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plished; and when I did return I hoped to find him and all his circle in a flourishing condition.

I knew the letter would be read in open court, and I hoped that the underlining of certain words would convey to Lady Rose a sense deeper than they suggested to the mere Badger.

My hopes of a very early return to Aldershot were, however, much damped next day by a letter from the Colonel, saying that he heard the district was in an unsettled state, and strike-disturbances apprehended; that therefore, until the Major, who was to command us, and who had gone on a month's leave, joined the detachment, he hoped I would "stick very close" to it, especially as the other officers were very young.

To ask for leave was therefore impossible, and there was nothing for it but to await the Major's arrival with what patience I might command. The idea of proposing to

Lady Rose by letter occurred to me once or twice in my most desperate moments, but I discarded it; there was an ill-omened smack of the sneaking and the pusillanimous, a sort of vote-by-ballot suggestion, about it that deterred me, and I resolved that by the utterances of the viva vox I should stand or fall.

The month passed away, moving with leaden wings. Let those who have been in similar circumstances recall their feelings, and read in them mine, during its progress; and let those who have not be thankful, nor seek to know prematurely what the future may not unlikely have in store for them yet.

The month passed away, and the Major arrived. Bounding like the roe, I went to demand my release.

"No," said the Major; "it is impossible, my good fellow. The inspection may come off any time in the next four or five weeks, and the Colonel's desire is that there should be no leave until that is over."

Was there ever to be an end of this? It was like ascending mountains of unpleasant altitude, when a seemingly endless succession of new summits presents itself to the panting climber.

VOL. II.

K

CHAPTER XV.

"Ther dronkenesse regneth in any route,
Ther is no conseil hid withouten doute."
-CHAUCER: Canterbury Tales.

"Donde hombre no piensa salta la liebre."

-Spanish Proverb.

The hare starts where one is not expecting it.

INDEPENDENTLY of my own internal causes of discontent, the quarters in which we now found ourselves were anything but pleasant, a large manufacturing town, with an atmosphere vitiated by every chemical abomination; a Radical population, with “rattening" proclivities and a chronic tendency to strike; a millocracy who detested the military, and would none of them; and a neighbourhood of bloated aristocrats who so thoroughly ignored the town that they in

cluded us in the ostracism to which they treated it. Such was the place in which our lines were cast. I may add that it always rained, that the neighbouring country was level and uninteresting, and for miles round the vegetation was blighted by the noxious breath of the town's million chimneys. Then there was no barrack accommodation for our billiard-table, and the billiard-rooms of the town were unavailable, being infested by unclean and insolent manufacturers ; racket-court there was none-nor cricketground; and months lay between us and the hunting season. Altogether there was nothing to be done but eat, drink, sleep, and grumble. To none of these occupations is the British officer averse, yet the honest fellow likes to vary his pleasures like others; and why not? Probably these gloomy accessories mattered less to me than to the others. Self-absorbed as I was, and engrossed in a superior source of trouble,

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