, "My love--my murdered love--<i>Allah -bereket versin!</i>" (May God receive your soul!) and then fell back on -his divan, and expired.</p> - -<p class="normal">As he had prior to this drunk some sherbet, it was whispered abroad, -ere long, that the poor Pasha had been poisoned; but as no examination -after death took place, the high rank of his wife precluding it, it -was given out that he had died of apoplexy. So he was laid in the -Place of Sleep, with his turban on, his toes tied together, and his -face turned towards Mecca, and there was an end of it with him; but -not so with the Capi Aga, whom the Sultan, for being guilty of obeying -Djemila's order to execute the odalisque, subjected to an old Turkish -punishment now, and long before that day, deemed as obsolete. He was -taken to the Sirdan Kapussi, or Dungeon Gate of Stamboul, close by the -Fruit Market, and placed in a vaulted room, where he was stripped of -all his clothes by the Capidgi Bashi, who then brought in a large -copper plate or table, supported by four pedestals of iron, and -underneath which was a grate of the same metal, containing a fire of -burning coals, at the sight of which a shriek of despair escaped the -miserable Greek. When the plate of copper had become quite hot, the -executioner took the turban-cloth of the doomed man, unwound it, and -placing it round his waist, by the aid of two powerful hamals had it -drawn tight, until his body was compressed into the smallest possible -place. Then by one blow of his sabre he slashed the hapless wretch in -<i>two</i>, and placing his upper half instantly upon the burning copper, the -hissing blood was staunched thereby, and he was kept alive, but in -exquisite torture, till the time for which he was ordained to endure -it was fulfilled. He was then lifted off, and instantly expired.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eagerly, with fixed eyes, half-open mouths, and in hushed silence, -forgetting even to smoke, and permitting their chibouks to die out, -his audience listened to this most improbable story, which the cunning -Hadji related with wonderful spirit and gesticulation; and so "having -supped full with horrors," at its close they showered coins--kopecs, -paras, and even English pennies--upon the narrator. The whole story -was a hoax, the Sultan having no such daughter as Djemila, the names -of the three sultanas being quite unlike it; but that made as little -difference then in Crim Tartary as it did afterwards nearer Cornhill; -and Charley Gwynne and others of ours to whom I mentioned it were wont -to call it "the bounce of the cold chop and the hot plate."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_42" href="#div1Ref_42">CHAPTER XLII.--THE TCHERNIMORSKI COSSACKS.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The night passed slowly with me in the khan. After the conclusion of -the Hadji's story, the travellers who were halting there coiled -themselves up to sleep, on the divan or on their carpets or felt mats; -but I was too much excited, too wakeful and suspicious of the honest -intentions of all about me, too anxious for dawn and the successful -completion of the important duty confided to me, to attempt following -their example, or even to allow that my horse should be unsaddled. I -simply relaxed his girths, and remained in the travellers' common -apartment, listening to every passing sound, and watching the sharp -oriental features of the black-bearded and picturesque-looking -sleepers by the smoky light of a solitary oil-lamp, which swung from a -dormant beam that traversed the apartment. The arched rafters of the -ceiling were painted in alternate stripes of white and black. There -was a fireplace or open chimney, where smouldered on the hearthstone a -heap of branches and dry fir-cones, the embers of which reddened and -whitened in the downward puffs of wind that eddied in the vent; and -round the walls were rows of shining tin plates, and under these were -other rows of white cloths, like towels in shape and size, but worked -and embroidered with gold thread, all made and prepared before -marriage by the Tartar hostess in her bridal days. All these quaint -objects appeared to recede or fade from my sight, and sleep was just -beginning to overpower me, when my sleeve was twitched by the Hadji, -who pointed to the snow-covered summits of the mountains then visible -from the windows, and becoming tipped with red light; and stiff and -weary I started up, to have my horse corned and watered for the task -of that day, the close of which I could little foresee.</p> - -<p class="normal">The wife of the Tartar placed before me, on a table only a foot high -and little more than a foot square, a large tin tray, containing some -hard boiled eggs, black rye bread, and a vessel filled with the sweet -juice of pears. It was a strange and humble repast, but proved quite -Apician to me after our mode of messing before Sebastopol. I had -barely ended this simple Tartar breakfast, when the Stamboul Hadji, -who was to be my guide to Canrobert's post near Kokoz, exclaimed, in a -startled voice, "<i>Allah kerim</i>--look!"</p> - -<p class="normal">I followed the direction indicated by his hand and dark, gleaming -eyes, and with emotions of a very chequered kind saw, through an open -window, "a clump of spears," as Scott would have called them; in -short, a party of Cossacks riding slowly and leisurely down the -mountain-path that led straight towards the house. In the eastern -sunlight the tips of their lances shone like fiery stars; but no other -appointments glittered about them; for unlike the gay light cavalry of -France and Britain, their uniforms are generally of the most plain and -dingy description. As yet they were about a mile distant, and if I -would escape them, there was not a moment to be lost. I rushed to my -horse, looked hastily but surely to bridle-bit, to saddle-girth, and -stirrup-leather; and without waiting for the Hadji, who, being afoot, -would only serve to retard my pace and lead to my capture, I gave some -money to the Tartar hostess, and galloped away, diving deep into the -forest, hoping that I had been as yet unseen, and should escape if -none of the people at the caravanserai betrayed me, either under the -inspiration of cowardice or malevolence. To avoid this party, who, it -would appear, were coming right along the road I should pursue, I rode -due eastward towards the ridge of Mount Yaila, which rose between me -and the Black Sea, and which extends from Balaclava nearly to Alushta, -a distance of fifty miles.</p> - -<p class="normal">The day was clear and lovely, though cold and wintry, as the season -was so far advanced, and I proceeded lightly along a narrow forest -path, the purely-bred animal I rode seeming scarcely to touch, but -merely to brush, the dewy grass with its small hoofs. The air was -loaded by the fragrance of the firs; here and there, between the dark -and bronze-looking glades, fell the golden gleams of the morning sun; -and at times I had a view of the sombre sea of cones that spread over -the hills in countless lines, and in places untrodden, perhaps, save -by the wolf and the badger; overhead the black Egyptian vulture -hovered in mid-air, the brown partridges whirred up before my horse's -feet, and the hare, too, fled from its lurking-place among the long -grass; but by wandering thus deviously in such a lonely place, though -I might avoid those ubiquitous Cossacks, who were scattered -"broadcast" over all Crim Tartary, I should never reach Kokoz, or -deliver that despatch, which, if taken by the enemy, I meant to -destroy. Once or twice I came upon some Tartar huts, whose occupants -seemed to be chiefly women--the men being all probably employed as -military wagoners, in the forest or afield; but they drew close their -yashmacs and shut their doors at my approach; so midday came on, and I -was still in ignorance of the route to pursue, and in a district so -primitive that, when the simple natives saw me scrape a lucifer-match -to light a cigar, they were struck dumb with fear and wonder. Vague, -wild, and romantic dreams and hopes came into my mind, that, if I -perished and my name appeared in the <i>Gazette</i>, Estelle would weep for -me; and in my absurd, most misplaced regard, and almost boyish -enthusiasm, I felt that I should cheerfully have given up the life God -gave me, for a tear from this false girl, could I be but certain that -she would have shed it. Ay, there was the rub! Would she shed it, or -the sacrifice be worth the return?</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bah!" thought I, as I bit my lip, and uttering something like a -malediction rode sullenly and madly on.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why cling thus to the dead past?" thought I, after a time. "Pshaw! -Phil Caradoc was right in all he urged upon me. Yet that past is so -sweet--it was so brilliant and tender--that memory cannot but dwell -upon it with fondness and regret, with passion and bitterness."</p> - -<p class="normal">Pausing for nearly an hour, my whole "tiffin" being a damp cheroot, I -loosened my horse's girths for the time, and turned his quivering and -distended nostrils to the keen winter blast that blew from the Euxine, -and then I remounted. After wandering dubiously backward and forward, -and seeking to guide my motions by the sun, just as I was about to -penetrate into a narrow rocky defile, the outer end of which I hoped -would bring me to some proper roadway or place where my route could be -ascertained, the distant sound of a Cossack trumpet fairly in my -front, and responded to by another apparently but some fifty yards in -my rear, made me rein in my horse, while my heart beat wildly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Cossacks again!" I exclaimed, for I was evidently between two -scouting parties, and if I escaped one, was pretty certain to be -captured by the other.</p> - -<p class="normal">Instinctively I guided my horse aside into a clump of wild pear-trees, -the now leafless stems and branches of which I greatly feared would -fail to conceal either it or me; but no nearer lurking place was nigh, -and there I waited and watched, my spirit galled and my heart swollen -with natural excitement and anxiety. Death seemed very close to me at -that moment; yet I sat in my saddle, revolver in hand, the blade of my -drawn sword in the same grasp with my reins, and ready for instant -use, as I was resolved to sell my life dearly. Preoccupied, I had been -unconscious for some time past that the cold had been increasing; that -the sun, lately so brilliant, had become obscured in sombre gray -clouds, and even that snow had begun to fall. Delicate and white as -floating swans'-down fell the flakes over all the scenery. On my -clothing and on my horse-furniture it remained white and pure; but on -the roadway I had to traverse it speedily became half-frozen mud. If I -escaped these scouting parties my horse-tracks might yet betray me, -and I thought vainly of the foresight of Robert Bruce when he fled -from London over a snow-covered country with his horse-shoes inverted. -If I escaped them! I was not left long in uncertainty of my fate in -that respect.</p> - -<p class="normal">Riding in double file, and led by an officer who wore the usual long -coat with silver shoulder-straps and a stiff flat forage-cap, a party -of forty Cossacks issued slowly from the defile. Their leader was -either a staff-officer or a member of some other force, as his uniform -was quite different from theirs, which declared them to be -Tchernimorski Cossacks, the tribe who inhabit the peninsula of Tamar, -and all the country between the Kuban and Asof, being literally the -Cossacks of the Black Sea, and natives of the district. They carried -their cartridges ranged across their breast in rows of tin tubes, <i>à -la Circassienne</i>, and were all bronzed, bearded, and rough-looking -men, whose whole bearing spoke of Crimean and Circassian service, of -hard outpost work among the wild Caucasus, of many a bloody conflict -with Schamyl--conflicts in which quarter was neither asked nor given! -I had never been quite so near those wild warriors of the Russian -steppes before, and have no desire ever to be so again, at least under -the same dubious circumstances. They wore little squab-shaped busbies -of brown fur; sheepskin shoubahs, or cloaks, over their coarse green -uniforms; and had trusses of straw and bags of corn so secured over -the shoulders and cruppers of their small shaggy horses, that but -little more of the latter were visible than their noses and tails. -They rode with their knees high and stirrup-leathers short, their -lances slung behind them, and carbines rested on the right thigh. -Captivity or escape, life or death, were in the balance as they slowly -rode onward; but favoured by the already failing light and the falling -snow, I am now inclined to think that my figure should have escaped -even their keen and watchful eyes, had not evil fortune caused my -horse, on discovering a mare or so among their cattle, after snuffing -the air with quivering nostrils, to whinny and to neigh! At that -moment we were not more than fifty yards apart.</p> - -<p class="normal">A shout, or rather a series of wild cries, escaped the Cossacks. I -pressed the spurs into the flanks of my gallant black horse, and he -sprang away with a wild bound; while the bullets from nearly twenty -carbines whistled past me harmlessly, thank heaven, and I rode -steadily away--away. I cared not in what direction now, so that the -more pressing danger was eluded, while cries and threats, and shot -after shot followed me; but I had no great fear of them so long as -they fired from the saddle, experience having taught me that even the -best-trained cavalry are but indifferent marksmen. Before me rose the -green ridge of Mount Yaila; the ground was somewhat open there, being -pastoral hill-slopes gradually culminating in those peaks, from -whence, in a clear day, the snow-clad summits of the Caucasus can be -discerned; and to reach a ravine or cleft in the hills before me, I -strained every effort of my horse, hoping, with the coming night, to -escape, or find some shelter by the seashore.</p> - -<p class="normal">The idea was vague, uncertain, and wild, I know; but I had no other -alternative save to halt, wheel about, and sell my life as best I -could at terrible odds; while to prevent me eluding them, the Cossacks -had gradually opened out their files into a wide semicircle, lest I -should seek to escape by some sudden flank movement; and all kept -their horses--wiry, fiery, and active little brutes--well in hand. -Their leader was better mounted and kept far in advance of -them--unpleasantly close on my flanks, indeed--but still his nag was -no match for the noble English horse I rode; and so as the blue -shadows lengthened and deepened in the snow-coated valley, I began to -breathe more freely, and to think, or hope, there was perhaps a chance -for me after all. Perhaps some of the Cossacks began to think so, for -they dismounted, and, while the rest kept fiercely and closely in -pursuit, levelled their carbines over their saddles, over each other's -shoulders, or with left elbow firmly planted on the knee, and thus -took quiet and deliberate pot-shots at me; and two had effect on the -hind legs of my horse, tending seriously to injure his speed and -strength; and as each ball struck him he gave a snort, and shivered -with pain and terror. On and on yet up the mountain valley!</p> - -<p class="normal">An emotion of mockery, defiance, and exultation almost filled me--the -exultation of the genuine English racing spirit--on finding that I was -leaving the most of them behind, and was already well through the -vale, or cleft, in the mountains, the slopes of which were then as -easy to traverse as if coursing on the downs of Sussex; and already I -could see, some three miles distant, the waters of the Euxine, and the -smoke of our war-steamers cruising off Yalta and Livadia. I looked -back. The Cossack leader was very close to me now, and five of his -men, all riding with lance in hand, as they had probably expended -their ammunition, were but a few horse-lengths behind him. I could -perceive that he had also armed himself with a lance, and felt assured -that in his rage at having had so long and futile a pursuit, he would -certainly not receive my sword, even if I offered it, as a prisoner of -war; so I resolved to shoot him as soon as he came within range of my -"Colt," the six chambers of which I had been too wary to discharge as -yet.</p> - -<p class="normal">Checking my panting and bleeding horse for a second or two, to let the -galloping Russian come closer, I fired at him under my bridle arm, and -a mocking laugh informed me that my Parthian shot had gone wide of its -mark. Not venturing to fire again, I continued to spur my black horse -on still; for now the friendly twilight had descended on the mountains -and the sea, whose waves at the horizon were yet reddened by the -farewell rays of the winter sun as he sank beyond them. Suddenly the -character of the ground seemed to change--vacancy yawned before me, -and I found myself within some twenty yards of a pretty high limestone -cliff that overhung the water!</p> - -<p class="normal">The hand of fate seemed on me now, and reining round my horse, I found -myself almost face to face with the leader of the Cossacks; and all -that passed after this occurred in shorter time than I can take to -write it. Uttering an exulting cry, he raised himself in his stirrups, -and savagely launched at me with all his force the Cossack spear. I -eluded it by swerving my body round; but it pierced deeply the off -flank of my poor horse, and hung dangling there, with the crimson -blood pouring from the wound and smoking upward from the snow. The -animal was plunging wildly and madly now, yet I fired the five -remaining pistol shots full at the Russian ere he could draw his -sword; and one at least must have taken effect somewhere, for he fell -almost beneath my horse's hoofs, and as he did so his cap flew off, -and I recognised Volhonski--whom, by a singular coincidence, I thus -again encountered--Count Volhonski, the Colonel of the Vladimir -Infantry! At the same moment I was fiercely charged by the five -advanced Cossacks, with their levelled lances, and with my horse was -literally hurled over the cliffs into the sea, the waves of which I -heard bellowing below me.</p> - -<p class="normal">Within the pace of one pulsation--one respiration--as we fell whizzing -through the air for some sixty feet together, I seemed to live all my -past life over again; but I have no language wherewith to express the -mingled bitterness and desolation that came over my soul at that time. -Estelle lost to me; life, too, it seemed, going, for I must be drowned -or taken--taken but to die. The remembrance of all I had loved and of -all who loved me; all that I had delighted in--the regiment, which was -my pride--my friends and comrades, and all that had ever raised hope -or fancy, or excited emulation--seemed lost to me, as the waves of the -Black Sea closed over my head, and I went down to die, my fate -unknown, and even in my grave, "unhousled, disappointed, unaneled."</p> - -<p class="normal">Even now as I write, when the danger has long since passed away, and -when the sun has shone again in all his glory on me, in my dreams I am -sometimes once more the desperate and despairing fellow I was then.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_43" href="#div1Ref_43">CHAPTER XLIII.--WINIFRED'S SECRET.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">It was Christmas-eve at Craigaderyn as well as before Sebastopol, and -all over God's land of Christendom--the "Land of Cakes," perhaps, -excepted, as Christmas and all such humanising holidays were banished -thence as paganish, by the acts of her Parliament and her "bigots of -the Iron Time," as in England by Cromwell, some eighty years later, -for a time. A mantle of gleaming white covered all mighty Snowdon, the -tremendous abysses of Carneydd Llewellyn, and the lesser ranges of -Mynyddhiraeth. Llyn Aled and Llyn Alwen were frozen alike, and the -Conway at some of its falls exhibited a beard of icicles that made all -who saw them think of the friendly giant--old Father Christmas -himself! Deep lay the snow in the Martens' dingle and under all the -oaks of the old forest and chase; for it was one of those hearty old -English yules that seem to be passing away with other things, or to -exist chiefly in the fancy of artists, and which, with their -concomitants of cold without and warmth and glowing hospitality -within, seemed so much in unison with an old Tudor mansion like -Craigaderyn--a genuine Christmas, like one of the olden time, when the -yule-log was an institution, when hands were shaken and faces -brightened, kind wishes expressed, and hearts grew glad and kind. But -on this particular Christmas-eve Winifred and Dora were not at the -Court, but with some of their lady friends were busy putting the -finishing touches to the leafy decorations of the parish church, for -the great and solemn festival of the morrow, with foliage cut from the -same woods and places where the Druids procured similar decorations -for their temples, as it is simply a custom--an ancient usage--which -has survived the shock of invading races and changing creeds.</p> - -<p class="normal">The night was beautiful, clear, and frosty, and to those who journeyed -along the hard and echoing highway the square tower of the old church, -loaded alike by snow and ivy, could be seen to loom, darkly and huge, -against the broad face of the moon, that seemed to hang like a silver -shield or mighty lamp amid the floating clouds, and right in a cleft -between the mountains. The heavens were brilliant with stars; and -lines of light, varied by the tinting of heraldic blazons and quaint -scriptural subjects, fell from the traceried and mullioned windows of -the ancient church on the graves and headstones in the burial-place -around it; while shadows flitted to and fro within--those of the -merry-hearted and white-handed girls who were so cheerily at work, and -whose soft voices could be heard echoing under the groined arches in -those intervals when the chimes ceased in the belfry far above them. -Huge icicles depended from the wyverns and dragons, through whose -stony mouths the rain of fully five centuries had been disgorged by -the gutters of the old church, and being coated with snow, the -obelisks and other mementos of the dead had a weird and ghostlike -effect in the frosty moonlight.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the cosy porch of the church were Sir Madoc Lloyd and his hunting -bachelor friend, Sir Watkins Vaughan, each solacing himself with a -cigar while waiting for the ladies, to escort whom home they had -driven over from the Court after dinner in Sir Watkins' bang-up -dog-cart. While smoking and chatting (about the war of course, as no -one spoke of anything else then), they peeped from time to time at the -picturesque vista of the church, where garlands of ivy and glistening -holly, green and white, with scarlet berries, and masses of artificial -flowers, were fast making gay the grim Norman arches and sturdy -pillars, with their grotesque capitals and quaint details. Nor were -the tombs and trophies of the Lloyds of other times forgotten; so the -old baronet watched with a pleased smile the slender fingers of his -young daughter as they deftly wreathed with holly and bay the rusty -helmet that whilom Madoc ap Meredyth wore at Flodden and Pinkey, her -blue eyes radiant the while with girlish happiness, and her hair as -usual in its unmanageable masses rolling down her back, and seeming in -the lights that flickered here and there like gold shaded away with -auburn.</p> - -<p class="normal">The curate, a tall, thin, and closely-shaven man, in a "Noah's-ark -coat" with a ritualistic collar, stood irresolutely between the -sisters, though generally preferring the graver Winifred to the -somewhat hoydenish Dora, who insisted on appropriating his services in -the task of weaving and tying the garlands; but he was little more -than an onlooker, as the ladies seemed to have taken entire possession -of the church and reduced him to a well-pleased cipher. At last Sir -Watkins, a pleasant and gentlemanly young man, though somewhat of the -"horsey" and fox-hunting type, who had a genuine admiration for -Winifred, and had actually proposed for her hand (but, like poor Phil -Caradoc, had done so in vain), seemed to think that he was letting his -reverence have the ladies' society too exclusively, tossed his cigar -into the snow, entered the church, and joined them; while Sir Madoc -preferred to linger in the porch and think over the changes each of -those successive festivals saw, and of the old friends who were no -longer here to share them with him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Here comes Sir Watkins, to make himself useful, at last!" said Dora, -clapping her hands, as she infinitely preferred the fox-hunter to the -parson. "I shall insist upon him going up the long ladder, and nailing -all those leaves over that arch."</p> - -<p class="normal">But Winifred, to whom his rather clumsy attentions, however quietly -offered, were a source of secret annoyance, drew nearer her female -friends, four gay and handsome girls from London, who were spending -Christmas at the Court (but have nothing else to do with our story), -and whose eyes all brightened as the young and eligible baronet joined -them. But for the charm which the presence of Winifred always had for -him, and the pleasure of attending on her and the other ladies, Sir -Watkins would infinitely have preferred, to a cold draughty church on -Christmas night, Sir Madoc's cosy "snuggery," or the smoking-room at -the Court, where they could discuss matters equine and canine, reckon -again how many braces of grouse, black-cock, and ptarmigan they lad -"knocked over" that day, or discuss the comparative merits of coursing -in well-fenced Leicestershire, and in Sussex, where the downs are all -open and free as the highway, or other kindred topics, through the -medium of hot brandy-and-water.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Now, Sir Watkins, here are my garlands and there is a ladder," said -Dora.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Any mistletoe among them, Miss Dora?" he asked, laughing.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No; we leave the arrangement of that mysterious plant to such Druids -as you; but here are some lovely holly-berries," said Dora, holding a -bunch over the head of one of her companions, and kissing her with all -that <i>empressement</i> peculiar to young ladies.</p> - -<p class="normal">"By Jove," said the baronet, with a positive sigh, "I quite agree with -some fellow who has written that 'two women kissing each other is a -misapplication of one of God's best gifts.'"</p> - -<p class="normal">Glancing at Winifred, who looked so handsome in her cosy sealskin -jacket, with its cuffs and collar of silver-coloured grebe, the -bachelor curate smiled faintly, and said, while playing nervously with -his clerical billycock.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I do not plead for aught approaching libertinism, but I do think that -to kiss in friendship those we love seems a simple and innocent -custom. In Scripture we have it as a form of ceremonious salutation, -as we may find in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis, and in first -Samuel, where the consecration of the Jewish kings to regal authority -was sealed by a kiss from the officiator in the ceremony."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And we have also in Genesis the courtship of Jacob and the 'fair -damsel' Rachel," said Dora, looking up from her task with her bright -face full of fun, "wherein we are told that 'Jacob kissed Rachel, and -then lifted up his voice, and <i>wept</i>.' If any gentleman did so after -kissing me, I am sure that I should die of laughter."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We are having quite a dissertation on this most pleasant of civilised -institutions," said Sir Watkins, merrily, as he flicked away a cobweb -here and there with his silver-mounted tandem whip; "have you nothing -to say on the subject, Miss Lloyd--no apt quotation?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"None," replied Winifred, dreamily, while twirling a spray of ivy -round her white and tapered fingers.</p> - -<p class="normal">"None--after all your reading?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Save perhaps that a kiss one may deem valueless and but a jest may be -full of tender significance to another."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You look quite <i>distraite</i>, Winny, dear, as you make this romantic -admission," said one of her friends.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do I--or did I?" she asked, colouring.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes. Of what or of <i>whom</i> were you thinking?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Such a deuced odd theme you have all got upon!" said Sir Watkins, -perceiving how Winifred's colour had deepened at her own thoughts.</p> - -<p class="normal">"But how funny--how delightful!" exclaimed the girls, laughing -together; while Dora added, with something like a mock sigh, as she -held up a crape rose,</p> - -<p class="normal">"When last I wore this rose in my hair, I danced with little Mr. -Clavell--and he is spending his Christmas before Sebastopol! Poor dear -fellow--poor Tom Clavell!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Winifred's colour faded away, her usual calm and self-possessed look -returned; and, stooping down, she bent all her energies to weave an -obstinate spray of ivy round the carved base of a pillar, some yards -distant from the group.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Permit me to be your assistant, Miss Lloyd," said the baronet, in a -low voice and with an earnest manner. "Miss Dora must excuse me; but I -don't see the fun of craning my neck up there from the top of a -twelve-foot ladder."</p> - -<p class="normal">Winifred started a little impatiently, for as he stooped by her side, -his long fair whiskers brushed her brow. "Do I annoy you?" he asked, -gently.</p> - -<p class="normal">"O no; but I feel nervous to-night, and wish our task were ended."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It soon will be, if we work together thus. But you promised to tell -me, Miss Lloyd, why your old gamekeeper would not permit me to shoot -that hare in the Martens' dingle, to-day."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Need I tell you, Sir Watkins--a Welshman?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You forget that my place is in South Wales, almost on the borders of -Monmouthshire, and this may be a local superstition."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, I am all attention," said he, looking softly down on the girl's -wonderfully thick and beautiful eyelashes.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The story, as I heard it once from dear mamma, runs thus: Ages ago, -there took shelter in our forests at Pennant Melangell, the daughter -of a Celtic king, called St. Monacella, to whom a noble had proposed -marriage; one whom she could not love, and could never love, but on -whom her father was resolved to bestow her."</p> - -<p class="normal">"By Jove!" commented Sir Watkins, while poor Winifred, feeling the -awkwardness of saying all this to a man she had rejected, became -troubled and coloured deeply; "and so, to escape her tormentors, she -fled to the wilderness."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, and there she dwelt in peace for fifteen years, without seeing -the face of a man, till one day Brochwel, Prince of Powis, when -hunting, discovered her, and was filled with wonder to find in the -depth of the wild forest a maiden of rare beauty, at prayer on her -knees beside a holy well; and still greater was his wonder to find -that a hare his dogs had pursued had sought refuge by her side, while -they shrank cowering back with awe. Brochwel heard her story; and -taking pity, gave to God and to her some land to be a sanctuary for -all who fled there; she became the patron saint of hares, and for -centuries the forest there teemed with them; and even at this hour our -old people believe that no bullet can touch a hare, if any one cries -in time, 'God and St. Monacella be with thee!'"</p> - -<p class="normal">"A smart little nursery legend," said Sir Watkins, who perhaps knew it -well, though he had listened for the pure pleasure of having her to -talk to him, and him alone.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is one of the oldest of our Welsh superstitions," said Winifred, -somewhat piqued by his tone.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why are you so cross with me?" he asked, while venturing just to -touch her hand, as he tied a spray of ivy for her. "Cross--I, with -you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Reserved, then."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am not aware, Sir Watkins, that I am either; but please don't begin -to revert to--to--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"The subject on which we spoke so lately?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, Miss Lloyd--my earnest and loving proposal to you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"In pity say no more about it!" said Winifred, colouring again, but -with intense annoyance at herself for having drawn forth the remark.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, Miss Lloyd, pardon me; I am but a plain fellow in my way, and -your good papa understands me better than you do."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And likes you better," said she, smiling.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am sorry to be compelled to admit that such is the case; but -remember the maxim of Henry IV. of France."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why--the roses please--what was it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"There are more flies caught by one spoonful of honey than by ten tuns -of vinegar."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thanks, very much, for the maxim," replied Winifred, proudly and -petulantly; "but I hope I am not quite of the nature of vinegar, and I -don't wish to catch flies or anything else."</p> - -<p class="normal">It was now Sir Watkins' turn to blush, which he did furiously, for her -proud little ways perplexed him; but she added, with a laugh,</p> - -<p class="normal">"The base of the next pillar requires our attention, and then I think -the decorations are ended. Do let the cobwebs alone with your whip, -and assist me, if you would please me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"There is not in all the world a girl I would do more to please," said -Sir Watkins, earnestly, his blue eyes lighting up with honest -enthusiasm as he spoke in a low and earnest tone, "and I know that -there is not in all England another girl like you, Winifred: you quite -distance them all, and it is more than I can understand how it comes -to pass that those who--who--don't love you--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, what, Sir Watkins?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can love any one else!" said he, confusedly, while smoothing his fair -moustache, for there was a quick flash in the black eyes of Winifred -Lloyd that puzzled him. In fact, though he knew it not, or was without -sufficient perception to be aware of it, this was an offhand style of -love-making that was infinitely calculated to displease if not to -irritate her.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You flatter me!" said she, her short upper lip curling with an -emotion of disdain she did not care at that moment to conceal.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Does it please you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am sorry for that, as we are generally certain of the gratitude at -least, if not the love, of those we flatter."</p> - -<p class="normal">Much more of this sort of thing, almost sparring, passed between them; -for Sir Watkins, piqued by her rejection of him, would not permit -himself again as yet to address her in the language of genuine -tenderness, and most unwisely adopted a manner that had in it a -<i>soupçon</i> of banter. But Winifred Lloyd heard him as if she heard him -not: the memories of past days were strong at that time in her heart, -and glancing from time to time towards the old oak family pew, then -half lost in obscurity and gloom, she filled it up in fancy with the -figures of some who were far away--of Philip Caradoc and another; of -Estelle Cressingham, who, for obvious reasons of her own, had omitted -her and Dora from the Christmas circle at Pottersleigh House; and so, -while Sir Watkins continued to speak, she scarcely responded. The -girl's thoughts "were with her heart, and that was far away," to where -the lofty batteries of Sebastopol and the red-and-white marble cliffs -of Balaclava looked down upon the Euxine, where scenes of which her -gentle heart could form no conception were being enacted hourly; where -human life and human agony were of no account; and where the festival -of the Babe that was born at Bethlehem, as a token of salvation, -peace, and goodwill unto men, was being celebrated by Lancaster guns -and rifled cannon, by shot and shell and rockets, and every other -device by which civilisation and skill enable men to destroy each -other surely, and expeditiously.</p> - -<p class="normal">Just as some such ideas occurred to her she saw her father, followed -by old Owen Gwyllim, enter the church, and in the faces of both she -read an expression of concern that startled her; and from her hands -she dropped the ivy sprays and paper roses, which she was entwining -together. Sir Madoc held in his hand an open newspaper, with which the -old butler had just ridden over from the Court, and he silently -indicated a certain paragraph to the curate, who read it and then -lifted up his hands and eyes, as with sorrow and perplexity.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What the devil is up now?" asked Sir Watkins, bluntly; "no bad news -from the Crimea, I hope--eh?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Very--very bad news! we have lost a dear, dear friend!" replied Sir -Madoc, letting his chin drop on his breast; while Sir Watkins, taking -the journal from his hand, all unconscious of error or misjudgment, -read aloud:</p> - -<p class="normal">"'It is now discovered beyond all doubt, by the Chief of the Staff, -that Captain Henry Hardinge, of the Royal Welsh Fusileers, whose -disappearance, when on a particular duty, was involved in so much -mystery, has been drowned in the Black Sea, by which casualty a most -promising young officer has been lost to her Majesty's service.'"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Drowned--Harry Hardinge drowned in the Black Sea!" exclaimed Dora, -with sudden tears and horror.</p> - -<p class="normal">"By Jove, the same poor fellow I met at your fête, I think--so sorry, -I am sure!" said Sir Watkins, with well-bred regret; "and see--I have -quite startled poor Miss Lloyd!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Winifred, who for a moment seemed turned to stone, covered her face -with her handkerchief, while her whole delicate form shook with the -sobs she dared not utter.</p> - -<p class="normal">Mothers, wives, and friends, the tender, the loving, and the true, had -all read, until their hearts grew sick and weary, of the perils and -sufferings of those who were before Sebastopol, as the horrors of the -Crimean winter, adding to those which are ever attendant on war, -deepened over them. And now here was one horror more--one that was -quite unlooked for in its nature, but which now came home to their own -hearts and circle.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Take me away, papa--take me home!" said Winifred, in a faint voice, -as she laid her face on his shoulder, for her tears were -irrepressible; and the tall, slender curate in the long coat--an -Oxonian, who chanted some portions of his church service, turned to -the east when he prayed, had an altar whereon were sundry brazen -platters, like unto barbers' basins, and tall candles, which (as yet) -he dared not light, and who secretly, but hopelessly, admired Winifred -in his inner heart--knew not what to think of all this sudden emotion; -but he kindly caressed her passive white hands between his own, and -whispered lispingly in her ear, that "the Lord loved those whom He -chastened--afflictions come not out of the ground--all flesh was -grass--that God is the God of the widow and fatherless--yet there were -more thorns than roses in our earthly path," with various other old -stereotyped crumbs of comfort.</p> - -<p class="normal">"To the Court--home!" cried Sir Madoc; "call round the carriages to -the porch, Owen, and let us begone."</p> - -<p class="normal">A few minutes after this they had all quitted the church, and were -being driven home in their close vehicle, Sir Watkins excepted, who -drove in his dog-cart, sucking a cigar he had forgotten to light, and -wondering what the deuced fuss was all about. Had Hardinge stood in -his way? If so, by Jove, there was a chance for him yet, thought the -good-natured fellow. In the dark depth of the large family carriage, -as it bowled along noiselessly by a road where the white mantle of -winter lay so deep by hill and wood that one might have thought the -Snow-King of the Norsemen had come again, Winifred could weep freely; -and as she did so, her father's arm stole instinctively and -affectionately round her.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Drowned," she whispered in his ear; "poor Harry drowned--and I loved -him so!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It may all be some d--d mistake," sighed Sir Madoc, in sore grief and -perplexity.</p> - -<p class="normal">"But, O papa," whispered the girl, "I loved him so--loved him as -Estelle Cressingham never, never did!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You, my darling?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, papa."</p> - -<p class="normal">"My poor pet! I suspected as much all along. Well, well, we are all in -the hands of God. It is a black Christmas, this, for us at -Craigaderyn, and I shall sorrow for him even as Llywarch Hen sorrowed -of old for all the sons he lost in battle. But what a strange fatality -to escape so narrowly at the Bôd Mynach, and then to be drowned in the -distant East!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And with a heart swollen alike by prayer and sorrow, the girl, whose -tender and long-guarded secret had at last escaped her in the shock of -grief, sat alone in her room that night, and heard the Christmas -chimes ringing out clearly and merrily to all, it seemed, but for her; -for those bells, those gladsome bells, which speak to every Christian -heart of bright hope here and brighter hope elsewhere, seemed to chime -in vain for Winifred Lloyd; so she thought in her innocent heart, "I -shall go to him yet, though he can never come back to me!"</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_44" href="#div1Ref_44">CHAPTER XLIV.--THE CASTLE OF YALTA.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">I presume that I need scarcely inform my reader that, notwithstanding -the predicament in which a preceding chapter left me, and the tenor of -that paragraph which caused such consternation among my warm-hearted -Welsh friends at Craigaderyn, I was <i>not</i> drowned in the Black Sea, -though my dip in the waters thereof was both a cold and deep one. Such -fellows as I, are, perhaps, hard to kill--at least, I hope so. On -rising to the surface, I found myself minus forage-cap, sword, and -revolver, and also my horse, which, being sorely wounded, floated away -out of the creek into which we had fallen (or been hurled by the -Cossack lances), and the poor animal was helplessly drowned, without -making any attempt to swim landward. This was, perhaps, fortunate for -me, as the Cossacks saw it drifting in the moonlight, and continued to -fire at it with their carbines, leaving me to scramble quietly ashore -unnoticed and unseen.</p> - -<p class="normal">My swimming powers are very small; thus, when just about to sink a -second time, I was fortunate enough to grasp some sturdy juniper -bushes, that grew among the rocks and overhung the water. Aided by -these I gained footing on a ledge in safety, and remained there for a -few minutes, scarcely venturing to breathe, until all sounds ceased on -the cliffs above, and the flashing of the Cossacks' carbines, and -their wild hurrahs died away; and the moment I was assured of silence, -I proceeded steadily, but not without great difficulty, to climb to -the summit of the opposite side of the creek, my recently fractured -arm feeling stiff and feeble the while, three lance-prods bleeding -pretty freely, and my undress uniform wet, sodden, and becoming -powdered fast by the still falling flakes of snow. Even amid all that -bodily misery I thought more sorrowfully than bitterly of her I had -lost.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Estelle gone from me, a terrible death before me, either by capture -or privation," thought I. "What have I done, O God, to be dealt with -thus hardly?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Even mortification that I had failed in the execution of my once -coveted duty, existed no longer in my heart, at that time at least. At -last I gained the summit; the uprisen moon was shining on the -far-stretching Euxine, and casting a path of glittering splendour on -its waters, even to the foot of the cliffs on which I stood. On the -other side, to my comfort, the scouting Cossacks had entirely -disappeared. That Count Volhonski, once my pleasant companion in -Germany, and in whose way, coincidence and chance had so often cast -me, should have fallen by my hand, was certainly a source of deep -regret to me; but for a time only; a sense of my own pressing danger -soon became paramount to all minor considerations. Exposure to the -keen wind from the sea on ground so lofty, the night having closed in, -and the snow flakes falling, all rendered shelter, warmth, and dry -clothing, with dressing for the lance-thrusts, most necessary, if I -would save my life; and yet in seeking to obtain these, I ran the most -imminent risk of summarily losing it.</p> - -<p class="normal">I was, I knew, far in rear of the advanced line of all the Russian -posts, and was certain to fall, alive or dead, into their hands at -some time or other; so drawing Lord Raglan's despatch to Marshal -Canrobert from my breast-pocket--a piece of wet pulpy paper--I -destroyed and cast it away; an unwise proceeding, perhaps, as it was -the only credential I possessed to prove that I was not a--spy, but -simply an officer on duty, who had lost his way. The cliffs of marble -that bordered the shore were silent and lonely. The tall mountains of -the Yaila range, their sides bristling with sombre pines and rent by -old volcanic throes into deep chasms and rugged ravines of rock, rose -on my left; a little Tartar village, the feeble lights of which I -could discern, nestled at their base about a mile distant. Should I -endeavour to reach it, and risk or lose all at once? By this time I -had struck upon a path which soon led to a roadway between vineyard -walls, and ere long these were replaced by what appeared to be the -trees of a park, between the branches of which the moon and the stars -shone on the slanting snow-flakes and turned them to diamonds and -prisms. In summer, the cypress and olive, the pomegranate and laurel -trees, the quince and the Byzantine poplar, made all that road lovely. -Then it was dreary enough, especially to me. Anon I came to a stately -gate of elaborate cast-iron work, between two ornate pillars of the -native red-and-white marble, surmounted each by some heraldic design. -It stood invitingly open; the track of recent carriage-wheels lay -there; and beyond the now white sheet of snow that covered a spacious -park, there towered a handsome mansion, in that quaint and almost -barbaric style of architecture peculiar to the châteaux of the Crimea, -half Russian, half Turkish, with four domes, shaped like inverted -onions, but of clearly-burnished copper, surmounting four slender -tourelles, and under the broad cornices of which the pigeons--the holy -birds of Muscovy--were clustered in cooing rows. In front was a pretty -porch, under the open arches of which hung a large coloured lamp; -while many lights, all suggestive of heat and comfort, were gleaming -through the rich hangings of the windows on the snowy waste without. -It was evidently the country residence of some wealthy Russian -landholder, and there I felt more certain and safe in seeking shelter -than among the wood-cutting boors or Tartar herdsmen of the village; -yet my heart had more misgivings than hope as I approached it.</p> - -<p class="normal">If the Russians, even in time of peace, are ever suspicious of -strangers, how was I likely to be received there in time of war? -Should I fall among good Samaritans, kindly perhaps; if otherwise, I -might be accused of spying in an enemy's country, be hanged, shot, -knouted perhaps, and sent to Siberia, for my horrible surmises were -endless. But to remain where I was would be to die; so I boldly -approached, not the door, but a lower window that overlooked a -balustraded terrace on which a flood of light from within was falling. -Between hangings of pale blue satin laced with silver, and through the -double sashes of the windows, which were ornamented with false flowers -in the old Russian fashion, I perceived a handsome and lofty -apartment, the furniture of which was singularly elaborate and florid. -It seemed, with its drapery, sofas, fauteuils, statuettes under glass -shades, and its pretty watercolours hung on the wall, to be a tiny -drawing-room or ladies' boudoir; but on one side, built into the -partition and forming a part thereof, were the stone ribs of a -<i>peitchka</i> or Russian stove, faced with brilliantly-coloured -porcelain. Through 'these ribs the light of a cheerful fire shone -across the softly carpeted floor; and above the stove was an <i>eikon</i>, -or Byzantine Madonna, with a bright metal halo like a gilt horseshoe -round the head; a little silver lamp hung before it. From this a tiny -jet of flame shot upward, while a golden tassel dangled below.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the foreground, between the window and the glowing wall-stove at a -table littered with books and needlework, were seated two ladies in -easy-chairs, their feet resting on tabourettes, as they cosily read by -the softened light of a great shaded lamp. One seemed young; the other -somewhat portly and advanced in years; and she wore a red -<i>sarafan</i>--the ancient Russian dress--a readoption about that time, -when our invasion of the Crimea acted as a powerful and angry -stimulant to the national enthusiasm of the whole empire; and at that -precise moment, I should have preferred to find this noble matron--for -such I had no doubt she was--in some dress nearer the Parisian mode. -However, in my then predicament I felt more disposed to trust to the -protection of women than of men, and so knocked gently, and then more -loudly, on the window. Both ladies started, laid down their books, and -rose. The double sashes and the false flowers placed between them -rendered my figure indistinct, if not invisible. They conferred for a -moment, and then, most fortunately for me, instead of summoning -assistance by furiously ringing the bell, or indulging in outcries, as -some ladies might have done in a land of well-ordered police, the -younger drew out a drawer, in which probably pistols lay; while the -elder boldly unclasped the sashes, threw them open, and then both -surveyed me with perplexity and with something of pity, too, as I was -bareheaded, unarmed, deadly pale, and covered with snow that in some -places was streaked with blood. The elderly lady, a keen-looking -woman, evidently with a dash of the nomadic Tartar in her blood, asked -me rather imperiously some questions in Russian--that language which -Golovine so rightly says "is altogether inaccessible to foreigners;" -but the other added, in softer French,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who are you, and from whence do you come?"</p> - -<p class="normal">I replied that I was a British officer from the army before -Sebastopol, wounded and unhorsed in a recent skirmish with Cossacks; -that I had lost my way, and was literally perishing of cold, hunger, -and loss of blood.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How come you to be here, as you have no troops in this quarter?" -asked the young lady, to my surprise and pleasure, in English, which -she spoke fluently, but with a pretty foreign accent.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I lost my way, I have said, and being pursued have ridden far in a -wrong direction."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Far, indeed, from Sebastopol at least; do you know where you are, -sir?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No."</p> - -<p class="normal">"This is Prince Woronzow's castle of Yalta."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yalta!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"On the shore of the Black Sea," she added, smiling brightly at my -surprise.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then I am more than thirty miles in <i>rear</i> of the Russian posts in -the valley of Inkermann!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; and as a soldier, must know that you are in great danger of the -darkest suspicions if you are taken."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am aware of that," said I, faintly, as a giddiness came over me, -and I leaned against the open sash of the window; "but I care not what -happens."</p> - -<p class="normal">The elder lady, who had a son with the army in Sebastopol, now said -something energetically, and in my favour apparently, and the other -added, softly and kindly, "Enter, sir, and we shall succour you."</p> - -<p class="normal">The closed sashes excluded the icy air, I felt myself within the warm -influence of the peitchka, and then the three smarting lance-wounds -began to bleed afresh.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Madame Tolstoff," said the younger lady, in French, "we must act -warily here, if we would prevent this poor fellow becoming a prisoner -of war, or worse. Bring here old Ivan Yourivitch the <i>dvornik</i>."</p> - -<p class="normal">This was the butler, but it also signifies "servant."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can you trust him in this matter?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"In any matter, implicitly. His wife nursed me and my brother too. -There is a perilous romance in all this, and to his care I shall -consign our unfortunate visitor, who does seem in a very bad way."</p> - -<p class="normal">After a little explanation and some stringent directions, she confided -me to a white-headed butler, who wore a livery that looked like -semi-uniform, and he took me to his own rooms. He jabbered a great -deal in Russ, of which I knew not a word, but first he gave me a large -goblet of golden Crimskoi, the wine of the district. Then he exchanged -all my wet and sodden clothing for a suit which he selected from among -many in a large wardrobe: a caftan of dark green cloth, tied at the -waist by a scarlet sash; trousers also of dark green, with boots that -came half way up the calf of the leg. Under all I wore a soft red -shirt; and this attire I afterwards learned was the most thoroughly -national costume in Russia, being that of the Rifle Militia of the -Crown peasants--one worn by the Emperor himself on certain gala-days. -This old man, Ivan Yourivitch, also dressed tenderly the three -lance-prods, and though giddy and weak, I felt unusually comfortable -when he led me back to the presence of the two ladies, of whose names -and rank I was quite ignorant, while shrewdly suspecting that both -must be noble. Their mansion was evidently one of great magnificence, -and exhibited all that luxury in which the wealthier Russian nobles -are wont to indulge, displaying the extravagance and splendour of -petty monarchs. I saw there a broad staircase of Carrara marble, and -lackeys flitting about in the powdered wigs and liveries of the old -French court; apartments with tessellated floors and roofs of fretted -gold; furniture in ormolu and mother-of-pearl; hangings of silk and -cloth-of-gold; and in that castle of Yalta were ball, and card, and -tea rooms; a library, picture-gallery, and billiard-room; and -everywhere the aroma of exotic plants and perfumes; so I began to -flatter myself that I was quite as lucky as the Lieutenant of H.M.S. -Tiger, when <i>he</i> fell into the hands of the Russians at Odessa in the -preceding May, and whose adventures made such a noise. When I rejoined -the ladies, they both laughed merrily at the rapid transformation -effected in my appearance; and the younger saying, "My brother's -shooting-clothes suit you exactly," relinquished her book, which, with -some surprise, I detected to be a Tauchnitz edition of "<i>Oliver -Twist!</i>"</p> - -<p class="normal">"In stumbling upon us here," she added, with great sweetness of -manner, "how fortunate it is that you lighted first on Madame Tolstoff -and myself, instead of any of our Tartar or Cossack servants!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Fortunate indeed! I may truly bless my stars that I have fallen into -such gentle hands."</p> - -<p class="normal">"All Russians are not the barbarians you islanders deem them; yet you -deserve a heavier punishment than we shall mete out to you, for -venturing hither to fight against holy Russia and our father the -Czar."</p> - -<p class="normal">"May I ask if I have the honour of addressing any of the family of -Prince Woronzow!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"O, no!" she replied. "Madame Tolstoff's son is serving in Sebastopol; -my brother serves there also; and the kind Prince has merely given us -the use of this mansion, as he has done the more regal one at Alupka -to other ladies similarly situated; and now that you know our secret," -she added, archly, "pray what is yours?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Secret!--I have none."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You were not--well, reconnoitring?"</p> - -<p class="normal">I coloured, feeling certain that she had substituted that word for one -less pleasant to military ears.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, madam: while seeking to convey a despatch from Lord Raglan to -Marshal Canrobert I lost my way, fell among Cossacks, and am here."</p> - -<p class="normal">"When my brother arrives--we expect him ere long--we shall be -compelled to confide you to his care; meantime you are safe, and here -are refreshments, of which you seem sorely in need; and for greater -secrecy, Ivan Yourivitch will serve you here."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who the deuce can this brother be of whom she talks so much, and -where can she have acquired such capital English?" were my surmises as -I seated myself at a side-table, and, with old Ivan standing towel in -hand at my back, fell <i>à la Cosaque</i>, on the good things before me, -with an appetite unimpaired by all that I had undergone. To the elder -lady's horror, I omitted previously to cross myself or turn towards -the <i>eikon</i>; but fragrant coffee made as only Orientals and -Continentals can make it, golden honey from the hills and woods of -Yaila, newly-laid eggs, salmon fresh from the Salghir, boar's ham from -the forests of Kaffa, and wine from Achmetchet, made a repast fit for -the gods--then how much so for a long-famished Briton! While I partook -of it the ladies conversed together in a low voice in Russian, seeming -to ignore my presence; for though full of natural female curiosity and -impatience to question me, they were too well-bred to trouble me just -then. Those who have starved as we starved in the Crimea can alone -relish and test the comforts of a good meal. You must sleep--or -doze--amid the half-frozen mud and ooze of the trenches, or in a cold -draughty tent, to know the actual luxury of clean sheets, a soft bed, -and cosy pillows. Hence it is, that though accustomed to "rough it" in -any fashion and degree, no one so keenly appreciates the warmth, the -food, and the genuine comforts of home as the old campaigner, or the -weather-worn seaman, who has perhaps doubled "the Horn," and known -what it is to hand a half-frozen topsail in a tempestuous night, with -his nails half torn out by the roots, as he lay out to windward. Yet -when I found myself in quarters so comfortable, hospitable, and -splendid, I could not but think regretfully of the regiment, of Phil -Caradoc, of Charley Gwynne, and others who were literally starving -before the enemy--starving and dying of cold and of hunger!</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_45" href="#div1Ref_45">CHAPTER XLV.--EVIL TIDINGS.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">I had now time amply to observe and to appreciate that which had -impressed me powerfully at first--the wonderful beauty of the lady who -protected me, and who spoke English with such marvellous fluency. If -the artist's pencil sometimes fails to convey a correct idea of a -woman's loveliness--more than all of her expression--a description by -mere ink and type can give less than an outline. In stature she was -fully five feet seven, full-bosomed and roundly limbed, and yet seemed -just past girlhood, in her twentieth or twenty-second year. Her skin -was fair, dazzlingly pure as that of any Saxon girl at home; while, by -strange contrast, her eyes were singularly dark, the deepest, -clearest, and most melting hazel, with soft voluptuous dreamy-looking -lids, and long black lashes. Her eyebrows, which were rather straight, -were also dark, while the masses of her hair were as golden in hue as -ever were those of Lucrezia Borgia; they grew well down upon her -forehead, and in the light of the shaded lamp by which she had been -reading, ripples of sheen seemed to pass over them like rays of the -sun. Her features were very fine, and her ears were white and delicate -as if formed of biscuit china, and from them there dangled a pair of -the then fashionable Schogoleff earrings of cannon-balls of gold.</p> - -<p class="normal">Her dress was violet-coloured silk, cut low but square at the neck, -with loose open sleeves, trimmed with white lace and ruches of white -satin ribbon, and its tint consorted well with the fair purity of her -complexion. Every way she was brilliant and picturesque, and seemed -one of those women whom a man may rapidly learn to love--yea, and to -love passionately--and yet know very little about. Once in a -lifetime a man may see such a face and such a figure, and never -forget them. The dame, in the red sarafan, was a somewhat plain but -pleasant-looking old Muscovite lady, whose angularity of feature and -general outline of face reminded me of a good-humoured tom cat; and -while playing idly with the leaves of her book, she regarded me with a -rather dubious expression of eye; for British prisoners did not quite -find themselves so much at home in Kharkoff and elsewhere, nor were -they so petted and fêted, as the Russian prisoners were at Lewes, -among the grassy downs of Sussex. My repast over, and the massive -silver tray removed by Ivan Yourivitch, a conversation was begun by -the younger lady saying, a little playfully,</p> - -<p class="normal">"You must give me your parole of honour, that you will not attempt to -leave this place in secret, or without permission."</p> - -<p class="normal">"From you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"From me, yes."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Did not duty require it of me, I might never seek the permission, but -be too happy to be for ever your captive," said I, gallantly; but she -only laughed like one who was quite used to that sort of thing, and -held up a white hand, saying,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do you promise?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I do, on my honour. But will this pledge to a lady be deemed -sufficient?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"By whom?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, say Prince Menschikoff."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We shall not consult him, unless we cannot help it; besides," she -added, with a proud expression on her upper lip, "what is he, though -Minister of Marine, Governor of Finland and Sebastopol, but the -grandson of a pastry-cook!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Prince Gortchakoff, then?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"They are cousins; but do not take rank even in Russia with the old -families, like the Dolgourikis and others, who are nobles of the first -class."</p> - -<p class="normal">On the suggestion, apparently, of the elder lady, whom she named -Madame Tolstoff, she proceeded to ask me many questions, which I cared -not to answer, as they had direct reference to the strength of our -forces, and the plans and projects of the Allied Generals regarding -Sebastopol; and though my information was only limited to such as one -of subaltern rank could possess, I knew how artfully the most -important military and political secrets have been wormed from men by -women, and was on my guard. Her excellent English she accounted for by -telling me that in her girlhood she had an English governess. She told -me, among other things, that she had gone in her carriage, with -hundreds of other ladies from Sebastopol, Simpheropol, and Bagtchi -Serai (or "the Seraglio of Gardens"), to see the battle of the Alma. -It began quite like a <i>prasnik</i> or holiday with them all, as they had -expected, among other marvels, to see St. Sergius, whose sacred image -was borne by the Kazan column, till the latter was routed by the -Highland Brigade, and bundled over the hill, image and all, though -Innocent, Archbishop of Odessa, in one of his sermons to the garrison -of Sebastopol (published in the <i>Russian Messenger</i>) confidently -predicted a fourth appearance of the patriotic saint on that occasion; -but my fair informant added, that when the fighting began, she had -driven away homeward in horror.</p> - -<p class="normal">She quizzed me a little about the small dimensions of the island in -which we dwelt, an island where the people elbowed each other for lack -of room; she asked me if it were really true that our soldiers were -sailors; and if it was also true that our Admiral in the Baltic always -carried a little sword under one arm, and a great fish under the -other, alluding to a popular Moscow caricature of Sir Charles Napier. -It was impossible not to laugh with her, for her charming tricks of -foreign manner, the arch smiles of her occasionally half-closed eyes, -and her pretty ways of gesticulation with the loveliest of white -hands, from which she had now drawn the gloves, were all very -seductive; moreover the Russians have a natural mode of imbuing with -heartiness every phrase and expression, however simple or merely -polite. She always spoke of the Czar with more profound awe and -respect than even Catholics do of the Pope, or Mahometans do of the -Sultan; but it should be borne in mind that in Russia, as Golovine -says, "next to the King of Heaven, the Czar is the object of -adoration. He is, in the estimation of the Russian, the representative -and the elect of God; so he is the head of his church, the source of -all the beatitudes, and the first cause of all fear. His hand -distributes as bounteously as his arm strikes heavily. Love, fear, and -humble respect are blended in this deification of the monarch, which -serves most frequently only to task the cupidity of some, and the -pusillanimity of others. The Czar is the centre of all rays, the focus -to which every eye is directed; he is the 'Red Sun' of the Russians, -for thus they designate him. The Czar is the father of the whole -nation; no one has any relation that can be named in the same day with -the Emperor; and when his interest speaks, every other voice is -hushed!"</p> - -<p class="normal">So, whenever this lady spoke of him, her eyes seemed to fill with -melting light, and her cheek to suffuse with genuine enthusiasm; and -as I listened to her, and looked upon her rare beauty, her singular -hair, her laughing lips; and her ease of manner that declared a -perfect knowledge of the world, I could not but confess that if there -is no absolute cure for a heart disappointed in love, there may be -found a most excellent <i>balm</i> for it. I know not now all we talked of, -how much was said, and more left unsaid, for my new friend had all the -airs of a coquette, and could fill up her sentences in a very eloquent -fashion of her own, by a movement of the graceful hand, by the tapping -of a dainty foot that would peep out ever and anon from under her -violet-coloured skirt; with a blush, a smile, a drooping of the sunny -brown eyes! Had the wine, the golden Crimskoi, affected me, that, -while talking to the fair unknown, I seemed to tread on air; that -my love for Estelle--a love thrust back upon my heart--was -already--Heavens, already!--being replaced by an emotion of revenge -against her, and exultation that the dazzling Russian might love me in -her place? She was, indeed, gloriously beautiful; but, then, I have -ever been a famous builder of castles in the air, and I was in the -hands of one who felt her power and knew how to wield it. The Russian -women, it has been truly written, like the gentlewomen of other -European countries, who are reared in the lap of luxury, can employ -and practise all the accomplishments and seductive arts that most -enchant society, and employ them well! They have great vivacity of -mind, much grace of manner, and possess the most subtle and exquisite -taste in dress; yet the domestic virtues are but little cultivated -under the double-headed Eagle, and marriages are too often mere -matters of convenience; so there is little romance in the character, -and often much of intrigue in the conduct of the Russian lady.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I trust that your wounds are not painful?" said she, with tender -earnestness, after a short pause, during which she perceived me to -wince once or twice.</p> - -<p class="normal">"My immersion in salt water has made them smart, perhaps; and then the -blood I have lost has caused such a dimness of sight, that at times, -even while speaking with you, though I hear your voice, your figure -seems to melt from before me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am so deeply sorry to hear this; but a night's repose, and perhaps -the rest of to-morrow may, nay, I doubt not shall, cure you of this -weakness."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I thank you for your good wishes and intentions."</p> - -<p class="normal">"In that skirmish, fought single-handed by you against our Cossacks, -they thrust you into the water--actually into the sea?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; by the mere force of their charged lances--horse and man we went -over together; but not before I had shot their leader--a resolute -fellow--poor Volhonski!"</p> - -<p class="normal">At this name both ladies started and changed colour, though the -younger alone understood me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>Whom</i> did you say?" she asked, in a voice of terror, while trembling -violently.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Paulovitch Count Volhonski, a name well known in the Russian army, I -believe; he commanded the Vladimir regiment at the Alma and in -Sebastopol."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And he--he fell by <i>your</i> hand?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I regret to say that he did," I replied, slowly and perplexedly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You know him, and are certain of this?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Certain as that I now address you--most certain, to my sorrow."</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>O Gospodi pomiloui!</i>"<a name="div4Ref_04" href="#div4_04"><sup>[4]</sup></a> she exclaimed, clasping her hands together, -and seeming now pale as the new-fallen snow; "my brother--my brother!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your <i>brother?</i>" I exclaimed, in genuine consternation.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Slain by you--your hand!" she wailed out, wildly and reproachfully.</p> - -<p class="normal">"O, it cannot be."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Speak--how?" She stamped her foot as she spoke, and no prettier foot -in all Russia could have struck the carpet with a more imperial air. -Her eyes were flashing now through tears; even her teeth seemed to -glisten; her hands were clenched, and I felt that she regarded me, for -the time, with hate and loathing.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He fell, and his horse, too--yet, now that I think of it," I urged, -"he may be untouched; and from my soul I hope that such may be the -case, for personally he is my friend."</p> - -<p class="normal">I felt deeply distressed by the turn matters had so suddenly taken; -while Madame Tolstoff, to whom she now made some explanation in -Russian, regarded me with fierce and undisguised hostility.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then there is yet hope?" she asked, piteously.</p> - -<p class="normal">"That he may be simply wounded--yes."</p> - -<p class="normal">"For that hope I thank you, Hospodeen: a little time shall tell us -all."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I was attacked and outnumbered; my own life was in the balance, and I -knew him not, nor did he know me, until we were at close quarters, in -the moment of his fall. To defend oneself is a natural impulse; and it -has been truly said, that if a man armed with a red-hot poker were to -make a lunge even at the greatest philosopher, he would certainly -parry it, though he were jammed between two sacks of gunpowder. Then I -have the honour of addressing the Hospoza Valerie?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," she replied, with hauteur; "but who are you, that know <i>my</i> -name?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am Captain Henry Hardinge, who--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"The Hospodeen Hardinge" (Hardin<i>ovitch</i> she called it), "who so -greatly befriended my dear brother in Germany, and who saved his life -at Inkermann?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"The same."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I cannot receive you with joy; the present terrible tidings cloud all -the past. Yet I have promised to protect you," she added, giving me -both her hands to kiss, "and protected you shall be--even should my -dead brother be borne here to-night!"</p> - -<p class="normal">So the slender girl with the dark orbs and golden hair, she of whose -miniature I had custody for a little time on that memorable and -exciting morning in the Heiligengeist Feld at Hamburg, was now a -lovely woman in all the budded bloom of past twenty--a fair Russian, -with "more peril in her eyes than fifty of their swords!"</p> - -<p class="normal">I felt sincere sorrow for the grief and consternation I had so -evidently and so naturally excited, and I greatly feared that the -hostility of the elder lady, Madame Tolstoff, might yet work me some -mischief; though I knew not in what relation she could stand to -Volhonski, who, at Hamburg, had distinctly said that his sister -Valerie was the only one he had in the world. While I sat silently -listening, and not without an emotion of guiltiness in my heart, to -their sobs and exclamations of woe, uttered singly and together, the -rapid clatter of hoofs, partially muffled by the snow, was heard -without; bells sounded and doors were banged; and then Ivan -Yourivitch, his old wrinkled face full of excitement and importance, -entered the room unsummoned. My heart for a moment stood still.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What fresh evil tidings," thought I, "does this old Muscovite bring -us now?"</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_46" href="#div1Ref_46">CHAPTER XLVI.--DELILAH.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Even while Ivan Yourivitch was conferring with his startled mistress, -I saw a tall figure in Russian uniform--the eternal long gray -greatcoat--appear at the room door, and I was instinctively glancing -round for some weapon wherewith to defend me, when to my astonishment -Volhonski entered, somewhat splashed with mud, certainly, and powdered -with snow, but whole and well, without a wound, and with a cry of joy -Valerie threw herself into his arms. Wholly occupied by his beautiful -sister, to whom he was tenderly attached, fully a minute elapsed -before he turned to address Madame Tolstoff and then me. Was it -selfishness, was it humanity, was it friendship, or what was the -sentiment that inspired me, and caused so much of genuine joy to see -Volhonski appear safe and untouched?--I, who from the trenches had -been daily wont to watch with grim satisfaction the murderous -"potting" of the Ruskies from the rifle-pits, and literal showers of -legs, arms, and other fragments of poor humanity, by their appearance -in the air, respond to the explosion of a well-directed shell! He now -turned to me with astonishment on recognising my face in that place, -and with the uniform of the Rifle Militia.</p> - -<p class="normal">"By what strange caprice or whirligig of fortune do I find you here?" -he exclaimed, as he took my hand, but certainly with a somewhat -dubious expression of eye; "you have not come over to us, I hope, as -some of our Poles have lately gone to you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No," I replied, almost laughing at the idea. "Don't mistake me; I -came here as a fugitive, glad to escape you and your confounded -Cossacks; but I thank God, Volhonski, that you eluded my pistol on the -cliffs yonder."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then it was <i>you</i>, Captain Hardinge, whom I followed so fast and so -far from that khan on the Kokoz road? By St. George, my friend, but -you were well mounted! In our skirmish one of your balls cut my left -shoulder-strap, as you may see; the other shred away my horse's ear on -the off side, making him swerve round so madly that he threw me--that -was all. You, however, fell into the sea--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"And was soaked to the skin; the reason why, 'only for this night -positively,' as the play-bills have it, I appear in the uniform of the -Imperial Rifle Militia, after finding my way here by the happiest -chance in the world," I added, with a glance at his smiling sister. -"Marshal Canrobert--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Has fallen back with his slender force from Kokoz. You had a despatch -for him, I presume, by what fell from you at the Tartar caravanserai?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Precisely."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, I thought as much."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I should not have been touring so far from our own lines else. It -concerned, I believe--if I may speak of it--an <i>émeute</i> among the -Poles in Sebastopol."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A false rumour spread by some deserters; there was no such thing; and -be assured that our good father, the Emperor, is too much beloved, -even in Poland, to be troubled by disaffection again."</p> - -<p class="normal">Volhonski now threw off his great coat, and appeared in the handsome -full uniform of the Vladimir Infantry, on a lapel of which he wore, -among other orders, the military star of St. George the Victorious, -which is only bestowed by the Czar, for acts of personal bravery, like -our Victoria Cross.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How came you to know of me and of my despatch?" I inquired, while -Yourivitch replaced the wine and some other refreshments on the table.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I had Menschikoff's express orders to watch, with a sotnia of -Cossacks, Canrobert's flying column on the Kokoz road; and the Tartars -were prompt enough in telling me of <i>your</i> movements--at least of the -appearance of an officer of the Allies, where, in sooth, he had no -right to be. But, my friend, you look pale and weary."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He has no less than three lance-wounds!" urged Valerie.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Three!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"In the arms and shoulder."</p> - -<p class="normal">"This is serious; but take some more of the Crimskoi--it is harmless -wine. Excuse me, Captain Hardinge, but of course you are aware how -dangerous it is for you to remain long here?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have no intention of remaining a moment absent from my duty, if I -can help it!" said I, energetically.</p> - -<p class="normal">"So we must get you smuggled back to your own lines somehow--unless -you consent to become a prisoner of war."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have already given my parole of honour."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Indeed! to whom?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"To the Hospoza Volhonski," said I, laughing.</p> - -<p class="normal">"More binding, perhaps, than if given to me; yet as I don't wish to -avail myself of your promises to Valerie, but for the memory of past -times," he added, with a pleasant smile, "to see you safe among your -friends, I must contrive some plan to get you hence without delay."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why such inhospitable haste?" asked Valerie.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Think of the peril to him and to us of being discovered here--and in -that dress, too!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I fear I shall not be able to ride for days," said I, despondingly, -as sensations of lassitude stole over me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I fear that with Valerie for your nurse, you may never return to -health at all," said Volhonski, laughing, as he knew well the -coquettish proclivities of his sister; "hence, to insure at least -convalescence, I must commit you to the care of old Yourivitch or -Madame Tolstoff."</p> - -<p class="normal">Joy for her brother's safe return made Valerie radiant and splendidly -brilliant; while some emotion of compunction for her temporary -hostility to me, led her to be somewhat marked in her manner, softly -suave; and this <i>he</i> observed; for, after a little time, he said, -smilingly,</p> - -<p class="normal">"You and my Valerie seem to have become quite old friends already; but -remember the moth and the candle--<i>gardez-vous bien, mon camarade -Hardinge!</i>"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't understand you, Paulovitch," said Valerie, pouting.</p> - -<p class="normal">"As little do I," said I, colouring, for the Colonel's speech was -pointed and blunt, though his manner was scrupulously polite; but with -all that, foreigners frequently say things that sound abrupt and -strange to English ears.</p> - -<p class="normal">"This stupid soldier is afraid that, if left in idleness, you will -fall in love with Madame Tolstoff--or me," said Valerie; "he is -thinking of the Spanish proverb, no doubt--<i>Puerto abierto al santo -tiento</i>."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am thinking of no such thing, and did but jest, Valerie," said her -brother, gravely, while he caressed her splendid hair. "Madame -Tolstoff, our dear friend, is an experienced chaperone; and beside -that, you are safe--set apart from the world--so far as concerns the -admiration of men."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That I never shall be, I hope!" said she, smiling and pouting again.</p> - -<p class="normal">By Jove, can it be that she is destined for a nunnery? What the deuce -can he mean by all these strange hints and out-of-place remarks? -thought I, and not without secret irritation. Perhaps the keen -Muscovite read something of this in my face, for he now clinked his -glass against mine, and filled it with beautifully golden-coloured -Château Yquem, bright, cool, and sparkling from its white crystal -flask; and to this champagne soon succeeded; unwisely for me, though -it was champagne in its best condition, that is, after being just six -years in bottle, as Yourivitch assured us; and now our conversation -became more gay and varied, and, as I thought, decidedly more -pleasant. He gave me some recent news from the immediate seat of war, -and from our own lines, that proved of interest to me.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Retribution man-of-war, with the Duke of Cambridge on board, was -said to have been lost, or nearly so, in the late great storm, which -the Russians naturally hoped would delay the arrival of transports -with reinforcements and supplies for the Allies; and he added that if -the generals of the latter "had but the brains to <i>cut off all -communication with Simpheropol, Sebastopol would surrender in three -days!</i>" He mentioned, also, that the Greeks at Constantinople had -taken heavy bets that it would not fall before Christmas, which seemed -likely enough, as Christmas was close at hand now; and that there was -a rumour to the effect that General Buraguay d'Hilliers--one of the -veterans of the retreat from Moscow--had landed at Eupatoria, and -given battle to General Alexander Nicolaevitch von Luders, and -defeated him with the 5th Infantry Corps of the Russian Army; a most -improbable story, as D'Hilliers was at that moment with his army in -the Aland Isles! And now Valerie, wearying of war and politics, -shrugged her pretty shoulders, and gradually led us to talk on other -topics. As she was well read and highly accomplished, there were many -subjects on which we could converse in common, as she was wonderfully -familiar with the best works of the English and French writers of the -day, and knew them quite as well as those of Tourguéneff, Panaeff, -Longenoff, Zernina, and others who were barely known to me by name. I -was afterwards to learn, too, that she was a brilliant musician; and -with all these powers of pleasing, was a Russian convent, with its -oppressive atmosphere of religion and austerity, to be her doom? -When I compared, mentally, the Russian with the English woman of -rank--Valerie with Estelle--I could see that the latter, with less of -a nervous temperament, was more quiet and unimpressionable, and with -all her beauty less attractive; the former was more coquettish and -seductive, more full of minute, delicate, and piquante graces--the -real graces that win and enslave; more mistress of those witching -trifles that at all times can inspire tenderness, provoke gallantry, -and awaken love. The brilliant Valerie would have shone in a crowded -<i>salon</i>, while Estelle Cressingham, with all her pale loveliness, -would simply have seemed to be the cold, proud, aristocratic belle of -an English drawing-room.</p> - -<p class="normal">Valerie was fascinating--she was magnetic--I know not how to phrase -it; and what now to me was Estelle--the Countess of Aberconway--that I -should shrink from drawing invidious comparisons?</p> - -<p class="normal">When I retired that night to a spacious and magnificent apartment, and -to a luxurious Russian couch, the pillows of which were edged with the -finest lace--ye gods! a laced pillow after mine in the camp, a -tent-peg bag stuffed with dirty straw--I was soon sensible of the -difference of sleeping indoors and within a house, after being under -canvas and accustomed so long to my airy tent. I felt as if stifling; -and to this was added the effect of the wines, of which, incited by -the hospitality of Volhonski, I had partaken too freely. I forgot all -about my promises to be up betimes, even before daybreak, in the -morning, and to ride with him as near to our posts as he dared -venture, to leave me in a place of safety; I forgot that if I remained -in secret at the castle or château of Yalta, the great danger and the -grave suspicion to which I subjected him, his sister, and all there; I -forgot, too, the risk I ran personally of being taken and shot as a -spy, perhaps, after short inquiry, or no inquiry at all. I thought -only of the brilliant creature whose voice seemed hovering in my ear, -and the remembered touch of whose velvet hand seemed still to linger -in mine.</p> - -<p class="normal">The more I saw of Valerie Volhonski, the more she dazzled, charmed, -and--must I admit it?--consoled me for the loss I had sustained in -England far away. She seemed quite aware of the admiration her beauty -excited--of the love that was inspiring me, and she seemed, I thought, -in my vanity, not unwilling to return it! Why, then, should I not ask -her to love me? What to us were the miserable ambitions of emperors -and sultans; the intrigues and treacheries of statesmen; the wars, the -battles, the difference of religion, race, and clime? And so, as the -sparkling cliquot did its work, I wove the shining web of the future, -and gave full reins to my heated fancy as the hours of the silent -night stole on. But the morning found me ill, feverish, decidedly -delirious; and Volhonski, to his great mortification, had to leave me -and ride off with his Cossacks, and reach Sebastopol by making a long -detour through that part of the country which we so stupidly left -<i>open</i>--round by Tepekerman and Bagtchi Serai, and thence by the -Belbeck into the Valley of Inkermann. I must have been in rather a -helpless condition for at least two days--days wherein the short -intervals of ease and sense seemed to me wearisome and perplexing -indeed; while to see Madame Tolstoff and old Ivan Yourivitch gliding -noiselessly about my room in fur slippers, caused me to marvel sorely -whether I was dreaming or awake; whether or not I was myself, or some -one else; for all about me seemed strange, unusual, and unreal.</p> - -<p class="normal">On the morning of the third day I was greatly better, and on passing a -hand over my head, found that my hair was gone--shorn to a crop of the -true military Russian pattern, doubtless by a doctor's order. Then I -saw Madame Tolstoff and Valerie Volhonski standing near and smiling at -my perplexity.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You miss your dark brown locks," said the latter, with one of her -most seducing smiles; "forgive me; but I am the Delilah who made a -Samson of you!"</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_47" href="#div1Ref_47">CHAPTER XLVII.--VALERIE VOLHONSKI.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Though convalescent, I was still too feeble to think of saddle-work; -and the Hospoza Volhonski had no means of transmitting me otherwise -than mounted, or of having me--even when able to travel--guided to the -British camp, without aid from her brother, of whom we had no tidings -for weeks; so the time slipped away at Yalta pleasantly enough for me. -To conceal me entirely from all the visitors who came there was an -impossibility; thus, though dressed in plain clothes now, and -generally passing for a German shut out from business at Sebastopol, I -ran hourly risks of suspicion and discovery. Some of Volhonski's -abrupt and ill-judged remarks, or some perhaps of mine, which had -escaped me when delirious under the double effect of wound and wine, -rendered Valerie a little reserved in her demeanour towards me for the -first day or two after I was able to leave my room; but she was so -frank in nature and so gay in spirit, that this unusual mood rapidly -wore away. We had many visitors from the Valley of Inkermann and from -Sebastopol itself, as the city was left unblockaded on one side; and -the tidings they brought us--tidings which we eagerly devoured--varied -strangely. Once we were informed that it had been assaulted, and that -all the outworks were in the hands of the Allies; next we heard that -another Inkermann had been fought--that the Allies had been scattered -and the siege raised; that the Austrians had entered Bulgaria; that -torpedoes had blown up the sunken ships; and that the British fleet -was actually in the harbour, shelling the town and burning it with -rockets and red-hot shot. But all reports converged in one unvarying -tale--the dreadful sufferings of our soldiers among the snow in the -trenches, where young men grew gray, and gray-haired men grew white -with misery. And so the Christmas passed; and when the Russian bells -by hundreds rang the old year out from the spires, the forts, and the -ships that lay above the booms and bridge of boats, the new year's -morning saw the black cross of St. Andrew still waving defiantly on -the Mamelon, and Redan, and all the forts of Sebastopol.</p> - -<p class="normal">Once among our visitors came Prince Menschikoff himself, Valerie -advised my non-appearance, much to my relief; but I heard the din of -voices, the laughter, and the sound of music in the <i>salon</i> or great -dining-room where a <i>déjeûner</i> was served for him and his staff, while -the band of the Grand Duchess Olga's Hussars were stationed in the -marble vestibule, and played the grand national anthem of Russia and -Luloff's famous composition, <i>Borshoe zara brangie</i>--God save the -Emperor. After the Prince's departure we had the huge mansion entirely -to ourselves again, and any longings I might have to rejoin the Welsh -Fusileers and share the dangers they underwent, together with my -natural anxiety to hear of my friends in their ranks, I was compelled -to stifle and seek to forget, when tidings came that a great body of -Tchernimorski Cossacks had formed a temporary camp between Yalta and -the head of the long Baidar Valley, thus, while they remained, -completely cutting off all my chances of reaching either Balaclava or -the Allied camp; so there was nothing for me now but to resign myself -to a protracted residence in the same luxurious mansion with the -brilliant Valerie (and her watchful chaperone), with the somewhat -certain chance of losing my heart in the charms, of her society. -Madame Tolstoff assuredly kept guard over us with Argus eyes; but a -few of the devices in the heart that laugheth at locksmiths enabled me -to elude her at times; while, fortunately for me, the language we -spoke was perfectly unknown to her; yet "the Tolstoff," as I used to -call her, seemed, I knew not why, to exercise considerable control -over Valerie. In her youth she had been carried off by Schamyl's -mountaineers from a Russian outpost, and was a detained for three -years in the Caucasian chief's seraglio, where, with all my heart, I -wished her still. But while enjoying all the good things of this life -at Yalta--grapes, melons, and pineapples from Woronzow's hothouses at -Alupka, oysters from Hamburg, pickled salmon from Ladoga, sterlit from -the Volga, sturgeon from the Caspian Sea, reindeer's tongue from -Archangel, Crimean wines that nearly equalled champagne, imitation -Sillery from the Don, Cliquot, Burgundy, and Bordeaux,--I thought -often with compunction of the wretched rations and hard fare of our -poor fellows who were starving in the winter camp. Volhonski was -wealthy, and thus his sister and her attendants were able to command -every luxury. His rank was high, for he claimed, as usual with all the -Russian nobles of the first <i>tchinn</i> or class, to be descended from -Ruric the Norman--Ruric of Kiev and Vladimir--who, more than a -thousand years ago, founded the dynasty by which Muscovy was governed -prior to the accession of the Romanoffs. All the best families in the -land boast of a descent from Gedemine the Lithuanian, or from this -Ruric and his followers; a weakness common also to the English -aristocracy, whose genealogical craze is a real or supposed descent -from those who were too probably the offscourings of Normandy. Beauty -belongs peculiarly to neither race nor nation; yet somehow Valerie -seemed to me, in her bearing and style, the embodiment of all that was -noble and lovely; and though always graceful, her air and sometimes -the carriage of her head seemed haughty--even defiant.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the many opportunities afforded by propinquity and close residence -together in the same house, and by our speaking a language which we -alone understood, I know not all I said to her then, nor need I seek -to remember it now; suffice it, that softly and imperceptibly the -sentiments of those who love are communicated and adopted; and so it -was with me. She was catching my heart at the rebound--at the -ricochet, as we might say in the trenches. I was beginning to learn -that there were other women who might love me--others whom I might -love, and who were not worshippers of Mammon, like--ah, well--Estelle -Cressingham. If Pottersleigh died or broke his old neck in the -hunting-field, where he sometimes rashly ventured, would Estelle--I -thrust her image aside, and turned all my thoughts to Valerie; yet my -second choice seemed, by the peculiarity of our circumstances, a more -ambitious one and more hopeless of attainment than the first. Daily, -however, I strove to win her heart and to inspire her with that pure -passion which, as a casuist affirms, can only be felt by the pure in -spirit, as all virtues are closely connected with each other, and the -tenderness of the heart is one of them. Was the devil at my elbow, or -my evil angel, if such things be, whispering in my ear? Or how was it, -that whenever I grew tender with Valerie, the image of Estelle came -revengefully, yet sadly, to memory, as of an idol shattered, but -certainly not by me? Oddly enough I still wore her ring on my -finger--the single pearl set in blue and gold enamel--a gift I had as -yet no means of restoring, and could not give away. "Have you ever -looked at a portrait till it haunted you?" asks a writer. "Have you -ever seen the painted face of one, it may be, who was an utter -stranger to you, yet that seemed to fill your mind with a sort of -recognition that sent you out over the sea of speculation, wondering -where you had seen it before, or when you would see it again? The eyes -talk to you and the lips tell you a dreamy story."</p> - -<p class="normal">Such, then, was the haunting character of the face of Valerie. Her -beauty and her graces of manner filled up all my thoughts, and her -strange dark eyes seemed to say that if it was impossible we had known -each other in the years that were past, we might be dear enough to -each other in the future; and I hoped in my heart that ours should be -one; thus yielding blindly to the influence, to the charm of her -presence and the whole situation. Once she was at the piano, and sang -to me with wonderful grace and brilliance "The Refusal," a Russian -gipsy song, in which a young man makes many desperate professions and -promises of love to a giddy young beauty, who laughs at them and -rejects him, because she values nothing so much as her own liberty. -When turning the leaves for her, the pearl ring of Estelle--a ring so -evidently that of a lady--caught her attention, and I saw Valerie's -colour heighten as she did so. I instantly drew it off; I felt no -compunction in doing so then, and said, "You admire this ring, -apparently?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nay--do not say so, please," said she, bending over the instrument; -"when a lady admires thus, it seems only another fashion of coveting."</p> - -<p class="normal">"In this instance that were useless," said I, laughing, "as the ring -is not mine to bestow; otherwise I should glory in your accepting it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is it your wife's?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"My wife's!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes. Have you one in that wretched little island of yours?" she -continued, sharply.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No," I replied, delighted by this undisguised little ebullition of -jealousy.</p> - -<p class="normal">"To whom does it belong, then?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"The wife of another, to whom it shall be restored in England."</p> - -<p class="normal">"This is very strange--it has, then, a history?" said she, bending her -dark eyes on mine.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And this history--what is it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I cannot--dare not tell you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Indeed!" Her black lashes drooped for a moment, and she passed a -white hand nervously over her golden braids. "And wherefore?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It would be to reveal the secrets of another."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Another whom you love?" she asked, hurriedly, while her teeth seemed -to glitter as well as her eyes, for her lips were parted.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, no; on my honour, no!" said I, laying my right hand on my breast, -and feeling that then I spoke but the truth and without the -equivocation, to which her questions were forcing me. Then Valerie -seemed to blush with pleasure, and my heart beat lightly with joy. I -should certainly have done something rash; but the inevitable Madame -Tolstoff was in the room, embroidering a smoking cap for her son the -colonel, then in command of the 26th at Sebastopol; so I was compelled -to content myself by simply touching the hand of Valerie, and by -caressing it tenderly, while affecting to admire a beautiful opal ring -she wore, and urging her to continue her music. The whole episode -partook somewhat of the nature of a scene between us, and even the -usually self-possessed Valerie seemed a little confused, as she once -more laid her tapered fingers on the ivory keys.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am very far from perfect in my music, or anything else, perhaps," -she said.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do not say so," I whispered; "yet had you been more perfect than you -are, I think no other woman in this world would have had the chance of -a lover."</p> - -<p class="normal">"How--why?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"All men would be loving you, and you only."</p> - -<p class="normal">"This is more like the inflated flattery of a Frenchman than the -speech of a sober Briton," said Valerie, a little disdainfully.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Does it displease you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, certainly."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"People don't love when they flatter," was the pretty pointed and -coquettish response, and preluded an air with a crash on the keys, -thus interrupting something I was about to say--heaven only knows -what--a formal declaration, I fear.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You admired my opal. Listen to the story of its <i>origin</i>; I doubt if -the story of your ring is half so pretty," said she. And then she sang -in English the following song, which she had been taught by her -governess, a song the author of which I have never been able to -discover; but then and there, situated as I was, the English words -came deliciously home to my heart, and I quote them now from memory:--</p> -<div class="poem1"> - -<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-1.5em">"A dew-drop came, with a spark of flame<br> -It had caught from the sun's last ray,</p> -<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-1em">To a violet's breast, where it lay at rest,<br> -Till the hours brought back the day.</p> -<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-1em">With a blush and a frown a rose look'd down,<br> -But smiled at once to view,</p> -<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-1em">With its colouring warm, her own bright form<br> -Reflected back by the dew!</p> -<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-1em">Then a stolen look the stranger took<br> -At the sky so soft and blue,</p> -<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-1em">And a leaflet green, with its silvery sheen,<br> -Was seen by the idler, too.</p> -<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-1em">As he thus reclined, a cold north wind<br> -Of a sudden blew around,</p> -<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-1em">And a maiden fair, who was walking there,<br> -Next morning <i>an opal</i> found!"</p> -</div> - -<p class="normal"> -I ventured to pat her shoulder approvingly. I glanced furtively round; -the Tolstoff had gone out of the room, and somehow my arm slipped -round Valerie, who looked up at me, smiling archly, yet she said, -firmly,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pray don't."</p> - -<p class="normal">"How much longer am I to keep this silence?" I asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How--what silence?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"To be thus in suspense, Valerie," I added, lowering my voice and -bending my face towards her ear.</p> - -<p class="normal">Her smile passed away, her white lids drooped, and perplexity and -trouble stole over her eyes, as she drew her head back.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I do not know what you mean, or whither your conversation tends," she -said.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You know that I love you!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, I don't."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You must have seen it--must have guessed it--since the happy hour in -which I first saw you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do not speak to me thus, I implore you," said she, colouring deeply, -and covering her face with her beautiful hands.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why, Valerie, dearest, dearest Valerie?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I must not--dare not listen to you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Dare not?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I speak the truth," said she, and her breast heaved.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Will you marry me, Valerie?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I cannot marry you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"O heavens, don't ask me! But enough of this; and here comes Madame -Tolstoff, to announce that the <i>samovar</i>--the tea-urn--is ready."</p> - -<p class="normal">In my irritation I muttered something that she of the red <i>sarafan</i>, -Madame Tolstoff, would not wish graved on her tombstone, and resumed -my previous task of turning the leaves at the piano; but Valerie sang -no more then, and for two entire days gave me no opportunity of -learning why she had received my declaration in a manner so odd and -unexpected. I could but sigh and conjecture the cause, and recall the -words of her brother on the night he first met me at Yalta; and if it -were the case that a convent proved the only barrier, I was not -without hopes of smoothing all such scruples away.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_48" href="#div1Ref_48">CHAPTER XLVIII.--THE THREATS OF TOLSTOFF.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">In the growth of my passion for Valerie I forgot all about the -probable opposition of her brother, the Count, to my wishes. Indeed, -he entered very little into my schemes of the future; for the perilous -contingencies of war caused life to be held by a very slight tenure -indeed; so we might never see him again, though none would deplore -more than I the death of so gallant a fellow. Then, in that instance, -did one so lovely as Valerie require more than ever a legitimate -protector, and who could be more suitable than I? I felt convinced at -that time, that those who loved Valerie once could never feel for -another as they had loved her. She was so full of an individuality -that was all her own. Was it the coquetry of her manner, the strange -and indescribable beauty of her dark eyes, the coils of her golden -hair, the smile on her lips, or the subtle magnetism the kisses of -those lips might possess, that entangled them? God knows, but I have -heard that those who loved her once were never quite the same men -again. If Valerie married me, with what pride and exultation should I -display her beauty, if occasion served, before Estelle and her dotard -Earl, as a bright being I had won from hearts that were breaking for -her, and as one who was teaching me fast to forget <i>her</i>, even as she -had forgotten me! A Russian wife, at that crisis of hostility and -hatred, seemed a somewhat singular alliance certainly; what would the -regiment say, and what would my chief friend old Sir Madoc, with all -his strong national prejudices, think? I should be pretty certain to -find the doors of Craigaderyn closed for long against me. These, -however, were minor considerations amid my dreams; for dreams they -were, and visions that might never be realised; <i>châteaux en Espagne</i> -never, perhaps, to be mine!</p> - -<p class="normal">On the morning of the third day after the musical performance recorded -in the preceding chapter, Valerie met me, accompanied by Madame -Tolstoff. Her face wore a bright smile, and interlacing her fingers, -she raised her eyes to the <i>eikon</i> above the fireplace, and said to -me, "O Hospodeen, have I not cause to thank Heaven for the news a -Cossack has just brought me, in a letter from Colonel Tolstoff?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I hope so; but pray what is the news?" I. asked, while drawing nearer -her.</p> - -<p class="normal">"My brother Paulovitch has been taken prisoner by your people."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Call you that good news?" I asked, with surprise.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, most happy tidings."</p> - -<p class="normal">"How?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"My brother will now be safe, and I hope that they will keep him so -till this horrible and most unjust war is over."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Unjust! how is it so?" I asked, laughing.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can it be otherwise, when it is waged against holy Russia and our -good father the Czar?"</p> - -<p class="normal">I afterwards learned that Volhonski had been taken prisoner in that -affair which occurred on the night of Sunday, the 14th January, when -the Russians surprised our people in the trenches, and captured one -officer and sixteen men of the 68th, or Durham Light Infantry, into -whose hands Volhonski fell, and was disarmed and taken at once to the -rear.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am so happy," continued Valerie, clapping her hands like a child, -"though it may be long, long ere I see him again, my dear Paulovitch! -He will be taken to England, of course."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Should you not like to join him there?" I asked, softly. "Yes, but I -cannot leave Russia."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do not ask me; but we may keep <i>you</i> as a hostage for him," she -added, merrily; "do you agree?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can I do otherwise?" said I, tenderly and earnestly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of course not, while those Cossacks are in the Baidar Valley. Poor -Paulovitch! and this was his parting gift!" she continued, and drew -from her bosom--and none in the world could be whiter or more -lovely--a gold cross; and after kissing, she replaced it, looking at -me with a bright, coquettish, and most provoking smile, as it slipped -down into a receptacle so charming. "And dear Madame Tolstoff is so -happy, too, for her son arrives here to-morrow; he has been severely -bruised by the splinter of a shell in the Wasp Battery, and comes -hither to be nursed by us."</p> - -<p class="normal">I cannot say that I shared in "dear Madame's" joy on this occasion, -and would have been better pleased had Valerie seemed to be less -excited than she was. Moreover, I feared that the arrival of a Russian -officer as an inmate might seriously complicate matters, and -completely alter my position; and a pang seemed to enter my heart, as -I already began to feel with wretchedness that Valerie might soon be -lost to me. I had no time to lose if I would seek to resume the -subject of conversation on that evening when Madame Tolstoff arrived -just in time to interrupt us; but Valerie seemed studiously never to -afford me an opportunity of being with her alone. This was most -tantalising, especially now when a crisis in my affairs seemed -approaching. Moreover, I had already been at Yalta longer than I could -ever have anticipated. The love of the brother and sister for each -other was, I knew, strong and tender; could I, therefore, but persuade -her to escape--"to fly" with me, as novels have it--to our camp, now -that he was a prisoner, and probably <i>en route</i> for England! A meagre -choice of comforts would await her in the allied camp; but in the -excess of my love, my ardour, and folly, I forgot all about that, and -even about the Cossacks who occupied the Pass of the Baidar Valley.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was not without emotions of undefined anxiety that on the following -day I heard from Ivan Yourivitch that Colonel Tolstoff had arrived, -and would meet me at dinner. The whole of that noon and afternoon -passed, but I could nowhere see Valerie; and on entering the room when -dinner was announced--a dinner <i>à la Russe</i>, the table covered with -flowers fresh from the conservatory--I was sensible that she received -me with an air of constraint which, in her, was very remarkable; while -something akin to malicious pleasure seemed to twinkle in the little -dark beadlike eyes of Madame Tolstoff as she introduced me to her son -the Colonel; at least, by his reception of me I understood so much of -what she said, for the old lady spoke in her native Russian. He was a -tall, grim-looking man, who, after laying aside the long military -<i>capote</i>, appeared in the dark green uniform of the 26th Infantry, -with several silver medals dangling on his well-padded breast. He had -fierce keen eyes, that seemed to glare at times under their bristling -brows; and he had an enormous sandy-coloured moustache, that appeared -to retain the blue curling smoke of his <i>papirosse</i>, or to emit it -grudgingly, as if it came through closely-laid thatch; a thick beard -of the same hue, streaked with grizzled gray hair, concealed a massive -jaw and most determined chin. He was huge, heavy-looking, and -muscular; and on seeing me, held out a strong, weather-beaten hand but -coldly and dryly, as he addressed me in German; and then we -immediately recognised each other, for he was the officer who -commanded the regiment which had occupied the abattis, and who -received me when I took the flag of truce into Sebastopol. Volhonski, -I have said, was a noble of the first class--that which traces -nobility back for a single century; but Tolstoff was only of the -second, or military class, being the son of a merchant, who after -serving eight years in the ranks as a <i>junker</i>, on being made an -officer becomes an hereditary noble, with the right to purchase a -landed estate. Tolstoff was quite lame--temporarily, however--by the -bruises his left leg had suffered from the explosion of a shell. He -spoke to me in bad and broken German, though I shall render his words -here in English.</p> - -<p class="normal">"So my friend Volhonski is taken prisoner?" said I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; less lucky than you, Herr Captain, who have to be taken yet," he -replied, tossing the fag end of his paper cigar into the <i>peitchka</i>.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It was in a sortie, I understand?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"A little one; his party was led astray by their guide towards the -trenches."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Their guide! could one be found?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; an officer who deserted to us."</p> - -<p class="normal">"An officer!" said I, with astonishment.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; one who was a prime favourite with the Lord Raglan. Strange that -he should desert, was it not!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"With Lord Raglan!" I continued, more bewildered still.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The devil! You are strangely fond of repeating my words! Anyway he -wears a diamond ring that was given him by Lord Raglan for some great -service he performed; but as he is to be here to-night, you shall see -him yourself."</p> - -<p class="normal">Guilfoyle! The inevitable Guilfoyle and his ring!</p> - -<p class="normal">I could have laughed, but for rage at his cowardice, villainy, and -treachery, in actually acting as guide in that affair which caused a -loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners to our 68th Foot. However, -thought I, through my clenched teeth, I shall see him to-night.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Have you ever seen this officer?" I asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No; but he comes to Yalta with certain reports for my signature. I -doubt if Prince Woronzow, who is now Governor of Tiflis in Georgia, -knows who--<i>all</i>--honour his mansion by a residence therein. You have -made a longer visit among us this time than you did under the flag of -truce!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Circumstances have forced me to do so, with what willingness you may -imagine," said I, justly displeased by his tone and tenor of his -speech, which seemed to class me with a rascal and a traitor like -Guilfoyle. "I was most fortunate, however, in finding my way here, -after escaping death, first at the hands of your Cossacks, and -afterwards in the sea."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, they are troublesome fellows those Cossacks, and I fear you are -not quite done with them yet."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They, and your infantry, too, found us pretty well prepared on that -misty morning at Inkermann," said I, growing more and more displeased -by his tone and manner.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well prepared! By----, I should think so; when people come on -frivolous errands with flags of truce, to see what an enemy is about -behind his own lines."</p> - -<p class="normal">I felt the blood rush to my temples, and Valerie, with a piteous -expression in her soft face, said something in Russian, and with a -tone of expostulation; to which the grim Pulkovnick made no response, -but sat silently making such a dinner as seemed to indicate that -rations had been scarce in Sebastopol, and keeping Ivan Yourivitch in -constant attendance, but chiefly on himself. I could see that the man -was a soldier, and nothing but a soldier, a Russian military tyrant in -fact, and felt assured that the sooner I was out of Yalta, and beyond -his reach--risking even the Cossacks in the Valley--the better for -myself.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was twice assisted by his amiable "mamma," to the <i>bativina</i>, i.e., -soup made of roasted beef cut into small pieces, with boiled beetroot, -spring onions, carraway-seeds, purée of sorrel, with chopped eggs and -kvass. He was thrice helped to stuffed carrots with sauce, to roast -mutton with mushrooms, and compote of almonds; and he drank great -quantities of hydromel flavoured with spices, and so fermented with -hops that it foamed up in the silver tankard and over his vast -moustache. But in the intervals during dinner, and often speaking with -his mouth very full, he related for the express behoof of his mother -and Valerie, a very strange incident, which they seemed implicitly to -believe, and which the latter politely translated for me. It was to -the effect, that on the night Volhonski was taken prisoner, one of his -officers, a man of noble rank, and major of the Vladimir Regiment, was -carried into Sebastopol mortally wounded in an attempt to rescue him; -and as he was dying, the host was borne to him under a canopy by -Innocent, Bishop of Odessa, in person. As the procession passed a -tratkir, or tea-house, some soldiers and girls were dancing there to -the sound of a violin; and though they heard the voices of the -chanters, and the occasional ringing of the sanctus bell, they ceased -not their amusement, neither did they kneel, so the host passed on; -but like those who were enchanted by hearing the wonderful flute of -the German tale, they could not cease dancing, neither could the -violinist desist from playing, and for six-and-thirty hours they -continued to whirl in a wild waltz--in sorrow and tears, a ghastly -band--till, exhausted and worn nearly to skeletons, they sank gasping -and breathless on the floor, where they were still lying, paralysed in -all their limbs, and hopelessly insane!</p> - -<p class="normal">Tolstoff seemed to hasten the ceremonies of the dinner-table to get -rid of the ladies; and the moment they rose he gave his mother some -<i>papirosses</i>, or cigarettes, to smoke, and then proceeded, leisurely, -to roll up one for himself, after pushing across the table towards me -the champagne, which he despised as very poor wine indeed.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hah, Yourivitch!" said he, taking up a decanter, and applying his -somewhat snub nose thereto; "what is this? corn-brandy!" he added, -draining a glassful; "as it is good, I must have a glass;" so he took -a second of the fiery fluid. "O, now I feel another man, and being -another man, require another glass;" so he took a <i>third</i>.</p> - -<p class="normal">These additions to the hydromel did not seem to improve his temper, -and assuredly I would have preferred to follow the ladies to the -drawing-room, than to linger on with him</p> -<div class="poem1"> - -<p class="t3" style="text-indent:20%">"In after-dinner talk<br> -Across the walnuts and the wine,"</p> - -</div> -<p class="continue">but that I feared to offend the man unnecessarily.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Excuse me," said he, as he lay back in his seat, with his coat -unbuttoned, and proceeded, very coolly, to pick his teeth with one of -those small cross-hilted daggers, the slender blades of which are -about four inches long, and which are worn in secret by so many -Russian officers, and are all of the finest steel. After a pause, -during which he again dipped his long moustache in the foaming -hydromel, he said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Though Volhonski told me about you, I scarcely expected, Herr -Captain, to have found you here <i>still</i>."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where should I have gone--into the hands of the Cossacks, at Baidar?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Towards Kharkoff, at all events."</p> - -<p class="normal">I coloured at this very pointed remark, as it was to that province in -the Ukraine that the Russians had transmitted many of the prisoners -taken during the war.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Here I felt myself on a special footing."</p> - -<p class="normal">"How, Herr Captain?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"As the guest of the Volhonskis," said I, sternly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Though an enemy of Russia?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Politically or professionally, yes: but I have the honour to be -viewed as a friend by the Count, and also by his sister."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, indeed! I have heard as much. The Hospoza Valerie is, you see, -beautiful."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Wondrously so," said I, with fervour, glad that I could cordially -agree with this odious fellow in one thing at least.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then beware," said Tolstoff, his face darkening; "for I don't believe -that much friendship can subsist between the sexes without its -assuming a warmer complexion."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Colonel Tolstoff!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Besides, the Hospoza Valerie is a coquette--one who would flirt with -the tongs, if nothing better were at hand--so don't flatter yourself, -Herr Captain."</p> - -<p class="normal">I felt inclined to fling the decanter at his head; for in his tone of -mentor he far exceeded even Volhonski.</p> - -<p class="normal">"This is a somewhat offensive way to speak of a noble lady--the sister -of your friend," said I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We shall dismiss that subject; and now for another," said he. "It -must be pretty apparent to you, Herr Captain, that you cannot remain -here, unparoled, in your present anomalous position."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I quite agree with you, and feel it most keenly; but I gave my parole -of honour to Valerie," I added, gaily and unwisely, for again the face -of Tolstoff lowered.</p> - -<p class="normal">"To let you remain or go free were treason to Russia and the Czar; you -must therefore be sent as a prisoner of war to Kharkoff, and--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"What then?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Be treated there according to the report I shall transmit with your -escort."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What will Volhonski say?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Just what he pleases; the Count is a prisoner now himself."</p> - -<p class="normal">I read some hidden meaning in his eyes, though he sat quietly cracking -walnuts and sipping his hydromel.</p> - -<p class="normal">"An officer on duty, I fall into the hands of an enemy--" I was -beginning passionately, when he interrupted me, and his eyes gleamed -as he said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"You had a despatch; I think you told Volhonski or his sister so?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, Colonel--a despatch for Marshal Canrobert."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where is it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I destroyed it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bah!--I thought so," said he, scornfully.</p> - -<p class="normal">"On my honour, I did so, Colonel Tolstoff!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Honour! ha, ha, you are a spy!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Rascal!" I exclaimed, feeling myself grow white with passion the -while; "recall this injurious epithet, or--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Or what? Dare you threaten me? I can pick the ace of hearts off a -card at twenty paces with a revolver, so beware; and yet I am not -obliged to meet any one who is amenable to the laws of war, and is in -a position so dubious as yours."</p> - -<p class="normal">I was choking with rage; yet a conviction that he spoke with something -of warrant, so far as appearances went, and of the absolute necessity -for acting with policy, if I would leave myself a chance of winning -Valerie and escape greater perils than any I had encountered, -compelled me to assume a calmness of bearing I was far from feeling.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Seek neither to threaten nor to trifle with me," said he, loftily and -grimly; "you may certainly know the common laws of war regarding the -retention of prisoners and the punishment of spies, but you know not -those of Russia. If I do not treat you as one of the latter, it is -because Volhonski is your friend; but I have it in my power, in -treating you as one of the former, to have you transmitted farther -than the Ukraine--to where you should never be heard of more. We are -not particular to a shade here," he continued, with a sneering smile; -"when the Emperor commanded a certain offender to be taken and -punished, the minister of police could not find the right individual. -What the deuce was to be done? Justice could not remain unsatisfied; -so, instead, he seized a poor German, who had just arrived and was -known to none. He slit his tongue, tore out his nostrils, sent him to -Siberia to hunt the ermine, and reported to the Czar that his orders -had been obeyed. So don't flatter yourself that any persons in office -among us would be very particular in analysing <i>any report</i> that I may -transmit with you, a mere English captain!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And rising from the table with these ominous words, he bowed to the -<i>eikon</i>, crossed himself after the Greek fashion, inserted a -<i>papirosse</i> into his dense moustache, and limped away, leaving me in a -very unenviable frame of mind. Already I saw Valerie lost to me! I -beheld myself, in fancy, marched into the interior of Russia under -armed escort, maltreated and degraded, with my hands tied to the mane -of a Cossack pony, or a foot chained to a six-pound shot; a secret -report transmitted with me--a tissue of malevolent lies--to be acted -upon by some irresponsible official with a crackjaw name; to be never -more heard of, my sufferings and my ultimate fate to be--God alone -knew what!</p> - -<p class="normal">I was weak enough to feel jealous of this ungainly Tolstoff--this -Muscovite Caliban--in addition to being seriously alarmed by his -threats, and enraged by his tone and bearing. Had Valerie ever viewed -him with favour? The idea was too absurd! If not, what right had <i>he</i> -to advise me concerning her? But then she was so beautiful, one could -not wonder that he--coarse though he was--might love her in secret.</p> - -<p class="normal">Full of these and other thoughts that were vague and bitter, I quitted -the table just as Yourivitch was lighting the lamps, and wandered into -the long and now gloomy picture-gallery, one of the great windows of -which was open. Beyond it was a terrace, whereon I saw the figure of -Valerie. She was alone, and in defiance of all prudence and the -warning of Tolstoff, I followed her.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_49" href="#div1Ref_49">CHAPTER XLIX.--BETROTHED.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">She seemed absorbed in thought as I drew near her, and did not -perceive my approach. She was leaning on the carved balustrade of the -terrace, and gazing at the sea and the scenery that lay below it, -steeped in the brilliance of a clear and frosty moonlight. The snow -had entirely departed from the vicinity of Yalta, though its white -mantle still covered all the peaks of the Yaila range of mountains. -About a mile distant on one side lay the town, its glaring -white-walled houses gleaming coldly in the moonshine. A beach was -there, with most civilised-looking bathing-machines upon it; for prior -to the war, Yalta had been the fashionable watering-place for the -ladies of Sebastopol, Bagtcheserai, and Odessa, who were wont there to -disport themselves in fantastic costumes, and take headers in the -Euxinus Pontus. On the other side were lovely valleys and hills, -covered with timber--pine-groves dark and huge as those that overhang -the fjords of Norway.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the distance lay the Black Sea--so called from the dark fogs that -so often cover it--sleeping in silver light, its waves in shining -ripples rolling far away round the points of Orianda and Maragatsch; -and Valerie, absorbed in thought, and her dark eyes fixed apparently -on that point where the starry horizon met the distant sea.</p> - -<p class="normal">She wore an ample jacket or pelisse of snow-white ermine lined with -rose-coloured silk, and clasped at the tender throat by a brooch which -was a cluster of bright amethysts. A kind of loose silken hood, such -as ladies when in full dress may wear in a carriage, was hastily -thrown over the masses of her golden hair, which formed a kind of soft -framework for her delicately-cut and warmly-tinted face, for the cold -air had brought an unwonted colour into her usually pale complexion. -Her eyes wore an expression of languor and anxiety. Heaven knows what -the girl was thinking of; but as she watched the shining sea I could -see her full pink nervous lips curling and quivering, as if with the -thoughts that ran through her impulsive mind. And this bright creature -might be mine! I had but to ask her, perhaps, and I had not so faint a -heart as to lose one so fair for the mere dread of asking her. Yet, as -I drew near, the reflection flashed upon my mind that for three days -at least she had purposely avoided me. Why was this? Had my love for -her been too apparent to others? had I underdone or overdone anything? -what had I omitted, or how committed myself?</p> - -<p class="normal">"Valerie!" said I, softly.</p> - -<p class="normal">She uttered a slight exclamation, as if startled, and then placing her -firm, cool, and velvet-like hands confidingly in mine, glanced -nervously round her, and more particularly up at the windows of the -house.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I would speak with you," said she, in a half whisper.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And I with you, Valerie. O, how I have longed for a moment such as -this, when I might again be with you alone!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"But we must not be seen together; and I have but that moment you have -so wished for to spare. Come this way--this way, quick; those -cypresses in the tubs will shield us from any curious eyes that may -lurk at yonder windows."</p> - -<p class="normal">"O, Valerie!" I sighed with happiness, and as I passed a hand -caressingly over her jacket of ermine I thought vengefully of -Tolstoft's dark hint about hunting that small quadruped in Siberia; -and then as I gazed tenderly into her dark and glittering eyes, I -could perceive that their long tremulous lashes were matted.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Tears--why tears, Valerie?"</p> - -<p class="normal">She spoke hurriedly. "I have most earnestly to apologise to you for -much that I heard the Pulkovnick say during dinner; it was indeed -horrid--all!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Much that you have not heard was more horrid still."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is unbearable! His wounds or bruises must have exasperated his -temper. Yet I cannot speak to him of that which I did not hear, as to -do so would appear too much as if you and I had some secret -confidences, and Madame Tolstoff, I fear, has hinted at something of -this kind already."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I asked you to marry me, dearest Valerie."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes--vainly," said she, with a half-smile on her partly-averted face.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Vainly--why?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do not press me to say why."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Could you love me, Valerie?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I might."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Might, Valerie?" (I was never weary of repeating her sweet name; and -what meant this admission, if she declined me?) "You do not doubt my -love for you?" I urged.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, though I fear it is but a passing fancy, born of idleness and the -ennui of Yalta."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Think you, Valerie, that any man could see, and only love you thus? O -no, no! But say that you will be mine--that you will come with me to -England, where your brother is, or soon shall be--to England, where -women are treated with a courtesy and tenderness all unknown in -Russia, and where the girl a man loves is indeed as an empress to him, -and has his fate in life in her own hands."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't quite understand all this--nor should I listen to it," said -she, looking me fully in the face, with calm confidence and something -of sadness; too.</p> - -<p class="normal">Her right hand was still clasped in mine, and as I pressed it against -my heart, I placed my left arm round her waist, modestly, tenderly, -and with a somewhat faltering manner; for she looked so stately, and -in her white ermine seemed taller and more ample than usual, a beauty -on a large scale and with "a presence." But starting back, she quickly -freed herself from my half-embrace, and said, "Captain Hardinge, you -forget yourself!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can it be that you receive my tenderness thus?" said I, -reproachfully, and feeling alike disappointed and crestfallen. "I love -you most dearly, Valerie, and implore you to tell me of my future, for -on your answer depends my happiness or misery."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I hope that I am the holder of neither. I did not ask you to love me; -and O, I would to Heaven that you had never come to Yalta--that we had -never, never met!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why--O, why?" I asked, imploringly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Because I am on the very eve of being <i>married</i>."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Married!" I repeated, breathlessly; and then added passionately and -hoarsely, "To whom?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Colonel Tolstoff, to whom I was betrothed in form by the Bishop of -Odessa."</p> - -<p class="normal">Her refusal was really a double-shotted one, and for a moment I was -stupefied. Then I said, in a voice I could scarcely have recognised as -my own,</p> - -<p class="normal">"It was to this tie, and not to a convent, that Volhonski alluded, -when hinting that you were set apart from the world?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes. I thank you from my soul for the love you offer me, though it -fills me with distress. I pity you; but can do no more. Alas! you have -been here only too long."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Too long, indeed!" said I, sadly, while bending my lips to her hand; -and then hurrying into the house by the picture-gallery, she left -me--left me to my own miserable and crushing thoughts, with the -additional mortification of knowing that Madame Tolstoff, watchful as -a lynx, had overseen and overheard our interview from another angle of -the terrace, though she could not understand its nature; but of course -she suspected much, and was all aflame for the interests of her suave -and amiable son.</p> - -<p class="normal">However, this was not to be my last moment of tenderness with Valerie. -But I was left little time for reflection, as events were now to -succeed each other with a degree of speed and brevity equalled only by -the transitions and discoveries of a drama on the stage.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_50" href="#div1Ref_50">CHAPTER L.--CAUGHT AT LAST.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">I re-entered the château feeling sad, irresolute, and crushed in -spirit. I had lost that on which I had set my heart, and at the hands -of Tolstoff, my rival, I might yet lose more, if his threats meant -anything--liberty, perhaps life itself.</p> - -<p class="normal">What, then, was to be done? I was without money, without arms, or a -horse. All these Valerie might procure for me; but how or where was I -to address her again? After the result of our last interview she would -be certain to avoid me more sedulously than ever. As I passed through -the magnificent vestibule, which was hung with rose-coloured lamps, -the light of which fell softly on the green malachite pedestals and -white marble Venuses, Dianas, and Psyches, which had no part of them -dressed but their hair, which was done to perfection, I met Ivan -Yourivitch, who made me understand that the officer whom the -Pulkovnick expected with certain papers from Sebastopol had arrived, -and was now in the dining-room; but the Pulkovnick had smoked himself -off to sleep, and must not, under certain pains and penalties, be -disturbed. Would I see him? And so, before I knew what to say, or had -made up my mind whether to avoid or meet the visitor, I was ushered -into the stately room, when I found myself once more face to face with -Mr. Hawkesby Guilfoyle!</p> - -<p class="normal">The ex-cornet of wagoners was clad now in the gray Russian military -capote, with a sword and revolver at his girdle. His beard had grown -prodigiously; but his hair--once so well cared for--was now very thin -indeed, and he did not appear altogether to have thriven in the new -service to which he had betaken himself. His aspect was undoubtedly -haggard. Suspected by his new friends (who urged him on duties for -which he had not the smallest taste), and in perpetual dread of -falling into the hands of the old, by whom he would be certainly -hanged or shot, his life could not be a pleasant one; so he had -evidently betaken himself to drink, as his face was blotched and his -eyes inflamed in an unusual degree.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was very busy with a decanter of sparkling Crimskoi and other good -things which the dvornick had placed before him, and on looking up he -failed to recognise me, clad as I was in a suit of Volhonski's plain -clothes, which were "a world too wide" for me; and no doubt I was the -last person in the world whom he wished or expected to see in such a -place and under such circumstances--being neither guest nor prisoner, -and yet somewhat of both characters. He bowed politely, however, and -said something in Russian, of which he had picked up a few words, and -then smiled blandly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You smile, sir," said I, sternly; "but remember the adage, a man may -smile and smile, and be----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Stay, sir!" he exclaimed, starting up; "this is intolerable! Who the -devil are you, and what do you mean?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Simply that you are a villain, and of the deepest die!"</p> - -<p class="normal">His hand went from the neck of the decanter towards his revolver; then -he reseated himself, and with his old peculiar laugh said, while -inserting his glass in his right eye,</p> - -<p class="normal">"O, this beats cock-fighting! Hardinge of the Welsh Fusileers! Now, -where on earth did you come from?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not from the ranks of the enemy, at all events," I replied.</p> - -<p class="normal">His whole character--the wrongs he had tried to do me and had done to -many others; the artful trick he had played me at Walcot Park his -pitiless cruelty to Georgette Franklin; his base conduct to me when -helpless on the field of Inkermann; his guiding a sortie in the night; -his entire career of unvarying cunning and treachery--caused me to -regard the man with something of wonder, mingled with loathing and -contempt, but contempt without anger. He was beneath that.</p> - -<p class="normal">"So you are a prisoner of war?" said he, after a brief pause, during -which he had drained a great goblet of the Crimskoi--a kind of -imitation champagne.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What I am is nothing to you--my position, mind, and character are the -same."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Perhaps so," he continued; "but I think that the most contemptible -mule on earth is a fellow in whom no experience or time can effect a -change of mind, or cure of those narrow opinions in which he is first -brought up, as the phrase is, in that little island of ours."</p> - -<p class="normal">"So you have quite adopted the Russian idea of Britain?" said I, with -a scornful smile.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; and hope to have more scope for my talents on the Continent than -I ever had there. I should not have left the army of my good friend -Raglan----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who presented you with that ring, eh?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Had there not been the prospect of a row about a rooking one night in -camp, and a bill which some meddling fellow called a forgery. Bah! a -bad bill may be a very useful thing at times; it is like a gun -warranted to burst; but, as Lever says, you must always have it in the -right man's hands, when it comes for explosion. If you are a prisoner, -I am afraid that your chances of early seeing our dear mutual friends -in Taffyland--by the way, how <i>is</i> old Sir Taffy?--are very slender, -if once you are sent towards the Ukraine," he went on mockingly, as he -lit a papirosse. "And so the fair Estelle threw you over, eh? Good -joke that! Preferred old Potter's company to yours, for the term of -his natural life? What a deuced sell! But what a touching picture of -love they must present--quite equal to Paul and Virginia, to Pyramus -and Thisbe!"</p> - -<p class="normal">At that moment, and while indulging in a loud and mocking laugh, his -countenance suddenly changed; he grew very pale, the glass fell from -his pea-green eye, and the lighted papirosse from his lips; all his -natural assurance and insouciance deserted him, and he looked as -startled and bewildered as if a cannon-shot had just grazed his nose. -I turned with surprise at this sudden change, and saw the face and -figure of Colonel Tolstoff, who had limped into the room and been -regarding us for half a minute unperceived. He stood behind me, grim -and stern as Ajax, and was gazing at Guilfoyle with eyes that, under -their bristling brows, glittered like those of a basilisk, and seemed -to fascinate him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We have not met since that night at Dunamunde!" exclaimed Tolstoff, -in a voice of concentrated fury; "but, I thank God and St. Sergius, we -have met at last--yes, at last! And so you know each other--<i>you -two?</i>" he added, in German, while bestowing a withering glance on me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Dunamunde!" said I, sternly, as the name of that place recalled -something of a strange story concerning Tolstoff told by Guilfoyle to -Lord Pottersleigh at Craigaderyn; "and you two would seem to have -known each other and been friends of old, that is, if you are the same -Count Tolstoff whom he saved from the machinations of a certain -Colonel Nicolaevitch, then commanding the Marine Infantry at Riga."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What rubbish is this you speak?" demanded the other, with angry -surprise; "there never was a <i>Count</i> Tolstoff; and I am the Pulkovnick -Nicolaevitch Tolstoff who commanded in Dunamunde, and was custodian of -eighty thousand silver roubles, all government money. This ruffian was -my friend--my chief friend then, though of the gaming table; but he -joined in a plot, with others like himself, among whom was the Head of -the Police, to rob me. He admitted them masked into my rooms, when -they shot me down with my own pistols, and left me, with a broken -thigh, bound hand and foot and cruelly gagged, while they escaped in -safety across the Prussian frontier and got to Berlin, where they -started a gaming-house. But he is here--here in my power at last; and -sweetly and surely, I shall have such vengeance as that power gives -me. Ha! look at him, the speechless coward; he has no bones in his -tongue now!" he added, using a favourite Russian taunt.</p> - -<p class="normal">"All over--run to earth, by Jove!" muttered Guilfoyle, with trembling -lips, forgetting about the papers he had brought, his new character of -a Russian officer, and forgetting even to deny his identity; "I have -thrown the dice for the last time, and d--nation, they have turned up -aces!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Ivan Yourivitch and other Cossack servants, who had heard the loud -voice of Tolstoff raised in undisguised anger, now appeared, and -received some orders from him in Russian. In a moment they threw -themselves upon Guilfoyle, disarmed, stripped him of his uniform, and -bound him with a silken cord torn from the window-curtains. At first I -was not without fears that they meant to strangle him with it, so -prompt and fierce was their manner; but they merely tied his hands -behind him, and thrust him into a closet, the door of which was -locked, and the key given to the Pulkovnick.</p> - -<p class="normal">The latter, without deigning to take farther notice of me, turned on -his heel and limped away, muttering anathemas in Russian; and I felt -very thankful that he had not made me a close prisoner also, after the -humiliating fashion to which he had subjected the wretched Guilfoyle. -But he was not without secret and serious ulterior views regarding me. -All remained still now in the great mansion after this noisy and -sudden episode; and I heard no sound save once--the clatter of a -horse's hoofs, which seemed to leave the adjoining stable-yard and die -away, as I thought, in the direction of the Baidar Valley, where the -Cossacks lay encamped; and somehow my heart naturally connected these -circumstances and foreboded coming evil, as I sat alone in the recess -of a window overlooking the terrace, and the same moonlighted scenery -which Valerie had viewed from it so lately.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_51" href="#div1Ref_51">CHAPTER LI.--FLIGHT.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">I was full of gloomy, perplexing, and irritating thoughts.</p> - -<p class="normal">"If I am to drag on my life for years perhaps as a Russian prisoner, -better would it have been, O Lord, that a friendly shot had finished -my career for ever. What have I now to live for?" I exclaimed, in the -bitterness of my heart, as I struck my hands together.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You speak thus--you so young?" said Valerie, reproachfully yet -softly, as she suddenly laid a hand on my shoulder, while her bright -eyes beamed into mine--eyes that could excite emotion by emitting it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Life seems so worthless."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why?" she asked, in a low voice.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can you ask me after what passed between us the other evening, and -more especially on yonder terrace, less than an hour ago?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"But why is existence worthless?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Because I have lost you!"</p> - -<p class="normal">(Had I not thought the same thing about Estelle, and deemed that "he -who has most of heart has most of sorrow"?)</p> - -<p class="normal">"This is folly, dear friend," said she, looking down; "I never was -yours to lose."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But you lured me to love you, Valerie; and now--now you would -cast--nay, you have cast--my poor heart back upon itself!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I lured you?" asked the gentle voice; "O unjust! How could I help -your loving me?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Perhaps not; nor could I help it myself."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Tell me truly--has this--this misplaced passion for me lured you from -one who loves you well at home perhaps?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"From no one," said I, bitterly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thank Heaven for that; and we shall part as friends any way."</p> - -<p class="normal">"As friends only?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But you will ever be more to me, Valerie."</p> - -<p class="normal">She shook her head and smiled.</p> - -<p class="normal">A desire for vengeance on Tolstoff, for his insulting bearing on one -hand, with, the love and admiration I had of herself on the other, and -the pictured triumph of taking her away from him, and by her aid and -presence with me reaching our camp in safety, all prompted me to urge -an elopement; nor could I also forget the coquettish admission that -she "might" love me; but just as I was about to renew my suit and had -taken possession of her hands, she withdrew them, and while glancing -nervously about her, informed me that the Pulkovnick had sent a -mounted messenger to the Baidar Valley for Cossacks, to escort me and -Guilfoyle to Kharkoff in the Ukraine; and when I remembered his -threats of probable ulterior measures, I felt quite certain that his -report would include us <i>both</i>, and thus be framed in terms alike -dangerous and injurious to me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What is to be done, Valerie?" I asked, in greater perplexity.</p> - -<p class="normal">"If I cannot love, I can still serve you," said she, smiling with a -brightness that was cruel; "it is but just, in gratitude for the -regard you have borne me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That I still bear you and ever shall, beloved Valerie!" said I, with -tremulous energy; "but to serve me--how?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You must leave this place instantly, for in less than an hour the -Cossacks will be here, and Tolstoff may have you killed on the march; -the escort may be but a snare."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then come--come with me--let us escape together!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Impossible--you do but waste time in speaking thus."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why--O why, Valerie, when you know that I love you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Race, religion, ties, all forbid such a step, even were I inclined -for it, which fortunately I am not," she replied, lifting for a -moment, as if for coolness, the rippling masses of her golden hair -from her white temples, and letting them fall again; "you might and -<i>must</i> spare me more of this! Have I not told you it is useless to -speak of love to me, and wrong in me to listen to you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"And since when have you been engaged to this" (bear, I was about to -say)--"to this man Tolstoff? And by what magic or devilry has he -taught you to love him?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"In what can either concern you, at such a time as this especially, -when you have not a moment to lose?" she asked, almost with -irritation. "But hush--O, hush! here is some one."</p> - -<p class="normal">At that moment Ivan Yourivitch, with excitement on his usually stolid -Russian visage, entered the room almost on tiptoe, and whispered -something to her in haste, while his eyes were fixed the while on me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah!--thank you, Ivan, thank you--that is well!" she said, and turning -to me, she added, hurriedly and energetically, "If you would be free, -and choose, it may be, between liberty or death, you have not another -instant to lose! Ivan tells me that the crew of an English man-of-war -boat is at this moment filling casks with water at the well of St. -Basil on the beach yonder. Thrice has that ship been there for the -same purpose; and I was watching for her when you came to me on the -terrace, as I heard of her being off Alupka this morning."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your thoughts, then, were of me?" said I, tenderly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"For you, rather; but away, and God be with you, sir!"</p> - -<p class="normal">I lifted the window softly, and across the moonlit park that stretched -away towards the seashore she pointed to where four tall cypresses -rose like dark giants against the clear and starry sky, and where, at -the distance of a mile or little more, the white marble dome of the -well could be distinctly seen between them, its polished surface -shining like a star above a sombre belt of shrubbery.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There is the sound of hoofs! The Cossacks, your escort, are coming -Away, sir; you cannot miss the well, though you may the boat!" said -Valerie, with her hands clasped and her dark eyes dilated; and as she -spoke the clank of galloping horses coming up the valley (and, as I -fancied, the cracking of the whips carried by the Cossacks at their -bridles) could be heard distinctly in the clear frosty air.</p> - -<p class="normal">"If I had but my sword and pistols!" said I, with my teeth clenched.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You do not require them. Farewell!</p> - -<p class="normal">"Adieu, Valerie--adieu!"</p> - -<p class="normal">I passionately kissed her lips and her cheek, too, ere she could -prevent me, waved my hand to old Yourivitch, vaulted over the window, -dropped from the balustrade of the terrace into the park, and at the -risk of being seen by some of the household crossed it with all the -speed I could exert in the direction that led to where I knew that the -well--a structure erected by Prince Woronzow--stood on a lonely part -of the shore. More than once did I look back at the lofty façade of -the beautiful château, with its four towers and onion-shaped domes of -shining copper, and all its stately windows that glittered in the -light of a cloudless moon; and just as I drew near the belt of -shrubbery, I could see the dark figures of mounted men encircling the -terrace! A fugitive, in danger of losing honour and life together! Was -this the end of my daydreams in Yalta? Once more I turned, and -hastened to where the four cypress-trees towered skyward.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ahoy! who comes there?" cried a somewhat gruff voice, in English, -accompanied by the sound of a slap on the butt of a musket; and then -the squat sturdy figure of a seaman, posted as sentinel, appeared -among the bushes, with an infantry pouch, belts, and bayonet worn -above his short pea-jacket.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A friend!" I replied, mechanically, yet not without a glow of sincere -pleasure.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Stand there, till I have a squint at you," replied Jack, cocking his -musket and giving a glance at the cap; but I was too much excited to -parley with him, and continued to advance, saying,</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am an officer--Captain Hardinge, of the 23rd, a prisoner escaping -from the enemy."</p> - -<p class="normal">"All right, sir--glad to see you; heave ahead," he replied, half -cocking his piece again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who commands your party?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lieutenant Jekyll, sir," said the seaman, saluting now, when he saw -me fully in the moonlight.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of what ship?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"The Southesk, sir, of twenty guns."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Let me pass to your rear. He must instantly shove off his boat, as -the Cossacks are within a mile of us--at yonder house."</p> - -<p class="normal">In a minute more I reached the party at the well, twelve seamen and as -many marines under an officer, who had a brace of pistols in his belt, -and carried his sword drawn. They were in the act of carrying the last -cask of water into a ship's cutter, which lay alongside a ridge of -rock that ran into the sea, forming a species of natural pier or -jetty, close by the white marble fountain.</p> - -<p class="normal">I soon made myself known, and ere long found myself seated among new -friends, and out on the shining water, which bubbled up at the bow and -foamed under the counter as the oarsmen bent to their task, and their -steadily and regularly feathered blades flashed in the silver sheen. -The shore receded fast; the belt of shrubs grew lower and lower; and -then the glittering domes of the distant mansion, which was ever in my -mind and memory to be associated with Valerie Volhonski, rose -gradually on our view, with the snow-clad range of Yaila in the -background. But all were blended in haze and distance by the time we -came sheering alongside H.M.S. Southesk, the water-tank of which had, -fortunately for me, been empty, thus forcing her crew to have recourse -to the well of St. Basil, by which circumstance I more than probably -escaped the fate that ultimately overtook, but deservedly, the -luckless Hawkesby Guilfoyle.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the morning, under easy sail and half steam, the ship was off -Balaclava, where I saw the old Genoese fort that commands its -entrance, the white houses of the Arnaouts shaded by tall poplars, and -the sea breaking in foam upon its marble bluffs; and there the captain -kindly put me ashore in the first boat that left the ship.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was not until long after the Crimean war, that by the merest -chance, through an exchanged prisoner--a private of our 68th -Foot--when having occasion to employ him as a commissionnaire in -London, I learned what the fate of Guilfoyle was. En route to -Kharkoff, he was run through the heart and killed by the lance of a -Cossack of his escort, who alleged that he was attempting to escape; -but my informant more shrewdly suspected that it was to obtain quiet -possession of his ring--the paste diamond which had figured so often -in his adventures, real and fictitious.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_52" href="#div1Ref_52">CHAPTER LII.--BEFORE SEBASTOPOL STILL.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">On the 28th of March, I found myself once more in my old tent, and -seeking hard to keep myself warm at the impromptu stove, constructed -by my faithful old servant, poor Jack Evans. I was received with -astonishment, and, I am pleased to say, with genuine satisfaction by -the regiment, even by those who had flattered themselves that they had -gained promotion by my supposed demise. I was welcomed by all, from -the Lieutenant-colonel down to little Dicky Roll, the junior drummer, -and for the first day my tent was besieged by old friends.</p> - -<p class="normal">I had come back among them as from the dead; but more than one man, -whose name figured in the lists as missing, turned up in a similar -fashion during the war. My baggage had all been sent to Balaclava, the -railway to which was now partly in operation; my letters and papers -had been carefully sealed up in black wax by Philip Caradoc, and with -other private and personal mementos of me, packed for transmission to -Sir Madoc Lloyd, as my chief friend of whom he knew. Many came, I have -said, to welcome me; but I missed many a familiar face, especially -from among my own company, as the Fusileers had more than once been -severely engaged in the trenches.</p> - -<p class="normal">Caradoc had been wounded in the left hand by a rifle-ball; Charley -Gywnne greeted me with his head in bandages, the result of a Cossack -sabre-cut; Dynely, the adjutant, had also been wounded; so had Mostyn, -of the Rifles, and Tom Clavell, of the 19th, when passing through "the -Valley of Death." Sergeant Rhuddlan, of my company, had just rejoined, -after having a ball in the chest (even Carneydd Llewellyn had lost a -horn): all who came to see me had something to tell of dangers dared -and sufferings undergone. All were in uniforms that were worn to rags; -but all were hearty as crickets, though sick of the protracted siege, -and longing to carry Sebastopol with the cold steel.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How odd, my dear old fellow, that we should all think you drowned, -and might have been wearing crape on our sleeves, but for the lack -thereof in camp, and the fact that mourning has gone out of fashion -since death is so common among us; while all the time you have been -mewed up (by the Cossacks in the Baidar Valley) within some forty -miles of us; and so stupidly, too!" said Caradoc, as we sat late in -the night over our grog and tobacco in his hut.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not so stupidly, after all," I replied, while freely assisting myself -to his cavendish.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"There was <i>such</i> a girl there, Phil!" I added, with a sigh.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oho! where?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"At Yalta."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Woronzow's palace, or château?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; but why wink so knowingly?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"So, after all, you found there was balm in Gilead?" said he, -laughing. "You must admit then, if she impressed you so much, that -all your bitter regrets about a certain newspaper paragraph were a -little overdone, and that I was a wise prophet? And what was this -girl--Russian, Tartar, Greek, a Karaite Jewess, or what?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"A pure Russian."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Handsome?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Beyond any I have ever seen, beautiful!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Whew! even beyond <i>la belle</i>--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"There, don't mention her at present, please," said I, with a little -irritation, which only made him laugh the more.</p> - -<p class="normal">"If you were love-making at Yalta, with three lance-prods in you, -there was no malingering anyhow."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I should think not."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And so she was engaged to be married to that Russian bear, Tolstoff," -he added, after I had told him the whole of my affair with Valerie.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," said I, with an unmistakable sigh.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I think we are both destined to live and die bachelors," he resumed, -in a bantering way; for though Phil had in these matters undergone, at -Craigaderyn and elsewhere, "the baptism of fire" himself, he was not -the less inclined to laugh at me; for of all sorrows, those of love -alone excite the risible propensities.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And so, Phil, the world's a kaleidoscope--always shifting."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not always <i>couleur de rose</i>, though?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"And I am here again!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thank God!" said he, as we again shook hands, "Faith, Harry, you must -have as many lives as a cat, and so you may well have as many loves as -Don Juan; but, <i>entre nous</i>, and excuse me, she seems to have been a -bit of a flirt, your charming Valerie."</p> - -<p class="normal">"How--why do you think so?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"From all you have told me; moreover every woman to be attractive, -should be a little so," replied Caradoc, curling his heavy brown -moustache.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't think she was; indeed, I am certain she was not. But if this -be true, how then about Miss Lloyd; and she is attractive enough?"</p> - -<p class="normal">At the tenor of this retort Phil's face flushed from his Crimean beard -to his temples.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There you are wrong," said he, with the slightest asperity possible; -"she has not in her character a grain of coquetry, or of that which -Horace calls 'the art that is not to be taught by art.' She is a -pure-minded and warm-hearted English girl, and is as perfect as all -those wives and daughters of England, who figure in the volumes of -Mrs. Ellis; and in saying this I am genuine, for I feel that I am -praising some other fellow's bride--not mine, God help me!" he added, -with much of real feeling.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have heard nothing of the Lloyds since I left you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nothing."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, take courage, Phil; we may be at Craigaderyn one day yet," said -I; and he, as if ashamed of his momentary sentimental outburst, -exclaimed, with a laugh,</p> - -<p class="normal">"By Jove, now that I have heard all your amours and amourettes, they -surpass even those of Hugh Price."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Poor Hugh! his lieutenancy is filled up, I suppose?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes--as another week would have seen your company, for we could not -conceive that you were a prisoner at Yalta. Awkward that would have -been."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Deucedly so."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But now you must console yourself, old fellow, by seeing what Madame -la Colonelle Tolstoff----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Don't call her by that name, Phil--I hate to hear it!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"By what, then?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Valerie--anything but the other."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then what, as Mrs. Henry Hardinge, she might become, if all -this author (whose book I have been reading) says of the Russian -ladies be true." And drawing from his pocket a small volume, he gave -me the following paragraph to read, and I own it consoled me--a -<i>little:</i>--</p> - -<p class="normal">"The domestic virtues are little known or cultivated in Russia, and -marriage is a mere matter of convenience. There is little of romance -in the character or conduct of the Russian lady. Intrigue and -sensuality, rather than sentiment or passion, guide her in her amours, -and these in after-life are followed by other inclinations. She -becomes a greedy gamester, and a great <i>gourmande</i>, gross in person, -masculine in views, a shrewd observer of events, an oracle at court, -and a tyrant over her dependents. There are, of course, exceptions to -this rule."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, Valerie would be one of these!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Perhaps--but as likely not," said Phil; "and on the whole, if this -traveller Maxwell is right, I have reason to congratulate you on your -escape. But we must turn in now, as we relieve the trenches an hour -before daybreak to-morrow; and by a recent order every man, without -distinction, carries one round shot to the front, so a constant supply -is kept up for the batteries."</p> - -<p class="normal">Soon after this, on the 2nd of April, a working party of ours suffered -severely in the trenches, and Major Bell, who commanded, was thanked -in general orders for his distinguished conduct on that occasion. As -yet it seemed to me that no very apparent progress had been made with -the siege. The cold was still intense. Mustard froze the moment it was -made, and half-and-half grog nearly did so, too. The hospital tents -and huts were filled with emaciated patients suffering under the many -diseases incident to camp life; and the terrible hospital at Scutari -was so full, that though the deaths there averaged fifty daily in -February, our last batch of wounded had to be kept on board-ship.</p> - -<p class="normal">Phil and I burned charcoal in our hut, using old tin mess-kettles with -holes punched in them. We, like all the officers, wore long Crimean -boots; but our poor soldiers had only their wretched ankle bluchers, -which afforded them no protection when the snow was heavy, or when in -thaws the mud became literally knee-deep; and they suffered so much, -that in more than one instance privates dropped down dead without a -wound after leaving the trenches. So great were the disasters of one -regiment--the 63rd, I think--that only seven privates and four -officers were able to march to Balaclava on the 1st of February; by -the 12th the effective strength of the brigade of Guards was returned -at 350 men; and all corps--the Highland, perhaps, excepted--were in a -similarly dilapidated state.</p> - -<p class="normal">The camp was ever full of conflicting rumours concerning combined -assaults, expected sorties, the probabilities of peace, or a -continuance of the war; alleged treasons among certain French -officers, who were at one time alleged to have given the Russians -plans of their own batteries; that Menschikoff was dead from a wound, -and also Yermiloff the admiral; that <i>General</i> Tolstoff was now in -command of the left towards Inkermann. (If so, was Valerie now in -Sebastopol? How I longed for the united attack--the storm and capture -that might enable me to see her once again!) And amid all these varied -rumours there came one--carried swiftly by horsemen through Bucharest -and Varna--which reached us on the 7th of April, to the effect that -Nicholas the mighty Czar of All the Russias, had gone to his last -account; and I do not think it was a demise we mourned much. We sent -intelligence of it by a flag of truce to the Russians; but they -received it with scorn, as a "weak invention of the enemy."</p> - -<p class="normal">And now the snow began to wear away; the clouds that floated over the -blue Euxine and the green spires of Sebastopol became light and -fleecy; the young grass began to sprout, and the wild hyacinths, the -purple crocuses, and tender snowdrops, the violet and the primrose, -were blooming in the Valley of Death, and on the fresh mould that -marked where the graves of our comrades lay.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_53" href="#div1Ref_53">CHAPTER LIII.--NEWS FROM CRAIGADERYN.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">It was impossible for me not to feel lingering in my heart a deep and -tender interest for Valerie. She had not deceived or ill-used me; we -had simply been separated by the force of circumstances; by her -previous troth to Tolstoff, whom I flattered myself she could not -love, even if she respected or esteemed him.</p> - -<p class="normal">That they were married by this time I could scarcely doubt, as she had -assured me that she was on "the very eve" of her nuptials (one of -those "marriages of convenience," according to Caradoc's book); and if -he held a command so high in Sebastopol, there was every reason to -conclude she must be with him. In the event of a general assault, I -was fully resolved to send my card to headquarters as a volunteer for -the storming column, though I knew right well that I dare not allow -myself to fall alive, into <i>his</i> hands, at all events; thus the whole -situation gave me an additional and more personal interest in the fall -and capture of that place than, perhaps, inspired any other man in the -whole allied army. What if Tolstoff should be killed? This surmise -opened up a wide field for speculation.</p> - -<p class="normal">Any of those balls that were incessantly poured against the city might -send that amiable commander to kingdom come, and if Valerie were left -a widow--well, I did not somehow like to think of her as a widow, -Tolstoff's especially, yet I was exasperated to think of her, so -brilliant, so gentle, and so highly cultured, as the wife of one so -coarse and even brutal in bearing, and if he did happen to stand in -the way of a bullet, why should he not be killed as well as another; -and so I reasoned, so true it is, that "with all our veneering and -French polish, the tiger is only half dead in any of us."</p> - -<p class="normal">If I were again unluckily sent with a flag of truce into Sebastopol, -on any mission such as the burial of the dead and removal of the -wounded, or so forth, it would, I knew, be certainly violated by -Tolstoff, and myself be made prisoner for the affairs at Yalta. Then -if such a duty were again offered me, on what plea could I, with -honour, decline it? I could but devoutly hope that no such contingency -might happen for me again.</p> - -<p class="normal">Times there were when, brooding over the past, and recalling the -strange magnetism of the smile of Valerie, and in the touch of her -hand, the contour of her face, her wonderful hair, and pleading -winning dark eyes, there came into my heart the tiger feeling referred -to, the jealousy that makes men feel mad, wild, fit for homicide or -anything; and as hourly "human lives were lavished everywhere, as the -year closing whirls the scarlet leaves," I had--heroics apart--a -terrible longing to have my left hand upon the throat of Tolstoff, -with her Majesty's Sheffield regulation blade in the other, to help -him on his way to a better world.</p> - -<p class="normal">In these, or similar visions and surmises, I ceased to indulge when -with Caradoc, as he was wont to quiz me, and say that if I got a wife -out of Sebastopol, I should be the only man who gained anything by the -war, and even my gain might be a loss; that, like himself, I had twice -burned my fingers at the torch of Hymen, and that I should laugh at -the Russian episode or loving interlude, as he called it, as there -were girls in England whose shoe-strings he was sure she was not fit -to tie. Though she had rightly told me that my passion was but a -passing fancy, she knew not that it was one fed by revenge and -disappointment.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lady Estelle may perhaps have destroyed your faith in women," added -Phil, "but any way she has not destroyed <i>mine</i>."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Have you still the locket with the likeness of Winifred Lloyd?" said -I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes--God bless her--she left it with me," he replied, with a kindling -eye. How true Phil was to her! and yet she knew it not, and as far as -we knew, recked but little of the faith he bore her.</p> - -<p class="normal">On a Saturday night--the night of that 21st of April, on which we -captured the rifle-pits--as we sat in our hut talking over the affair, -weary with toil of that incessant firing to which the cannonading at -Shoeburyness is a joke, Phil said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Let us drink 'sweethearts and wives,' as we used to do in the -transport."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Agreed," said I; and as we clinked our glasses together and exchanged -glances, I knew that his thoughts went back to Craigaderyn, even as -mine recurred to that moonlight night on the terrace at Yalta.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You remained with the burial party," said he, after a pause.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, and I saw something which convinced me that the fewer tender -ties we fighting men have, the better for our own peace. An officer of -the 19th lay among the dead, a man past forty apparently. A paper was -peeping from the breast of his coat; I pulled it out, and it proved to -be a letter, received perhaps that morning--a letter from his wife, -thrust hastily into his breast, as we marched to the front. A little -golden curl was in it, and there was written in a child's hand, -'Cecil's love to dearest papa.' I must own that the incident, at such -a time and place, affected me; so I replaced the letter in the poor -fellow's breast, and we buried it with him. So papa lies in a -rifle-pit, with mamma's letter and little Cecil's lock of hair; but, -after all, king Death did not get much of him--the poor man had been -nearly torn to pieces by a cannon shot."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I saw you in advance of the whole line of skirmishers to-day, Harry, -far beyond the zigzags."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I was actually at the foot of the glacis."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The glacis--was not that madness?" exclaimed Phil.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The truth is, I did so neither through enthusiastic courage nor in a -spirit of bravado. I was only anxious to see if from behind the -sap-roller that protected me, my field-glass could enable me to detect -among the gray-coated figures at the embrasures, the tall person and -grim visage of old Tolstoff."</p> - -<p class="normal">"By Jove, I thought as much!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"But I looked in vain, and retired in crab-fashion, the bullets -falling in a shower about me the while."</p> - -<p class="normal">At that moment a knock rung on the door of the hut, and Sergeant -Rhuddlan, who acted as our regimental postman, handed a small packet -to me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The second battalion of the Scots Royals, the 48th, and the 72nd -Highlanders have just come in, sir, from Balaclava, and have brought a -mail with them," said he, in explanation; and while he was speaking, -we heard the sound of drums and bagpipes, half drowned by cheers in -the dark, as those in camp welcomed the new arrivals from home, and -helped to get them tented and hutted.</p> - -<p class="normal">"From Craigaderyn!" said I, on seeing the seal--Sir Madoc's antique -oval--with the lion's head <i>erased</i>, as the heralds have it.</p> - -<p class="normal">I had written instantly to the kind old man on my return to camp, and -this proved to be the answer by the first mail. On opening the packet -I found a letter, and a cigar-case beautifully worked in beads of the -regimental colours, red, blue, and gold, with <i>my</i> initials on one -side, and those of Winifred Lloyd on the <i>other</i>. Poor Phil Caradoc -looked wistfully at the work her delicate hands had so evidently -wrought--so wistfully that, but for the ungallantry of the proceeding, -I should have presented the case to him. However, he had the simple -gratification of holding it, while I read the letter of Sir Madoc, and -did so aloud, as being of equal interest to us both. It was full of -such warm expressions of joy for my safety and of regard for me -personally, that I own they moved me; but some passages proved a -little mysterious and perplexing.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Need I repeat to you, my dear Harry, how the receipt of your letter -caused every heart in the Court to rejoice--that of Winny especially? -She is more impressionable than Dora, less volatile, and I have now -learned <i>why</i> the poor girl refused Sir Watkins, and, as I understand, -another."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That is me," said Phil, parenthetically.</p> - -<p class="normal">"But of that unexpected refusal of Sir Watkins Vaughan nothing can be -said here."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What on earth can he mean!" said I, looking up; "perhaps she has some -lingering compunction about you, Phil."</p> - -<p class="normal">"If so, she might have sent the cigar-case to me--or something else; -just to square matters, as it were."</p> - -<p class="normal">Remembering my old suspicions and fears--they were fears <i>then</i>--as I -drove away from Craigaderyn for Chester, I read the letter in haste, -and with dread of what it might contain or reveal; as I would not for -worlds have inflicted a mortification, however slight, on my dear -friend Caradoc, who gnawed the ends of his moustache at the following:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Young Sir Watkins had been most attentive to Winny during the past -season in town--that gay London season, which, notwithstanding the -war, was quite as brilliant as usual; when every one had come back -from the Scotch moors, from Ben Nevis, Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, and -everywhere else that the roving Englishman is wont to frequent, to -kill game, or time, or himself, as it sometimes happens. But Winny -won't listen to him, and I think he is turning his attention to Dora, -though whether or not the girl--who has another adorer, in the shape -of a long-legged Plunger with parted hair and a lisp--only laughs at -him, I can't make out.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Tell Caradoc, Gwynne, and other true-hearted Cymri in the Welsh -Fusileers, that when in London I attended more than one meeting, -inaugurating a movement to secure for Wales judges and counsel who -shall speak Welsh, and Welsh only. The meetings were failures, and the -d--d Sassenachs only laughed at us; but from such injustice, <i>Gwared -ni Argylywd daionus!</i><a name="div4Ref_05" href="#div4_05"><sup>[5]</sup></a> say I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And so poor Hugh Price of yours is gone. A good-hearted fellow, who -could do anything, from crossing the stiffest hunting country to -making a champagne cup, singing a love song or mixing a salad--one of -the old line of the Rhys of Geeler in Denbighshire. My God, how many -other fine fellows lie in that hecatomb in the Valley of Inkermann! -Sebastopol seems to be left quite open on one side, so that the -Russians may pour in stores and fresh troops, and go and come at their -pleasure? It is pleasant for tax-payers at home and the troops abroad -to think that things are so arranged in Downing-street, by my Lords -Aberdeen, Aberconway, and suchlike Whig incapables and incurables.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I fear your regimental dinner would be a scanty one on St. -David's-days." (On that day I had dined with Valerie, and forgot all -about the yearly festival of the Fusileers!) "I thought of it and of -you all--the more so, perhaps, that I had just seen the old colours of -the Royal Welsh in St. Peter's Church at Carmarthen."</p> - -<p class="normal">The old baronet, after a few Welsh words, of which I could make -nothing, rambled away into such subjects as mangold-wurzels and -subsoil, scab-and-foot rot, and food for pheasants, all of which I -skipped; ditto about the close of the hunting-season, which he and Sir -Watkins--Winny's admirer--had shared together; and how the rain had -deluged Salop, throwing the scent breast-high, so that in many a run -the fox and the hounds had it all to themselves, and that following -them was as bad as going all round the Wrekin to Shrewsbury, mere -brooks having become more than saddle-girth deep; moreover, the -mischievous, execrable, and pestilent wire fences were playing the -devil with the noble old sport of fox-hunting; then, with a few more -expressions of regard, and a hint about Coutts & Co., if I wanted -cash, his characteristic letter closed, and just when folding it, I -detected Master Phil Caradoc surreptitiously placing Winny's cigar -case very near his bushy moustache--about to kiss it, in fact. He grew -very red, and looked a little provoked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"So that is all Sir Madoc's news?" said he.</p> - -<p class="normal">"All--a dear old fellow."</p> - -<p class="normal">"To-morrow is Sunday, when we shall have the chaplain at the -drum-head, and be confessing that we have done those things which we -ought not to have done, and left undone those things which we ought to -have done, while the whistling dicks are bursting and the shot -booming, as the Ruskies seek to have a quiet shy at our hollow square, -and the Naval Brigade, with their long 'Lancasters,' are making, as -usual, the devil's own row against the Redan--so till then, adieu!" he -added, adopting a bantering tone, as men will at times, when ashamed -of having exhibited any emotion or weakness.</p> - -<p class="normal">Not long after this, with my company, I had to escort to Balaclava, -and to guard for some days, till embarked, some Russian prisoners, who -had been taken by the Turks in an affair between Kamara and the -Tchernaya, and who were afterwards transmitted to Lewes in Sussex; and -I had a little opportunity afforded me for studying their character -and composition; and brave though these men undoubtedly were, I felt -something of pity and contempt for them; nor was I mistaken, though -Prince Dolgorouki maintains, in <i>La Vérité sur la Russie</i>, that a -Muscovite alone can write on a Russian subject. A British soldier -never forgets that he is a citizen and a free-born man; but to the -Russian these terms are as untranslatable as that of <i>slave</i> into the -Celtic.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the empire, when fresh levies are wanted, the chief of each village -makes a selection; the wretched serfs have then one side of the head -shaved, to prevent desertion, and, farther still, are manacled and -marched like felons to the headquarters of their regiment. There they -are stripped, bathed--rather a necessary ceremony--and deprived of all -they may possess, save the brass crosses and medals which are chained -round their neck--the holy amulet of the Russian soldier, and spared -to him as the only consolation of his miserable existence. He is -docile, submissive, and gallant, but supple, subservient, and cunning, -though his gallantry and courage are the result of dull insensibility, -tinged with ferocity rather than moral force.</p> - -<p class="normal">The recruit bemoans the loss of his beard, and carefully preserves it -that it may be buried with him, as an offering to St. Nicholas, who -would not admit him into heaven without it. Once enrolled--we cannot -say <i>enlisted</i>--he makes a solemn vow never to desert the colours of -his regiment, each of which has its own <i>artel</i> or treasury, its own -chaplain, sacred banners, and relics. The pay of these warriors -averages about a halfpenny English per diem. Their food is of the most -wretched description, and it is known that when the troops of Suwarrow -served in the memorable campaign of Italy, they devoured with keen -relish the soap and candles wherever they went; but many of the -Russian battalions, and even the Cossack corps, have vocal companies -that sing on the march, or at a halt, where they form themselves into -a circle, in the centre of which stands the principal singer or -leader. And thus I heard some of these poor fellows sing, when I -halted them outside Balaclava, at a place where, as I remember, -there lay a solitary grave--that probably of a Frenchman, as it was -marked by a cross, had a wreath of immortelles upon it, and was -inscribed--alas for the superstitions of the poor human heart!--"the -last tribute of love."</p> - -<p class="normal">The snow and the rain had frittered it nearly away.</p> - -<p class="normal">Among my prisoners were four officers--dandies who actually wore -glazed boots, and were vain of their little hands and feet. I was more -than usually attentive to them for the sake of Valerie, and as they -certainly seemed--whatever the rank and file might be--thorough -gentlemen. One knew Volhonski, and all seemed to know Valerie, and had -probably danced--perhaps flirted--with her, for they had met at balls -in St. Petersburg. All knew Tolstoff, and laughed at him; but none -could tell me whether or not she and that northern bear were as yet -"one flesh," or married in <i>facie ecclesia</i>.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_54" href="#div1Ref_54">CHAPTER LIV.--THE ASSAULT.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">It is the morning of Saturday, the 8th September, 1855. For a year now -the allied forces have been before Sebastopol; but the flag of St. -Andrew is still flying in defiance upon its forts, and on this -memorable morning the columns of attack are forming for the great -assault. In the preceding June, amid the din of the ceaseless -cannonade, poor Lord Raglan had passed away to a quieter world; and -the picturesque Sardinians, with their green uniforms, billycock hats, -and Bersaglieri plumes--each private a species of <i>Fra Diavolo</i>--had -come to aid us in the reduction of this place, the Gibraltar of the -Euxine.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was a cheerless morning. From the sea, a biting wind swept over the -land; clouds of white dust and dusky-brown smoke, that came from more -than one blazing street and burning ship--among the latter was a -two-decker, fired by the French rockets--rose high above the green -spires and batteries of Sebastopol, and overhung it like a sombre -pall, while shorn of its rays the sun resembled a huge red globe hung -in mid-air above us. Gradually it seemed to fade out altogether, and -then the whole sky became of a dull, leaden, and wintry gray. By this -time our epaulettes had entirely disappeared, and our uniforms were -hopeless rags; in some instances eked out by plain clothes, or -whatever one could pick up; and the government contractors had such -vague ideas of the dimensions of the human foot, that some of the -boots issued to the soldiers would not have fitted a child of ten -years old, and as they dared not throw away her Majesty's property, -many men went bare-footed, with their boots dangling from their -knapsack or waist-belt.</p> - -<p class="normal">"In our present toggery we may meet the Russians," said Dyneley, our -adjutant; "but I should scarcely like to figure in them before the -girls at Winchester, in 'the Row,' or at the windows of 'the Rag.'"</p> - -<p class="normal">In great masses, 30,000 Frenchmen were forming to assault the -Malakoff, with 5,000 Sardinians as supports.</p> - -<p class="normal">A long line of cavalry--Hussars with their braided dolmans, Lancers -with their fluttering banneroles, Dragoons with glittering helmets, -and all with loaded carbine on thigh, had been, from an early hour, -thrown to the front, to form a cordon of sentinels, to prevent -straggling; while a similar line was formed in our rear to keep back -idlers from Balaclava; yet to obtain glimpses of the impending attack, -groups of red-fezzed Turks, of picturesque-looking Eupatorians, and -fur-capped Tartars, began to cluster on every green knoll at a safe -distance, where, in their excitement, they jabbered and gesticulated -in a manner most unusual for people so generally placid and stolid.</p> - -<p class="normal">At half-past eleven A.M. the pipes of the Highland Brigade were -heard, as it marched in from Kamara, and got into position in reserve -of the right attack; and the fine appearance of the men of those -mountains--"the backbone of Britain," as Pope Sylvester called them of -old--elicited a hearty cheer from the Royal Welsh as they defiled -past, with all their black plumes and striped tartans waving in the -biting wind.</p> - -<p class="normal">During all the preceding day, the batteries had thundered in salvoes -against Sebastopol; and hence vast gaps were now visible in the -streets and principal edifices, most of which were half hidden in -lurid sheets of fire; and by the bridge of boats that lay between the -north and south side, thousands of fugitives, laden with their goods -and household lares, their children, sick, and aged, had been seen to -pour so long as light remained.</p> - -<p class="normal">Until the French began to move, the eyes of all in our division were -turned on our famous point of attack--the Redan; and I may inform the -non-military reader, that a <i>redan</i> in field fortification means simply -an indented work with lines and faces; but this one resembled an -unfinished square, with two sides meeting at the salient angle in -front of our parallels, <i>i. e</i>., the trenches by which we had dug our -way under cover towards it.</p> - -<p class="normal">With a strong reinforcement, Nicholaevitch Tolstoff, now, as before -stated, a general, had entered the Redan by its rear or open face; and -since his advent, it had been greatly strengthened. In the walls of -the parapet he had constructed little chambers roofed with sacks of -earth, and these secure places rendered the defenders quite safe from -falling shells. In the embrasures were excavations wherein the gunners -might repose close by their guns, but ever armed and accoutred; and by -a series of trenches it communicated with the great clumsy edifice -known as the Malakoff Tower.</p> - -<p class="normal">By a road to the right, the Redan also communicated with the extensive -quadrangle of buildings forming the Russian barracks, one hundred -yards distant; and in its fear there lay the Artillery or Dockyard -Creek. The flat caps, and in other instances the round glazed helmets, -of the Russians and the points of their bayonets, bristling like a -hedge of steel, could be seen above the lines of its defence and at -the deeply-cut embrasures, where the black cannon of enormous calibre -peered grimly down upon us.</p> - -<p class="normal">Our arrangements were very simple. At noon the French were to attack -the Malakoff; and as soon as they fell to work we were to assault the -Redan, and I had volunteered for the scaling-ladder party, which -consisted of 320 picked men of the Kentish Buffs and 97th or Ulster -Regiment.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the trenches of our left attack could be seen the black bearskins -of our Brigade of Guards, and massed in dusky column on the hill -before their camp, their red now changed to a very neutral tint -indeed, were the slender battalions of the Third Division, motionless -and still, save when the wind rustled the tattered silk of the -colours, or the sword of an officer gleamed as he dressed the ranks. A -cross cannonade was maintained, as usual, between our batteries and -those of the enemy. The balls were skipping about in all directions, -and several "roving Englishmen," adventurous tourists, "own -correspondents," and unwary amateurs, who were there, had to scuttle -for their lives to some place of shelter.</p> - -<p class="normal">As I joined the ladder party, I could not help thinking of many a past -episode in my life: of Estelle, who had been false; of Valerie, who -was lost to me; and of the suspicion that Winifred Lloyd loved me. Ere -another hour, I might be lying dead before the Redan, and there forget -them all! Our covering party consisted of 200 of the Buffs and Rifles -under Captain Lewes; but alas for the weakness of our force, as -compared with thousands of men to oppose. The strength of the Second -Division detailed against the Redan consisted only of 760 men of the -3rd, 41st, and 62nd regiments, with a working party of 100 from the -Royal Welsh. The rest of Colonel Windham's brigade was in reserve.</p> - -<p class="normal">Brigadier Shirley, who was to command the whole, had been ill on -board-ship; but the moment the gallant fellow heard that an assault -was resolved on, he hastened to join us. Prior, however, to his -coming, Colonel Windham and Colonel Unett of the 29th were deciding -which of them should take precedence in leading the attack. They -coolly tossed up a shilling, and the latter won. Thus he had the -alternative of saying whether he would go first, or follow Windham; -but a glow spread over his face, and he exclaimed,</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have made my choice, and I shall be the <i>first</i> man inside the -Redan!"</p> - -<p class="normal">However, it was doomed to be otherwise, as soon afterwards a ball from -the abattis severely wounded and disabled him. When we had seen that -our men had carefully loaded and capped and cast loose their -cartridges, all became very still, and there was certainly more of -thought than conversation among us. Many of the men in some regiments -were little better than raw recruits, and were scarcely masters of -their musketry drill. Disease in camp and death in action had fast -thinned our ranks of the carefully-trained and well-disciplined -soldiers who landed in Bulgaria; and when these--the pest and -bullet--failed, the treachery of contractors, and the general -mismanagement of the red-tapists, did the rest. Accustomed as we had -been to the daily incidents of this protracted siege, there was a -great hush over all our ranks; the hush of anticipation, and perhaps -of grave reflection, came to the lightest-hearted and most heedless -there.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What is the signal for us to advance?" I inquired.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Four rockets," replied Dyneley, our adjutant, who was on foot, with -his sword drawn, and a revolver in his belt.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There go the French to attack the tower!" cried Gwynne; and then a -hum of admiration stole along our lines as we saw them, at precisely -five minutes to twelve o'clock, "like a swarm of bees," issue from -their trenches, the Linesmen in kepis and long blue coats, the Zouaves -in turbans and baggy red breeches, under a terrible shower of cannon -and musketry, fiery in their valour, quick, ardent, and eager! They -swept over the little space of open ground that lay between the head -of their sap, and, irresistible in their number, poured on a sea of -armed men, a living tide, a human surge, section after section, and -regiment after regiment, to the assault.</p> -<div class="poem1"> -<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-10px"> -"O'er ditch and stream, o'er crest and wall,<br> -They jump and swarm, they rise and fall;<br> -With <i>vives</i> and <i>cris</i>, with chee0rs and cries.<br> -Like thunderings in autumnal skies;<br> -Till every foot of ground is mud,<br> -With tears and brains and bones and blood.<br> -Yet, faith, it was a grim delight<br> -To see the little devils fight!"</p> - -</div> -<p class="continue">With wonderful speed and force, their thousands seemed to drift -through the gaping embrasures of the tower, which appeared to swallow -them up--all save the dead and dying, who covered the slope of the -glacis; and in <i>two</i> minutes more the tricolor of France was waving on -the summit of the Korniloff bastion!</p> - -<p class="normal">But the work of the brave French did not end there. From twelve till -seven at night, they had to meet and repulse innumerable attempts of -the Russians to regain what they had lost--the great tower, which was -really the key of the city; till, in weariness and despair, the latter -withdrew, leaving the slopes covered with corpses that could only be -reckoned by thousands. The moment the French standard fluttered out -above the blue smoke and grimy dust of the tower, a vibration seemed -to pass along all our ranks. Every face lit up; every eye kindled; -every man instinctively grasped more tightly the barrel of his musket, -or the blade of his sword, or set his cap more firmly on his head, for -the final rush.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The tricolor is on the Malakoff! By heavens, the French are in! -hurrah!" cried several officers.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hurrah!" responded the stormers of the Light and Second Divisions.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There go the rockets!" cried Phil Caradoc, pointing with his sword to -where the tiny jets of sparkles were seen to curve in the wind against -the dull leaden sky, their explosion unheard amid the roar of musketry -and of human voices in and beyond the Malakoff.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ladders, to the front! eight men per ladder!" said Welsford, of the -97th.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is our turn now, lads; forward, forward!" added some one -else--Raymond Mostyn, of the Rifles, I think.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There is a five-pound note offered to the first man inside the -Redan!" exclaimed little Owen Tudor, a drummer of ours, as he slung -his drum and went scouring to the front: but a bullet killed the poor -boy instantly, and Welsford had his head literally blown off by a -cannon ball.</p> - -<p class="normal">In their dark green uniforms, which were patched with many a rag, a -hundred men of the Rifle Brigade who carried the scaling ladders -preceded us; and the moment they and we began to issue, which we did -at a furious run, with bayonets fixed and rifles at the short trail, -from the head of the trenches, the cannon of the Redan opened a -withering fire upon us. The round shot tore up the earth beneath our -feet, or swept men away by entire sections, strewing limbs and other -fragments of humanity everywhere; the exploding shells also dealt -death and mutilation; the grape and cannister swept past in whistling -showers; and wicked little shrapnels were flying through the air like -black spots against the sky; while, with a hearty and genuine English -"hurrah!" that deepened into a species of fierce roar, we swept -towards the ditch which so few of us might live to recross.</p> - -<p class="normal">Thick fall our dead on every hand, and the hoarse boom of the cannon -is sounding deep amid the roar of the concentrated musketry. Crawling -and limping back to the trenches for succour and shelter, the groaning -or shrieking wounded are already pouring in hundreds to the rear, -reeking with blood; and, within a minute, the whole slope of the Redan -is covered with our redcoats--the dead or the helpless--thick as the -leaves lie "when forests are rended!"</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_55" href="#div1Ref_55">CHAPTER LV.--INSIDE THE REDAN.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">One enormous cannon-shot that struck the earth and stones threw up a -cloud of dust which totally blinded the brave brigadier who led us; he -was thus compelled to grope his way to the rear, while his place was -taken by Lieutenant-colonel W. H. Bunbury of ours--a tried soldier, -who had served in the Kohat-Pass expedition five years before this, -and been Napier's aide-de-camp during the wars of India. The -Honourable Colonel Handcock, who led three hundred men of the 97th and -of the Perthshire Volunteers, fell mortally by a ball in the head. -Colonel Lysons of ours (who served in the Canadian affair of St. -Denis), though wounded in the thigh and unable to stand, remained on -the ground, and with brandished sword cheered on the stormers.</p> - -<p class="normal">The actual portion of the latter followed those who bore the scaling -ladders, twenty of which were apportioned to the Buffs; and no time -was to be lost now, as the Russians from the Malakoff, inflamed by -blood, defeat, and fury, were rushing down in hordes to aid in the -defence of the Redan. In crossing the open ground between our trenches -and the point of attack, some of the ladders were lost or left behind, -in consequence of their bearers being shot down; yet we reached the -edge of the ditch and planted several without much difficulty, till -the Russians, after flocking to the traverses which enfiladed them, -opened a murderous fusillade upon those who were crossing or getting -into the embrasures, when we planted them on the other side; and then -so many officers and men perished, that Windham and three of the -former were the only leaders of parties who got in untouched.</p> - -<p class="normal">The scene in the ditch, where the dead and the dying, the bleeding, -the panting, and exhausted lay over each other three or four deep, was -beyond description; and at a place called the Picket House was one -solitary English lady, watching this terrible assault, breathless and -pale, putting up prayers with her white lips; and her emotions at such -a time may be imagined when I mention that she was the wife of an -officer engaged in the assault, Colonel H----, whose body was soon -after borne past her on a stretcher.</p> - -<p class="normal">When my ladder was planted firmly, I went up with the stormers, men of -all regiments mixed pell-mell, Buffs and Royal Welsh, 90th and 97th. A -gun, depressed and loaded with grape, belched a volume of flame and -iron past me as I sprang, sword in hand, into the embrasure, firing my -revolver almost at random; and the stormers, their faces flushed with -ardour and fierce excitement, cheering, stabbing with the bayonet, -smashing with the butt-end, or firing wildly, swarmed in at every -aperture, and bore the Russians back; but I, being suddenly wedged -among a number of killed and wounded men, between the cannon and the -side of the embrasure could neither advance nor retire, till dragged -out by the strong hand of poor Charley Gwynne, who fell a minute -after, shot dead; and for some seconds, while in that most exposed and -terrible position, I saw a dreadful scene of slaughter before me; for -there were dense gray masses of the Russian infantry, their usually -stolid visages inflamed by hate, ferocity, by fiery <i>vodka</i>, and -religious rancour, the front ranks kneeling as if to receive cavalry, -and all the rear ranks, which were three or four deep, firing over -each other's heads, exactly as we are told the Scottish brigades of -the "Lion of the North" did at Leipzig, to the annihilation of those -of Count Tilly.</p> - -<p class="normal">We were fairly IN this terrible Redan; but the weakness of our force -was soon painfully apparent, and in short, when the enemy made a -united rush at us, they drove us all into an angle of the work, and -ultimately over the parapet to the outer slope, where men of the Light -and Second Divisions were packed in a dense mass and firing into it, -which they continued to do even till their ammunition became expended, -when fresh supplies from the pouches of those in rear were handed to -those in front. An hour and a half of this disastrous strife elapsed, -"the Russians having cleared the Redan," to quote the trite -description of Russell, "but not yet being in possession of its -parapets, when they made a second charge with bayonets under a heavy -fire of musketry, and throwing great quantities of large stones, grape -and small round shot, drove those in front back upon the men in rear, -who were thrown into the ditch. The gabions in the parapet now gave -way, and rolled down with those who were upon them; and the men in -rear, thinking all was lost, retired into the fifth parallel."</p> - -<p class="normal">Many men were buried alive in the ditch by the falling earth; Dora's -admirer, poor little Torn Clavell of the 19th, among others, perished -thus horribly. Just as we reached our shelter, there to breathe, -re-form, and await supports, I saw poor Phil Caradoc reel wildly and -fall, somewhat in a heap, at the foot of the gabions. In a moment I -was by his side. His sword-arm had been upraised as he was -endeavouring to rally the men, and a ball had passed--as it eventually -proved--through his lungs; though a surgeon, who was seated close by -with all his apparatus and instruments, assured him that it was not -so.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I know better--something tells me that it is all over with me--and -that I am bleeding internally," said he, with difficulty. "Hardinge, -old fellow--lift me up--gently, so--so--thank you."</p> - -<p class="normal">I passed an arm under him, and raised his head, removing at the same -time his heavy Fusileer cap. There was a gurgle in his throat, and the -foam of agony came on his handsome brown moustache.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am going fast," said he, grasping my hand; "God bless you, -Harry--see me buried alone."</p> - -<p class="normal">"If I escape--but there is yet hope for you, Phil."</p> - -<p class="normal">But he shook his head and said, while his eye kindled,</p> - -<p class="normal">"If I was not exactly the first man <i>in</i>, I was not long behind -Windham. I risked my life freely," he added, in a voice so low that -I heard him with difficulty amid the din of the desultory fire, and -the mingled roar of other sounds in and around the Malakoff; "yet I -should like to have gone home and seen my dear old mother once again, -in green Llangollen--and <i>her</i>--she, you know who I mean, Harry. -But God has willed it all otherwise, and I suppose it is for the -best. . . . Turn me on my side . . . dear fellow--so. . . . I am -easier now."</p> - -<p class="normal">As I did what he desired, his warm blood poured upon my hand, through -the orifice in his poor, faded, and patched regimentals, never so much -as then like "the old red coat that tells of England's glory."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Have the Third or Fourth Division come yet? Where are the Scots -Royals?" he asked, eagerly, and then, without waiting for a reply, -added, very faintly, "If spared to see her--Winny Lloyd--tell her that -my last thoughts were of her--ay, as much as of my poor mother . . . and -. . . that though she will get a better fellow than I----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"That is impossible, Phil!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"She can never get one who . . . . who loves her more. The time is -near now when I shall be but a memory to her and you . . . . and to -all our comrades of the old 23rd."</p> - -<p class="normal">His lips quivered and his eyes closed, as he said, with something of -his old pleasant smile,</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am going to heaven, I hope, Harry--if I have not done much good in -the world, I have not done much harm; and in heaven I'll meet with -more red coats, I believe, than black ones . . . . and tell -her . . . tell Winny----"</p> - -<p class="normal">What I was to tell her I never learned; his voice died away, and he -never spoke again; for just as the contest became fiercer between the -French and the masses of Russians--temporarily released from the Redan -or drawn from the city--his head fell over on one side, and he -expired. I closed his eyes, for there was yet time to do so. Poor Phil -Caradoc! I looked sadly for a minute on the pale and stiffening face -of my old friend and jovial chum, and saw how fast the expression of -bodily pain passed away from the whitening forehead. I could scarcely -assure myself that he was indeed gone, and so suddenly; that his once -merry eyes and laughing lips would open never again. Turning away, I -prepared once more for the assault, and then, for the first time, I -perceived Lieutenants Dyneley and Somerville of ours lying near him; -the former mortally wounded and in great pain, the latter quite dead.</p> - -<p class="normal">My soul was full of a keen longing for vengeance, to grapple with the -foe once more, foot to foot and face to face. The blood was fairly up -in all our hearts; for the Russians had now relined their own -breastworks, where a tall officer in a gray capote made himself very -conspicuous by his example and exertions. He was at last daring enough -to step over the rampart and tear down a wooden gabion, to make a kind -of extempore embrasure through which an additional field-piece might -be run.</p> - -<p class="normal">"As you are so fond of pot-firing," said Colonel Windham to the -soldiers, with some irritation at the temporary repulse, "why the -deuce don't you shoot that Russian?"</p> - -<p class="normal">On looking through my field-glass, to my astonishment I discovered -that he was Tolstoff. Sergeant Rhuddlan of ours now levelled his rifle -over the bank of earth which protected the parallel, took a steady -aim, and fired. Tolstoff threw up his arms wildly, and his sword -glittered as it fell from his hand. He then wheeled round, and fell -heavily backward into the ditch--which was twenty feet broad and ten -feet deep--dead; at least, I never saw or heard of him again.</p> - -<p class="normal">Just as a glow of fierce exultation, pardonable enough, perhaps, at -such a time (and remembering all the circumstances under which this -distinguished Muscovite and I had last met and parted), thrilled -through me, I experienced a terrible shock--a shock that made me reel -and shudder, with a sensation as if a hot iron had pierced my left arm -above the elbow. It hung powerless by my side, and then I felt my own -blood trickling heavily over the points of my fingers!</p> - -<p class="normal">"Wounded! My God, hit at last!" was my first thought; and I lost much -blood before I could get any one, in that vile burly-burly, to tie my -handkerchief as a temporary bandage round the limb to stanch the flow.</p> - -<p class="normal">I was useless now, and worse than useless, as I was suffering greatly, -but I could not leave the parallel for the hospital huts, and remained -there nearly to dusk fell. Before that, I had seen Caradoc interred -between the gabions; and there he lay in his hastily-scooped grave, -uncoffined and unknelled, his heart's dearest longings unfulfilled, -his brightest hopes and keenest aspirations crushed out like his young -life; and the evanescent picture, the poor photo of the girl he had -loved in vain, buried with him; and when poor Phil was being covered -up, I remembered his anecdote about the dead officer, and the letter -that was replaced in his breast.</p> - -<p class="normal">Well, my turn for such uncouth obsequies might come soon enough now. -In the affair of the Redan, if I mistake not, 146 officers and men of -ours, the Welsh Fusileers, were killed and wounded; and every other -regiment suffered in the same proportion.</p> - -<p class="normal">The attack was to be renewed at five in the morning by the Guards and -Highlanders, under Lord Clyde of gallant memory, then Sir Colin -Campbell; but on their approaching, it was found that the Russians had -spiked their guns, and bolted by the bridge of boats, leaving -Sebastopol one sheet of living fire. Fort after fort was blown into -the air, each with a shock as if the solid earth were being split -asunder. The sky was filled with live shells, which burst there like -thousands of scarlet rockets, and thus showers of iron fell in every -direction. Columns of dark smoke, that seemed to prop heaven itself, -rose above the city, while its defenders in thousands, without beat of -drum or sound of trumpet, poured away by the bridge of boats. When the -last fugitive had passed, the chains were cut, and then the mighty -pontoon, a quarter of a mile in length, swung heavily over to the -north side, when we were in full possession of Sebastopol!</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_56" href="#div1Ref_56">CHAPTER LVI.--A SUNDAY MORNING IN THE CRIMEA.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">I must have dropped asleep of sheer weariness and loss of blood, when -tottering to the rear; for on waking I found the moon shining, and -myself lying not far from the fifth parallel, which was now occupied, -like the rest of the trenches, by the kilted Highlanders, whose bare -legs, and the word <i>Egypt</i> on their appointments, formed a double -source of wonder to our Moslem allies, especially to the contingent -that came from the Land of Bondage. These sturdy fellows were -chatting, laughing, and smoking, or quietly sleeping and waiting for -their turn of service against the Redan, in the dark hours of the -morning.</p> - -<p class="normal">I had lain long in a kind of dreamy agony. Like many who were in the -Redan and in the ditch around it, I had murmured "water, water," often -and vainly. The loss of Estelle, or of Valerie, for times there were -when my mind wandered to the former <i>now</i>, the love of dear friends, the -death of comrades, honour, glory, danger from pillaging Russians or -Tartars, all emotions, in fact, were merged or swallowed up in the -terrible agony I endured in my shattered arm, and the still more -consuming craving for something wherewith to moisten my cracked lips -and parched throat. Poor Phil Caradoc had perhaps endured this before -me, while his heart and soul were full of Winifred Lloyd; but Phil, -God rest him! was at peace now, and slept as sound in his uncouth -grave as if laid under marble in Westminster Abbey.</p> - -<p class="normal">In my uneasy slumber I had been conscious of this sensation of thirst, -and had visions of champagne goblets, foaming and iced; of humble -bitter beer and murmuring water; of gurgling brooks that flowed over -brown pebbles, and under long-bladed grass and burdocks in leafy -dingles; of Llyn Tegid, deep and blue; of the marble fountain, with -the lilies and golden fish, at Craigaderyn. Then with this idea the -voice of Winifred Lloyd came pleasantly to my ear; her white fingers -played with the sparkling water, she raised some to my lips, but the -cup fell to pieces, and starting, I awoke to find a tall Highlander, -of the Black Watch, bending over me, and on my imploring him to get me -some water, he placed his wooden canteen to my lips, and I drank of -the contents, weak rum-grog, greedily and thankfully.</p> - -<p class="normal">It seemed strange to me that I should dream of Winifred, there and -then; but no doubt the last words of Caradoc had led me to think of -her. It is only when waking after long weariness of the body, and -over-tension of the nerves, the result of such keen excitement as we -had undergone since yesterday morning, that the full extremity of -exhaustion and fatigue can be felt, as I felt them then. Add to these, -that my shattered arm had bled profusely, and was still undressed.</p> - -<p class="normal">Staggering up, I looked around me. The moon was shining, and flakes of -her silver light streamed through the now silent embrasures of the -Redan, silent save for the groans of the dying within it. There and in -the ditch the dead lay thick as sheaves in a harvest-field--thick as -the Greeks, at Troy, lay under the arrows of Apollo. How many a man -was lying there, mutilated almost out of the semblance of humanity, -whose thoughts, when the death shot struck him down, or the sharp -bayonet pierced him, had flashed <i>home</i>, quicker than the electric -telegraph, yea, quicker than light, to his parents' hearth, to his -lonely wife, to the little cots where their children lay abed--little -ones, the memory of whose waxen faces and pink hands then filled his -heart with tears; how many a resolution for prayer and repentance if -spared by God; how many a pious invocation; how many a fierce -resolution to meet the worst, and die like a man and a soldier, had -gone up from that hell upon earth, the Redan--the fatal Redan, which -we should never have attacked, but should have aided the French in the -capture of the Malakoff, after which it must inevitably have fallen -soon, if not at once.</p> - -<p class="normal">Many of our officers were afterwards found therein, each with a hand -clutching a dead Russian's throat, or coat, or belt, their fingers -stiffened in death--man grasping man in a fierce and last embrace. -Among others, that stately and handsome fellow, Raymond Mostyn, of the -Rifles, and an officer of the Vladimir regiment were thus locked -together, the same grape-shot having killed them both. Some of our -slain soldiers were yet actually clinging to the parapet and slope of -the glacis, as if still alive, thus showing the reluctance with which -they had retired--the desperation with which they died. In every -imaginable position of agony, of distortion, and bloody mutilation -they lay, heads crushed and faces battered, eyes starting from their -sockets, and swollen tongues protruding; and on that terrible scene -the pale moon, "sweet regent of the sky," the innocent queen of night, -as another poet calls her, looked softly down in her glory, as the -same moon in England, far away, was looking on the stubble-fields -whence the golden grain had been gathered, on peaceful homesteads, old -church steeples and quiet cottage roofs, on the ruddy furnaces of the -Black country, on peace and plenty, and where war was unknown, save by -name.</p> - -<p class="normal">She glinted on broken and abandoned weapons; she silvered the upturned -faces of the dead--kissing them, as it were, for many a loving one who -should see them no more; and gemming as if with diamonds the dewy -grass and the autumnal wild-flowers; and there, too, amid that -horrible débris, were the little birds--the goldfinch, the tit, and -the sparrow--hopping and twittering about, too terrified to seek their -nests, scared as they were by the uproar of the day that was past.</p> - -<p class="normal">I felt sick at heart and crushed in spirit now. In the immediate -foreground the moonlight glinted on the tossing dark plumes, the -picturesque costume, and bright bayonets of the Highlanders in the -trenches. In the distance was the town; its ports, arsenals, barracks, -theatres, palaces, churches, and streets sheeted with roaring flames, -that lighted up all the roadstead, where, one after the other, the -Russian ships were disappearing beneath the waves, in that lurid glare -which tipped with a fiery gleam the white walls and spiked cannon of -the now abandoned forts.</p> - -<p class="normal">I began to creep back towards the camp, in search of surgical aid, and -on the way came to a place where, with their uniforms off, their -shirt-sleeves rolled up, their boxes of instruments open, lint and -bandages ready, three officers of the medical staff were busy upon a -group of wounded men, who sat or lay near, waiting their turn, some -impatiently, some with passive endurance, but all, more or less, in -pain, as their moans and sighs declared.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Don't bother about that Zouave, Gage," I heard one Æsculapius say, as -I came near, "I have overhauled him already!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is his wound mortal?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes--brain lacerated. By Jove! here is an officer of the 23rd!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, he must wait a little."</p> - -<p class="normal">So I sighed, and seated myself on a stone, and clenched my teeth to -control the agony I was enduring. The men who lay about us, with pale, -woe-begone visages and lack-lustre eyes, belonged chiefly to the -Light Division, but among them I saw, to my surprise, a Russian hussar -lying dead, with the blood dry and crusted on his pale blue and -yellow-braided dolman. How he came to be <i>there</i>, I had not the -curiosity to inquire. A mere bundle of gory rags, he seemed; for a -cannon-shot had doubled him up, and now his Tartar horse stood over -him, eyeing him wildly, and sniffing as if in wonder about his bearded -face and fallen jaw.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Zouave referred to was a noisy and loquacious fellow, -notwithstanding his perilous predicament. He had strayed hither -somehow from the Malakoff, and was mortally wounded, as the surgeon -said, and dying. A tiny plaster image of the blessed Virgin lay before -him; he was praying intently at times, but being fatuous, he wildly -and oddly mingled with his orisons the name of a certain Mademoiselle -Auréle, a <i>fleuriste</i>, with whom he imagined himself in the second -gallery of the Théâtre Français, or supping at the Barrière de -l'Etoile; anon he imagined they were on the Boulevardes, or in a café -chantant; and then as his mind--or what remained of it--seemed to -revert to the events of the day, he drew his "cabbage-cutter," as the -French call their sword-bayonet, and brandished it, crying,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Cut and hew, strike, mes camarades--frappez vite et frappez forte! -Vive la France! Vive l'Empéreur!"</p> - -<p class="normal">This was the last effort; a gush of fresh blood poured into his eyes, -and the poor Zouave was soon cold and stiff. In a kind of stupor I sat -there and watched by moon and lantern light the hasty operations: -bullets probed for and snipped out by forceps, while the patients -writhed and yelled; legs and arms dressed or cut off like branches -lopped from a tree, and chucked into a heap for interment. I shuddered -with apprehensive foreboding of what might ensue when my own turn -came, and heard, as in a dream, the three surgeons talking with the -most placid coolness about their little bits of practice.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jones, please," said one, a very young staff medico, "will you kindly -take off this fellow's leg for me? I have ripped up his trousers and -applied the tourniquet--he is quite ready."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But must it come off?" asked Jones, who was patching up a bullet-hole -with lint.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; gun-shot fracture of the knee-joint--patella totally gone."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why don't you do it yourself, my good fellow?" asked the third, who, -with an ivory-handled saw between his teeth, was preparing to operate -on the fore-arm of a 19th man, whose groans were terrible. "Gage, did -you never amputate?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Never on the living subject."</p> - -<p class="normal">"On a dead one then, surely?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Often--of course.'</p> - -<p class="normal">"By Jove, you can't begin too soon--so why not now?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am too nervous--do it for me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"In one minute; but only this once, remember. Now give me your knife -for the flap; and look to that officer of the Welsh Fusileers--his -left arm is wounded."</p> - -<p class="normal">So while Dr. Jones, whom the haggard eyes of the man, whose limb was -doomed, watched with a terrible expression of anxiety, applied himself -to the task of amputation, the younger doctor, a hand fresh from -London, came to <i>me</i>.</p> - -<p class="normal">After ripping up the sleeve of my uniform, and having a brief -examination, which caused me such bitter agony that I could no longer -stand, but lay on the grass, he said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sorry to tell you, that yours is a compound fracture of the most -serious kind."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is it reducible?" I asked, in a low voice.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No; I regret to say that your arm must come off."</p> - -<p class="normal">"My arm--must I lose it?" I asked, feeling keener anguish with the -unwelcome announcement.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; and without delay," he replied, stooping towards his instrument -case.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I cannot spare it--I must have some other--excuse me, sir--some older -advice," I exclaimed, passionately.</p> - -<p class="normal">"As you please, sir," replied the staff-surgeon, coolly; "but we have -no time to spare here, either for opposition or indecision."</p> - -<p class="normal">The other two glanced at my arm, poked it, felt it as if it had been -that of a lay figure in a studio, and supported the opinion of their -brother of the knife. But the prospect of being mutilated, armless, -for life, and all the pleasures of which such a fate must deprive me, -seemed so terrible, that I resolved to seek for other advice at the -hospital tents, and towards them I took my way, enduring such pain of -body and misery of mind that on reaching them I should have sunk, had -brandy not been instantly given to me by an orderly. It was Sunday -morning now, and the gray light of the September dawn was stealing -over the waters of the Euxine, and up the valley of Inkermann. The -fragrant odour of the wild thyme came pleasantly on the breeze; but -now the rain was falling heavily, as it generally does after an -action--firing puts down the wind, and so the rain comes; but to me -then it was like the tears of heaven--"Nature's tear-drop," as Byron -has it, bedewing the unburied dead. A red-faced and irritable-looking -little Deputy Inspector of Hospitals, in a blue frogged surtout, -received me, and from him I did not augur much. The patients were -pouring in by hundreds, and the medical staff had certainly no -sinecure there. After I had been stripped and put to bed, I remember -this personage examining my wound and muttering,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bad case--very!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Am I in danger, doctor?" I inquired.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, of course, if it should gangrene," said he, sharply.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't care much for life, but I should not like to lose my arm. Do -you think that--that--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"What?" he asked, opening his box of tools with <i>sangfroid</i>.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I shall die of this?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of a smashed bone?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, my dear fellow, not yet, I hope."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yet?" said I, doubtfully.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, immediately, I mean. There is already much sign of -inflammation, and consequent chance of fever. The os humerus is, as I -say, smashed to pieces, and the internal and external condyles of the -elbow are most seriously injured. Corporal Mulligan, a basin and -sponge, and desire Dr.----" (I did not catch the name) "to step this -way."</p> - -<p class="normal">The corporal, a black-bearded Connaught Ranger, who had lost an eye at -Alma, brought what the surgeon required; he then placed a handkerchief -to my nostrils; there was a bubbling sensation in the brain, but -momentary, as the handkerchief contained chloroform; then something -peaceful, soporific, and soothing stole over me, and for a time I -became oblivious of all around me.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_57" href="#div1Ref_57">CHAPTER LVII.--IN THE MONASTERY OF ST. GEORGE.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">To be brief, when the effect of the chloroform passed away, I became -sensible of a strange sensation of numbness about my left shoulder. -Instinctively and shudderingly I turned my eyes towards it, and found -that my left arm was--gone! Gone, and near me stood Corporal Mulligan -coolly wiping the fat little surgeon's instruments for the next case. -Some wine, Crimskoi, and water were given me, and then I closed my -eyes and strove, but in vain, to sleep and to think calmly over my -misfortune, which, for a time, induced keen misanthropy indeed.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Armless!" thought I; "I was pretty tired of life before this, and am -utterly useless now. Would that the shot had struck me in a more vital -place, and finished me--polished me off at once! That old staff -sawbones should have left me to my fate; should have let -mortification, gangrene, and all the rest of it, do their worst, and I -might have gone quietly to sleep where so many lay, under the crocuses -and caper-bushes at Sebastopol."</p> - -<p class="normal">"After life's fitful fever" men sleep well; and so, I hoped, should I.</p> - -<p class="normal">Such reflections were, I own, ungrateful and bitter; but suffering, -disappointment, and more than all, the great loss of blood I had -suffered, had sorely weakened me; and yet, on looking about me, and -seeing the calamities of others, I felt that the simple loss of an arm -was indeed but a minor affair.</p> - -<p class="normal">Close by me, on the hospital pallets, I saw men expiring fast, and -borne forth to the dead-pits only to make room for others; I saw the -poor human frame, so delicate, so wondrous, and so divine in its -organisation, cut, stabbed, bruised, crushed, and battered, in every -imaginable way, and yet with life clinging to it, when life had -become worthless. From wounds, and operations upon wounds, there was -blood--blood everywhere; on the pallets, the straw, the earthen floor, -the canvas of the tents, in buckets and basins, on sponges and towels, -and on the hands of the attendants. Incessantly there were moans and -cries of anguish, and, ever and anon, that terrible sound in the -throat known as the death-rattle.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sergeant Rhuddlan, Dicky Roll the drummer (the little keeper of the -regimental goat), and many rank and file of the old 23rd--relics of -the Redan--were there, and some lay near me. The sergeant was mortally -wounded, and soon passed away; the poor boy was horribly mutilated, a -grape shot having torn off his lower jaw, and he survived, to have -perhaps a long life of misery and penury before him; and will it be -believed that, through red-tapery and wretched Whig parsimony, two -hours before the attack on the Redan, the senior surgeon in the -Quarries was "run out" of lint, plasters, bandages, and every other -appliance for stanching blood?</p> - -<p class="normal">I heard some of our wounded, in their triumph at the general success -of the past day, attempting feebly and in quavering tones to sing -"Cheer, boys, cheer;" while others, in the bitterness of their hearts, -or amid the pain they endured, were occasionally consigning the eyes, -limbs, and souls of the Ruskies to a very warm place indeed. Estelle's -ring, which I had still worn, was gone with my unfortunate arm, and -was now the prize, no doubt, of some hospital orderly. Next day, as -the wounded were pouring in as fast as the dripping stretchers and -ambulances could bring them, I was sent to the monastery of St. -George, which had been turned into a convalescent hospital. The -removal occasioned fever, and I lay long there hovering between life -and death; and I remember how, as portions of a seeming -phantasmagoria, the faces of the one-eyed corporal who attended me, -and of the staff doctors Gage and Jones, became drearily familiar.</p> - -<p class="normal">This monastery is situated about five miles from Balaclava and six -from Sebastopol, near Cape Fiolente, and consists of two long ranges -of buildings, two stories in height, with corridors off which the -cells of the religious open. The chapel, full of hospital pallets, -there faces the sea, and the view in that direction is both charming -and picturesque. A zigzag pathway leads down from the rocks of red -marble, past beautiful terraces clothed with vines and flowering -shrubs, to a tiny bay, so sheltered that there the ocean barely -ripples on the snow-white sand. But then the Greek monks, in their -dark-brown gowns, their hair plaited in two tails down their back, -their flowing beards, with rosary and crucifix and square black cap, -had given place to convalescents of all corps, Guardsmen, Riflemen, -Dragoons, and Linesmen, who cooked and smoked, laughed and sang, -patched their clothes and pipe-clayed their belts, where whilom mass -was said and vespers chanted. Others were hopping about on crutches, -or, propped by sticks, dozed dreamily in the sunshine under shelter of -the wall that faced the sparkling sea--the blessed high road to old -England.</p> - -<p class="normal">My room, a monk's cell, was whitewashed, and on the walls were hung -several gaudy prints of Russian saints and Madonnas with oval shining -metal halos round their faces; but most of these the soldiers, with an -eye to improvement in art, had garnished with short pipes, moustaches, -and eyeglasses; and with scissors and paste-pot Corporal Mulligan -added other decorations from the pages of <i>Punch</i>.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sebastopol had fallen; "Redan Windham," as we named him, then a -Brigadier-general, was its governor; and by the Allies the place had -been plundered of all the flames had spared (not much certainly), even -to the cannon and church bells; and now peace was at hand. But many a -day I sighed and tossed wearily on my hard bed, and more wearily still -in the long nights of winter, when the bleak wind from the Euxine -howled round the monastery and the rain lashed its walls, though -Corporal Mulligan would wink his solitary eye, and seek to console me -by saying,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your honour's in luck--there is no trinch-guard to-night, thank God!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nor will there ever be again for me," I would reply.</p> - -<p class="normal">The inspector of hospitals had informed me that, so soon as I could -travel, sick leave would be granted me, that I might proceed to -England; but I heard him with somewhat of indifference. Would Valerie -join her brother Volhonski at Lewes in Sussex, was, however, my first -thought; she would be free to do as she pleased now that the odious -Tolstoff--But <i>was</i> he killed by Rhuddlan's bullet, or merely wounded, -with the pleasure of having Valerie, perhaps, for a nurse? He -certainly seemed to fall from the parapet as if he were shot dead. Why -had I not gone back and inspected the slain in the ditch of the Redan, -to see if he lay there? But I had other thoughts then, and so the -opportunity--even could I have availed myself of it--was gone for -ever. These calculations and surmises may seem very cool now; but to -us then human life, and human suffering, too, were but of small -account indeed.</p> - -<p class="normal">One evening the fat little staff surgeon came to me with a cheerful -expression on his usually cross face, and two packets in his hand.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, doctor," said I, with a sickly smile, but unable to lift my -head; "so I didn't die, after all."</p> - -<p class="normal">"No; close shave though. Wish you joy, Captain Hardinge."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Joy--armless!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Tut; I took the two legs off a rifleman the other day close to the -tibia--ticklish operation, very, but beautifully done--and he'll -toddle about in a bowl or on a board, and be as jolly as a sand-boy. -Suppose <i>your</i> case had been his?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"When may I leave this?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can't say yet awhile. You don't want to rejoin, I presume?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Would to God that I could! but the day is past now When I do leave, -it will be by ship or steamer."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Unless you prefer a balloon. Well, it was of these I came to wish you -joy," said he, placing before me, and opening it (for I was unable to -do so, single-handed), the packet, which contained two medals; one for -the Crimea, with its somewhat unbecoming ribbon, and two clasps for -"Inkermann" and "Sebastopol."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They are deuced like labels for wine-bottles," said the little -doctor; "but a fine thing for you to have, and likely to catch the -eyes of the girls in England."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And this other medal with the pink ribbon?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is the Sardinian one, given by Victor Emanuel; and more welcome than -these perhaps, here is a letter from home--from England--for you; -which, if you wish, I shall open" (every moment I was some way thus -reminded, even kindly, of my own helplessness), "and leave you to -peruse. Good evening; I've got some prime cigars at your service, if -you'll send Mulligan to me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thanks, doctor."</p> - -<p class="normal">And he rolled away out of the cell, to visit some other unfortunate -fellow. The medals were, of course, a source of keen satisfaction to -me; but as I toyed with them and inspected them again and again, they -woke an old train of thought; for there was <i>one</i>, who had no longer -perhaps an interest in me (if a woman ever ceases to have an interest -in the man who has loved her), and who was another's now, in whose -white hands I should once with honest pride have laid them. Viewed -through that medium, they seemed almost valueless for a time; though -there was to come a day when I was alike vain of them--ay, and of my -empty sleeve--as became one who had been at the fall of Sebastopol, -the queen of the Euxine.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I fear I am a very discontented dog," thought I, while turning to the -letter, which proved to be from kind old Sir Madoc Lloyd.</p> - -<p class="normal">For months no letters had reached me, and for the same period I had -been unable to write home; so in all that time I had heard nothing -from my friends in England--who were dead, who alive; who marrying, or -being given in marriage. Sir Madoc's missive was full of kind thoughts -and expressions, of warm wishes and offers of service, that came to me -as balm, especially at such a time and in such a place. Poor Phil -Caradoc, and many others, were sorrowfully and enthusiastically -referred to. Sir Watkins Vaughan was still hovering about the girls, -"but with remarkable indecision apparently." The tall Plunger with the -parted hair had proposed to Dora, and been declined; for no very -visible reason, as he was a pleasant fellow with a handsome fortune.</p> - -<p class="normal">On an evening early in September, the very day that a telegram -announcing the fall of the Redan reached Craigaderyn, they were -dressing for a county ball at Chester--a long-looked-for and most -brilliant affair--when their sensibility, and fear that I might have -been engaged, made them relinquish all ideas of pleasure, and -countermand the carriage, to the intense chagrin of Sir Watkins and -also of the Plunger, who had come from town expressly to attend it. -Two day afterwards the lists were published, and the account of the -slaughter of our troops, and the death of so many dear friends, had -made Winifred positively ill, so change of air was recommended for -her, at Ventnor or some such place.</p> - -<p class="normal">A postscript to this, in Dora's rapid hand, and written evidently -surreptitiously (perhaps while Sir Madoc had left his desk for a -moment), added the somewhat significant intelligence, that "Winny had -wept very much indeed on reading the account of that horrible Redan" -(for Phil's death, thought I; if so, she mourns him too late!) "and -now declares that she will die an old maid." (It <i>is</i> so!) "When that -interesting period of a lady's life begins," continued Dora, "I know -not; if unmarried, before thirty, I suppose; thus I am eleven years -off that awful period yet, and have a decidedly vulgar prejudice -against ever permitting myself to become one. Papa writes that Sir -Watkins is undecided; but I may add that I, for one, know that he is -<i>not</i>. Our best love to you, dear old Harry; but O, I can't fancy you -<i>without an arm!</i>"</p> - -<p class="normal">I was in a fair way of recovery now. The state I had been in so long, -within the four walls of that quaint little chamber--a state that -hovered between sense and insensibility, between sleeping and waking, -time and eternity--had passed away; and, after all I had undergone, it -had seemed as if</p> -<div class="poem1"> -<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-10px"> -"Thrice the double twilight rose and fell,<br> -About a land where nothing seemed the same,<br> -At morn or eve, as in the days gone by."</p> -</div> - -<p class="continue">This had all passed and gone; but I was weak as a child, and worn to a -shadow; and by neglect had become invested with hirsute appendages of -the most ample proportions.</p> - -<p class="normal">And so, without the then hackneyed excuse of "urgent private affairs," -on an evening in summer, when the last rays of the sun shone redly on -the marble bluffs and copper-coloured rocks of Cape Khersonese--the -last point of that fatal peninsula towards the distant Bosphorus--and -when the hills that look down on the lovely Pass of Baidar and the -grave-studded valley of Inkermann were growing dim and blue, I found -myself again at sea, on board the Kangaroo--a crowded transport (or -rather a floating hospital)--speeding homeward, and bidding "a long -good-night to the Crimea," to the land of glory and endurance.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sebastopol seemed a dream now, but a memory of the past; and a dream, -too, seemed my new life when I lay on my couch at the open port, and -saw the crested waves flying past, as we sped through them under sail -and steam.</p> - -<p class="normal">Onward, onward, three hundred miles and more across the Euxine, to -where the green range of the Balkan looks down upon its waters, and -where the lighthouses of Anatolia on one side, and those of Roumelia -on the other, guide to the long narrow channel of Stamboul; but ere -the latter was reached--and on our starboard bow we saw the white -waves curling over the blue Cyanean rocks, where Jason steered the -Argonauts--we had to deposit many a poor fellow in the deep; for we -had four hundred convalescent and helpless men on board, and only one -surgeon, with scarcely any medicines or comforts for them, as John -Bull, if he likes glory, likes to obtain it <i>cheap</i>. It was another -case of Whig parsimony; so every other hour an emaciated corpse, -rolled in a mud-stained greatcoat or well-worn blanket, without prayer -or ceremony of any kind, was quietly dropped to leeward, the 32-pound -shot at its heels making a dull plunge in that huge grave, the world -of water, which leaves no mark behind.</p> - -<p class="normal">I gladly left the Kangaroo at Pera, and, establishing myself at the -Hôtel d'Angleterre, wrote from thence to Sir Madoc that I should take -one of the London liners at Malta for England, and to write me to the -United Service Club in London; that all my plans for the future were -vague and quite undecided; but I was not without hope of getting some -military employment at home. The Frankish hotel was crowded by wounded -officers, also <i>en route</i> for England or France, all in sorely faded -uniforms, on which the new Crimean medals glittered brightly. As all -the world travels nowadays, I am not going to "talk guide-book," or -break into ecstasies about the glories of Stamboul as viewed from a -distance, and not when floundering mid-leg deep in the mud of its -picturesque but rickety old thoroughfares; yet certainly the daily -scene before the hotel windows was a singular one; for there were -stalwart Turkish porters, veritable sons of Anak; stagey-looking -dragomen, with brass pistols and enormous sabres in wooden sheaths; -the Turk of the old school in turban, beard, slippers, and flowing -garments; the Turk of the new, whom he despised, close shaven, with -red fez and glazed boots; water-carriers; Osmanli infantry, solemn, -brutal, and sensual, jostled by rollicking British tars and merry -little French Zouaves; and for a background, the city of the Sultans, -with all its casements, domes, and minarets glittering in the -unclouded sunshine.</p> - -<p class="normal">Two light cavalry subs, who had ridden in the death ride at Balaclava, -and bore some cuts and slashes won therein, three others of the Light -Division, and myself, agreed to travel homeward together; and pleasant -days we had of it while skirting the mountainous isles of Greece, -Byron's</p> - -<p class="center" style="font-size:9pt"> -"Isles of Greece, where burning Sappho loved and sung,"</p> - -<p class="continue">and the tints of which seemed all brown or gray as we saw them through -the vapour exhaled in summer from the Ægean Sea, with their little -white villages shadowed by trees, their rocks like sea-walls, crowned -here and there by the columns, solitary and desolate, of some temple -devoted to the gods of other days--"a country rich in historic -reminiscence, but poor as Sahara in everything else."</p> - -<p class="normal">And so on by Malta and old Gib; and exactly fourteen days after -leaving the former we were cleaving the muddy bosom of Father Thames; -and that night saw me in my old room at "the Rag," with the dull roar -of mighty London in my ears; and after the rapid travelling I went to -sleep, as addled as a fly could be in a drum.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_58" href="#div1Ref_58">CHAPTER LVIII.--HOME.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The comfort and splendour of the fashionable club-house, the tall -mirrors, the gilded cornices, the soft carpets, the massive furniture, -the powdered and liveried waiters gliding noiselessly about, all -impressed me with a high sense of the intense snugness of England and -of <i>home</i>, after my airy tent, with its embankment of earth for -shelter, its smoky funnel of mess-tins, and the tiny trench cut round -it to carry away the rainwater. Then I was discussing a breakfast -which, after my Crimean experience, seemed a feast fit for Lucullus or -Apicius, and listening with something of a smile to the rather loud -conversation of some members of the club--wiry old Peninsulars, -Waterloo and India men, who were certain "the service was going to the -devil," and who drew somewhat disparaging comparisons between the way -matters had been conducted by our generals and those of the war under -Sir John Moore, Lynedoch, Hill, and "the Iron Duke;" and to me it -seemed that the old fellows were right, and that after forty years of -peace we had learned nothing new in the art of campaigning.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Captain Hardinge, a gentleman for you, sir," said a waiter, -presenting me with a card on a silver salver; and I had barely time to -look at it ere Sir Madoc Lloyd, in top-boots and corded breeches as -usual--his ruddy sunburnt face, his white hair and sparkling dark -eyes, in his cheery breezy way the same as ever--entered, hat and whip -in hand, and welcomed me home so warmly, that for a moment he drew -the eyes of all in the room upon us. He had breakfasted two hours -before--country time--and had a canter round the Park. He was in town -on Parliamentary business, but was starting that afternoon for -Craigaderyn. I should accompany him, of course, he added, in his -hearty impetuous way. Then ere I could speak,--</p> - -<p class="normal">"God bless my soul!" he exclaimed. "Poor Harry! till I have seen you I -could not realise the idea of your being mutilated thus! No more -hunting, no more shooting, no more fishing----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"And no more dancing, the ladies would add," said I, smiling.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And no more soldiering."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Unless the Queen kindly permits me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Gad! I think you have had enough of it!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"And--and Miss Lloyd and Dora?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Are both well and looking beautiful. There are not many girls in -Wales like my girls. A seaside trip has brought back the bloom to -Winny's cheeks; and as for Dora, she never loses it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And why did Miss Lloyd refuse an offer so eligible as that of Sir -Watkins Vaughan?" I asked, after a pause.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can't for the life of me say," replied Sir Madoc, rubbing his chin, -and turning to the decanter as a waiter set some dry sherry and -biscuits before us.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And why would not my little friend Dora have her Guardsman?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can't say that, either. Perhaps she hated a 'swell' with an affected -'yaw-haw' impediment in his speech. Girls are so odd; but mine are -dear girls for all that. I'll telegraph to Owen Gwyllim to have the -carriage awaiting us at Chester; and we shall leave town before -luncheon-time, if you have no other plans or engagements."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have neither; but--but, Sir Madoc, why so soon?" I asked, as -certain passages in my later visits to Craigaderyn gave me a twinge of -compunction. "Now that I think of it, I had an idea of taking a run -down to Lewes in Sussex," said I.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lewes in Sussex--a dreary place, though in a first-rate coursing -country. I've ridden there with the Brighton Hunt. What would take you -there--before coming to us, at least?"</p> - -<p class="normal">I coloured a little, and said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have a friend there, among the Russian prisoners."</p> - -<p class="normal">"By Jove, I think you've had enough of those fellows! Nonsense, Harry! -We shall start without delay. Why waste time and money in London?" -said Sir Madoc, who never liked his plans or wishes thwarted. "I have -just to give a look at a brace of hunters at Tattersall's for Vaughan, -and then I am with you. Down there, with our fine mountain breezes, -our six-months' Welsh mutton, and seven-years' cliquot, we'll make a -man of you again. I can't get you an arm, Harry; but, by Jove, it will -go hard with us if we don't get you <i>two</i> belonging to some one else!"</p> - -<p class="normal">I laughed at this idea; and so that evening saw me again far from -London, and being swept as fast as the express could speed along the -North-Western line towards Chester. I had quite a load of Russian -trophies--such were then in great request--for Sir Madoc: sabres, -muskets, and bayonets; glazed helmets of the 26th and Vladimir -Regiments, a Zouave trumpet (with a banner attached), trod flat as a -pancake under the feet of the stormers as they poured into the -Malakoff. There, too, were several rusty fragments of exploded -shells, hand-grenades, and the last cannon-shot fired from the Mamelon -Vert. For Winifred and Dora I had mother-of-pearl trunks of rare -essences and perfumes; slender gilt vials of attar of roses; -daintily-embroidered Turkish slippers, with turned-up toes, and -bracelets of rose-pearls from Stamboul; Maltese jewelry, lace, veils, -and as many pretty things as might have stocked a little shop in the -Palais Royal or the Burlington Arcade.</p> - -<p class="normal">The month was June, and my spirits became more and more buoyant, as in -the open carriage we bowled along between the green mountains and the -waving woodlands. Now the mowers, scythe in hand, were bending over -the fragrant and bearded grass; the ploughmen were turning up the -fallow soil; the squirrels were feasting in the blossom; the sheep -were being driven to fold; and the crow was flying aloft, ere he -sought his nest "in the rooky wood." It was a thorough English June -evening: the air pure, the sunshine bright, and casting the shadows of -the mountains far across the vales and fresh green meadows; the -blackbird, thrush, and linnet sang on every tree, and a glow of -happiness came over me; for all around the land looked so peaceful and -so lovely, the gray smoke curling up from copse and dingle to mark -where stood those "free fair homes of England," of which Mrs. Hemans -sang so sweetly. Sir Madoc was discoursing on the cultivation of -turnips and mangold wurzels, and on the mode of extirpating annual -darnel-grass, coltsfoot, wild charlock, and other mysterious plants to -me unknown; and I heard him as one in a dream, when we entered the -long lime avenue.</p> - -<p class="normal">How pleasant and picturesque looked the old house of the Tudor times -at the end of that long leafy vista, with all its tinted oriels, its -gilded vanes, and quaint stone finials! The woodbine, clematis, and -ivy, hops and honeysuckle, all blended in luxuriant masses, aspiring -to peep in at the upper windows. Craigaderyn, so redolent of fruit and -flowers, of fresh sweet air, of bright green leaves, of health and -every bracing element--a hearty old house, where for generations the -yule log had blazed, and the holly-branch and the mistletoe hung from -the old oak roof, when the snow lay deep on Carneydd Llewellyn; where -the boar's head was served up in state at Christmas, and at Michaelmas -the goose; where so many brides had come home happy, and so many old -folks, full of years and honour, gone to the vault of the old church -among the hills; where lay all the line of Lloyd, save the luckless -Sir Jorwerth Du; and where--. But here my somewhat discursive reverie -was interrupted by the carriage being pulled sharply up at the perron -before the entrance; and Owen Gwyllim, with his wrinkled face beaming, -and his white head glistening in the sunshine, hastened down to open -the door, arrange the steps, and shake the only hand the Russians had -left me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where are the young ladies?" asked Sir Madoc, impatiently glancing up -at all the windows.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Gone for a ride so far as Llandudno, with Miss Vaughan."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Alone?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, Sir Madoc, attended by Spurrit, the groom. They were gone before -your telegram arrived, but are to be back before the first bell rings -for dinner."</p> - -<p class="normal">And now, after a little attention to my toilet, I was ushered into the -drawing-room, every object in which was so familiar to me; and seating -myself in the corner of an oriel, I gave way to a long train of deep -thought; for I was left quite alone just then, as Sir Madoc found -letters of importance awaiting him; and now, induced by the heat of -evening, the stillness broken only by the tinkle of a sheep-bell and -the hum of the bees at the open window, and by the length and rapidity -of my journey, I actually dozed quietly off to sleep.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_59" href="#div1Ref_59">CHAPTER LIX.--"A DREAM WHICH WAS NOT ALL A DREAM."</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Brief though my nap of "forty winks," I had within it a little dream, -induced, no doubt, by my return to Wales, and by my surroundings, as -it was of Winifred Lloyd, of past tenderness, and our old kind, -flirting, cousinly intercourse, before <i>others</i> came between us; for -Winifred had ever been as a sister to me, and dearer, perhaps. Now I -thought she was hanging over me with much of sorrowful yearning in her -soft face, and saying,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Papa will not be here for an hour, perhaps, and for that hour I may -have him all to myself, to watch. Poor Harry, so bruised, so battered, -and so ill-used by those odious wretches!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Her lips were parted; her breath came in short gasps.</p> - -<p class="normal">Was it imagination or reality that a kiss or a tress of her hair -touched my cheek so lightly? There was certainly a tear, too!</p> - -<p class="normal">I started and awoke fully, to see her I dreamt of standing at the side -of my chair, with one hand resting on it, while her soft eyes regarded -me sadly, earnestly, and--there is no use evading it--lovingly. She -wore her blue riding-habit, her skirt gathered in the hand which held -her switch and buff gauntlets; and though her fine hair was -beautifully dressed under her riding-hat, one tress <i>was</i> loose.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Dear Winifred, my appearance does not shock you, I hope?" said I, -clasping her hand tenderly, and perhaps with some of that energy -peculiar to those who have but one.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thank Heaven, it is no worse!" she replied; "but, poor Harry -Hardinge, an arm is a serious loss."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yet I might have come home, like <i>Le Diable Boiteux</i>, on two wooden -stumps, as Dora once half predicted; but even as it is, my -round-dancing is at an end now. By the way, I have a sorrowful message -for you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then I don't want to hear it. But from whom?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"One who can return no more, but one who loved you well--Phil -Caradoc."</p> - -<p class="normal">A shade of irritation crossed her face for a moment; and then, with -something of sorrow, she asked,</p> - -<p class="normal">"And this message?--poor fellow, he fell at the Redan!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"His last thoughts and words were of you, Winny--amid the anguish of a -mortal wound," said I; and then I told her the brief story of his -death, and of his interment in the fifth parallel. Her eyes were very -full of tears; yet none fell, and somehow my little narrative failed -to excite her quite so much as I expected.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Did you not love him?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No," she replied, curtly, and gathering up the skirt of her habit -more tightly, as if to leave me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Did you never do so?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why those questions?--never, save as a friend--poor dear Mr. Caradoc! -But let us change the subject," she added, her short lip quivering, -and her half-drooped eyelids, too.</p> - -<p class="normal">I was silent for a minute. I knew that, with a knowledge of the secret -sentiment which Winifred treasured in her heart for myself, I was -wrong in pursuing thus the unwelcome theme of Caradoc's rejection; -moreover, there are few men, if any, who would not have felt immensely -flattered by the preferences of a girl so bright and beautiful, so -soft and artless, as Miss Lloyd; and I found myself rapidly yielding -to the whole charm of the situation.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How odd that you should have returned on my birthday!" said she, -playing with her jewelled switch, and permitting me to retain her -ungloved hand in mine.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your birthday."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; I am just twenty-three."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The number of the old corps, Winifred--the number, see it when he -may, a soldier never forgets."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But I hope you have bidden good-bye to it for ever."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Too probably; and you cannot know, dear Winifred, how deep is the -pleasure I feel in being here again, after all I have undergone--here -in pleasant Craigaderyn; and more than all with you--hearing your -familiar voice, and looking into your eyes."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why?" she asked, looking out on the sunlit chase.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can you ask me why, when you know that I love you, Winny, and have -always loved you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"As a friend, of course," said she, trembling very much; "yes--but -nothing more."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I repeat that I love you tenderly and truly; have I not ever known -your worth, your goodness--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is this true, Harry Hardinge?" she asked, in a low voice, as my arm -encircled her, and she looked coyly but tremblingly down.</p> - -<p class="normal">"True as that God now hears us, my darling, whom I hope yet to call my -wife!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"O, say it again and again, dear Harry," said she, in a low voice like -a whisper; "I did so doubt it once--did so doubt that you would ever, -ever love me, who--who--loved you so," she continued, growing very -pale. "It may be unwomanly in me to say this, Harry; but I am not -ashamed to own it now."</p> - -<p class="normal">"To a poor cripple, a warlike fragment from the Crimea," said I, with -a smile, as caressingly I drew her head down on my shoulder; and while -I toyed with her dark-brown hair, and gazed into her tender -violet-coloured eyes, I thought, "How can a man love any but a woman -with eyes and hair like Winny's?"</p> - -<p class="normal">(At that moment I quite forgot how fatuously I had worshipped the -thick golden tresses, the snow-white skin, and deep black eyes of -Valerie. And it was for <i>me</i> that Winny had declined poor Phil, Sir -Watkins, and some one else! O, I certainly owed her some reparation!)</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bless you, darling, for your love," said I; "and I think our marriage -will make good Sir Madoc so happy."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You were ever his favourite, Harry."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you have actually loved me, Winny--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ever since I was quite a little girl," she replied, in a low voice, -while blushing deeply now.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, how blind I have been to the best interests of my heart! I always -loved you, Winifred; but I never knew how much until now."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am sure, Harry, that I--that I shall--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"What, love?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Make you a very, very good little wife, and be so kind to you after -all you have undergone."</p> - -<p class="normal">As she said this, with something between coyness and artlessness that -proved very bewitching, I pressed her close to me, and there flashed -upon my memory the dream of her, as I lay wounded and athirst near the -ditch of the Redan, and also the singular coincidence of her pet goat -leading to my discovery when lying half buried under the dead horse -and cannon-wheel on the field of Inkermann.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Papa and Dora," said she, in a low broken voice, "on that day when my -great grief came--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Which grief?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"The tidings of your being drowned," she continued, weeping at the -recollection, "and when I let out the long-hidden secret of my heart, -told me not to weep for you, Harry; that you were far happier -elsewhere than on earth; that you were in Heaven; and poor papa said -over and over again the Welsh prayer which ends Gogoniant ir Tad, ac -ir Mab, ac ir Yspryd Glan."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What on earth is all that!" I asked, smiling.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Glory to the Father, the Son, and so on. Well, Harry, it was all in -vain. I felt that in losing you I had lost the desire of my eyes, the -love of my girl's heart--for I always did love you, and I care not to -tell you so openly again," she added, as the tender arms went round -me, and the loving lips sought mine. "My crave for news from the seat -of war, and the terror with which I read those horrible lists, Harry, -are known to myself only; yet why should I say so? many others, whose -dearest were there, must have felt and endured as I did."</p> - -<p class="normal">"All that is over now, pet Winny."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you are here with us again, Harry."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And am yours--yours only!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"But there is the bell to dress for dinner, Harry--and here come Dora -and Gwenny Vaughan," she added, giving a hasty smooth to her hair, -which somehow had been a little rumpled during the preceding -conversation.</p> - -<p class="normal">The two girls came in for a minute or so, in their hats and riding -habits; the last-named was a very beautiful and distinguished-looking -blonde, who could talk about hunting like an old whipper-in, and who -received me with kind interest, while Dora did so with her usual -gushing <i>empressement</i>.</p> - -<p class="normal">The dinner, which came subsequently in due course, was rather a tame -affair to Winny and me, when contrasted with our recent interview in -the drawing-room; but the tender secret we now shared, and the perfect -consciousness that no obstacle existed to our marriage, made us both -so radiantly happy, that Sir Madoc's rubicund face wore a comical and -somewhat perplexed expression, till we had our postprandial cigar -together in the conservatory. So the whole affair came about in the -fashion I have narrated; yet but a day or two before, I had been -affecting a desire to visit the Russian prisoners at Lewes!</p> - -<p class="normal">At table, of course, I required much assistance, and though I urged -that Owen Gwyllim or one of the footmen should attend me, there was -often a friendly contention among the three girls to cut my food for -me, as if I were a great baby; and like something of that kind, I was -flattered, petted, and made much of; and there was something so -pleasant in being thus made a fuss with, and viewed as a "Crimean -hero," that I scarcely regretted the bones I had left at the Redan.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And so, poor Harry," said Dora, after hearing the story of that -affair, "you had no brave beautiful Sister of Mercy to nurse you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No; I had only Corporal Mulligan, a true and brave-hearted Irishman, -who lost an eye at Alma; and a kind-hearted fellow he was!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Winifred did not talk much; but in her place as hostess seemed -brilliantly happy, and quite her old self. We had all a thousand -things to talk of, to tell, and to ask each other; and the fate of -that strange creature Guilfoyle, or rather the mystery which then -attended it, excited almost the commiseration of Sir Madoc, who, once -upon a time, was on the point of horse-whipping him. On certain points -connected with my residence at Yalta, I was, of course, as mute as a -fish.</p> - -<p class="normal">Of Caradoc he spoke with genuine sorrow--the more so, as he was the -last of an old, old Welsh line.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Poor fellow!" said he; "Phil was a man of whom we may say that which -was averred of Colonel Mountain, of the Cameronians, 'that though he -were cut into twenty pieces, yet every piece would be a gentleman!'"</p> - -<p class="normal">Over our cigars, I told Sir Madoc all that had passed between Winifred -and me, and begged his approbation; and I have no words to express how -enthusiastic the large-hearted and jolly old man became; how rejoiced, -and how often he shook my hand, assuring me that he had ever loved me -quite as much as if I had been a son of his own; that his Winny was -one of the best girls in all Wales--true as steel, and one who, when -she loved, did so for ever.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I thank Heaven," he added, "you didn't get that slippery eel, my Lady -Aberconway!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"So do I, now, Sir Madoc," was my earnest response.</p> - -<p class="normal">But I had not yet seen quite the last of Estelle Cressingham.</p> - -<p class="normal">Of her Winifred must, at times, have been keenly and bitterly jealous, -yet she was too gentle, too ladylike and enduring, to permit such an -emotion to be visible to others.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_60" href="#div1Ref_60">CHAPTER LX.--A HONEYMOON.</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">And so it came to pass, as perhaps Sir Madoc had foreseen, by the -doctrine of chances, and without any romance or sensationalism, that -in the bright season of summer, Winifred and I--after a short -engagement, and many a delicious ramble by the Elwey and Llyn Aled, in -the Martens' dingle and by the old rocking-stone--were married in -Craigaderyn Church, by her secret admirer, the tall pale curate in the -long, long coat, "assisted" by another (as if aid in such cases were -necessary); and amid the summer sounds that came floating through the -open porch and pointed windows, with the yellow flakes of hazy -sunshine, when I heard the voice of the pastor uniting us, I -remembered the Sunday we were all last in the same place, and the -daydreams in which I had indulged during the prosy sermon, when I -fancied the same solemn service being said, and when, by some magic, -the image of Winifred <i>would</i> ever come in the place of another.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Watkins Vaughan, a purpose-like and gentlemanly young fellow, a -prime bat and bowler, a good shot and good horseman, a thorough -Englishman and lover of all field sports, and who acted as my -groomsman, was so intent on looking at Dora--radiant in white crape -and tulle as one of her sister's bridesmaids--that he made, as he -said, "a regular mull" of drawing off my glove, an office which I -could not have done for myself.</p> - -<p class="normal">At last the whole was over; the golden hoop had been slid on the -slender figure of a tremulous little hand; we were made one "till -death do us part;" and after the usual kisses and congratulations, -came forth into the glorious sunshine, while overhead the marriage -chimes rang merrily in the old square tower which Jorwerth ap Davydd -Lloyd had founded in honour of St. David five hundred years ago. Then -came the cheers in the churchyard--cheers that might wake the dead -below the green turf; the guttural Celtic voices of the tenants and -peasantry, the general jollity, with much twangle-dangling of harps -borne by certain itinerant and tipsy bards, attracted thither by the -coin and the well-known Cymric proclivities of Sir Madoc; and loud on -all hands were praises of the beauty of the <i>Briodasferch</i> (Welsh -euphony for bride), with prayers for her future happiness, as we drove -away to luncheon.</p> - -<p class="normal">All the household held high festival. Owen Gwyllim wept in his glee, -and drank our healths in mulled port with Mrs. Davis (for whom he had -a tenderness) in her room; and Bob Spurrit and Morgan Roots, and all -the valets and gamekeepers, did ditto with mulled ale in the -"servants' 'all," while we, leaving all to feast and speechify at -Craigaderyn, were speeding, as fast as four horses could take us, to -hide our blushes at Brighton. . . . After the stormy life I had led -how sweet and blessed were home-rest with Winifred! No tempests of -thought, of pique or jealousy, of disappointment or bitterness, -agitated me now. It was all like first love, and calmly as the summer -gloaming among the mountains, the joyous time glided away with us. I -felt how truly she had clung to me, and loved me as only those who -have long been loved in secret, and whose value, to the heart at -least, has been ascertained, by having been to all appearance lost in -life, and lost in death, too--for had I not been so to her?--and been -mourned for as only the dead, who can return no more, are mourned. Yet -I had survived all the perils of war, and her arms were round me now.</p> - -<p class="normal">How strange it seemed, that I should once have been so indifferent to -all the graces of her mind and person; that I had been wont to quiz -poor Caradoc about her, and had more than once actually suggested that -he should "propose;" and so, when I looked into her tender and loving -eyes, I recalled her words on that day when, on a time that seemed so -long ago, we had a ramble by the rocking-stone, and when she said, -"the eye may be pleased, the vanity flattered, and ambition excited by -a woman of beauty, especially if she is one of rank; yet the heart may -be won by one her inferior." But I considered my little wife inferior -to none and second to none. After all my wild work in the field and -trenches, there was something wonderfully refreshing, bewitching, and -attractive in having her hovering and gliding about me, and all her -sweet companionship; and it was <i>so</i> delightful and novel to have -those quick and white and fairy-like fingers to adjust one's necktie, -to settle one's collar, and give, perhaps, just a finishing touch with -a carved ivory brush to the back-parting of one's hair. It <i>had</i> -seemed odd to me, at first, those bracelets, tiny rings, and hair-pins -at times on my toilet table; and equally odd to her my collars, ties, -studs, and razors sometimes left on hers; and we were laughing and -chatting merrily of this community in matters one lovely morning at -Brighton, when the sun was shining on the sea, that was dotted by a -thousand pleasure-boats, and was all rippling in golden light from the -snow-white cliffs of Beachy Head to Selsea Bill, and while the merry -voices of children came pleasantly on the warm air from the Marine -Parade, as we were seated at breakfast with the hotel windows open.</p> - -<p class="normal">Winifred was looking as only a young bride in her first bloom can -look. She was more radiant than she had ever seemed even at -Craigaderyn; and through the frills of her morning dress, a marvel of -white lace and millinery, her slender throat and delicate arms, -without necklet or bracelet, were seen to perfection, and I thought -she never seemed so charming, as she sat smiling at me over the silver -urn. Thus one quite forgot the fragrant coffee, the French rolls that -lay cosily hidden in the damask napkin, the dainty fresh eggs, the -game-pie, the ham done up in Madeira, and as for the well-aired -morning papers, they were never thought of at all. On the morning in -question my valet, Lance-corporal Mulligan, entered the room with our -letters on a salver. I had picked up the poor fellow by the merest -chance one night at the Brighton Theatre, where he had been receiving, -as a super and sham soldier in a suit of tin armour, one shilling per -night, exactly what he got from her Majesty's most liberal government -for risking his life night and day as a real one; and so, minus an -eye, he had betaken himself, after fighting at Alma and storming the -Redan, to figuring at the Battle of Bosworth and marching to -Dunsinane. So he came to me gladly, while his Biddy and a chubby Pat, -born under canvas among the tents of the Connaught Rangers, were -snugly located in one of the gate-lodges at Craigaderyn.</p> - -<p class="normal">Erect as a pike he marched up to the table and laid the letters before -Winny, all save one, which he handed to me. It was oblong, official, -and inscribed "On her Majesty's Service," words at the sight of which -his solitary eye brightened, while he regarded them with respect, as -an Osmanli might the cipher of the Sultan; and then he stood at -"attention," lingering by, napkin in hand, to hear what the contents -were. They were, as usual in such communications from the Horse -Guards, very brief, but not the less gratifying. The Military -Secretary had the honour to inform me that her Majesty had been -graciously pleased to signify her intention of conferring the new -order of merit, entitled the Victoria Cross, on certain officers, -seamen, and soldiers, for acts of bravery during the late war; -that my name was on the list for it, on the recommendation of -Brigadier-general Windham, as a reward for volunteering with the -ladder party at the storming and capture of the Redan on the 8th -September; and that my presence was required at a parade before her -Majesty, on a certain day named.</p> - -<p class="normal">"That is all, Mulligan--you may go," said I, and he wheeled about -sharply, as if on a pivot, and stalked out; while Winny kissed me, ran -her white fingers caressingly through my hair, her face beaming with -delight.</p> - -<p class="normal">"But, Winny, by Jove, I've done nothing to deserve this. I only -tumbled into an embrasure of the Redan, to be tumbled out again," said -I; "and I got jambed among the dead."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nothing, darling--do you call that nothing?" she exclaimed. "O, this -is indeed delightful--a real decoration! How proud I am of you! and -yet--and yet--I am loth to leave Brighton for town. We are so happy -here; we have been so jolly, Harry."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But, Winny, we shall return; we have 'done' the pier, the parade, and -the pavilion, again and again."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Have you wearied?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"When with <i>you!</i>"</p> - -<p class="normal">"And I with you, Harry! But I am so happy that I fear at times such -happiness cannot last."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Town will be a pleasant change for a time; and then the spectacle in -the Park will be most brilliant, and--all the world of fashion will be -there."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And one, perhaps, whom--I don't wish to see," said she, pouting.</p> - -<p class="normal">"One--who?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lady Aberconway will be there, no doubt," she replied, with a little -nervous laugh.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What of that, in the world of London? And what now is Es--the -Marchioness of Aberconway, or Aber-anything-else, to me, Winny, -darling?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nothing now, of course--but--but--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"But what?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I cannot forget that she <i>has been</i> something to you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Never what you are now," said I, clasping her to my breast with one -arm, and kissing her on the eyes and hair.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You pet me too much, Harry, and I fear will quite spoil me," said -she, laughing merrily again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who could live with you and not pet you? Would you have me to wrap -myself up in a toga, a mantle of marital dignity, and remain solemnly -on a pedestal like an armless statue, for my little wife to worship? -But there was something in one of your letters that made you laugh?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is from Dora."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And her news?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is that she has accepted Vaughan."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am so glad to hear it! Then we shall have another marriage, and -more feasting and harping at Craigaderyn?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; about the middle of August, or after the grouse-shooting begins, -as dear papa would date it."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_61" href="#div1Ref_61">CHAPTER LXI.--"FOR VALOUR."</a></h4> -<br> - -<p class="normal">It was in the height of the gay London season that this interesting -ceremony, which formed the last scene connected with the Crimean -War--the last chapter in its glorious yet melancholy history--was to -be closed under the auspices of Royalty on a day in June, when the air -was clear, bright, and sunny, the sky without a cloud. The place -selected for the celebration, though perhaps not the most suitable in -London, was appropriate enough, by its local and historical -associations; and Hyde Park seemed beautiful and stirring when viewed -through the mellow haze of the midsummer morning, with its long rows -of trees and far expanse of green grass, on which the masses of -cavalry and infantry, chiefly of the Household Brigade, were ranged, -their arms and gay appointments flashing and glittering in the sun, -and the mighty assemblage of fashionables, in splendid carriages, on -horseback, or on foot--such an assemblage as London alone can -produce--with the bronze Achilles, the trophy of another and far more -glorious war, towering over all.</p> - -<p class="normal">There were present not less than a hundred thousand of the -sight-loving Londoners, full of generous enthusiasm. A grand review -formed a portion of the programme; but as such displays are all alike, -I shall skip that part of the day's proceedings; though there were -present the 79th Highlanders, whom I had last seen in the trenches -before the Redan, preparing for the final assault at daybreak; the -19th, that with the 23rd went side by side in the uphill charge at -Alma; the showy 11th Hussars in blue with scarlet pelisses, who had -ridden in the terrible death ride at Balaclava; and with glittering -brass helmets the gallant Enniskillens, who, with the Greys, had -followed Scarlett in the task of avenging them. And there, too, -commanding the whole, in his plumed bonnet and tartan trews, was old -Colin Campbell, riding as quietly and as grimly, amid the youth, rank, -and beauty of London, as when he brought his Highland Brigade in -stately échelon of regiments along the green slopes of the Kourgané -Hill, and heard the gray Kazan columns, ere they fled, send up their -terrible wail to heaven, that "the angel of Death had come!" This -veteran soldier, who had carried the colours of the 9th Regiment under -Moore at Corunna, looked old now, worn, and service-stricken, yet he -had the wars of the Indian Mutiny before him still. By his side rode -the hero of Kars in artillery uniform, and that brilliant Hussar -officer, the Earl of Cardigan, mounted on the same horse he had ridden -at Balaclava. The royal stand, as yet empty, was elaborately -decorated; gilded chairs of state were placed within it; and in front, -covered with scarlet cloth, was a table whereon lay sixty-two of those -black crosses, cast from Russian cannon, rude in design, but named -after her Majesty, and inscribed "For Valour"--sixty-two being the -number who, on that day, were to receive them.</p> - -<p class="normal">We, "the observed of all observers," had not as yet fallen in, so I -lingered near the stand, where Winifred, Dora, and Gwenny Vaughan, and -many other ladies were seated, and seeking, by the aid of parasol and -fan, to shield themselves from the heat of the sun, and using their -lorgnettes freely in looking for friends among the crowd, and in -watching the proceedings, chatting and laughing gaily the while, with -all the freedom of happy and heedless girls; for the troops were -"standing at ease," and her Majesty had not yet come. Winifred was -looking charming in her bridal bonnet, charming amid the loveliest -women in the world--and they were there by thousands; for she had the -beauty of perfect goodness, and of the purest and gentlest attributes -of woman-kind; for she was an artless and generous creature, too -simpleminded at times, even in this cold-blooded and well-bred age, to -have the power of concealing her emotions.</p> - -<p class="normal">I wore my old and faded red coat of the Welsh Fusileers for the <i>last</i> -time; and though there was something sad in the conviction that it was -so, I never felt so proud of it, or of my looped-up sleeve, as on that -day in Hyde Park. I felt that my occupation was gone, and that any -other was unsuited to me, for "it is the speciality of a soldier's -career, that it unfits most men for any other life. They cannot throw -off the old habitudes. They cannot turn from the noisy stir of war to -the tame quiet of every-day life; and even when they fancy themselves -wearied and worn out, and willing to retire from the service, their -souls are stirred by every sound of the distant contest, as the -war-steed is roused by the blast of a trumpet." Often in fancy before -this, for I was ever addicted to daydreams, I had pictured some such -fête, some such ceremony, some such reward, for all our army had -endured in Bulgaria, and done by the shores of the Black Sea; but the -reality far exceeded all I had ever imagined. In my school-days, how I -had longed, with all a boy's ardour, to fight for my country and -Queen! Well, I <i>had</i> fought--not for either, certainly, but for the -lazy, wretched, and contemptible Turks--and her royal hand was about -to reward me, by placing an order on my breast.</p> - -<p class="normal">The longing, the wild desire to achieve, to do something great, or -grand, or dashing, had ever since those school-boy days been mine; now -that mysterious "something" was achieved, and I was about to be made a -V.C. before that vast multitude, and more than all, beneath the soft -kind eyes of one who loved me more than all the world.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who the dooce is that handsome woman, on whom----" (I failed to catch -the name) "of ours is so devilish spooney?" I heard one tall Plunger, -in a marvellously new panoply, lisp to another, as he checked his -beautiful black horse for a moment in passing.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What! can it be possible you don't know? It is the talk of all town," -replied the other, laughing, and in a low tone; "she is Lady -Aberconway, old Pottersleigh's wife--a more ill-mated pair don't exist -in Europe, by Jove!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"So she has found consolation?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Rather."</p> - -<p class="normal">And the two glittering warriors with black boots, shining -breastplates, and fly-away whiskers, winked to each other knowingly, -and separated.</p> - -<p class="normal">I looked in the direction they had indicated. Close by me an officer -of the Oxford Blues, with his horse reined in close to the stand, was -engaged in a conversation, by turns gay and animated, or low and -confidential, with--Estelle! She was seated near her mother, Lady -Naseby, who looked as impassible and passionless as ever, with her -cold and imperious dignity of face and manner, and her odious white -shock, now somewhat aged and wheezy, in her lap.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Love," it is said, "is hard as any snake to kill." Perhaps so; but I -could regard her daughter now without any special throb of my pulse, -or thrill in my heart.</p> - -<p class="normal">Still I could not but confess that her high class of beauty, in style, -polish, and finish, was wonderful, and when in repose, cold and -aristocratic to a degree. She had achieved already that which has been -justly described as "that queenly standard women so often attain after -marriage, while losing none of their early charms," unless I except a -little heartless flippancy of manner in the conversation, which, as I -was pressed near her by the crowd, I was compelled to overhear. Her -toilette was as perfect as lace, tulle, and flowers could make it. How -often had I gazed tenderly and passionately on that face, so false and -yet so fair, and kissed it on lips, and eyes, and cheek! and now it -was turned, smilingly, laughingly, and, I am sorry to add, lovingly, -to the boyish and insipid face of that long-legged, curled, and -pomatumed Guardsman, who had "never set a squadron in the field," nor -smelt powder elsewhere than at Wormwood Scrubs or Bushey Park.</p> - -<p class="normal">I turned from her with something of sublime contempt, and yet, odd to -say, I felt a nervous twinge, as if in the arm that was now no longer -in my sleeve, when her voice reached me; but after all that had come -and gone, that voice could find no echo now in my heart. Sweetly -modulated it was still, but seemed to me only "low and clear as the -song of a snake-charmer."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It will be the ball of the season--you will be there, of course?" she -asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Only if <i>you</i> go, Lady Aberconway--not unless," replied the trooper, -in a low tone; "what or who else should take me there?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"So they have made your uncle a K.C.B."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes--and somebody is going to marry him on Tuesday at eleven in -Hanover-square."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And your brother is coming up for his little exam. I have heard -also."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes--at Woolwich. The idea of any fellow fancying the Artillery!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is he handsome--is he anything like <i>you?</i>" Then, without waiting for -a reply to these important queries, she suddenly said, "Gracious, -mamma, there is another poor creature without an arm!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Poor deyvil--so there is," drawled her male friend, and then I knew -by these flattering remarks that their august regards were turned on -me; but my bushy Crimean beard, my empty sleeve, and, as yet, rather -pale cheek, and moreover my face being half averted, prevented Estelle -from recognising me; or it might be, that I dwelt but little in her -memory.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What is that officer's regiment?" she asked, adding doubtfully, "he -is an officer, isn't he--but his uniform is deplorable!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Twenty-third--Welsh Fusileers."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, indeed!"</p> - -<p class="normal">I now turned fully round; for a moment our eyes met, and then I moved -back to where Winifred sat. Estelle eyed me keenly enough now, and -fanned herself, as I thought, with a little air of vexation, from time -to time. Yet that was not flattering; for I knew that though a woman -may forget, she does not like the idea of being forgotten, or that -even when flirting with another, her empire over an old lover's heart -is at an end.</p> - -<p class="normal">She had deteriorated in style, and her tone of flippancy was not that -of the Estelle I had once loved; and as for the boy Guardsman, with -whom gossip was already linking her name, poor fool! his love for her -and her extravagance soon ruined him. Bills were dishonoured thick and -threefold; cent. per cent., London, and Judea between them cleaned him -out. A meeting of the Guards' Club passed such resolutions that he was -compelled to begin the sliding scale--from "the Guards to Line, and -from thence to the devil," as the phrase is--and to recruiting for -H.M. 2nd West India Regiment in Sierra Leone, where drink and fever -finished him; and he lies now by the bank of the Bunce river, as -completely forgotten by Estelle as if he never had been.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do you see who is there, Harry?" asked Winifred, with a rather -agitated voice.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; what of it, little one?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Only that I--hate her!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"For her treatment of you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"How odd!" said I, laughing; "had it been otherwise, Winny, we should -not have had our delightful little trip to Brighton. Think of that, my -British matron!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am not a matron yet, but only your bride; the honeymoon is not yet -over, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thank God you are so, darling! What an escape I have had from being -in old Pottersleigh's place! But there sound the trumpets, and I must -fall in--fall in for the last time."</p> - -<p class="normal">And as drum and bugle sounded on all sides, and the arms flashed in -the sunshine when the order was given to "shoulder," a brightness -seemed to pass over all the eyes and expectant faces in the grand -stand. The Queen had come, and all that passed subsequently was like a -dream to me then, and is more so now. The sixty-two officers and men -who were to receive the cross (and twelve of whom belonged to the -navy) were all, irrespective of rank, marshalled according to the -number of their regiment under Lieutenant John Knox, of the Rifles, -who, like myself, had an empty sleeve. The braided breast of his -dark-green uniform seemed ablaze with medals, for he had been with the -ladder party in the attack on the Redan, where he lost an arm by a -grape-shot. There were but two officers of the 23rd to win the -decoration, and we were posted between two privates of the 19th, and -two of the 34th; but all passed the royal stand in single file. I had -never seen the Queen hitherto, and suddenly I found myself before -her--a smiling-faced, graceful, though stout little lady, in a low -hat, adorned with a beautiful plume, and wearing a scarlet tunic and -blue skirt; and I certainly felt my heart vibrate, as with her own -hands she pinned the decoration on my breast--vibrate with a flush of -pride and joy only to be felt at such a time and at such a ceremony; -and yet amid it all I thought of the dear little wife who, with her -eyes dim with tears of happiness, was watching me. I then passed on, -giving place to a lame private of the 34th Foot, the Prince Consort -saluting each recipient as they passed him--many slowly, painfully, -and with difficulty; for some poor maimed and haggard-faced fellows -were hobbling on sticks and crutches, and some, like the gallant Sir -Thomas Trowbridge, who had lost both legs, were wheeled to the very -feet of the Queen in Bath-chairs. At last all was over--this closing -episode of our war in the Crimea; and as we drove from the crowded -park to get the train for Brighton--the honeymoon was not yet -finished--I had forgotten all about Estelle and her Plunger; and I -thanked God in my heart that I was not lying where so many lay in the -land we had left, and for the tender and true-hearted wife He had -given me, as I laughingly hung round her pretty neck the black-iron -order of valour--the Victoria Cross.</p> - -<p class="normal">Fifteen years have passed since that auspicious day. And now, as I -write these closing lines, I can see, through the lozenged and -mullioned windows of the library, the old woods of Craigaderyn tossing -their leafy branches on the evening wind, and the sunset lingering -redly on the lofty peaks of Snowdon and Carneydd Llewellyn. Old Sir -Madoc--too old now to back even his most favourite hunter--is sitting -yonder in the sunshine, looking dreamily down the far-stretched vista -of the chase to where the bright sea is rippling in the distance.</p> - -<p class="normal">The flowers are blooming as gaily on the terrace as they did on the -day of Dora's fête, and she has long been <i>Aunt</i> Vaughan; for at -Craigaderyn there are little ones now--a violet-eyed Winifred, who -scampers through the park on a Welsh pony; a dark-haired Madoc, who -can almost handle a gun; and a golden-curled Harry to run after the -tossing leaves, to shout to the deer and hare as they lurk among the -fern; to seek for birds' nests among the shrubbery; to grab at the -gold fish in the fountain with his fat little fists; to clamber about -Sir Madoc's chair and knees; to ride on the backs of Owen Gwyllim and -old Corporal Mulligan, and in whom we see mamma's eyes, papa's -expression--nods, winks, and blinks, and so forth, all so exactly -reproduced and blended, that our best friends don't know which of us -he most resembles; so "Time, the avenger" of all things, has brought -nothing but joy and happiness to us at Craigaderyn.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> -<br> -<p class="hang1"><a name="div4_01" href="#div4Ref_01">Footnote 1</a>: Without God, without everything.</p> - -<p class="hang1"><a name="div4_02" href="#div4Ref_02">Footnote 2</a>: The artillery of the Prussian Guard have also had -constantly a goat, its neck encircled by a beautiful collar, and one, -named by the soldiers "Herr Schneider," accompanied them in every -battle, from the war which broke out in 1866 till the peace in 1870. -He always marched with the men of the first gun. At Köninghof, Herr -Schneider was left in the rear, tied to a powder caisson; but he broke -loose, came to the front at full gallop, and was recaptured under -fire; the soldiers afterwards attached to his collar a copper medal, -made from a pan found among the captured cooking utensils of General -Coronini. His death was formally announced by the artillery of the -Guard in the Berlin <i>Vossische Zeitung</i>.</p> - -<p class="hang1"><a name="div4_03" href="#div4Ref_03">Footnote 3</a>: Fusileer regiments did not then wear epaulettes.</p> - -<p class="hang1"><a name="div4_04" href="#div4Ref_04">Footnote 4</a>: May God preserve us!</p> - -<p class="hang1"><a name="div4_05" href="#div4Ref_05">Footnote 5</a>: Good Lord deliver us.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h5>THE END.</h5> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<hr class="W50"> -<h5>BILLING, PRINTER. GUILDFORD, SURREY</h5> -<br> -<br> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Under the Red Dragon, by James Grant - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER THE RED DRAGON *** - -***** This file should be named 53874-h.htm or 53874-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/8/7/53874/ - -Produced by Charles Bowen from page scans provided by -Google Books (Cornell University Library) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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