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the romance once suspended, 'tis a haunting remembrance till thrown again in our way, but complete disillusion if we try to renew it; though I swear that in my case the interest was deep, and the heroine improved in her beauty. So with you and that dear little creature. See her again,

and you'll tease me no more to give you that portrait of Titania at watch over Bottom's soft slumbers. All a Midsummer Night's Dream, Lionel. Titania fades back into the arms of Oberon, and would not be Titania if you could make her- Mrs Bottom."

CHAPTER XV.

Even Colonel Morley, knowing everybody and everything, is puzzled when it comes to the plain question-"What will he do with it?"

"I am delighted with Vance," said Darrell, when he and the Colonel were again walking arm-in-arm. "His is not one of those meagre intellects which have nothing to spare out of the professional line. He has humour. Humour-strength's rich superflu

ity."

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"I like your definition," said the Colonel. And humour in Vance, though fantastic, is not without subtlety. There was much real kindness in his obvious design to quiz Lionel out of that silly enthusiasm for-"

"For a pretty child, reared up to be a strolling player," interrupted Darrell. "Don't call it silly enthusiasm. I call it chivalrous compassion. Were it other than compassion, it would not be enthusiasm, it would be degradation. But do you believe, then, that Vance's confession of first love, and its cure, was but a whimsical invention ?"

COLONEL MORLEY." Not so. Many a grave truth is spoken jestingly. "I have no doubt that, allowing for the pardonable exaggeration of a raconteur, Vance was narrating an episode in his own life."

DARRELL.-"Do you think that a grown man, who has ever really felt love, can make a jest of it, and to mere acquaintances?"

COLONEL MORLEY.-"Yes; if he be so thoroughly cured that he has made a jest of it to himself. And the more lightly he speaks of it, perhaps the more solemnly at one time he felt it. Levity is his revenge on the passion that fooled him."

DARRELL "You are evidently an experienced philosopher in the lore of such folly. Consultus insapientis

sapientiæ. Yet I can scarcely believe that you have ever been in love."

"Yes, I have," said the Colonel, bluntly, "and very often! Everybody at my age has except yourself. So like a man's observation, that,” continued the Colonel, with much tartness. "No man ever thinks another man capable of a profound and romantic sentiment!"

DARRELL." True; I own my shallow fault, and beg you ten thousand pardons. So then you really believe, from your own experience, that there is much in Vance's theory and your own very happy illustration? Could we, after many years, turn back to the romance at the page at which we left off, we should "

COLONEL MORLEY.-" Not care a straw to read on! Certainly, half the peculiar charm of a person beloved must be ascribed to locality and circumstance."

DARRELL." I don't quite understand you."

COLONEL MORLEY.-"Then, as you liked my former illustration, I will explain myself by another one, more homely. In a room to which you are accustomed, there is a piece of furniture, or an ornament, which so exactly suits the place, that you say

-The prettiest thing I ever saw!' You go away-you return-the piece of furniture or the ornament has been moved into another room. You see it there, and you say-'Bless me, is that the thing I so much admired!' The strange room does not suit it— losing its old associations and acces sories, it has lost its charm. So it is with human beings-seen in one

place, the place would be nothing without them-seen in another, the place without them would be all the better!"

DARRELL (musingly)." There are some puzzles in life which resemble the riddles a child asks you to solve. Your imagination cannot descend low enough for the right guess. Yet, when you are told, you are obliged to say-How clever!' Man lives to learn."

. "Since you have arrived at that conviction," replied Colonel Morley, amused by his friend's gravity, "I hope that you will rest satisfied with the experiences of Vance and myself; and that if you have a mind to propose to one of the young ladies whose merits we have already discussed, you will not deem it necessary to try what

effect a prolonged absence might produce on your good resolution."

"No!" said Darrell, with sudden animation. "Before three days are over, my mind shall be made up." "Bravo!-as to whom of the three you would ask in marriage ?"

"Or as to the idea of ever marrying again. Adieu. I am going to knock at that door."

"Mr Vyvyan's! Ah, is it so, indeed? Verily, you are a true Dare-all."

"Do not be alarmed. I go afterwards to an exhibition with Lady Adela, and I dine with the Carr Viponts. My choice is not yet made, and my hand still free."

"His hand still free!" muttered the Colonel, pursuing his walk alone. "Yes-but, three days hence-What will he do with it?"

CHAPTER XVI

Guy Darrell's Decision.

Guy Darrell returned home from Carr Vipont's dinner at a late hour. On his table was a note from Lady Adela's father, cordially inviting Darrell to pass the next week at his country house. London was now emptying fast. On the table-tray was a parcel, containing a book which Darrell had lent to Miss Vyvyan some weeks ago, and a note from herself. In calling at her father's house that morning, he had learned that Mr Vyvyan had suddenly resolved to take her into Switzerland, with the view of passing the next winter in Italy. The room was filled with loungers of both sexes. Darrell had staid but a short time. The leavetaking had been somewhat formalFlora unusually silent. He opened her note, and read the first lines listlessly; those that followed, with a changing cheek and an earnest eye. He laid down the note very gently, again took it up, and reperused. Then he held it to the candle, and it dropped from his hand in tinder. "The innocent child," murmured he, with a soft paternal tenderness; "she knows not what she writes."

He

began to pace the room with his habitual restlessness when in solitary thought-often stopping-often sighing heavily. At length his face cleared-his lips became firmly set. He summoned his favourite servant. "Mills," said he, "I shall leave town on horseback as soon as the sun rises. Put what I may require for a day or two into the saddle-bags. Possibly, however, I may be back by dinner-time. Call me at five o'clock, and then go round to the stables. I shall require no groom to attend me."

The next morning, while the streets were deserted, no houses as yet astir, but the sun bright, the air fresh, Guy Darrell rode from his door. He did not return the same day, nor the next, nor at all. But, late in the evening of the second day, his horse, reeking-hot and evidently hard-ridden, stopped at the porch of Fawley Manor-House; and Darrell flung himself from the saddle, and into Fairthorn's arms. "Back again— back again-and to leave no more!" said he, looking round; Spes et Fortuna valete !”

66

THE FIRST BENGAL EUROPEAN FUSILIERS AT LUCKNOW.

(Continued from our June Number.)

"Soldiers, wake! the day is peeping;
Honour ne'er was won in sleeping."-SCOTT.

THE route came on the afternoon of the 26th January 1858 to march next morning. We started about 8 A.M., but the day was so cloudy and foggy that it was almost impossible to see to strike our tents, and for obscurity, quite resembled one in favoured England. Moving on the high-road, we passed over the scene of the action fought on the 5th January by the troops under the command of his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, and saw many mementoes of the cavalry pursuit still remaining on the roadside.

We halted at Khodagunge, and, following the high-road, reached Cawnpore by the regular marches on the 3d February.

wasté;" literally, "to blow them away.'

We encamped close to the two barracks in which Sir Hugh Wheeler had made his stand, and nothing could be more wretched than the aspect these presented. You are of course aware in England what the place is like, both by verbal description and photography; yet everything must fall short of the truth. Standing amidst the ruins, we no longer wondered that our brave men had been at last obliged to come to terms; the real wonder was, how men could possibly have made a stand in such a place. The question must have occurred to every mind, where are the defences?" and as nothing had been altered when we were there, the reply was, "there were really none!" The shallow ditch, perhaps two feet deep, had not been completed round the two barracks, which, completely riddled by round-shot, alone afforded any protection; and nothing could more distinctly prove the want of real courage on the part of the mutineers than their having been effectually resisted for even one day.

66 From the last march to this station I rode to see Bhithoor, the abode. of the wretch Nana Sahib. The place was occupied by some of our troops and a company of Sappers. The residence of the Nana is " "not," a heap of ruins marks the place where it once stood.

The town looked miserable enough, and but for the filth of the place I should have thought it deserted; all the country round, however, was cultivated with the usual care, and covered by the most luxuriant crops. But nearer Cawnpore this state of things altered considerably; and for some miles from the city the fields were either left without culture, or the crop had been entirely destroyed. Just as we were entering the cantonment we were surprised to see a number of natives, evidently recruits, undergoing instruction quite in the old style, under their havildars and native officers. The sight itself seemed so strange to us in such a place, that one of our officers rode up and asked one of the drill instructors for what purpose these men were being drilled. The reply, coming as it did from a man of one of those regiments who had fought for us to the death at Lucknow, was most ominous—“Oorāné ké

While here, we were joined by Captain Sallusbury, Lieuts. Maxwell, Magniac, and Hall, who had returned from England; the latter had, however, formed part of the garrison of Lucknow, and returned with the Commander-in-Chief's army from that place. The former of these officers brought up a large draft of recruits for the regiment--an increase much required to fill the vacancies in our ranks.

On

The regiment left Cawnpore on the morning of the 6th, crossing the Ganges by the bridge of boats into Oude, moving towards Oonao. this march, though the land seemed as fully cultivated as usual, there was no longer that degree of attention to agriculture so remarkable on the right bank of the river, and which has been long under British

rule. The villages, too, more resembled peopled forts than an assemblage of houses occupied by cultivators, and are quite strong enough to resist the attacks of troops unprovided with artillery.

We reached Oonao about 1 P.M. on the 6th, and remained there until the 11th. At this place the Rifles had formed quite a strong intrenched camp, simple in detail, yet most efficient. There was a ditch some four feet deep, the earth from which formed the curtain of the work, while small bastions, armed with light field-guns at the corners, well loopholed, enabled the defenders to pour in a flanking fire on any assailants. Altogether the work was most creditable, and showed how strongly, and with how little trouble, a small camp might be fortified. On the 11th we marched to Nuwabgunge, halting until the 21st. It must not, however, be thought that these were days of rest. The men were constantly employed in escorting trains of carts or camels, the materials intended for the siege of Lucknow passing continually on the road for that place.

On the 21st of February orders were issued for us to be prepared to march to Bunnee when relieved by the Rifles; but, early on the 22d, we were directed to make no stay at that place, but march on to Alumbagh. The regiment moved out of camp at 9 A.M., and reached Bunnee at 12 o'clock; here the band of the 79th. Highlanders came out to meet us, playing in advance as we marched past their camp. We also received most cordial invitations from the officers to partake of their hospitality; however, though much gratified, we were unable to accept of their kindness. We had heard previously to this that we formed part of the Fifth Brigade, composed of H.M.'s 23d and 79th regiments, commanded by Brigadier Douglas, and glad were we to find ourselves in such good company.

The country appeared to be still less cultivated as we advanced into Oude; but on leaving Bunnee the term barren could hardly be misapplied, extensive plains of sandy soil, sparsely covered with thorns or

wiry grass, forming the landscape; while the mirage, this day frequently seen, only tended to delude the imagination with false ideas of extended lakes and fruitful groves; where crops existed, they were, with the exception of a few favoured localities, markedly inferior to those on the Cawnpore side of the Ganges. Having marched some miles through this uninteresting country, we reached a deserted village; on passing a little beyond which we came in sight of the camp of the army under Sir James Outram. There, within those tents, were the gallant few who had held the thousands of Oude and rebel Sepoys in check so long; yet, who could fancy it was an army in front of a large city occupied by a numerous enemy Now and then a shot was fired from heavy guns, but these were such exceptional events that nothing could have seemed more quiet than when we marched in.

The camp was formed to the right of the high-road, and our tents pitched next to the Engineers, about a mile distant, and in rear of the main body. The fort of Jellallabad was to our left; and as that post, in which all supplies for the siege were being collected, had been attacked a day or two before our arrival, it was probably with the intention that we might protect that post, should it be necessary, that we were encamped in our present situation.

On the 24th the enemy came out in considerable force; but being obliged to make a detour to the right, so as to avoid the batteries along our front, they exposed themselves to a cavalry charge, and although they could not be pursued to any distance, yet two guns were captured by our horse. On the 1st, the Chief rode into camp, and we heard that the whole of the artillery and siege-train was in park a few miles to our rear; and early on the morning of the 2d, H. M.'s 42d, 38th, 53d, 93d, a Sikh regiment with cavalry, and a large train of artillery, moving across our front, told us the final move was being made. In about two hours the reports of cannon made us aware that they had come in contact with the enemy; the firing soon ceased, and the glad news was brought in, that

the enemy had been driven back, and the Dilkhoosha occupied. We were warned to march at 2 A.M. the next morning; we moved from camp therefore at half-past one, and proceeded very slowly, as we protected a large and important train of guns, ammunition, and stores. The march, which occupied ten hours, was excessively tedious, and our tents came up very late to the ground, which was perhaps a mile in rear of the Dilkhoosha, a post occupied by our troops, and an occasional shot told us that it was not distant from the enemy's lines. A brisk fire drew us away from breakfast, to see what was going on, but we were unable to distinguish who were engaged in this little affair. At 3 P.M. we were directed to move to the front, leaving our tents standing: marching to the left of the Dilkhoosha, we entered a large mango-grove-Mahommed Bagh surrounded by a wall, which extended to within 700 yards of the enemy's batteries. In the centre of the grove, or I might rather call it a park, were two tanks, nearly dry, the depth from the top of the bank being about 15 feet, in one of which the men off duty were desired to make themselves comfortable; at any rate, we were here well sheltered from the shot of the enemy, and fortunately they seemed to have no shell to spare, as three only fell in the enclosure during the time we were there, and of these one did not explode. I found that it was made of brass, very badly cast, and about the size of a 9-pound shot. Round-shot was fired pretty constantly at us, and rendered a promenade under the pleasant shade of the trees rather exciting, the sound of 18 or 9 pound shot crashing through the branches being not quite so agreeable as listening to a regimental band. However, by attending to the direction the balls took, it was by no means a matter of danger to move about under such deep cover. The course taken by round-shot, after striking live timber, is sometimes very peculiar. Captain Cunliffe, who commanded us, while visiting the pickets, saw an 18-pound shot strike full against a mango-tree; the projectile rebounded about thirty yards, and then, much to Captain

Cunliffe's surprise, began spinning with the utmost rapidity; and then, instead of bounding off at an angle, as he momentarily expected (and it was most unpleasantly close), it again moved in a straight line, and, striking the tree it had first hit, there remained. In this grove we could distinctly hear the bugle-calls of the enemy, and they seemed to have an extra number of drummers; on the left, indeed, our sentries at night were relieved by the time kept in the enemy's lines. The duty was very heavy for our weak corps, from the great extent of wall to be guarded; only one hundred men were off duty, and these remained fully accoutred, so that after forty hours we were not sorry to return to camp on the morning of the 5th.

"And we ran, and they ran;
And they ran, and we ran;
And we ran, and they ran

Awa, man."-Battle of Sheriffmuir.

"The Dilkhoosha" (Heart's Delight) is a large building in the style of a French chateau, standing in an extensive enclosure, formerly a deerpark; and about twelve hundred yards to the north stands the "Martinière," built somewhat in the same styleboth erected by General Martin, a Swiss, formerly in the service of the King of Oude. The general made a large fortune in all kinds of curious ways-polishing diamonds forming part of his military duties. It is said that the Martinière was built by him in the hopes of the king becoming a purchaser: the king, however, seeing that the general was very infirm, considered that he might get the building at a cheaper rate. The old soldier was not thus to be outmanoeuvred, for he directed his body to be buried within the building; and as natives dislike living among tombs, the expectations of the king were not realised. The rest of his property he applied to a noble purpose- being bequeathed to a charity for the support of orphans. The enemy held possession of the Martinière, which was, however, so immediately under the guns in the defences they had erected on the city side of the canal, that it would have been of little use in taking this ad

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