•-.■ ,■'41 

 
 "LI E> HARY 
 
 OF THE 
 U N IVE.RSITY 
 Of ILLINOIS 
 
 823 
 
 V.f
 
 k>
 
 THE 
 
 Queen's Shilling. 
 
 A SOLDIER'S STORY. 
 
 BY 
 
 CAPTAIN ARTHUR GRIFFITHS, 
 
 Author of "Peceavi; or, Geoffrey Singleton's Mistake. 
 
 % " 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 London : 
 Henry S. King & Co., 65, Cornhill. 
 
 1872.
 
 \All rig/its reserved.]
 
 •J v. 
 
 a 
 
 | CONTENTS. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 
 CNJ 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SCAGGLETON 
 
 PAGE 
 I 
 
 2 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Alured Frere takes the Shilling . . . , . 13 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 In London . . . 33 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 ^Starting 49 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Fairly Off 70 
 
 C; CHAPTER VI. 
 
 5^" The Custom of War in Like Cases". ... 93 
 •a 
 
 j^ CHAPTER VII. 
 
 * Life at the Depot ..tii 
 
 s 
 
 4
 
 IV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Moynehan Castle: on the Threshold . . . 128 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Moynehan Castle : Gaining Ground .... 148 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Moynehan Castle : Quite at Home 164 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 The Route 181 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 The Voyage Out 196 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 At the Front 210 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Battle and Siege 227 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 A Chance Shot . .-.•.-.. 246
 
 The Queens Shilling. 
 
 CHAPTER I.— (Prologue.) 
 SCAGGLETON CASTLE. 
 
 " Hast thou seen that lordly castle, 
 That castle by the sea ? 
 Golden and red above it, 
 The clouds float gorgeously." 
 
 Longfellow's Translation of Uhland. 
 
 On the east coast, somewhere between Norfolk 
 and Northumberland, there stands an ancient 
 but decayed fishing-village, named Scaggleton. 
 The place had been of importance once, pro- 
 bably in the time of the Danes, when Olaf the 
 Burly built the stronghold whose ruins stand 
 to this day on St. Bungo's Hill, and the rovers 
 piled up a cairn of stones on Scatheness Spit 
 to guide themselves in and out. But since that 
 time Scaggleton had gone down in the world, 
 and the fault lay with the German Ocean. The 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 sea played such tricks with the land, — here en- 
 croaching, there receding ; making its daily din- 
 ner off the dibris of St. Olafs Castle, vomiting 
 forth the same at the far end of the Bay ; filling 
 up the harbour with mud at one place, at an- 
 other retreating altogether, and leaving great, 
 bald, bare banks of shingle, or dreary reaches of 
 waste sand high and dry, far above the topmost 
 tide-mark — that the Scaggleton people gave up 
 the fight. They succumbed to the sea, and 
 became its vassals : amphibious salt water 
 bipeds, without a thought beyond their nets, 
 and the herring season, and their clumsy fishing 
 boats with tan-dried sails. 
 
 The town itself lay in the northern angle of 
 the wide shallow bay, gathered up into a bunch 
 at the foot of some crags, where the river 
 Scaggle struggled sluggishly and painfully 
 through choking sand-heaps to the sea. On 
 all sides but this one, the landscape displayed 
 nothing but long, rolling billows of down-land, 
 covered with long rank grass, and fringed with 
 a belt of sand and shingle. Here and there 
 upon the beach was a lugger run up high and 
 dry, or a handful of boats, or a group of small
 
 SCAGGLETON CASTLE. 3 
 
 children who had wandered away from the town 
 to poke among the holes for crabs. Beyond 
 these, nothing broke the monotony of the ex- 
 panse save the white, dusty, lonely high-road 
 that came from Coxmouth and went by Scag- 
 gleton to Coxmolton. By — not through ; for 
 the queen's highway despised Scaggleton and 
 its fish-scales, and disdaining to cross the an- 
 tique drawbridge, which was the sole gate to the 
 town, turned off to the right upon the southern 
 side of the Scaofgde. , 
 
 Scaggleton owned just three streets, radiating 
 all of them from a common centre — the market- 
 place. One led to the drawbridge ; a second, 
 degenerating into a lane, joined by-and-by the 
 high-road farther up the stream ; and the third 
 was the approach to Scaggleton Crags and 
 Castle. 
 
 To hear it mentioned simply — Scaggleton 
 Castle — sounds rather big. But although it was 
 the seat of Christopher Norreys, Esquire, it was 
 only a " bogus " castle after all. This Mr. Nor- 
 reys who owned it, had* built it thinking . to 
 cheat himself and all the world into believing 
 that he had inherited it from his ancestors.
 
 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 Mr. Norreys was a cadet of a noble family ; a 
 man who had married early in life a woman as 
 poor as himself. Children had come tumbling 
 into the world with such indecent haste, that 
 food became scarce in the Norreys' household. 
 Relatives, in high place, after much importuning, 
 lent a helping hand, and tried to do something 
 for their poor cousin. He was appointed first 
 Her Majesty's Consul at the Azimbogee River ; 
 then Receiver-general at Honduras ; later he 
 became a magistrate on the frontier of Caffraria ; 
 and then Secretary to the Colonial Government 
 of a West India island. He drifted from one 
 place to another, finding something unsuitable 
 in each, and at last, like a species of social 
 flotsam and jetsam, whom no one cared to own, 
 he found himself stranded in England. Just 
 then his wife inherited a few thousand pounds, 
 and died almost inynediately — probably of the 
 good news. The grief of this bereavement 
 nearly broke Mr. Norreys down. He sought 
 high and low for a place to dwell in, and by 
 chance he stumbled upon Scaggleton. It was so 
 desolate and retired, that it seemed of all places 
 the one to suit him. Hither he brought his
 
 SCAGGLETON CASTLE. N 5 
 
 little ones, and built them a home. If anything 
 had been needed to prove him of unsound 
 mind, this house of his would have supplied the 
 missing link. It was in itself the strongest 
 evidence against him. 
 
 At a distance, Scaggleton Castle looked as 
 old as the ruins of St. Bungo's Hill. Inspected 
 closely, it was an undeniable sham. Lying in a 
 little cul-de-sac of a bay, just round the corner 
 beyond Scaggleton, you might have thought at 
 first sight of its turrets and battlements, its 
 portcullis and loopholed walls, that you had 
 come upon an old fashioned fortified stronghold 
 of the middle ages. Yet from first to last 
 Scaggleton Castle was a delusion and a snare ; 
 artificial and pretentious throughout ; about as 
 real as the rock-work of an open air theatre at 
 Rosherville or Cremorne. In front of the 
 house ran a narrow strip of garden where 
 nothing grew, and a few yards of drive coming 
 up from the gate, guarded by a gingerbread 
 portcullis. The worm-eaten gate and the 
 rickety towers that did duty for a lodge would 
 have sought as vainly to shut out intruders, as 
 the rough sea-wall which fenced in the garden
 
 6 THE QUEEN S SHILLING. 
 
 succeeded in keeping the boisterous waves at 
 bay. A mock bastion or two bulged out from 
 this barrier-wall, and all along it were painted 
 sham portholes, in black circles upon a line of 
 whitewash. Such was the external aspect of 
 Scaggleton Castle. Inside, low rooms, dark 
 and gloomy, narrow passages, and spiral stair- 
 cases, were the penalty exacted for the pic- 
 turesqueness of its mediaeval architecture. 
 
 But those who sneered at the Castle must 
 perforce have praised its natural surroundings. 
 What man had built might be a hollow mock- 
 ery ; there was no such fault to be found with 
 nature's handiwork round Scaggleton Castle. 
 The rugged old cliff, beneath which the house 
 crouched, yearning as it were for sympathy, was 
 itself no sham ; nor were the broad patches of 
 gorse that brightened here and there the green 
 sloping bank above; still less the rocks that 
 lay heaped up in variegated stacks, purple, grey, 
 blue, black, and brown, at the base of the sea 
 wall. There was no make-believe about the 
 rich masses of tangled sea- weed, or the glisten- 
 ing pools, or the grand old sea that was so 
 changeful in all its moods. One day you might
 
 SCAGGLETON CASTLE. 7 
 
 have tickled the old villain with a straw as he 
 lay, so smooth and peaceable and quiet ; the 
 next day he came tumbling in over the rocks, 
 deluging the house, and wetting the very cliff 
 behind with spray. Oh, how dreary then was 
 that solitary house over above the beach ! How 
 the wind beat straight in upon its panes of glass 
 and whistled through the sashes ! playing now a 
 shrill solo with long-drawn mournful notes, now 
 gathering up all the strength of its wild orches- 
 tra — roaring waves and raindrops rattling like 
 drum taps — and making such a clatter that it 
 shook this pasteboard castle from roof-tree .to 
 cellar. See ! the waves enlisted to serve in 
 earnest, press forward and will not be denied. 
 They may draw back, but it is only> to gain 
 fresh strength. Sweeping out, not discomfited, 
 but as a ruse de guerre; re-forming in sullen stead- 
 fastness their long battle lines of billows, till, 
 recruited and reinforced, they gather courage to 
 charge forward again with increasing pace and 
 louder thunder, amid the boom as of great 
 guns, and the flashing of foam-flakes like rapid 
 musketry, as if bent upon carrying all by 
 storm.
 
 8 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 It was here that six motherless girls had 
 been left to grow up as best they could. Their 
 father never troubled his head about them. I 
 do not believe he knew them all by name. 
 There were so many, how was he to distinguish 
 one from the other ? Margaretta was mon- 
 strous like Millicent, and Mary was like them 
 both ; he confused Agatha with Beatrice ; and 
 Patience, the youngest born, got between his 
 legs, and was too small to be seen. Mr. 
 Norreys, after his wife's death, and their set- 
 tlement at Scaggleton, lived on, a hopelessly dull 
 grey, almost colourless, sort of existence, exer- 
 cising no supervision over his children, vainly 
 seeking to stifle grief by violent exercise — walk- 
 ing the country through, touching the porch of 
 every church before he returned home, serving 
 as a volunteer in the Life Boat, spending 
 nights at sea with the Scaggleton fishermen. 
 
 The responsibility which he refused was 
 assumed to some extent by the elder girls, but 
 all alike, had much their own way. They were 
 a madcap crew leading a savage, open-air sort 
 of existence, that gave a hue of health to their 
 tanned cheeks, and an active grace to their well
 
 SCAGGLETON CASTL^. 9 
 
 formed lissome figures. It would take a book 
 to describe the games at which they played. 
 Tom-boys, all of them, addicted from earliest 
 childhood to all sorts of climbing feats, venture- 
 some walking along planks or on the extreme 
 edge of the sea-wall when the tide was high 
 enough to drown them ; pretending one day to 
 be Red Indians on the war-path with berry- 
 stained faces, the next to be a handful of ship- 
 wrecked mariners, gathered forlorn around the 
 fire they had lighted in some rocky crevice ; 
 fishing, gardening, building, uprooting, they 
 were always in mischief, always all over the 
 place, screaming with laughter, and shaking out 
 their manes of bright tufted hair at each new 
 joke and gesture. After all, Scaggleton Castle 
 was their own place — their own special domain. 
 The small quiet bay, hemming in their mock 
 fortress as with a private moat, was all their 
 own, where they were at liberty to paddle about 
 unmolested all day long, knee-deep in the 
 crystal water, as they hunted for sea anemones 
 and curious marine treasures. So, too, the 
 rocky cliff behind the house was home park and 
 playground, owning a dozen shallow chasms
 
 IO THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 and unmysterious caves, every inch of which 
 they knew by heart, and had drawn from end to 
 end in search of wild flowers and sea plants and 
 rubbish. 
 
 Their early training, as might have been 
 expected, bore fruit as they grew up to woman- 
 hood. They became one and all singularly 
 free-spoken, merry-hearted, natural girls. The 
 constant exposure and the vigorous exercise of 
 their daily life developed a blooming healthiness 
 that was quite pleasant to look upon. You 
 might have searched the whole country through 
 before you met a bevy of brighter, prettier 
 creatures. And they were as unconventional 
 in thought and action as they were elastic of 
 step and pure in their young inexperienced 
 hearts-. It was a pity they could not be left to 
 live on as they had grown up from infancy, un- 
 contaminated by the world and its ways. It 
 needed no sage to predict that these warm- 
 hearted impulsive young women would awake 
 some day to the realities of life, to learn by 
 experience that stronger feelings existed in the 
 human heart than the love, however deep and 
 passionate, of sister towards sister.
 
 SCAGGLETON CASTLE. IT 
 
 Beyond their family circle, the Norreys saw 
 no one at Scaggleton Castle. The county 
 people had found their overtures of kindness 
 rejected from the first ; and in the town of 
 Scaggleton itself, there was no society what- 
 ever. It was quite by accident that Sir Herbert 
 Hunnisett came across them. 
 
 This great personage was owner of the yacht 
 Zobeide, which, as he said himself, had been 
 driven into Scaggleton by stress of weather. 
 The baronet (he took care to proclaim his 
 name and title) told them this, and a good 
 deal more, the day he called at the Castle and 
 introduced himself. " Was en route with his 
 yacht to Norway. Always went to Norway 
 for the fishing. Sometimes to the moors 
 though. But the season in town had been 
 very trying. He was glad to get away." 
 There was something in the man's manner 
 which Mr. Norreys did not like. The metal 
 had not quite a true ring; the man was too 
 glib and off-hand. But with the girls he was 
 quite divine. Can you not understand it, 
 reader ? It was the first man (Norreys pere 
 excepted) who had ever darkened the Castle
 
 12 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 doors. And Sir Herbert was such a jaunty, 
 devil-may-care, smartly-dressed man. He ex- 
 hibited such flashing rings, such chain-cable 
 watch-guards, and swaggered so gracefully in 
 his blue yachting-suit, that the girls could not 
 resist him. They were young and impression- 
 able, inexperienced, and had already begun to 
 find Scaggleton " slow." For some weeks Sir 
 Herbert was perpetually in and out of the 
 house. The old gentleman fed him and made 
 him welcome ; the young ladies petted him, 
 and listened with rapt attention to his tales 
 of the grand world of London. 
 
 His intimacy with the family did not end 
 here. He evinced his gratitude to Mr. Norreys 
 by eloping with the eldest daughter. 
 
 Grief and shame took possession of that 
 quiet household — woe to be intensified a thou- 
 sand-fold by the discovery that Sir Herbert 
 was an impostor. The yacht belonged to his 
 master, whose groom the villain was.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ALURED FRERE TAKES THE SHILLING. 
 
 " For gold the merchant ploughs the main, 
 
 The farmer ploughs the manor ; 
 
 But glory is the sodger's prize, 
 
 The sodger's wealth is honour." 
 
 Burns. 
 
 It was the winter of '54 — the most cheerless 
 period of that dread season when Crimean 
 affairs were at their worst. Gloom hung over 
 every English home. Vacant chairs that 
 must remain empty for evermore stood by 
 many an English hearth that Christmas-tide. 
 Terrible tales of carnage, of famine, of pesti- 
 lence, of woes unutterable, came from that far- 
 off land where, upon the thirsty soil, English 
 blood was poured out like water. Many an 
 English mother spent nights in agonized prayer 
 for the safety of her dearest child ; wives wailed 
 for absent husbands who were standing in the 
 forefront of danger; all alike shared the com- 
 mon suspense, dreading from hour to hour the
 
 14 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 possible tidings of grief and sorrow. Nature, 
 as if in deference to the agony of the nations, 
 draped herself in her wintry pall. The dull 
 leaden sky was hung with mournful weeds, 
 and as evening closed in, the bitter snow-blast 
 howled piteous dirges across the desert places, 
 or sighed melancholy requiems amongst the 
 branches of the bare leafless trees. 
 
 It was barely five o'clock in the evening; 
 but the lights were burning brightly, and 
 the members of Major Frere's family were 
 seated round the fire in the drawing-room of 
 Scaggleton Castle. Ten years have passed 
 since the events recorded in the first chapter, 
 and Scao-gfleton is now in other hands. Mr. 
 Norreys succeeding most unexpectedly to the 
 family honours left, nothing loth, a place 
 grown thoroughly hateful since his daughter's 
 disappearance. Major Frere had bought the 
 Castle, because it promised to house his large 
 family comfortably. Moreover, Coxmouth 
 College was close at hand, where his sons 
 were at school. Scaggleton was little changed. 
 It had assumed, perhaps, a more habitable 
 look, thanks to the mistress it now owned.
 
 ALURED FRERE TAKES THE SHILLING. 1 5 
 
 Mrs. Frere, a shrewd woman of the world, 
 who had shared with her husband the ups 
 and downs of a long military service, was able 
 to make a better show than poor thriftless 
 Norreys. But although more snug within 
 than of old, without the scene was as wild as 
 ever. It seemed this night a light-house, an 
 Eddystone, a mansion cradled among the howl- 
 ing winds, beaten by the crashing breakers of 
 an angry sea. 
 
 There were four persons present : the owner 
 of Scaggleton, Robert Frere, a retired officer ; 
 his wife, a graceful stately woman, past her first 
 youth ; and their two daughters, Dorothy and 
 Lilian. All were dressed in the deepest mourn- 
 ing. But without this it was easy to perceive, 
 from the hushed, subdued air of the whole party, 
 that they were in the presence of, or had lately 
 passed through, some crushing grief. The 
 mother sat idly gazing into the deep mysterious 
 glow of the burning coals ; the major pretended 
 to read, but he got up every moment to poke 
 the fire nervously, or draw back the heavy cur- 
 tains to look out on the dark forbidding night ; 
 the girls were at work, and spoke their little
 
 1 6 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 nothings almost in whispers. Dorothy, now the 
 eldest of the family, was a beauty, with a sober, 
 quiet face ; long lashes veiled her meek eyes, 
 and the rich masses of hair were kept close to 
 the soft cheek in unpretending plaits. 
 
 Lilian's was a different style of loveliness. 
 Impetuous life mantled beneath the clear olive 
 skin, sending in a second crimson flashes to her 
 face. They were a handsome family, one and 
 all. 
 
 For the fiftieth time Major Frere fidgets 
 with the fire-irons, taking up poker and tongs 
 in turn, and throwing them down with a bang 
 upon the grate. For the fiftieth time he undoes 
 the fastening of the shutters, and looks out. 
 
 " How late he is I" at last comes out, almost 
 with a growl. 
 
 " The coach is hardly due at Scaggleton 
 yet, father," remarks Dorothy, pointing to the 
 clock. 
 
 " I daresay he will walk. It's barely ten 
 miles," Lilian says. 
 
 "I'm sure I hope he won't. He's not half 
 strong, and if the cold were to get into his 
 chest "
 
 ALURED FRERE TAKES THE SHILLING. 1 7 
 
 "Why, mother, Alured is as strong as a 
 horse!" is Dorothy's answer. 
 
 " Mother and her dear boys ! " Lilian cried, 
 forgetting for the instant the sorrow that 
 weighed them down. The words were not 
 past her lips before she could have bitten her 
 tongue through and through for her thought- 
 lessness. 
 
 " Oh ! forgive me, mother — I — " then the 
 impulsive child's eyes filled with tears, and 
 there was a dead silence. 
 
 Boys ! There was no longer a plural for 
 the word in that house. The tale might bq 
 read in those black weeds that clothed them 
 all. Death in the guise of a Russian bullet 
 had met Robert Frere, the eldest son, at 
 Inkerman. The sad news was but a week 
 or two old. 
 
 Alured Frere, the only surviving son, was 
 expected that night from school, from Cox- 
 mouth College, where Robert, who was now 
 no more, had also received his education. 
 
 The time slipped by gradually. At length 
 an uproar in the hall announced the arrival 
 of the light-hearted schoolboy. In a second 
 
 vol. i. c
 
 1 8 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 the drawing-room was thrown open, and the 
 whole party, mother excepted, rushed out to 
 meet — 
 
 " Alured ! " 
 
 "Old boy!" 
 
 " Back safe and sound at last. What on 
 earth made you so late, sir ? " 
 
 Such were the greetings from his father and 
 his sisters. 
 
 " And mother ? " Alured asked, pushing on 
 at once into the room, because he guessed why 
 she had not come out too to kiss him. Her 
 grief • at the loss of that other, over whose 
 distant nameless grave the earth had hardly 
 hardened yet, was far too fresh to make it 
 otherwise than painful to meet the younger 
 son. 
 
 " She is here, darling," cried the mother, 
 clasping him in her arms. You are all that 
 is left to me now, my boy ; my boy ! " 
 
 "I will try my best, mother. But I know I 
 can never be like Robert to you." 
 
 " You're a good boy, Alured ! ' she replied, 
 fondly stroking his light curly locks. 
 
 There was a pause as mother and son
 
 ALURED FRERE TAKES THE SHILLING. 1 9 
 
 stood hand locked in hand : she with heart 
 overflowing with memories of the irrevocable 
 past; he with mind resolved to do his best 
 to soothe her sorrow. It was the soft-hearted 
 thoughtful woman who first recovered herself. 
 
 " But you are wet, my darling : go and 
 change at once." 
 
 " How did you come ? The coach was due 
 long ago." 
 
 " I walked, on my ten toes." 
 
 "What! walk in such weather as this ?" 
 exclaimed Mrs. Frere. " Do go and change." 
 
 "Why, I'm not made of salt." 
 
 "Or of sugar," said Lilian, laughing. 
 
 " Already ? I owe you one." 
 
 " Don't stop chattering and scuffling," inter- 
 posed the Major. " Go along with you, 
 Alured. Be off." 
 
 Half-an-hour afterwards, they were seated 
 round the dinner-table, at a sociable sort of 
 tea-dinner meal. Suddenly, the heavy sullen- 
 toned bell, a legacy from Mr. Norreys, of 
 the outer gate sounded through the house. 
 
 " At this time of night ? Who can it be." 
 
 " The postman."
 
 20 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 " Psha ! the postman ought to have come 
 hours ago." 
 
 " Old Filey don't trouble himself to come 
 out, that's what it is," said Dorothy. " When 
 it's a bad night, he waits till the morning." 
 
 Further discussion was ended by the 
 entrance of Isabella, the maid, with a handful 
 of letters. The advent of the postman was by 
 no means a matter of joy to the Frere family. 
 It was he who had brought them the list of the 
 killed and wounded. How vividly was that 
 miserable night remembered ! In these days 
 of telegraphs victories precede, after them come 
 the butcher's bills. The gladness of the first is 
 soon deadened by the details that follow. 
 
 " There's a long letter for papa," said Lilian, 
 pointing. 
 
 " How can you tell whether it's long or 
 short, until its opened, stupid ? " 
 
 " I mean long in length, Alured — not in 
 breadth." 
 
 " You don't know what you mean, miss. 
 Don't let it occur again." 
 
 Lillian made a face at him, as if to show 
 she didn't care twopence. 
 
 *
 
 ALURED FRERE TAKES THE SHILLING. 21 
 
 " It's only an official," said the major, to 
 whom long narrow envelopes inscribed " On 
 Her Majesty's Service" were no novelty. " It 
 will keep I daresay." 
 
 " Do open it at once, papa," cried Lilian, 
 " and tell us all about it." 
 
 " Patience on a monument " 
 
 " We'll wait till after dinner, I think," said 
 Mrs. Frere, and that ended the matter. Papa 
 was often hasty and sharp in his tones, but 
 a few quiet words from mamma met with a 
 much more prompt obedience. 
 
 Father and son were alone when the won- 
 derful letter was unsealed, and the lad was 
 able to scan unobserved the elder man's face, 
 as with clouded brow the major perused its 
 contents. 
 
 It was dated Horse Guards, December 
 1854, an d ran as follows: — 
 
 "Sir, — I have it in command to convey to you the 
 gracious pleasure of Her Majesty the Queen, that the 
 vacancy caused by the death of your son, Ensign Frere, 
 145th, killed in action, should be offered for the acceptance 
 of your son, Mr. Alured Frere, whose name is already 
 entered upon the Commander-in-Chiefs list. Should it
 
 2 2 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 meet your views to accept this commission for your son, 
 I am to request you will inform me when Mr. Frere will 
 be prepared to undergo the examination at Sandhurst. 
 
 " I have," etc. 
 
 11 Well, father ? " 
 
 " There is nothing in this letter, my boy, 
 that I can tell you of; at least for the present." 
 
 The Freres had few secrets among them, 
 and Alured had the good sense to understand 
 that the contents of this letter were not to 
 be discussed. 
 
 But later that night, when the family had 
 separated, leaving husband and wife alone, 
 Major Frere communicated to her the sub- 
 stance of the Military Secretary's letter. He 
 did so in fear and trembling, for the death of 
 the eldest son was so recent a grief, that to 
 speak of Alured's departure along the same 
 road — was to reopen the sore ; and when Mrs. 
 Frere had read the letter through, she looked 
 at her husband with such a yearning gaze 
 that the Major was filled with compunction 
 at having thrust this fresh sorrow on his wife. 
 Better to have refused spontaneously the prof- 
 ferred offer than have subjected a tender
 
 ALURED FRERE TAKES THE SHILLING. 23 
 
 mother's heart to a thousand additional 
 pangs. 
 
 "Surely, Robert, you do not ask me to let 
 him go too ? I cannot suffer it. I cannot in- 
 deed. Not both my boys. I cannot give them 
 both. Was not one enough ? What mother 
 has done more ? Robert's blood is on Her 
 Flag they tell me ;" — this eldest son of theirs 
 was carrying the Queen's Colour when he met his 
 death at Inkerman ; — " does she want Alured's 
 too ? Do not let them send him also to those 
 shambles. Spare him, Robert ; spare him and 
 me, for the love of Heaven." 
 
 It was more than she could bear. 
 
 At this hour when the memory of her 
 slaughtered first-born was still raw and bleed- 
 ing, to call upon her to resign her second to 
 the same danger, perhaps to the same death, 
 was more than she could endure. With a 
 shudder she dropped her hands from his arm, 
 where they had been convulsively clenched, 
 and resting her head upon them, on the table, 
 burst into a passionate flood of tears. 
 
 " I ought not to have asked you this, Alice. 
 I should have decided myself to refuse. I
 
 24 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 will write at once to Sir Octavius. But it was 
 kindly meant ; you must allow that." 
 
 " You have not spoken to Alured yet ? ' 
 
 " Not yet, of course. I would not till I 
 knew what you wished." 
 
 "Wished; I wish to keep him. I wish 
 never to let him go out of my sight. I wish 
 to be certain that he can never come to 
 harm." 
 
 " My dear, let us drop the subject for the pre- 
 sent. To-morrow you will be better able to 
 decide." 
 
 But next morning Major Frere did not 
 broach the subject to his wife, and no one could 
 have read in this brave woman's calm features 
 the bitterness that was gnawing at her heart. 
 She went through the morning's work quickly 
 and methodically as was her wont. Read 
 prayers, made the tea, ordered dinner, set her 
 youngest daughter a lesson in French, heedless 
 of all entreaties for a holiday on the plea of 
 Alured's return from school. But her house- 
 hold duties done, she sought her husband in the 
 dining-room, which the major used during the 
 forenoon as a study.
 
 ALURED FRERE TAKES THE SHILLING. 2$ 
 
 " Have you written to Sir Octavius ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 " Yes ; I have drafted a letter, but it cannot 
 go till this evening." 
 
 " May I read it ? " 
 
 " Of course. It is a refusal, worded as 
 civilly as I can put it ; ' and he gave the rough 
 copy into her hand. 
 
 " Robert," said Mrs. Frere, after she had read 
 the letter through slowly, and looking stead- 
 fastly into her husband's eyes, " I will be guided 
 .by you solely and entirely in this. Do you 
 think he ought to go ?" 
 
 The major knew full well all that it cost her 
 to concede this much, to keep the mastery 
 over her feelings that were rampant within. 
 But the emotion displayed on the previous 
 night was now invisible. Her face was im- 
 passive, almost cold, though inwardly she was 
 torn with the agony of Rachel mourning for 
 her children. 
 
 " I think honestly that it is a great oppor- 
 tunity. It will give the lad such an excellent 
 start." 
 
 " He is so young, Robert : only sixteen last
 
 26 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 month," pleaded the mother — anything for an 
 excuse. 
 
 " He is older than I was when I was in the 
 army of occupation in France." 
 
 " But the wars were over then." 
 
 " I wish they hadn't been. I should have 
 been more than a major now, after all these 
 years of service, if I had had such an opening 
 as Alured is offered in such stirring times." 
 
 " You have always said that the army was no 
 profession for a poor man or a poor man's son." 
 
 "Nor is it, when it is no profession, when 
 there is no business stirring. But when a 
 soldier can work at his trade — the real trade 
 of war — then it is the most glorious career I 
 know." 
 
 Major Frere was speaking from his own 
 "platform"; his was the opinion of a soldier, 
 merely, about soldiering. 
 
 " You mean we ought to accept this com- 
 mission ?" 
 
 " I do, most assuredly." 
 
 " Could you not get him into some other 
 regiment, — one not at the war, — in the colonies, 
 or even in India ?"
 
 ALURED FRERE TAKES THE SHILLING. 27 
 
 " I will try if you wish, but I cannot hope my 
 request will be granted." 
 
 " Try, Robert ; try." 
 
 " I will. But it would be folly not to accept 
 the commission as frankly as the offer is made." 
 
 " I consent to his going, but save him from 
 the war," she cried, breaking down utterly, her 
 eyes streaming with tears, her voice harsh and 
 thick. " If he, too, should fall it would kill 
 me, I think." 
 
 " His fate is in the hands of an all-powerful 
 God, Alice. He might fall dead at our feet this 
 very day, here in our peaceful home, where no 
 danger threatens." 
 
 " His will be done," said the mother solemnly, 
 and the discussion was at an end. 
 
 So Alured Frere accepted the queen's com- 
 mission, and at the early age of sixteen years 
 and one month he was engaged to lend his 
 powerful aid in the reduction of Sabastopol. 
 
 This lad, Alured Frere, is our hero. Let 
 me endeavour to describe him as he was at this 
 time. A child, really, still ; quite ignorant of 
 the world and its ways, except so far as they 
 had been revealed to him in the back regions
 
 28 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 of a second-rate public school. Till now his 
 horizon had been limited indeed. To become 
 the head of his house, or of the school eventu- 
 ally, was his highest ambition ; his daily dreams 
 to win the Lord Bishop's prize for Latin 
 elegiacs, to read Aristophanes or Sophocles 
 without a crib, or to have as much money in his 
 pockets as Smithers, the brewer's son. Yet 
 here was he suddenly pitchforked into great- 
 ness. Of a truth, some are born great, and 
 some have greatness thrust upon them. The 
 greatness which overtook Alured was of a kind 
 to raise him to a pinnacle far above the clouds 
 of his schoolboy life. There was to be a 
 great gulf fixed now between him and his 
 associates of yesterday. They were to be kept 
 grinding at the mill, and he was to be taken to 
 the field of glory. Head-master and junior 
 master, usher and praepostor, none of these 
 would have terrors for Alured more. He was 
 no longer to be locked up at nightfall, to be 
 forced into hateful tasks, or fed on filthy food. 
 He was like a gay moth, emerging from the 
 chrysalis. Scarlet and gold were to be his 
 gorgeous plumes for the future. He who had
 
 ALURED FRERE TAKES THE SHILLING. 2 9 
 
 never been in London in all his short life, who 
 had never enjoyed the privilege of paying a 
 bill, whose wardrobe did not own a tail-coat, 
 was to become at a stroke of the pen his own 
 master. Free to smoke and drink, and go to 
 the bad. Free to run into debt and to trifle 
 with young affections, and to dress twice a day 
 in gorgeous apparel wherein to parade the 
 streets of a garrison town. 
 
 But to be a soldier had been Alured's fondest 
 dream, ever since he could remember. The 
 major, a poor man, had set his face against it, 
 knowing that he could not support two sons in 
 the army. So when Robert was commissioned, 
 Alured was fain to relinquish his hopes, and to 
 content himself with what might offer by-and- 
 by. Not the less did he dream over the 
 career he was not permitted to embrace. Not 
 the less did he con and learn by heart all that 
 appertained to war, to the study of the trade 
 he loved. When still quite a child he had read 
 from end to end books like " Napier's Battles 
 and Sieges," and Cox's " Life of Marlborough;" 
 "The Life and Adventures of John Ship," 
 " Cyril Thornton," and " The Romance of
 
 30 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 War," were among his most treasured library 
 books. As a youngster he had played at 
 soldiers, and was always ready to enroll himself 
 as a volunteer in any band of urchins to parade 
 the streets with handkerchiefs as banners and 
 swords of lath. At last, suddenly and un- 
 expectedly, he reached the summit of his 
 hopes. He Was to be an officer, a leader of 
 men, at a time when other boys were being 
 birched. It was well for Alured Frere that he 
 had been carefully brought up, or this sudden 
 promotion would have turned his head. But 
 the lad had never wanted ballast. He was not 
 a crank, tall-masted ship, to be thrown on his 
 beam-ends by the first blast of prosperity. It 
 will be found rather, that his premature call to 
 higher functions braced his energies. Instead 
 of upsetting the lad, it steadied him. It aroused 
 him to the reality that he was now at the helm 
 himself, steering his own craft through a 
 dangerous sea. He was only too anxious to 
 show himself worthy of the high fate — it was 
 so to him — that had become his. Those quali- 
 ties of steadiness, force of character, unswerving 
 attention to duty, and strong self-reliance, which
 
 ALURED FRERE TAKES THE SHILLING. 3 1 
 
 are to a man as his best friend, were still in the 
 germ, waiting to bud and bear fruit in the 
 experience that time alone gives. On the 
 surface he appeared a shy retiring lad, innocent 
 and guileless, with faith unshaken in the world 
 and in his fellow-creatures. He was of pure 
 metal ; but the virgin ore is often soft and yield- 
 ing. It lacks that coarse admixture of alloy, 
 the rough oxidization that exposure gives it, ere 
 it becomes fit material for time, the workman, to 
 hammer and wield it into enduring shapes. 
 
 In appearance our hero was slightly above 
 the middle height, slender in figure, but well 
 knit and active. But on first inspection you 
 were not at liberty to notice these details. It 
 was his face that engrossed all your attention ; 
 it struck you at once as Gods own gift, so 
 wonderfully handsome was it, and withal so 
 intelligent and high-bred. His cheeks were 
 still smooth, but he had plenty of dark brown 
 hair. Eyes, a clear bright blue, as yet uncon- 
 scious of their power ; eyes in which a woman 
 might well be contented to see the reflection of 
 her own ; eyes yet untrained, like his thoughts, 
 to love. And there was something in his
 
 32 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 manner quite as winning as in his face : a 
 mixture of manliness and modesty ; indepen- 
 dence of spirit, tempered with tenderness and 
 consideration for others. He could not fail to 
 do well. A boy like this could never come to 
 harm. Thus hoped his father, and his mother 
 would not have been less sanguine had she 
 been able to assure herself that he was not 
 doomed to die an early death. 
 
 How Alured fared in his journey through life 
 it is the object of these pages to recount.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 IN LONDON. 
 
 " Primeramente, oh hijo, has de temer a Dios ; porque 
 en el temerle esta la sabiduria, y siendo sabio no podrds 
 errar en nada." — Cervantes : Don Quijote. 
 
 First, oh my son, must you fear God ; because in fearing 
 Him is wisdom, and being wise you can never go wrong. 
 
 A few posts brought back instructions for 
 Alured to present himself at Sandhurst forth- 
 with. 
 
 " How about the examination, boy ? Can 
 you pass ? " asked his father. 
 
 Alured was doubtful. 
 
 " We had better give you a run for a week 
 or two at some good army coach's." 
 
 " And when do you think of starting ? " asked 
 Mrs. Frere nervously. 
 
 " The sooner the better. To-morrow." 
 
 " Oh, Robert ! " 
 
 Then silence fell upon them all. This was 
 not the first message of the kind that had 
 reached the Freres. Just a year before, the 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 same order had come to Robert, the eldest son. 
 Mrs. Frere bethought herself of the day when 
 the first-born had gone forth in the heyday 
 of life and strength. The adieux then said and 
 the kisses she had pressed on his youthful 
 brow were still fresh in her mind. Now Alured, 
 the second, was en rotite for the same goal. 
 The mother fairly gave way, and the others 
 caught the infection. That night they lived 
 again the night of anguish which had followed 
 the announcement of Inkerman's victory. The 
 girls sobbed themselves to sleep, and Robert 
 Frere sought in vain to solace his wife in her 
 affliction. 
 
 Next day after nightfall father and son 
 started for London. The parting was a dis- 
 mal affair, though Mrs. Frere tried to cheat 
 herself into some comfort by fancying that 
 the final farewell was not to be said just yet. 
 She counted upon seeing Alured again before 
 he set out on his long and perilous journey. 
 Major Frere intended otherwise, but had said 
 nothing out of consideration for his wife's feel- 
 ings — but cruel kindness after all. He had re- 
 solved to launch Alured straight from London,
 
 IN LONDON. 35 
 
 without revisiting Scaggleton even for a day. 
 He felt that he dared not expose her to the 
 sufferings which that final parting must inevit- 
 ably occasion ; sufferings protracted through 
 the days that the Castle would be littered with 
 the paraphernalia of the young soldiers outfit, 
 the box and sword-case, gun and bullock-trunk, 
 the counterpart of last year's preparations. 
 Such things would recall too vividly the past. 
 So when Alured left Scaggleton, he left it for 
 good. 
 
 They reached London early on the following 
 morning and were landed after a fatiguing 
 journey at their lodgings in a quiet street off 
 the Strand, leading down to the river, just as 
 the throbbing, high pulsed life of the great city 
 was beating most vigorously. The effect upon 
 Alured, fresh from stagnant Scaggleton and 
 his mother's apron strings, was almost astound- 
 ing. He had never dreamt that London was 
 like this. The shifting, changing current of 
 people was like the endless rush of rapid 
 waters. The hurrying, excited crowds of 
 human beings, pressing onward, onward ; the 
 noise, the din of wheels and of voices, the cries
 
 36 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 new and strange, sharp and discordant, — all 
 these stunned, dazed, terrified him. He was 
 lifted off his feet as it were ; jostled mind and 
 body. Nor was it possible for him to shake 
 himself free from the strange fascination that 
 possessed him even when ensconced in his 
 dingy little bedroom in Northumberland Street. 
 Even here the racket and turmoil followed him. 
 The hubbub outside still rattled in his ears, 
 and the voices seemed to be entreating him 
 with loud and persistent iteration to come out, 
 and join them in the great stream of life. 
 
 " A hat you must have, at once," says the 
 Major peremptorily, " before we do anything 
 else." 
 
 " I hate hats!" 
 
 " Nonsense, Alured ! You can't wear any- 
 thing else in London." 
 
 " Then I hate London." 
 
 Hate London ! Heaven save the mark ! 
 Would he always speak thus of the great 
 Babylon with which he was yet barely on 
 terms of ordinary acquaintance ? And all for 
 a silly cap he had won at football last term. 
 But his father knew better, and marched the
 
 IN LONDON. 37 
 
 lad at once to a well-known hat-shop in the 
 Strand; then turning westward, and passing into 
 Trafalgar Square, they crossed to Pall Mall, 
 where the elder pointed out the clubs, Union, 
 Athenaeum, United Service, and the " Rag." 
 
 " What an odd name for a club, papa." 
 
 " Yes ; it is. The Rag and Famish they 
 call it in full," said Major Frere laughingly. 
 " We'll get your name put down for it one 
 of these days." 
 
 " I think I'd rather belong to one of the 
 others." 
 
 "Would you? Why?" 
 
 " I don't like the name." 
 
 Again the major laughed, and was about 
 to explain, when he heard himself called to 
 by name from the top of the wide steps that 
 lead to the portal of this club. 
 
 " Major Frere, as I live ! " 
 
 " Pierpoint ! ' answered the major, equally 
 surprised. 
 
 "No less. But where in heaven's name have 
 you dropped from ? Looking out for some 
 employment I suppose. Command of the 
 Bashi-Bazouks ? army service corps ? land
 
 3& THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 transport corps ? contractors' robbery corps ? 
 Damme, you might have the choice of hah 
 a dozen corps. Let's form a corps ourselves. 
 Call it Frere's corps, and I'll join it. I'll come 
 and be your subaltern, as I was in the old 
 days. Good fun, after all, wasn't it, in that 
 old company ? I wish I was back in it. I do 
 from the bottom of my heart. How long do 
 you stay ? Are you living in town ? Come 
 and dine with me some day before you go ? 
 When ? Name your own day, and we'll dine 
 here at the Rag." 
 
 Such a torrent, and it came out so fast, that 
 the major had no chance of putting in a word. 
 
 " I've only brought my boy up to town. 
 He's to have a commission in the 145th. 
 Alured," said the major to his son, "let 
 me introduce you to Captain Pierpoint, an old 
 brother officer of mine." 
 
 The stranger took off his hat, and made Alu- 
 red a flourishy sort of bow, which the boy hardly 
 knew how to take — feeling uncertain whether 
 this was the proper thing to do, or whether 
 Captain Pierpoint was only chaffing him. 
 
 " Your father's sub. once upon a time,
 
 IN LONDON. 39 
 
 Mr. Frere ; and a very taut hand he was too, 
 I can tell you. Ah, major, I shouldn't mind 
 having it all over again, though." 
 
 " What are you doing with yourself now ? " 
 asked Frere. 
 
 " Nothing. Kicking my heels about, waiting 
 for the off-chance." 
 
 " What chance ? " 
 
 " You know IVe been next to old 
 Moynehan's estates and title these years past. 
 I'm heir presumptive still. But the old beggar 
 has married again just to spite me. He hates 
 me like the mischief — always did." 
 
 " Whom has he married ? " 
 
 " Handsome young woman enough, one of 
 the Riviere lot. Not much tin, I believe ; but 
 a fine, straight, up-standing young girl. The 
 old ass met Lord Riviere and his daughters 
 down at Baymouth, and no doubt they helped 
 to wheel about his bath-chair, and otherwise 
 kootooed to him. But I call it devilish hard 
 lines on me." 
 
 "It serves you right, for looking out for 
 dead men's shoes. But, perhaps, there'll be 
 no children, or only daughters."
 
 40 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 " That's like you, Frere. You give me a 
 1 nasty one,' and try to smooth it down in the 
 same breath.'' 
 
 " I wish you luck, Pierpoint." 
 
 " I know you do, but I hope it will come 
 soon, for I'm going to the devil — hands 
 down." Then he laughed carelessly, and there 
 was a pause. " Well," at last, " good-day to 
 you, major. Won't you have anything ? sherry 
 and bitters, no ? Bad example ? All right ; 
 but he'll learn everything — fast enough. I 
 hope all the same you'll come and feed, and 
 bring the youngun. Engaged every night ? 
 Rubbish. I know better. But I do hope we 
 shall meet again before you leave town. 
 Good-bye. My best wishes for the young 
 gentleman." 
 
 When they were out of earshot the father 
 remarked — 
 
 " How people do change ! I remember 
 Pierpoint a smooth-faced lad like yourself, 
 Alured ; now he is quite a man about town." 
 
 Alured pondered a good deal over his 
 father's speech, wondering what the expression 
 " man about town ' might mean exactly.
 
 IN LONDON. 41 
 
 From the tone in which his father had spoken 
 it was evidently a term of reproach. And yet 
 there was nothing in Pierpoint's appearance 
 to call for adverse criticism. Indeed, as to his 
 outward man he was splendid. His coat — 
 these were the days of " Noah's arks," — 
 reached to his heels, his hat was of the 
 glossiest, his boots perfection, his gloves new 
 and well-fitting. If such were the adjuncts of 
 a man about town, Alured thought that he too 
 would like to be a man about town. Already 
 he began to be glad that his father had 
 bought him a hat. 
 
 " Pierpoint always lived extremely fast," 
 the major continued ; " and we never knew 
 where he got his money exactly. Hand to 
 mouth, I suppose. But he seems to be 
 1 keeping it up ' still." 
 
 The tell-tale wrinkles round about the 
 corners of the eyes and an occasional tremor 
 in the hand spoke volumes to an old 
 campaigner like the major. 
 
 After this meeting, father and son proceeded 
 to walk the streets according to the custom of 
 country cousins ; flattening their noses against
 
 4 2 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 every shop window, as they gazed witji admira- 
 tion upon the display within. In this respect, 
 the major was as young as his son. He had 
 served so much abroad, that London had never 
 lost its glitter in his eyes. He looked upon it 
 as the centre of all that was great and good, 
 and extended his worship even to the shop win- 
 dows. After all, except to an inveterate flaneur, 
 these shops are always charming. There is 
 something new to be seen each day. Picture 
 succeeds picture ; photograph, photograph. 
 Attenborough exhibits new vases daily ; Fort- 
 num and Mason new sugar-plums. The haber- 
 dashers, with an eye for colour, illuminate their 
 plate-glass with a blaze of brightness : to-day blue 
 for the boat-race, to-morrow Denmark red, in 
 honour of a royal wedding. Foreign shops are 
 crowded with gorgeous exotic produce — Al- 
 gerian jewellery, Chinese jars and Japanese 
 fans, Spanish rugs and Austrian blankets, Danish 
 pottery and brilliant bonnets from our allies 
 across the Channel. What wonder that the 
 simple pair wandered up and down Regent 
 Street and Piccadilly, feasting their eyes on all 
 they saw ? Presently the gas flooded every
 
 IN LONDON. 43 
 
 corner with garish light, and the scene grew 
 not unlike the tinsel-beplastered " dazzling halls " 
 of a Christmas extravaganza. But it was now 
 time to dine. So they adjourned to an eating- 
 house in the neighbourhood of their lodgings, 
 where they dined off the joint, with cabinet 
 pudding and Cheddar cheese to follow. After 
 this, to the pit of the Adelphi, where Madame 
 Celeste, as " Janet Pride," appealed in her pa- 
 thetic foreign English to all that was impres- 
 sionable in Alured's sensitive young heart. 
 Then when his tears were dry, they went into 
 " Evans's," and eat smoking-hot kidneys, and 
 mammoth potatoes, while Herr von Joel 
 whistled on a stick, or a choir of tuneful 
 boys sang the " Hardy Norseman," or " Au bord 
 de la Duran — c6," or " number one hundred 
 and forty-five in the book." 
 
 It had been a glorious day for Alured — full of 
 endless changes and surprising novelties. The 
 lad sat at the foot of his bed, when he got 
 back to Northumberland Street, and revelled 
 in the crowd of new ideas that had been that 
 day presented to him. If this was the begin- 
 ning, how would it all end ? People who were
 
 44 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 cynical said the world was all hollowness and 
 mockery, all in it vanity and vexation of spirit. 
 " It does not seem so to me," thinks Alured. 
 "It is a beautiful world, and London is its 
 greatest wonder." He sat and dreamed on 
 till his father shouted to him to ask him why 
 he did not put out his light. He roused him- 
 self then, and tumbled into bed, nothing loth, 
 to sleep the sleep of innocent sixteen. 
 
 But next day, and for several days following, 
 Alured saw little of the pleasures of town. It 
 behoved him to stick close to his books ; and 
 by the time he was due at Sandhurst, he had 
 mastered, thanks to judicious cramming, a vast 
 amount of information that was never likely 
 to be of use to him. Strings of dry dates, 
 abstract formulas, and very crude notions on 
 fortification. He was stuffed as full as a force- 
 meat ball. 
 
 " Don't touch me, father," he said, laughing, 
 " or I shall go off: I'm loaded to the muzzle." 
 
 " I'm sure I hope you've not overdone it," 
 replied his father, rather pathetically. " But do 
 you really think you'll pass ?" This was for 
 the fiftieth time of asking.
 
 IN LONDON. 45 
 
 " I shall, if I don't burst : my head feels very 
 tight." 
 
 " You're not going to be ill ? Your 
 mother " 
 
 " Not I. But you mustn't talk to me, father. 
 My ideas will get disarranged, or I shall drop 
 some of my facts by mistake." 
 
 This was in the train, as they journeyed to 
 the nearest station to Sandhurst. The carriage 
 was full of young men on the same errand as 
 Alured. They were all intent on the coming 
 examination ; one was refreshing his memory 
 by reading " Chepmell's History" through; 
 another was complaining bitterly that he knew 
 nothing of logarithms. 
 
 " I'll teach you logarithms in half a jiffey," 
 volunteered Alured kindly ; " at least, as much 
 as you'll want." , 
 
 " Will you ? You are s. brick." 
 
 The lesson commenced without delay, and 
 was continued in the waiting-room at the College, 
 till Protheroe, the ignoramus, felt strong enough 
 to face the examiners. 
 
 " I'm sure you'll pass now," said the major, 
 admiringly, to Alured. The schoolmaster was
 
 46 the queen's shilling. 
 
 not abroad in his day, and he had not learnt 
 logarithms himself. The erudition of his son 
 seemed something stupendous. But in truth 
 Alured's success was never in doubt from the 
 first. When his turn came, he followed the 
 orderly down the bare, whitewashed, echoing 
 corridor to the board-room, — a lofty place, 
 lighted from above, and filled with books and 
 talk and people. There was something rather 
 terrible in the ordeal, now the supreme moment 
 had arrived. Alured was strange, too, to the 
 brusqueness of military etiquette, and was 
 taken aback by the gruff greeting of the colonel 
 who superintended operations. But they could 
 not puzzle him. Not even the cross-grained 
 French master, nor yet Doctor Clayton with his 
 cross-questioning in recondite history. It was 
 all plain sailing till he reached one point,— one 
 where he had never dreamt of difficulty. 
 
 The surgeon had doubts whether he ought 
 to pass Mr. Frere as fit for service. 
 
 " You don't mean that, sir ?" said Alured, 
 anxiously. 
 
 " I do. It's not that you are unsound." 
 
 " Unsound, indeed !"
 
 IN LONDON. 47 
 
 " Allow me to proceed, young gentleman." 
 The surgeon of the Royal Military College was 
 a dry old stick, who had weathered a dozen 
 epidemics in the West Indies, and laughed at 
 "liver." "It's not that you are unsound. I 
 observe that your respiration is good ; your 
 heart regular in its action ; you are free from 
 varix, serious rupture, and all internal com- 
 plaints, and as yet have no decided tendency to 
 phthisis. You are indeed perfectly healthy, 
 Mr. Frere. My only objection is that your 
 constitution is still unformed." 
 
 " I am past sixteen." 
 
 " You have perhaps read Dr. Parkes on 
 Military Hygiene ? or Jackson on the Formation 
 of Armies ? or Baron Larrey's reports ? No ? 
 They are worth studying. You will find that 
 all authorities coincide in one point — in fixing 
 the age at which the recruit is considered fit 
 to undergo the hardships of military service. 
 They agree that the very earliest limit is 
 eighteen." 
 
 " But I'm not a recruit, — I'm an officer." 
 
 " You'll find yourself in the same box with 
 the recruit, Mr. Frere, out there," said the old
 
 48 the queen's shilling. 
 
 doctor, half smiling. Next moment he was 
 gravely smoothing his chin with his hand, then 
 the bald patch on his head, as if hand-rubbing 
 would bring conviction to his doubting brain. 
 " Um — ah — I hardly know what to do. Why 
 can't you wait ?" 
 
 " All the fun will be over " 
 
 " It's a pity to baulk your ardour — I won't. 
 It will be time enough when you are actually 
 under orders for foreign or active service for 
 the medical officer to interfere." 
 
 " You have passed, Mr. Frere," said the 
 colonel at length, holding out his paw to the 
 bright-faced lad, an honour he seldom vouch- 
 safed to candidates for commission. " I con- 
 gratulate you — you're very young. So much 
 the better, — I was younger when I began." 
 
 It was all over, except to communicate the 
 glad news to Major Frere, who, with anxious 
 steps, paced the hall outside the board-room. 
 
 " I hope, my boy, you will be as successful 
 through life as in this your first step. Trust in 
 God always. Tell the truth, and behave like a 
 gentleman : you can't go wrong then."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 STARTING. 
 
 " Ther mayst thou see devising of harneis, 
 So uncouth and so rich, and wrought so wele, 
 Of goldsmithry, of brouding, and of Steele ; 
 The sheldes brighte, testeres, and trappures, 
 Gold-hewen helmes, hauberkes, cote armures." 
 
 Chaucer : The Knighte's Tale. 
 
 In those busy times, government offices worked 
 rapidly. Three days later, when the major 
 and Alured were eating their breakfast in 
 Northumberland Street, the Times was brought 
 in, containing the previous night's Gazette. In 
 it they read : — 
 
 " 145th Foot. — Alured Frere, Gent, to be 
 ensign without purchase, vice Robert 
 Frere, killed in action." 
 
 " So soon!" cried the major, with a sigh. 
 Gall mingled with his joy, as he saw the names 
 of Robert and Alured side by side. " But I 
 did not expect it for another fortnight at the 
 earliest." 
 
 vol. 1. E
 
 50 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 " Let me look at it, father;" and Alured read 
 the words over and over again, till they danced 
 before his eyes. 
 
 " I must go and see Hastings about getting 
 you transferred." 
 
 " Transferred !" 
 
 " Yes, my boy. I promised your mother to 
 get you into a regiment not serving in the 
 Crimea." 
 
 " Do you mean that I am not to go to the 
 Crimea ?" 
 
 " Remember your mother, Alured." 
 
 The boy sat silent for a time ; then he asked, 
 
 " Who is Hastings ?" 
 
 " A friend of mine at the Horse Guards. 
 He has a good deal of interest with Sir 
 Octavius Wilberforce, the Military Secretary, 
 you know." 
 
 " Does it depend upon the Military Secretary, 
 father ?" 
 
 " Yes, of course. But you'll soon learn the 
 routine of these things." 
 
 Sooner than his father thought, indeed. 
 Alured now, for the first time, was to show 
 himself a boy of some character and determina-
 
 STARTING. 5 1 
 
 tion. He resolved to make his way in person 
 to Sir Octavius, and to beg that he might not 
 be prevented from going to the war. Naturally 
 he kept his plan secret from his father ; but no 
 sooner was the majors back turned than Alured 
 set forth on his momentous errand. 
 
 Although a perfect stranger to the streets of 
 London, Alured boldly asked his way to the 
 Horse Guards the moment he left the door of 
 his lodgings ; and, as the distance between 
 Northumberland Street and Whitehall is not 
 great, nor the journey intricate, he soon found 
 himself within the hallowed precincts. Passing 
 the mounted sentries, once more he inquired. 
 " The Military Secretary's ? Over there, under 
 the arch. The same as the Commander-in- 
 Chiefs. Door to the right." 
 
 Ringing the ponderous office bell, Alured, 
 with a sinking heart, waited to be admitted. 
 They kept him a long time, so that he had 
 leisure to look about him. The arcade was a 
 thoroughfare constantly crowded with people, 
 who swept by the mammoth lifeguardsman 
 keeping watch and ward, as if they were ocean 
 waves and he a fossil of the past. But he was 
 
 SSSnt*-^
 
 52 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 a living soldier, of real flesh and blood. His 
 limbs were not always stony and rigid. Oc- 
 casionally he performed to a select audience of 
 brats and a bewitched nursemaid, who looked 
 up to him as a colossal monolith of the 
 King of England, the varied programme of a 
 dismounted dragoon on sentry. Now chang- 
 ing, flamingo-like, from one leg to the other ; 
 now extending one by one the fingers of his 
 gloved left hand ; now varying the position of 
 his carbine, which he lightly carried as if in 
 his sight it were a toy, or he took a short turn, 
 a yard or two at the most, merely to give him 
 an opportunity of throwing back his shoulders 
 or making his spurs jingle. A very stalwart 
 and imposing warrior, who so absorbed Alured's 
 attention that the door was open long before 
 hs was aware of it. 
 
 " Is Sir Octavius Wilberforce at home ?" 
 
 " This his not 'is private residence. It's 'is 
 horfice." 
 
 " Is he here ? Can I see him ? " 
 
 " Is your name down ?" 
 
 " Ought it to have been put down first ? I'm 
 sorry, but it 's an urgent case."
 
 STARTING. 5 3 
 
 " Hair you a horficer ? " 
 
 " Yes," answered Alured, proudly. 
 
 The ink was hardly dry yet on his com- 
 mission. 
 
 The porter's manner underwent a change. 
 
 " You'd better see Mr. Snell, sir ; top story; 
 left 'and side; second door. Confidential clerk 
 arranges all the interviews." 
 
 Alured passed through the portals. How 
 many others, great men and small, had trodden 
 those steps, and he came there to take his 
 chance of the future like the rest ! A crabbed 
 old messenger met him on the top of the stairs, 
 and scanned him doubtingly from head to foot. 
 
 " Now is your name on the list ? No ? 
 Then you cant see Sir Octavius." 
 
 He got quite querulous and angry on the 
 spot. Not a little of the insolence of office had 
 crystallized around this feeble old creature, 
 during the many years he had acted as buffer 
 to save the great man his master from impor- 
 tunity. 
 
 " I shall go and see Mr. Snell," said Alured, 
 bursting into a laugh, as he bounded up the 
 staircase. When he returned, his petition
 
 54 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 granted, he found the messenger still standing 
 spell-bound where he had left him. 
 
 " Go in and take a chair," stammered out the 
 old fellow feebly, as he showed the way to the 
 waiting-room. There was no chair vacant, for 
 the boy found himself among a crowd of sup- 
 pliants. The Military Secretary, great dispenser 
 of patronage and promotion, has always a large 
 clientele. That widow, in deepest black, has 
 come to beg a commission for her fatherless 
 boy. Next her is Sir Hector Main wearing, 
 leaning on his crutch, and glaring ferociously at 
 every new comer. He is old enough almost to 
 remember Marlborough, or Julius Caesar, yet he 
 wants a billet. "Employment, sir; active employ- 
 ment ! What do they mean by putting me on 
 the shelf ? I'm as fit as a fiddle." But several 
 of the strings are cracked. One of the gallant 
 old fellow's legs is somewhere in Belgium, and 
 the other is swathed hebdomadally in flannel. 
 Within a week or two you will hear that he has 
 been found dead in a chair at his club. Most 
 of the others are grey-haired captains or lieuten- 
 ants, come to beg promotions. One or two are 
 skulkers, like Delafield, who saw two days
 
 STARTING. 5 5 
 
 of it " at the front," and won't go back. He is 
 the biggest fire-eater in the room, but he is 
 seeking all the same to stay at home and keep 
 his skin whole. Alured shrank before all these 
 strange faces, and blushed as he tried to hide in 
 one corner of the room, behind the great press, 
 full of obsolete correspondence, which was its 
 only ornament. But Sir Hectors fierce though 
 watery eye was upon him, dragging him out of 
 his obscurity, as a pin does a periwinkle from 
 its shell. That angry eye seemed reproaching 
 the lad for being so young. There was just a 
 tinge of comfort in the widow's compassionate 
 glance, who more than once looked Alured's 
 way. She was thinking perhaps of her own 
 son, and wondered whether they were not a 
 little alike in age and feature. The others sat 
 whispering together in groups of two or three, 
 but Alured felt convinced they were talking 
 of him. Every moment he seemed to grow 
 more shy and uncomfortable. Then by degrees 
 the room thinned, applicant after applicant had 
 audience, and at last it came to Alured's turn. 
 
 " Mr. Frere — Sir Octavius ! " cried the mes- 
 senger, introducing him, and throwing the door 
 wide open.
 
 56 the queen's shilling. 
 
 Next minute our hero was alone with the 
 great man. 
 
 " Well, boy." 
 
 The general spoke roughly, but not un- 
 kindly. 
 
 " What can I do for you ? Want a commis- 
 sion ? Who are you ? Where do you belong ? 
 Left school yet — hey what! what! what?" 
 His voice was so cheery and kind that Alured 
 found courage to look up. He saw a red-faced, 
 rather portly gentleman, with very white whis- 
 kers, standing with his legs wide apart before 
 the fire. 
 
 "If you please, sir, I'm — I'm Mr. — , I mean 
 Ensign Frere, of the 145th." 
 
 " Frere ! — Frere ! — Frere ! — ah, I remember. 
 Well ?" 
 
 " I've been gazetted to the 145th, and my 
 mother does not wish me to go to the war, and 
 I do. Oh, please, sir, do let me go." 
 
 " Why the 145th is at the war," said Sir 
 Octavius, good-naturedly. " You'll have to go 
 fast enough. Don't be afraid. Hey, what, 
 what, what ?" 
 
 "It's not that. My father is trying to get me
 
 STARTING. • 5 7 
 
 transferred, and I don't want to be transferred — 
 I want to go to the war." 
 
 " Quite right too. So you shall ! so you 
 shall ! so you shall ! Gad, I like your spirit. 
 Who's your father ?" 
 
 " Major Frere." 
 . " Of the — th once. Good officer. I knew 
 him. Hope you'll be like him. You needn't 
 be alarmed, Mr. Frere. There are no vacancies 
 in any regiments except those at the Crimea. 
 When your father asks he is sure to be re- 
 fused." 
 
 " Thank you, sir. I ." 
 
 " Anything else I can do for you ? ' 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Good-bye then. Hope you'll live to suc- 
 ceed me here some day. I wish you luck, 
 my boy," said the general, extending one hand 
 cordially from beneath his coat tail to be 
 shaken, and Alured left the Horse Guards in 
 great glee. 
 
 Should he tell his father at once where he 
 had been ? There was no deceitfulness about 
 the lad, and it pained him rather when he 
 thought that he had been acting an underhand
 
 58 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 part. He could not bear to keep his secret 
 to himself. His father had a right to know 
 what had happened. So directly Alured got 
 back to Northumberland Street he made a 
 clean breast of it. 
 
 "If you please, father, I have been — I have 
 been — to the Horse Guards." 
 
 " To the Horse Guards ?" replied the major, 
 much surprised. 
 
 " I have seen and spoken to Sir Octavius." 
 
 Major Frere's eyes opened wider and wider 
 at each announcement. 
 
 "He says it will be no use to ask for me to 
 be transferred. That there are no vacancies 
 except in the Crimean regiments." 
 
 " Did you think of your mother, Alured ?" 
 
 " I know it was wrong of me, father ; but I 
 want to go so much !" 
 
 I do not think Major Frere was displeased at 
 this exhibition of independent spirit on the part 
 of his son. It consoled him somewhat for the 
 uncertain future, to find the lad already plucky 
 and self-reliant. 
 
 " But I must try what I can do, Alured. I 
 promised your mother."
 
 STARTING. 59 
 
 He tried ; but to no purpose. And it be- 
 came necessary to make preparations for launch- 
 ing this young craft, " Alured Frere, Self, 
 master," into the billows of the world. 
 
 Messrs. Jobson & Co., that old established 
 firm of Bond Street, were commissioned to 
 provide the young man's outfit. These world- 
 renowned tailors had made uniforms for the 
 Freres for generations. The Freres, for ages 
 back, father and son, had been soldiers. It 
 would have been better, perhaps, for the pros- 
 perity of the family, if here and there some 
 energetic cadet, had taken to another line. 
 One or two successful soap or sugar boilers, a 
 retail tobacconist, or an occasional grocer, might 
 have done something to swell the revenues of 
 the house of Frere. As it was, there was often 
 a scarcity of money in the clan ; for the military 
 profession, if honourable, is certainly not lucra- 
 tive. After some years' existence on the salary 
 of a railway guard or an irresponsible clerk, 
 weighted with large disbursements from his 
 private fortune to purchase himself promotion, 
 a general or a colonel who has grown grey in 
 the service, finds the provision made by a
 
 60 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 grateful country so limited, that the business 
 of a decent crossing-sweeper would be a valu- 
 able addition to his income. Major Frere often 
 said that he wished his father had apprenticed 
 him to a respectable tailor like Jobson. 
 
 Messrs. Jobson & Co. had measured Robert 
 Frere, senior, and Robert Frere, junior, for their 
 regimentals ; and now little Mr. Hands, the 
 managing-partner of the firm, began to dance 
 round Alured with a tape, taking the lad's 
 proportions for one of these new-fangled 
 " toonics," which both he and the major con- 
 demned. 
 
 " Don't like the change, major, sir, eh ?" 
 asked the little man. 
 
 " Not I. I'm a conservative. The coatee 
 was good enough to my mind ; and they'll 
 never invent anything half so handsome as 
 the epaulet. This tunic — it looks like a short 
 night-gown." 
 
 " You're quite right, major. There was a 
 customer of ours 'ere this morning, major, sir 
 —14, 42 ; — a customer, Colonel Angersteen 
 — 27, 11 and a half. He's been appointed 
 queen's eddycong, and he came to be measured
 
 STARTING. 6 1 
 
 for one of these noo toonics — 9, 13, 22 — 
 to go to court in, and he said positively, 
 positively, he said he couldn't appear in it. 
 You see, major, as you will remember, the 
 old dress was very 'ansum, and now there's 
 nothing but the agalett, and the coat is long, 
 like a huntsman's coat, and full in the skirt, and 
 no other ornament whatsoever." 
 
 " Too loose ?" This was to Alured. " Oh, 
 it don't do to be • skimpy. And you'll fill it 
 out, sir. You'll be like your father one of 
 these days — broad ; must give him room, eh, 
 major ? Room to grow, Mr. Frere," patron- 
 isingly. "You'll be wider in the chest, I'll 
 be bound, when you come to be measured 
 for your queen's eddycong's coat. The same 
 regiment, major, as," went on the garru- 
 lous little man, shaking his head mournfully. 
 " Ah, yes, of course. We saw it in the Gazette. 
 It was very sad, major, very sad." He was 
 referring now to Robert Frere's death. " What 
 a terrible action that was ! I assure you, sir, 
 we felt it severely." 
 
 General actions operate with wonderful 
 effect in simplifying a London tailor's ledger.
 
 62 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 There was no end to the flow of Mr. Hands' 
 loquacity. At one moment, he was lachry- 
 mose, the next full of his small jokes. How 
 well did Alured remember in after-life, the 
 little man and the little room off the shop, 
 where he had swelled out his chest and tried 
 to look so big the day he was measured for 
 his first red coat. There was no end of mir- 
 rors, tall cheval glasses, and others, fastened 
 into the wall, so as to give every conceiv- 
 able view of the figure. Here he saw face, 
 and back beyond, at the same time. Here a 
 perfect regiment of legs twinkled away one 
 beyond the other into space. All about were 
 strewn the materials of military greatness, 
 the pomp and circumstance that gild the pill. 
 Heaps of garments ready to be tried on, en- 
 cumbered all the chairs ; a brilliant patchwork, 
 with gold lace and sparkling buttons, ready to 
 be sewn in. On the mantelpiece were ranged 
 half-a-dozen " forage " caps, of different pat- 
 terns ; staff, diceboard, and peakless cavalry 
 caps. An old wardrobe in one corner, was 
 crammed full of the finery of a by-gone age. 
 Hideous helmets, over which curled a long
 
 STARTING. 63 
 
 furry feather, as thick and bushy as a New- 
 foundland's tail ; a militia shako, five times 
 wider at the top than at the bottom, and fes- 
 tooned with a chain cable of tarnished silver ; 
 the dolman of a hussar, a horse-artilleryman's 
 jacket, from which the blaze of gold had burnt 
 out in the lapse of years ; crimson and purple 
 shabraques, swords, scabbards, sabretaches, 
 shoe-brushes. In the centre of the shrine 
 stood little Mr. Hands. Major Frere on the 
 hearthrug, smiling approval. Through the 
 window, high up in the wall, came as much of 
 the scant yellow London light as could be 
 spared from between the dark dingy chimney- 
 tops and blackened gable ends of the houses 
 that hemmed in the shop behind ; and in this 
 dusky twilight, the lad stood, trying to appear 
 calm and collected as each new proof of his 
 importance was thrust upon him. 
 
 By-and-by, the measuring over, they pro- 
 ceeded through the work-rooms to some under- 
 ground stores, where there was endless choice, 
 among portmanteaus, valises, camp-beds, and 
 barrack furniture. For everything was to be 
 provided by Messrs. Jobson & Co., except the
 
 64 the queen's shilling. 
 
 lad's sword, which was presented to him by 
 Sir Malcolm Macgregor, one of his father's 
 oldest friends, and Alured's portrait, which 
 no tailor could have painted. This last was 
 a masterpiece of M. Bergmann, a celebrated 
 artist in chalks ; for an oil painting was thought 
 too expensive, and photography was still in its 
 infancy. At Monsieur Bergman's, in Portland 
 Street, a boy from Messrs. Jobson's met them 
 with a black bag from which the new uniform 
 coat was produced for the sitting. This work of 
 aft was pronounced by all judges to be a most 
 faithful likeness ; and it is still preserved among 
 the family portraits of the Freres. A sketchy 
 drawing, but bold in its outlines, and much 
 intelligence has been imparted to the bright 
 young face as it smiles upon you from the grey 
 paper. 
 
 Thus employed, the days slipped quickly by. 
 These preparations kept Alured in a whirl of 
 excitement, and there were other calls upon the 
 lad's time. He had to be taken round and 
 exhibited to his relatives ; for he was the hope 
 of the family now. So he ran down to Clapham 
 to be made much of by his mother's uncle, and
 
 STARTING. 65 
 
 to Hastings where aunts and cousins nearly 
 tore the handsome lad in pieces. He was 
 introduced to all his fathers soldier friends. 
 To-night he dined with General This at his 
 club, the next with Colonel That in the Albany, 
 or he went with his father to a fortress town 
 not far from London, where the commandant 
 feted him, and he heard drums and bugles play 
 for the first time in his life. It was all supreme 
 enjoyment to Alured. His letters home, chiefly 
 to Lilian, his special favourite, were filled with 
 all he saw and did, and the little bedroom in 
 Northumberland Street was becoming crammed 
 with the presents he had collected for his father 
 to take back to the dear ones at Scaggleton. 
 
 But the time approached when Alured's leave 
 expired. It was necessary to prepare for the 
 real start. Major Frere knew well how impor- 
 tant it was that his son's debut should be good 
 in his new profession. It would not have 
 raised Alured's character among his new com- 
 rades if he had been taken to join " under 
 escort." So it was arranged that the major was 
 to accompany him to Euston Square, and no 
 farther. When the luggage had been labelled, 
 
 vol. 1. F
 
 66 the queen's shilling. 
 
 the through-ticket obtained, and the lad fairly 
 bestowed in a first-class carriage, the father 
 meant to cut the leading strings, and set his 
 son adrift to shift for himself. 
 
 Two days in advance of the time when he 
 was due at Ballybanagher, where the depot of 
 his regiment then lay, Alured drove with his 
 father to the station. They were in plenty 
 of time for the Irish night-mail. It was the 
 major's custom to be always much too soon for 
 anything he had to do. Now, having some 
 forty minutes to spare, they paced together the 
 grand but cheerless hall at Euston Square, and 
 circled round and round the young man's 
 baggage which his father would not allow out of 
 his sight. It was here, as he gazed upon the 
 trucks loaded with his belongings, that Alured 
 began to realize his new position. The bullock- 
 trunks, brand-new and shining, bore on their var- 
 nished backs his name and titles in full, — large 
 white letters on a black ground, — proclaiming to 
 all the world that this was "Alured Frere, Esq., 
 of the 145 th Regiment," bound to Ballyba- 
 nagher. This noble superscription almost took 
 away his breath as he read it. He wondered
 
 STARTING. 67 
 
 whether the bystanders were aware that it was 
 he who was an officer in the army, Alured Frere 
 by name ; and in his doubts he seized his sword- 
 case, and hugged it under his arm, as if to 
 afficher himself to all the world. But the pride 
 ebbed away out of him pretty fast when all 
 these fine things had been put away in the van, 
 and he found himself ensconced in the corner of 
 the carriage bidding adieu to his father. He 
 clung rather nervously to the kind hand that 
 seemed, nevertheless, to be thrusting him away. 
 Major Frere was outwardly composed. He was 
 fearful lest by an anxious look or clouded brow 
 he might damp his boy's fresh spirit and eager 
 ardour ; but inwardly his heart smote him not a 
 little. How young and childish Alured looked ! 
 with such a smooth boyish face, such honest, 
 innocent eyes, a figure so slight and unformed ! 
 Was this stripling fit to start upon his own 
 bottom, to face the world, and if needs be fight 
 it ? To be exposed to hardships, wounds, 
 temptations, trials ? Surely the father's heart 
 was sore. At that moment his first-born's fate 
 rose freshly to his mind, and in his ears was 
 ringing his wife's pleading voice, begging so
 
 68 the queen's shilling. 
 
 piteously that her second son might be 
 spared. 
 
 But it was too late now to withdraw. Be- 
 sides, had not he himself gone forth from the 
 nest at the same tender age to try the strength 
 of his wings ? Why anticipate evil ? The 
 major hoped for the best, and by way of 
 farewell, spoke a short sharp common-place 
 word. 
 
 " Good-bye, now, my dear boy. Be sure 
 you ask for hot water things if you feel the cold ; 
 and you'll write, won't you, from Dublin, or 
 wherever you can first? Now — " and there was 
 a short pause, during which each looked in the 
 other's eyes, a long unflinching gaze — "Alured; 
 good-bye, God bless you. I know you will do 
 well." A warm pressure of the hand was all 
 Alured's reply ; for there was a great lump in his 
 throat, which, with all his bravery, he could not 
 gulp down. No more was said. The bell was 
 ringing, there was a banging of doors, the 
 guard's whistle was blown shrilly above the din, 
 and the train began to move slowly off leaving 
 Major Frere, to Alured's eyes, a dim figure 
 on the platform, scarce recognisable for the mist
 
 STARTING. 69 
 
 that obscured — well, let us say the carriage 
 window. 
 
 Then the engine gave a fierce snort, and 
 taking the bit between its teeth, rattled off 
 at lightning speed, forth from the gas-lit station 
 out into the dark cheerless night.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FAIRLY OFF. 
 
 Enter Pistol. 
 Pistol. Qui va la. 
 K. Henry. A friend. 
 
 Pistol. Discuss unto me — Art thou an officer, or art 
 thou base, common, and popular ? 
 
 K. Henry. I am a gentleman of a company. 
 
 Henry V. 
 
 " Like a young bear, eh ? ' said a voice by- 
 and-by at Alured's elbow. But the remark 
 had to be repeated before it roused the lad 
 from his thoughts. 
 
 " Like a young bear, eh ? wid all your 
 troubles beforr you." 
 
 " I beg your pardon," said Alured abstract- 
 edly. " Did you speak to me ?" 
 
 " I did that, me bhoy. And whhere might 
 you be bound forr ?" 
 
 Alured did not like this cross-examination. 
 He had been particularly cautioned against 
 making friends with strangers. Stories of 
 card-sharpers and decoys crossed his mind at
 
 FAIRLY OFF. 7 1 
 
 once, so he answered as he thought stiffly and 
 with dignity. 
 
 " I am going to join my regiment." 
 
 " Och murther ! and would they be sending 
 a wee slip of a chap like you to the bloody 
 wars ? What a cruel shame.' ' 
 
 A hot flush passed over the lad's face as 
 he replied, indignantly, — 
 
 " That's my business. Besides, my father 
 was younger by two years than I am when 
 he entered the service." 
 
 " Mighty useful you'll be out yonder. For 
 you'll be going to the Crimay, of coorse ?" 
 
 " Yes ; my regiment is there. I hope to get 
 out before the war is over." 
 
 His interlocutor burst into a loud laugh, 
 which made Alured angrier than ever. But 
 the first speaker was immediately checked by 
 another passenger, evidently his companion — 
 there were only the three people in the 
 carriage. 
 
 " Leave the young gentleman alone, Shamus. 
 Where the divil are yer manners. I hope, 
 sir," went on the new voice to Alured, " you 
 won't mind him. He was brought up in a
 
 J 2 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 hedge school, and his father wouldn't pay the 
 extra sod of turf for good breeding. He's 
 always full of his jokes, though they're bad 
 at the best. Might I ask whether yer going 
 over to ould Ireland ? ye are ?" 
 
 " Yes ; to Ballybanagher. ,, 
 
 " I dare say yer strange to this line. I shall 
 be very glad to be of any use with your 
 baggage and all that." 
 
 Alured hugged his ticket close, and looked 
 anxiously up to the rack to see if his hat-box 
 and sword-case were safe. This was another 
 and a more insidious attack he thought upon 
 himself and his belongings. 
 
 " We're going as far as Westland Row — 
 Dublin I mean — and we'll be proud to do the 
 honours for you to the ould country." 
 
 " Thank you very much," replied Alured 
 coldly — after which there was a pause in the 
 conversation. Presently the others began to 
 talk about butter, bacon, and pigs, thereby 
 revealing themselves and their calling. From 
 this they diverged to a discussion about accents 
 and brogues. The last of which Alured re- 
 membered was a remark from Shamus, a
 
 FAIRLY OFF. J3 
 
 Kerry man, that the " Cark brog was a vurry 
 bad brog." But not even these interesting 
 topics, added to the jarring motion of the 
 carriage, could overcome his drowsiness. He 
 nodded off; first in fitful dozes, then into a 
 long deep slumber, from which he was awak- 
 ened by his fellow-travellers, who were cover- 
 ing him up with wrappers, and endeavouring, 
 kind souls, to make him warm and comfort- 
 able. 
 
 " You'll be as snug as a bug in a rug," said 
 Shamus. " Now take a drap of the craytur — " 
 
 But Alured declined the profferred flask of 
 whisky, and within a minute was again sound 
 asleep. 
 
 The passage across from Holyhead to 
 Kingstown was a newer and sadder ex- 
 perience to the young soldier. Here his 
 fellow-travellers again stood his friend ; and 
 when he bade them farewell at Westland Row, 
 his conscience smote him for thinking evil of 
 their good intentions. Once more alone, he 
 traversed " Dublin city," and took train again 
 for Ballybanagher. The manners and customs 
 of the Irish struck him as peculiar, but his
 
 74 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 mind was too full just then to allow of his 
 taking exact notes of all that passed about 
 him. One incident, however, made some im- 
 pression, and that was the conduct of a gen- 
 tleman who occupied the same compartment. 
 Once when the train came to a stoppage, this 
 person threw down the window with a bang, 
 and thrusting out his head cried, — 
 
 " Hwhats that ?" 
 
 " Kee-lucan," replied a porter, promptly. 
 
 " I whill not," answered the passenger, 
 shutting up the window as he had opened it ; 
 and Alured never was able to guess the nature 
 of their colloquy. 
 
 Three hours' journey brought them to Balla- 
 borris, the station advertised for Ballybanagher. 
 As he got out on the platform by himself, 
 Alured began to feel very friendless and sick 
 at heart. An Irish wayside station by the 
 light of a grey wintry day is by no means a 
 scene to exhilarate and cheer the spirit. A 
 sensation of utter loneliness settled down on 
 his heart as he looked around at the dull land- 
 scape : dreary bogs stretching to meet at the 
 horizon a leaden sky barred with lines of
 
 FAIRLY OFF. 75 
 
 blurred and ragged clouds. He thought himself 
 the last living thing in the world. The train 
 had rattled away and left him, alone, deserted, 
 as if it had been been a shipful of mutineers 
 and he their skipper, whom they had aban- 
 doned on an uninhabited island. Almost invo- 
 luntarily a half-stifled shout escaped from him, 
 as a sleeper weighted by some choking incubus 
 finds relief in an indistinct cry. 
 
 "Hi! here! hillo!" 
 
 His voice gave him courage, and now for 
 the first time he became aware that there was 
 a house near at hand. It was the station, ancj 
 in the waning light he made out one single 
 figure moving amidst a heap of black bales. 
 
 It was the porter busy with Alured's 
 baggage, who having heard the other's voice 
 came up to speak. 
 
 " Is it far you're going, captain." 
 
 In Ireland every officer is a captain, just as 
 every body of troops, from a brigade to a 
 corporal's guard, is an army. 
 
 " To Ballybanagher," replied young Frere. 
 
 " Faix, yer honour won't get to Bally- 
 banagher this night."
 
 76 the queen's shilling. 
 
 " Can't I get a conveyance of some kind ?" 
 
 " Sorra a convaniency. Pat Morrisy's cart 
 is the only thing on wheels these ten miles, 
 and that's away in the bog wid the peat." 
 
 " Is there nowhere I can put up ? No 
 village ? No inn ? " 
 
 " Sorra a put up. Lasteways there's the 
 widow Clusky's shebeen house ; but she'd be 
 hard put to to make out a bed for you." 
 
 " Then what am I to do ? Say something 
 — suggest something, man ! " cried Alured, 
 seizing him rather roughly by the arm. 
 
 " Aisy, captain, aisy." 
 
 " Does no one ever come to this God-for- 
 saken place ? What's the good of a station ? 
 How does anybody ever get anywhere ? How 
 do they get to Ballybanagher ? " 
 
 " They never get this way, at all, captain ; 
 sorra a haporth of them. They go by Athen- 
 more, and cross by coach eight miles." 
 
 " What am I to do then ? Walk ? " 
 
 " Is it walk ? and the country as wild as — 
 Holy Vargin ! " 
 
 Alured sat down again, on his boxes, in 
 despair.
 
 FAIRLY OFF. J J 
 
 " I must be at Ballybanagher before the 
 morning." 
 
 " Go round by Athenmore then, captain. 
 Try the short cut." 
 
 " Is there a short cut ? " 
 
 " Yes, shure. Through Doblin. There's a 
 train up in a minute," and the porter laughed 
 at his own ingenuity. " The longest way 
 round's the shortest way there, and I've found 
 it often enough — when I try the road home 
 across the bog with my skin full of whisky." 
 
 Alured was half disposed to follow this ad- 
 vice, but he could not part with his baggage, 
 and the porter said it was too heavy to go 
 by express. Just then the train arrived. 
 
 Strange to say, there proved to be several 
 passengers for Ballybanagher station, notwith- 
 standing its deserted appearance. An oldish 
 man, small, rather wizened, wrapped up in 
 furs, got out of a first class carriage, followed 
 by a lady of tall and commanding figure. 
 Presently a servant in livery came from the 
 back part of the train, and a lady's-maid, laden 
 with cloaks, and carrying a large dressing-bag. 
 The party quite took possession of the station.
 
 7 8 the queen's shilling. 
 
 Even the stolid porter grew abjectly obse- 
 quious, and tried to extemporize something of 
 a reception, — would his lordship do this, or 
 that, and would his lordship's own man give 
 his orders about the baggage. 
 
 " Hasn't the carriage come ? " asked the lady 
 rather shortly. 
 
 " Troth, I never seed it my lady, ma'am," 
 replied the porter. 
 
 " My dear," she went on to her husband, 
 " that coachman is not to be depended upon 
 in the least. You really must see about a 
 change." 
 
 "If this sort of thing is to happen often, I 
 quite agree with you." 
 
 " Barkins recommended the man for punctu- 
 ality too. I hope you do not find it very 
 cold," she said, her tone changing quickly 
 from annoyance to one of great solicitude. 
 
 " Av ye plaze to come in beyant," suggested 
 the porter, " I'll heighten up the fire wid a sod 
 or two." 
 
 " Thank you, my good man," said his lordship. 
 " Go in, my lady. I'd rather take a brisk 
 turn; that carriage has quite numbed my feet."
 
 FAIRLY OFF. 79 
 
 Presently he came to where her ladyship sat 
 before the fire. 
 
 " My dear, we have company in our mis- 
 fortunes." 
 
 " Indeed. Who is it ? " 
 
 " A young gentleman who is going to 
 join at Ballybanagher. I've been talking to 
 him. You never saw such a shrimp of a 
 fellow." 
 
 " And how does he propose to get to Bally- 
 banagher ? ' asked her ladyship, cosily shrug- 
 ging her shoulders, and cuddling up her hands 
 in her great muff. 
 
 "He asked me whether I thought it was 
 too far to walk ; the porter here has been 
 humbugging him about the insecurity of the 
 road. Shall we give him a seat in the car- 
 nage r 
 
 " As you please, my dear." 
 
 " You don't object ? " 
 
 " I ? Why should I ? The carriage is big 
 enough ; and if it wasn't, he could sit in the 
 rumble with Hedger." 
 
 " You wouldn't object if you were to see 
 him. It's worth your while — it is really — to
 
 8o THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 come out and have a look at this great 
 warrior." 
 
 " I'm much too comfortable here to move 
 away on any voyage of discovery." 
 " Then I'll bring him in to you." 
 "Oh, no; don't do that; I'll come." 
 It was enough to smite the strongest heart 
 with pity to see the poor little chap sitting 
 perturbed and disconsolate upon top of his 
 baggage. He was tired of walking up and 
 down, and had retreated to hide among his 
 boxes when the strangers invaded the station. 
 He was now debating in his own mind whether 
 he could not bivouac then and there, where 
 he was. It was some time, before he became 
 aware of the spectators that were gazing, seem- 
 ingly amused, upon his troubled face and 
 dejected air. When he did look up, it was 
 the lady who caught his attention, as she leant 
 upon her husband's arm, with her hands 
 clasped in her muff, outside of which was 
 visible, just a rim of white wrist encircled by a 
 ponderous bracelet. It was a handsome coun- 
 tenance, with proudly curving features and 
 well-cut aristocratic lips. Alured looked up
 
 FAIRLY OFF. 8 1 
 
 into her face, and then sunk his eyes, full of 
 dancing motes, dazzled, as if he had been 
 staring at the sun. 
 
 She spoke first. 
 
 " May we offer you a seat in our carriage, 
 Mr. Frere ? " 
 
 Alured jumped as she mentioned his name. 
 They knew him, then ? Poor little fool ! Was 
 he not sitting amidst his baggage ? Surrounded 
 by those same tell-tale boxes that had flattered 
 his pride at Euston Square with their staring 
 manifesto of his name and calling ? 
 
 " We are passing by Ballybanagher, and can 
 drop you at the barracks," she continued. 
 
 " Oh, thank you so much ! ' The boy's cheeks 
 flushed scarlet, partly with shyness, partly with 
 joy at the prospect of deliverance. " But — but 
 — I'm afraid — I shall crowd you." 
 
 Poor Alured ; he had been ransacking his 
 brain for something fine, but the proper words 
 would not come. 
 
 " Not in the least," said his lordship, cour- 
 teously ; " the carriage is a large one, and we 
 shall be delighted if you will come with us, — 
 that is if the carriage turns up. But at pre- 
 
 VOL. i. g
 
 82 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 sent we are in the same predicament as your- 
 self." 
 
 " There are the wheels, now, I think," cried 
 my lady. " Where is Hedger ? Pick out the 
 boxes I require, Hedger ; and we can take 
 a portmanteau for you, too, Mr. Frere. Not 
 more I'm afraid. The rest of your things can 
 come on by the cart to-morrow." 
 
 Within a few minutes, Alured found the 
 scene pleasantly changed. Instead of the 
 dreary station, a warm, soft-cushioned, roomy 
 carriage ; instead of solitude, friends, or at least 
 kind strangers, as companions, and one of them 
 a charming woman. 
 
 He had taken his seat before the owner of 
 the carriage, because his lordship insisted on it, 
 but Alured had manners enough to place him- 
 self with his back to the horses. He was then 
 offered, courteously, the seat next my lady, but 
 this he would by no means accept. Very soon 
 his lordship fell asleep in his corner, and left 
 his wife to converse undisturbed with Alured 
 Frere. 
 
 All the conversation did not amount to much. 
 Alured was perfectly tongue-tied. He had not
 
 FAIRLY OFF. 83 
 
 the faintest idea what to talk about ; no notion 
 what subjects would please her. Quite un- 
 versed in the ways of the great world, and 
 unacquainted with the distinctions of rank, he 
 was awestruck before this great lady, who, for 
 all he knew, might be a duchess. Shyness is 
 the resultant of intense self-consciousness and 
 ignorance. Alured felt himself driven by these 
 two forces into a very abyss of mauvaise honte. 
 He began to be tormented with the thought 
 that she must despise him as a silly little fool. 
 His terror and his discomfort increased each 
 instant that the silence continued. Presently, 
 to his inflamed imagination, the corner of the 
 carriage became filled with an awful but beau- 
 tiful presence — of some goddess enshrined in 
 a cloud of sweet-smelling incense, clothed in 
 splendid robes. He gazed upon the dark 
 depths before him, expecting each instant that 
 a sun of dazzling light would burst forth, and 
 he woke, suddenly, from his trance ; roused — 
 by a touch, by a portion of her drapery, light 
 and feathery, brushing past him. ^Although 
 young and a boy, he was human. There was 
 something in the' contact of the smooth, slip-
 
 84 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 pery silk that sent a thrill through him ; a 
 shiver of pleasure that mingled not unpleasantly 
 with the fears that still oppressed him. A 
 mysterious sympathy was communicated by 
 this frolement of her dress. Almost instinct- 
 ively he grew more at ease. Just then, too, her 
 voice, soft and caressing in its tones, though 
 perhaps she spoke languidly and without appa- 
 rent interest, broke the silence and the spell 
 under which he had lain. 
 
 " Is my dress much in your way ? I fear I 
 am quite smothering you." 
 
 " No." 
 
 There was another pause, during which she 
 bestowed her folds more to her liking, and 
 drew the wraps closer about her. 
 
 " Have you travelled far to-day ?" 
 
 No doubt she meant to be kind, but her 
 questions were put in a listless, insouciant tone, 
 which quite crushed all Alured's nascent courage. 
 
 He replied falteringly — 
 
 " I came from London last night." 
 
 " And you are going to join all by yourself?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " At your age ?" *
 
 FAIRLY OFF. 85 
 
 "I'm not so very young," Alured said, waxing 
 stout and independent. 
 
 "Indeed!" Possibly she anticipated that 
 she was going to be bored with details, for the 
 query was more cold and indifferent than any- 
 thing she had previously said. 
 
 " No ; I am past sixteen." 
 
 "A very tremendous age, no doubt, Mr. Frere. 
 But most other boys are still at sch — well, Eton 
 at — your age." 
 
 " My father began earlier." 
 
 "He was a soldier ? Pardon my saying it 
 — I thought so. No one but an old soldier 
 would have started you like this, to begin the 
 world all by yourself." 
 
 " And my brother was very little older 
 either," said Alured, harping on the same 
 string. 
 
 "Is your brother at Ballybanagher to meet 
 you ?" 
 
 " He is dead. He was killed at Inkerman." 
 
 " And now you are going too ? I wonder," 
 — all that was womanly in her woke up to 
 
 pity at once, — " I wonder how your mother 
 could let you go!"
 
 86 the queen's shilling. 
 
 After this the ice was broken, and she began 
 to question him about his family, — his sisters 
 and his mother especially. 
 
 " And what part of the world do you come 
 from, Mr. Frere ?" 
 
 " From along the east coast. We live at a 
 very out-of-the-way place, of which I dare say 
 you have never heard, — Scaggleton." 
 
 "Scaggleton !" she said sharply, starting 
 a little. 
 
 " You have never been there surely ?" 
 
 " Oh yes, I have. Years and years ago. 
 There is an old house under the crags — the 
 Castle I think it is called, or Scaggleton Castle, 
 or some such name ; do you know it ?" 
 
 " Why, that is where we live." 
 
 " How odd ! Some dear friends of mine 
 lived there, too, once ; and I seem to know the 
 place by heart." 
 
 " It is such a jolly old house ! not really old, 
 you know. It's only a cockney castle, but the 
 turrets and the fortifications make it seem quite 
 real, and the rocks, and Haddock Hole, and 
 that big reef which goes out ever so far when 
 the tide is low ? "
 
 FAIRLY OFF. &J 
 
 He waited for an answer, but none came. 
 What was she thinking about ? or was it that 
 she had not heard him ? He repeated his 
 question ; still no reply. Then he thought he 
 had been talking too much, and lapsed into 
 silence, which lasted some time. 
 
 At length she spoke : — 
 
 " I beg your pardon, I'm sure, Mr. Frere. 
 It was very rude of me, but I was deep in old 
 times. The memory of Scaggleton is very dear 
 to me," she added, with a sigh. Then with an 
 effort, she roused herself to speak of other 
 things. 
 
 " Don't you think you had better come on 
 with us to Moynehan, Mr. Frere — I mean to 
 our house ? We will send you back to barracks, 
 if you like, first thing to-morrow." 
 
 " I should be very glad, but — but — my father 
 said I was to go straight to barracks, and 
 report myself directly I arrived, and I think 
 I ought to." 
 
 The lad was wavering between his duty thus 
 clearly defined by the major, and the fear of 
 seeming ungracious by rejecting the profferred 
 kindness.
 
 88 the queen's shilling. 
 
 " Do you know any one there ?" 
 
 " Not a soul." 
 
 " How are you to manage ? You have left 
 all your things at Ballaborris too. You had 
 better come with us." 
 
 " Thank you, so much. But if you please, I 
 think — if you will excuse me — I think I will go 
 to the barracks to-night." 
 
 " So you shall, Mr. Frere," cried Lady 
 Moynehan, laughing. "It would be a pity to 
 baulk so eager and conscientious a soldier at 
 the very beginning." 
 
 There was something so innocent, yet so 
 independent and straightforward about the lad, 
 he was so young, and yet so anxious to do 
 what was right, that he quite won Lady 
 Moynehan's heart. 
 
 At the barrack gate the carriage stopped. 
 Lord Moynehan woke up, and bade Mr. Frere 
 good-night. Her ladyship shook hands with 
 him very warmly and kindly, the steps were 
 put up, and the carriage door shut, and he was 
 left alone once more. 
 
 Most Irish barracks are built upon the same 
 plan. Built to resist a coup de main, they are
 
 FAIRLY OFF. 89 
 
 surrounded by a high, loop-holed wall, flanked 
 by bastions at the angles, and the only ingress 
 is through a tall, substantial gate-way, which is 
 barred and locked at sun-down. Upon this big 
 gate, Alured began, after some hesitation, to 
 hammer with his umbrella. 
 
 At the first blow, a stentorian voice within, 
 sang out in a crescendo note, " Who goes 
 there ? " 
 
 Alured was not aware that he was going 
 anywhere, nor did he quite know what to 
 answer. But continued to knock. 
 
 " Who goes there ?" was repeated ; if anything, 
 in a louder key. 
 
 "Frere!" replied Alured, rather timidly. 
 He thought every one would know that he 
 was coming to join; but he was not quite 
 certain whether he ought to have answered, 
 " Frere," or " Alured Frere," or " Mr. Frere," or 
 " Ensign Frere." 
 
 " Frere!" replied the voice. " JVhat Frere?" 
 
 " Frere, the officer," shouted Alured, goaded 
 to despair. 
 
 Then there was a shout of "Gate!" within, 
 and in another minute the light of a bull's-eye
 
 90 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 was flashed on him through a small window in 
 the wicket. 
 
 " Beg your pardon, sir — ?" said the sergeant, 
 seeing the slight young figure standing by a 
 portmanteau. 
 
 " I have come to join." 
 
 " Shall I open the big gate, sir ? Have you 
 a car, sir ? No ?" Mr. Frere was admitted 
 with his portmanteau through the wicket. " I'll 
 send one of the men of the guard with you to 
 the mess, sir," said the sergeant. And at last it 
 seemed as if Alured was at his journey's end, 
 his troubles over, the goal reached. 
 
 Yet when the soldier who had accompanied 
 him from the gate, had deposited the trunk 
 upon the ground and disappeared, Alured felt 
 as far from his destination as if he was still at 
 Euston Square. The rooms of the mess-house 
 were all on the ground floor, en sicite, forming 
 an imposing block. Half a dozen handsome 
 stone steps led to a wide verandah, from which 
 opened doors and windows of the ante-room, 
 the mess-room and billiard-room being at right 
 angles to this external staircase. All the win- 
 dows were draped with heavy crimson curtains,
 
 FAIRLY OFF. 9 1 
 
 but a chink here and there betrayed the lights 
 that blazed within. It was past nine o'clock. 
 Dinner must have been long over, but there 
 was a loud hum of voices inside, and occasion- 
 ally a burst of merriment, laughter, and now and 
 then a shout. Alured sat down on his port- 
 manteau, at the foot of the stone steps, and 
 upbraided himself for so foolishly refusing Lady 
 Moynehan's invitation. Fpr what was he to 
 do now he was actually inside the barracks ? 
 He could not remain all night upon those stone 
 steps. Some one would be coming out directly, 
 and would find him there. There was no bell, 
 no knocker. Should he walk in, card in hand, 
 and announce himself? He began to feel it 
 very cold, and the rain was falling heavily. 
 This was the worst phase of all his adventures. 
 But for his own stupidity, he might still be in 
 that comfortable carriage with 
 
 "Who the mischief are you, and what are 
 you doing there ?" 
 
 It was like the explosion of a shell, this 
 voice — a short, sharp report, that sent Alured's 
 heart into his mouth. 
 
 "I'm very sorry — I beg pardon. I was wait-
 
 92 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 ing — I mean — my name is Frere — I have come 
 to join." 
 
 " Come to join ! at this time of night ! My 
 conscience, you're a rum customer. Golly, 
 what a lark. Hold on a minute — and, — stay, 
 what's your regiment ?" 
 
 " The 145th," Frere answered, and again was 
 left alone. For the other speaker who had 
 been at the top of the steps, returned to the 
 ante-room. 
 
 In a few minutes, another person came out, 
 and descended the steps with outstretched 
 hands. 
 
 " Mr. Frere ? My name is Davidson, — Cap- 
 tain Davidson of the 145th. Will you come to 
 my quarters ? You would like something to 
 eat, perhaps ? We'll order it to be sent over 
 by the time you have washed your hands. Is 
 that your box ? One of the mess servants will 
 take it over. Come along." 
 
 " What kind people there are in the world," 
 thought Alured. In a few minutes more, the 
 forlorn boy was thawing and growing loquacious 
 before Davidson's fire.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 "THE CUSTOM OF WAR IN LIKE CASES." 
 
 Re-enter Soldiers with Parolles. 
 2nd Lord. Hoodman comes ! Porto tartarossa. 
 ist Soldier. He calls for the tortures. 
 
 All's Well that Ends Well. 
 
 "I'm afraid," said Davidson, "you must have 
 been kept a long time out in the cold. Why 
 did you not come straight in ?" 
 
 " I did not like to, sir." 
 
 " The fact is, you have arrived at a very 
 important moment, that is why you were not 
 noticed sooner. The," — here he lowered his 
 voice and spoke in a whisper, — "the general is 
 here. The country is very unsettled, and he is 
 obliged to travel by night, so that no one may 
 be quite certain ever where he exactly is." 
 
 " Indeed, sir." Alured persisted in calling 
 his new friend " sir," without observing the 
 smile that the title, each time, elicited. 
 
 " Yes ; and he has come for a very sad
 
 94 the queen's shilling. 
 
 reason. Poor Cuthbert, — you know Cuthbert, 
 of the Fusiliers ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Well, he is not a bad chap, but he is to be 
 tried to-night by court-martial. Perhaps you 
 might like to be present ? " 
 
 Frere said he should like it of all things. 
 His father wished him to lose no opportunity 
 of improving himself in military law and the 
 practice of courts -martial. 
 
 " Ah, very proper," remarked Davidson, 
 gravely. " This will be the very thing for 
 you — a capital beginning." 
 
 As soon as A lured was ready, and had eaten 
 the food brought over from the mess, they 
 started for the court-house. 
 
 The scene about to be described had of 
 course been improvised for Alured's especial 
 benefit ; but it was not the first mock trial that 
 Ballybanagher barracks had seen. To while 
 the long winter evenings, the wags of the depot 
 were in the habit of sitting in judgment on 
 their weaker brethren. The offences over 
 which they assumed jurisdiction were rather 
 varied. One young fellow was tried for being
 
 " THE CUSTOM OF WAR IN LIKE CASES." 95 
 
 11 greedy at dinner," and was sentenced to have 
 no apple tart for three consecutive nights. 
 Another was arraigned for spelling his name 
 with two small ffs at the beginning ; a third for 
 absenting himself without leave from the society 
 „ of his brother officers, and preferring gin and 
 pipes in his own room. As a general rule the 
 culprits fell in with the humour of the thing, 
 and sought by long and specious arguments to 
 prove their innocence. Occasionally one, more 
 than usually cross-grained, " cut up rusty "; but 
 it did not help him much. He was handed 
 over forthwith to the tormentors, who played 
 " sacks at the mill " with him, or " made hay " 
 in his room, or packed up his kit while he was 
 on guard, and directed the boxes to his home, 
 as a gentle hint that he might retire as soon as 
 he thought fit. 
 
 Davidson told Alured that as the trial was 
 conducted by special commission, the general 
 himself in the chair, the court sat with closed 
 doors. Permission, however, had been obtained 
 for him to be present, but he must be first sworn 
 to secrecy, and blindfolded before he was ad- 
 mitted. So they covered up his eyes, and led
 
 g6 the queen's shilling. 
 
 him a dance round the mess-premises ; now and 
 then chains were rattled close to his ears, or the 
 dish-covers were dropped, and one ensign with 
 a weak painful voice was told off to groan at 
 stated intervals during Alured's progress. At 
 length he was ushered into the chamber of 
 justice, after much parleying at the outer door, 
 and when the bandage was removed from his 
 eyes he found himself in a lofty room filled with 
 smoke, and not entirely free from an aroma 
 of spirituous drinks. At one end sat an impos- 
 ing personage, tall, with a great hooked nose 
 and high cheek-bones, the length and solemnity 
 of his face being heightened by the drooping 
 moustaches and sharp pointed imperial. He 
 was on a species of raised dais (a few boards 
 laid on chairs), and was clothed in wide flowing 
 robes, — suspiciously like window curtains. To 
 his right and left sat two others similarly 
 arrayed. In front of them, at a long interval, 
 stood a man in his shirt-sleeves with arms tied 
 behind his back with a rope ; and near him, at a 
 small table, was an old gentleman in a wig and 
 long black gown. These five were the pro- 
 minent figures in the room ; but dispersed in
 
 "the custom of war in like cases. 97 
 
 groups around, a number of young men in red 
 jackets lounged and laughed, and from them 
 came the smoke and odour of drink. There 
 was no attempt at decorum among them. 
 When Alured entered they were talking and 
 laughing uproariously. But presently the chief 
 man in the window-curtain spoke, and respect- 
 ful silence followed. 
 
 " Who is this ?" asked the general, in a deep 
 and sonorous voice of Davidson, Alured's 
 conductor. 
 
 " A newly joined officer, your excellency, who 
 has obtained your permission to witness the 
 proceedings." 
 
 " I am aware of it. I would speak with the 
 young man. Let him approach." 
 
 Alured was marched to the foot of the dais. 
 " Your name, young man ? " 
 " Alured Frere." 
 
 " The date of your vaccination, a detailed 
 account of your christening, with the godfathers 
 and godmothers who stood, their names and 
 calling, distinctive marks if any, approximate 
 calculation of the united ages of your father, 
 mother, aunts, grand-uncles, cousins german (if 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 any), and a short riszcmi of your own life from 
 the earliest period. Are you prepared with the 
 necessary replies on these questions ?" 
 
 This was a terrible ordeal for Alured, worse 
 because it was entirely unexpected. He felt 
 that every eye was on him, and wished that he 
 could sink below the carpet. The general 
 went on, speaking as before, with a rapid ab- 
 breviating pronunciation, which confused and 
 frightened Alured more than ever. 
 
 "Are you in a position, I repeat, to inform 
 me whether you were ever born ; and if so, at 
 what ages, and where ; whether you were treated 
 after birth, if born at all, with Radway's Ready 
 Relief or Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup, and if 
 so in what quantities, at what intervals ? Speak 
 up, young man, and do not keep the court 
 waiting. Can you not answer these questions 
 forthwith ? " 
 
 " I'm afraid, my lord,- — I mean, your excel- 
 lency, — I cannot at once " 
 
 " How, young man !" The voice was the 
 deep bass of a theatrical bravo. " You are 
 then lamentably unprepared to assume your 
 new duties. And may I ask whether you have
 
 " THE CUSTOM OF WAR IN LIKE CASES. 99 
 
 brought a complete kit, — complete in every par- 
 ticular ? " 
 
 " Yes, I — I hope so, your excellency." 
 " Yes ; you have coat and sword and overall, 
 no doubt ; but have you your two pairs of shoe- 
 brushes, your button stick and brush, armourer's 
 forge, three tripods, the requisite number of 
 sandbags, an iron target, a tourniquet, lint and 
 bandages, a pace-stick, pipeclay, and pendulum ? 
 You have all these things ? " 
 
 " No, not exactly, — not all, your excellency." 
 " How inconceivably careless parents be- 
 come!" said the general, in a tone of the deep- 
 est chagrin, his large, prominent eyes widening 
 till they glared like angry planets as they tra- 
 velled round the audience. " Have your parents 
 no friends to inform them of the custom and 
 requirements of the service in these matters ?" 
 " My father was in the service himself, your 
 
 excellency, but some years ago ; and " 
 
 " Then there is no possible excuse : the 
 negligence is the more unpardonable. Cap- 
 tain Davidson, you will see that this young 
 gentleman is provided, from the depot quarter- 
 master's store to-morrow, with the regulation 

 
 IOO THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 articles of necessaries to complete his kit. That 
 will do, young man. Stay, — would you wish, 
 Brother Jeffries, to put any questions to him ?' 
 asked the general, turning to one of the other 
 judges. 
 
 " I should like to know how he has been 
 grounded in his military studies. May I ask 
 whether you have learnt the lance exercise, and 
 can take your part without delay in a set of the 
 lancers ?" 
 
 Alured hung his head. 
 
 " You have read the usual authorities — Shuf- 
 fler, on ' The Evasion of Responsibility,' and 
 Hardbargain on * Continual Leave ' ? No ? 
 Never heard of them, perhaps ? Their prin- 
 ciples will be among your acquirements, I can 
 assure you. We know them, most of us, by 
 heart." 
 
 " Are you a fast runner ? " asked another 
 judge, sharply. 
 
 Alured murmured something about school 
 athletics. 
 
 " Ay, but have you ever outrun the constable ? 
 No ? I promise you, you'll find the pace tre- 
 mendous till you are accustomed to it."
 
 "THE CUSTOM OF WAR IN LIKE CASES." IOI 
 
 " Mind you don't shirk your work," said the 
 first speaker. " Don't be like ' England.' " 
 
 " England ? " asked poor Alured in utter 
 amazement. 
 
 " ' England expects every man to do his duty.' 
 Don't expect any one else to do yours." 
 
 " There, there, gentlemen, that will do," in- 
 terposed the general ; "we have much before 
 us. Take Mr. Frere to a seat, Captain David- 
 
 son." 
 
 Alured was led away dejected and sad at 
 heart. He had never realized that his new 
 profession would be so difficult to follow. Al- 
 ready the glow and glitter was rubbed off, and 
 he half wished himself back at Scaggleton. 
 Davidson, noticing his scared face, introduced 
 him at once to a brandy and soda. Straight- 
 way Alured felt lifted off his feet : his heart 
 was lightened, and the clouds disappeared. 
 
 Meanwhile the trial proceeded. " Amictcs 
 cttrice, read the charges," cried the general, in 
 a loud voice, to the gentleman in the black. 
 
 " Ensign Christopher Cuthbert, you are here 
 to answer to certain counts and indictments. 
 Are you guilty or not guilty ? "
 
 102 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 " I must hear them first before I plead." 
 
 " Prisoner at the bar, this is contumacy," 
 roared the general ; adding sotto-voce to his 
 neighbour on the bench, " but there's no bar; 
 get a bar." 
 
 " There's none nearer than the canteen," 
 shouted some one. 
 
 " Then use a fire-iron." 
 
 " Amicus cur ice, enter a plea of guilty, and 
 proceed." 
 
 " I protest," said Cuthbert. 
 
 " Silence ! not a word. Go on with the 
 charges." 
 
 They were as follows : — 
 
 " i st. Conduct unbecoming, and to the pre- 
 judice of good order and military discipline, in 
 having joined without a bath-tub. 
 
 " 2nd. Disobedience of orders in having 
 failed to provide himself with the aforesaid 
 article, at the shop of Mr. Patrick Cassidy, at 
 Ballybanagher. 
 
 " 3rd. Mutiny and insubordination in the fol- 
 lowing instances : — 
 
 " First instance. In having brought with his 
 kit two suits of respectable black.
 
 " THE CUSTOM OF WAR IN LIKE CASES.'' IO3 
 
 " Second instance. In neglecting to be mea- 
 sured for a suit of grey dittoes at the depot 
 tailor's shop. 
 
 " Such conduct being calculated to aggravate 
 his brother officers and bring discredit on the 
 depot master tailor." 
 
 Witnesses were then called. 
 
 One Ensign Fitz- Herbert Smith deposed to 
 having seen the prisoner's baggage entering the 
 barrack square upon a wagon. There were 
 several packages, but no bath-tub ; that he 
 could see. He mentioned it at the time to 
 Mr. Gregson. 
 
 Cross-examined by the prisoner. " Do you 
 know a bath-tub when you see it ?" 
 
 " I do." 
 
 " Have you one of your own ?" 
 
 The general interposed, and said the ques- 
 tion could not be put. 
 
 Lieutenant Gregson was called. He had 
 been with Mr. Smith, and had been surprised to 
 see no tub among the prisoner's baggage when 
 it arrived. Thought it so odd that he took the 
 first opportunity of visiting the prisoners quar- 
 ters. There was no tub in the passage.
 
 104 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 Cross-examined. "Did you look in my room ?" 
 
 A. " I did not" 
 
 Q. " Might I not have kept the tub in my 
 room?" N 
 
 A. "No one does." 
 
 The general thought this was quite con- 
 clusive. 
 
 The third witness was Ensign Hewson Dal- 
 rymple. He was on intimate terms with the 
 prisoner. Had joined at the same time — they 
 were at drill together — witness was generally 
 late for early parade — prisoner never was. 
 Witness could only account for it by supposing 
 the prisoner did not " tub." 
 
 Assistant-Surgeon Mogford, fourth witness, 
 stated that according to custom he had in- 
 spected the prisoners kit on arrival. It was 
 customary to make this inspection in order to 
 allot the new neck-ties and the coloured shirts 
 fairly among the other officers. Nothing worth 
 annexing had been found in the prisoner's 
 boxes ; but the black suits now produced in 
 court (their production gave rise to the most 
 marked agitation on the prisoner) had been 
 discovered and tried on — they were found
 
 " THE CUSTOM OF WAR IN LIKE CASES." IO5 
 
 quite unsuited for wear in Ballybanagher. 
 Witness reported the matter. 
 
 Cross-examined. "Are you in the habit of in- 
 specting the boxes of newly joined officers." 
 
 A. " I sometimes do." 
 
 Q. " Have you never been accused of steal- 
 ing ?" 
 
 A. "Never." 
 
 "Ah," said the prisoner, " then you will be." 
 
 Brevet- Major Birch was then called into court 
 and examined by the prosecutor. 
 
 Q. " You have been some years in the ser- 
 vice ?" 
 
 A. "Twenty-two." 
 
 Q. "And have had much experience of bar- 
 rack life ?" 
 
 A. "I have lived in quarters all that time." 
 
 Q. " What do you know about the charge ?" 
 
 A. " Hearing rumours that the prisoner did 
 not tub, I felt it my duty, in the interests of 
 discipline, to make a domiciliary visit to his 
 quarters. I could find no bath-tub, either in the 
 room or in the passage. I examined the floor 
 carefully, there was no trace of damp such as is 
 invariably deposited by the outer periphery of
 
 106 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 the tub. My suspicions thus aroused, I paid 
 a second visit, at an earlier hour of the morn- 
 ing just after the prisoner had risen. He had 
 clearly not used his tub." 
 
 Cross-examined. " You state that you visited 
 my room early in the morning-." 
 
 A. " Yes ; at about 6.30 a.m." 
 
 Q. " How were you dressed ?" 
 
 The amicus curicz objected. 
 
 The prisoner urged that the question was 
 most important, and the general permitted it. 
 
 Q. " How were you dressed ? In a red 
 jacket ?" 
 
 A. " I was." 
 
 Q. " And white waistcoat ?" 
 
 A. " And white waistcoat." 
 
 Q. " In ' mess-dress ' in fact ?" 
 
 A. " Not to put too fine a point upon it, in 
 mess-dress." 
 
 Q. " This was at 6.30 a.m. Do you usually 
 put on mess-dress, that is to say evening dress, 
 when you get up of a morning ?" 
 
 A. "Never." 
 
 Q. " And you do not sleep in it, I presume ?" 
 
 A. " Certainly not."
 
 " THE CUSTOM OF WAR IN LIKE CASES. IO7 
 
 Q. " Then how came you to be in that dress, 
 at 6.30 a.m. ?" 
 
 A. "I was returning from mess." 
 
 Q. "In other words you had been up all 
 night ?" 
 
 A. " Well— I had." 
 
 Q. " Now can you swear that you didn't see 
 two bath-tubs, instead of none ? Will you 
 swear that you were ever in my room at all ? 
 Are you certain it was not your own room, 
 which is opposite mine ?" 
 
 Here the general interposed, declaring that 
 the cross-examination was irrelevant and must 
 cease. The prisoner bowed to the decision of 
 the court, but hoped he might be allowed to put 
 a few questions on another point. This was 
 conceded. 
 
 Q. " Were you at mess on the occasion of the 
 last general inspection ?" 
 
 A. "I was. But I am at a loss to conceive 
 how that " 
 
 Q. " Wait, — you sat up late ?" 
 
 A. " Till the general left, about 2 a.m." 
 
 Q. " And then went to your own quarters to 
 bed ?"
 
 108 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 A. " Yes, to bed?" 
 
 Q. " Will you swear that you slept in your 
 own bed ?" 
 
 A. -Well " 
 
 Q. " Have you a large iron coal-box in your 
 room ?" 
 
 A. " I have." 
 
 0. " Six feet by four?" 
 
 ^4. " I never measured it." 
 
 Q. "Full of coals?" 
 
 A. " Always." 
 
 0. " Do you generally sleep in it ?" 
 
 A. " Of course not." 
 
 Q. " Will you swear you were not found there 
 the morning after that dinner, or that your 
 clothes were not in the fire-place, or that your 
 bed was not full of coals ?" 
 
 The witness became covered with confusion, 
 and appealed to the court for protection. The 
 general got up in wrath. " This is without 
 exception the most unprecedented — " he began, 
 when a man rushed in, breathless, and whis- 
 pered a few words in the great man's ear. 
 
 " The enemy on the move ? Is it so ? Ha ! 
 In which direction ?"
 
 "THE CUSTOM OF WAR IN LIKE CASES." IO9 
 
 " Ballaborris." 
 
 " The outposts must be strengthened and that 
 speedily. Which of you is acquainted with the 
 locale of Ballaborris ?" 
 
 Frere stepped forward, surprised at his own 
 boldness, but he owed it to a second brandy and 
 soda, and said that he had come that night 
 from Ballaborris, and would gladly show the 
 way. 
 
 " Euge puer ! You promise well. You shall 
 accompany the reinforcement. Come, let us be 
 moving." 
 
 And with that the general rose to his feet, 
 and seemed, possibly from emotion, to be rather 
 unsteady in his gait. Alured was hustled out 
 rather sharply, but not before he had seen 
 Davidson slap the great man on the back, 
 saying, " Hold up, admiral, old chap." Why 
 admiral and not general ? Was it simply a 
 mistake of Davidson's ? Outside the night was 
 dark as pitch ; a drizzling rain had set in ; the 
 ground was deep in slush and mud. Enough to 
 damp the ardour of Alured's conductors, but at 
 the foot of the mess-house steps they met a man 
 enveloped in a large military cloak, and accom-
 
 IIO THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 panied by a sergeant with a lantern. They 
 hailed him. 
 
 "What, McLoughlin? Going your rounds?" 
 The new comer growled out an affirmative. 
 Then some short sentences passed, and Alured 
 caught, " It's such a night." " But he's so keen, 
 we mustn't baulk him," with a murmur or two 
 of suppressed laughter. 
 
 - "Come, Mr. Frere," said the man in the cloak, 
 who was introduced as Captain McLoughlin ; 
 " the troops are marching by the high-road ; 
 we will cut across." 
 
 The others returned to the mess, but Alured 
 went on with McLoughlin, convinced for the 
 moment that he was about to take part in an 
 important and solemn incident of real warfare. 
 A pretty dance they led him. Through the wet 
 fields, and by slushy lanes, or solitary paths, sum- 
 moned at intervals to halt and give the counter- 
 sign, while bayonets glittered in the scant light of 
 the lantern, arms rattled, and short sharp words 
 of command were scattered about like hailstones. 
 Alured remarked innocently that he had no 
 notion the country was in such a state. " They 
 know nothing in England," McLoughlin said ;
 
 "THE CUSTOM OF WAR IN LIKE CASES." Ill 
 
 " the fact was Government was afraid to make 
 it public. But it kept them all constantly on the 
 alert at Bally banagher." "Who were the ene- 
 my?" Alured asked, "insurgents?" "Blue boys," 
 McLoughlin told him vaguely, "and all that ;" 
 debating at the same time whether he should 
 not throw in Prince Menschikoff with a few 
 squadrons of Cossacks. Alured swallowed it all 
 greedily, and kept on with a manful stride, though 
 terribly weary long before the rounds were at 
 an end. Presently they reached the town of 
 Ballybanagher, itself one long street of miserable 
 houses, all dark, silent, and seemingly deserted. 
 McLoughlin was making for the one solitary 
 inn, Corrigan's, which adorned the place, mean- 
 ing to take a car and drive back to barracks, 
 when a yell, clear-drawn and distinct, cut 
 through the stillness like a knife. It was fol- 
 lowed by another and another, and by a con- 
 fused hubbub of voices. Then rapid footfalls 
 neared them, dropping thud, thud, thud, with 
 measured cadence as of men coming along 
 at a swinging trot. " It's the picquet," said 
 McLoughlin's sergeant. " There's fighting, sir, 
 I'll go warrant, at Tim Hogan's."
 
 112 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 " Oh, let's go too," cried Alured, forgetting 
 in his ardour that he was fatigued. " We 
 may be of use." McLoughlin did not explain 
 that Tim Hogan's was a whisky shop, 
 haunted by absentees from barracks, subject 
 to nightly rows and under the ban of the 
 police ; but leaving Alured to imagine he was 
 about to take part in an affair with the enemy, 
 pressed on, side by side with the picquet. 
 They reached Tim Hogan's. The door went 
 in like paper before them. Alured was one 
 of the first up the narrow stairs, though the 
 sergeant vainly sought to restrain him. A new 
 and thrilling sight for such a raw recruit ! The 
 room was long, low, and badly lighted, filled 
 with a mob of people, hideous with the crash of 
 voices, angry and incessant ; belts off, shille- 
 laghs playing, women tearing at their favourite 
 men to hold them back from the fray. 
 
 Alured dashed into the thick of it. He was 
 in plain clothes, and his own side did not know 
 him. In a second a swinging pipeclay belt, 
 wielded by a powerful soldier in his shirt 
 sleeves, stretched him senseless on the floor.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 LIFE AT THE DEPOT. 
 
 Justice Shallow. — There was I ; and little John Doit of 
 Staffordshire, and black George Bare, and Francis Pick- 
 bone, a Cotswold . man. . . . There was Jack Falstaff, 
 now Sir John, a boy and a page to Thomas Mowbray, Duke 
 of Norfolk. . . . 
 
 Gh the mad days that I have spent ! And to see how 
 many of my acquaintances are dead. 
 
 King Henry IV. Part Second. 
 
 When Alured came to himself it was broad 
 daylight. Mogford, the young doctor whpm 
 he had seen the night before at the trial, stood 
 by his bedside, asking him how he felt. 
 
 " Queerish, eh ? Don't wonder at it. Here, 
 take this ' pick-me-up.' It'll put you straight 
 in no time." 
 
 Alured was most anxious to know what had 
 happened, and where he was. 
 
 " You got a cracker on the head last night, 
 that's all. Mac brought you home in a car, 
 and we put you to bed. These are Davidson's 
 quarters." 
 
 VOL. i. I
 
 114 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 " What time is it ? " 
 
 " Past twelve." 
 
 " So late. May I get up ? " 
 
 " Of course — if you're equal to it. David- 
 son's servant's outside. He'll get your tub 
 and things ready. Come over to the mess 
 when you're dressed." 
 
 The servant said Davidson was away in the 
 drill-field, but he'd be back soon on his way 
 to breakfast, and presently the captain came in. 
 
 " All right this morning ? It was a shame 
 of us to send you out that way." 
 
 Alured was still somewhat bewildered, and 
 longed to ask all about the events of the 
 previous night. But Davidson rather evaded 
 the subject. 
 
 " Hungry are you ? Then you can't be much 
 wrong. Come along; I've ordered breakfast." 
 
 It was the same room that had served as 
 court-house. A long table ran down the 
 centre, at which a dozen or more men were 
 seated, nearly all of whom looked up and 
 smiled pleasantly on Alured as he came in. 
 
 " Good morning, Frere." 
 
 " Good morning."
 
 LIFE AT THE DEPOT. 115 
 
 " Hope you're all right ? " 
 
 " None the worse ? " 
 
 " Poor joke for you, after all," and so forth, 
 leading Alured to understand that he had 
 become a sort of centre for their sympathies. 
 
 " Where's the admiral ? Not been over 
 yet ? " asked some one. 
 
 " He's late." 
 
 " A lot of recruits have come in ; they're 
 keeping him at the hospital." 
 
 " There's his voice." 
 
 It was the same deep bass that Alured 
 had heard presiding at the trial. The 
 " general " and old Draycott, the adjutant, 
 came in together. They were both laughing 
 hugely at some story, and Draycott was 
 saying, — "You know you mustn't do it. 
 There'll be another row. The general, — the 
 real chap I mean — " 
 
 Alured looked up, and caught the mock 
 general's eye. 
 
 " Halloa, small chap ! " roared the general 
 or the admiral, or Starkie, surgeon in charge, 
 as I shall call him in future, " you're there 
 are you ? How do you feel this morning ?
 
 I 1 6 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 None the worse I hope. Not a bad begin- 
 ning for such an infant. They say you per- 
 formed prodigies of valour. But don't go on 
 this way, or we must send you back to your 
 mother ; if we're not all lagged for infant- 
 icide." 
 
 " Don't mind him, Frere," said Davidson, 
 good-naturedly. " His sense of repartee is 
 blunted, is the admiral's, of a morning. His 
 jokes are too feeble." 
 
 " I thought he was a general ? " 
 
 "And he's only a doctor after all ! " roared 
 Starkie, with a great guffaw. Then, changing 
 his tone, he summoned the waiter. 
 
 " Mess-waiter, bring me a glass of water." 
 
 " Yes, sir," going. 
 
 " And, mess-waiter, — put a little brandy 
 in it. 
 
 " Yes, sir," going again. 
 
 " And, — mess- waiter, you can leave out the 
 water." 
 
 A strange being, this Starkie ; one of the 
 last of the hard-drinking men of a by-gone 
 generation, who, thanks to an iron constitution, 
 had survived his fellows, and stood like a
 
 LIFE AT THE DEPOT. I I J 
 
 bit of drift timber left by the receding tide 
 just above water-mark, — a tall, handsome man, 
 with something still of the old rollicking devil- 
 may-care address which had won him once 
 success among a certain class, and made him 
 piquant and interesting even now to the young 
 men at Ballybanagher. See him of an even- 
 ing, late, as he leant with half-drunken solem- 
 nity against the mantelpiece, with a brandy 
 and soda in one hand, while he waved the 
 other to and fro as he gesticulated and laid 
 down the law to the youngsters standing open- 
 mouthed around. To bed in the small hours ; 
 but no matter at what hour he turned in, half- 
 past eight next morning saw him at his hospital, 
 and woe to assistant or sergeant who was not 
 there to receive him. Towards noon he came 
 back to mess, and made a giant's breakfast. 
 While thus employed, you might hear the 
 deep tones of his tremendous voice abusing 
 the mess -waiters, or entertaining a select 
 audience with questionable stories. Such 
 was old Starkie, — " the admiral," as they 
 called him aptly enough, from his high and 
 mighty " quarter-deck " manner, from the long
 
 n8 the queen's shilling. 
 
 stride with which he paced the ante-room, 
 and from his big speaking-trumpet tones, as 
 if he were continually hailing the captain of 
 the main-top. A kind-hearted man withal, who 
 would sit up night after night to watch the 
 bedside of man, woman, or child who needed it; 
 refusing drink the while till he brought him- 
 self by his abstinence on the verge of delirium 
 tremens. A man of varied experience, and 
 well up in the work of his own profession, 
 but a dangerous companion for the wild lads 
 at Ballybanagher. 
 
 Such a team of unmanageable colts no Jehu 
 had ever been called uoon to drive. Some 
 
 J. 
 
 but just emancipated from school and home 
 restraints, were still half-mad with excitement ; 
 others, a few months older, had already tasted 
 of the knowledge of the world, but in those 
 small doses which are proverbially dangerous. 
 The latter took the lead at Ballybanagher; 
 there was no one to keep them in check. The 
 colonel commanding, his major and adjutant, 
 were married, and lived away from mess ; of 
 the few captains present, some were either 
 children like the rest, prematurely promoted,
 
 LIFE AT THE DEPOT. 119 
 
 or aged broken-down men like Birch, who 
 had no influence whatever. So Starkie and half 
 a dozen choice spirits, self selected, ruled the 
 roast. According to their verdict, the newly 
 joined ensign was treated well or ill. In those 
 days vacancies were so numerous, and the 
 demand for new officers so great, that the new 
 comers were rather a mixed lot. Old and young, 
 rich and poor, gentleman and cad. One aged 
 ensign brought his wife and children to watch 
 from their barrack room poor papa performing 
 painful exercises in the drill-field. Bulger 
 was another specimen ; a snob so atrocious 
 that it was a mystery how he had passed 
 muster at the Horse Guards. Starkie declared 
 that he was put into the army by Skylarkers, 
 the great contractors, as " tout " for their 
 establishment. Bulger's antecedents were 
 unmistakeably commercial. He checked his 
 mess and wine account by double entry, and 
 kept a petty cash book to record his daily 
 expenditure. St. Pierre, again, was of a 
 different stamp. Educated in France, he 
 spoke English like a foreigner, and could " do " 
 nothing except argue : neither shoot, fish, ride
 
 120 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 or play at cricket, — deficiencies sadly in his 
 disfavour, and receiving a greater prominence 
 from his worship of French institutions, from 
 his outspoken contempt for " you English," 
 and his readiness to maintain all day and every 
 day the case Bonaparte versus Wellington. 
 With such men as these Starkie's committee 
 made short work. " Frenchy " found his door 
 nailed up most nights when he got back from 
 mess, or the ends of his trousers sewn across 
 next morning, so that he was late for early 
 parade. They pitchforked Bulger's furniture out 
 of the window, and cobbed him when he talked 
 about assessed damages. For poor Annandale, 
 the aged ensign, who was rather short-sighted, 
 they laid traps in the mess-room ; thin lines 
 of gut, as strong as steel, extending between 
 the joints on the sideboard and the legs of 
 the ponderous mess-room table, across which 
 he stumbled and fell, bringing dishes and all 
 to the ground. Bloxam, better known in after- 
 life as " Barnacle Bloxam," from the tenacity 
 with which he held on to the great people he 
 floated against, was treated with more leniency, 
 because, even in that early stage of this his
 
 LIFE AT THE DEPOT. 121 
 
 limpet-life existence, he attached himself to 
 Starkie's committee as representing something 
 superior to himself : he gave them champagne 
 grog-fights in his room, and stood a drag and 
 lunch all round for Knockaloftv Races. Bloxam 
 must have been descended from the peculiar peo- 
 ple, so sumptuous were his tastes. His quarters, 
 furnished as he thought with unparalleled splen- 
 dour, were like a back parlour in Wardour 
 Street : all costly engravings, silk velvet, gilt 
 chairs, mirrors, and bricabrac. Cassidy, the 
 general dealer in Ballybanagher, did it all for 
 him. In this tasteful boudoir he passed his 
 spare hours lounging negligently on a sofa, in 
 a crimson brocaded dressing-gown, with an 
 embroidered smoking-cap upon his nicely oiled 
 locks ; reading, at least holding in his hand, a 
 handsomely bound book, but the contents 
 were of less consequence than its gilded edges 
 and morocco cover. It was a sight, too, to see 
 him issue forth dressed to captivate the neigh- 
 bouring natives. His long great coat had to 
 be lifted at a muddy crossing, — and Bally- 
 banagher itself was one long crossing, — like a 
 lady's skirt ; his umbrella was barely as big
 
 122 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 as a toothpick ; his trousers fell like an ex- 
 tinguisher over his brilliant shoes, hiding, except 
 at rare intervals, the flashes of his rainbow- 
 hued socks and gorgeous bows. Other young 
 men there were at Ballybanagher whose pecu- 
 liarities were not less strongly marked. Some 
 went in wildly for athletics. Clayton climbed 
 daily from window to window, till he reached 
 the roof. Parkins made wagers that he would 
 walk to Knockalofty and back, eighteen miles, 
 in five hours. Trowbridge's dreams were of 
 dogs ; rats were his only aim. Ainstie joined 
 with a strongly-developed taste for entomology, 
 and after enduring much persecution, and the 
 titles of Crusher or Beetle Ainstie, founded a 
 school of his own. But he and his followers 
 were the adjutant's especial aversion. Even 
 in the drill-field, science absorbed them, and 
 intricate manoeuvres failed because an actor 
 here and there had stooped to pick up an insect. 
 Billiards claimed the worship of many. The 
 green-table at Corrigan's hotel witnessed more 
 than one discreditable fracas : scuffles with 
 billiard cues, doubtful play, and bets mis- 
 managed. Nor were these the only scrapes
 
 LIFE AT THE DEPOT. 1 23 
 
 into which the young men fell. Gambling at 
 sixpenny loo, heavy nights at mess, and so 
 forth. There is always work of a certain kind 
 for idle hands ; and it was too much to expect 
 old heads upon all these young shoulders. 
 
 Alrired might have fared badly at first in this 
 motley crew. For his youth and innocence had 
 marked him down as an easy prey the very 
 night of his arrival. But there had been a 
 strong reaction in his favour after the pluck 
 he displayed in the shebeen house brawl. He 
 had stoutly resisted moreover all attempts 
 on the part of the adjutant to elicit the par- 
 ticulars of the row ; an immense let-off for 
 McLoughlin, Davidson, and others, who dreaded 
 the consequences of an exposL An officer struck 
 by a private soldier in a pot-house, has an ugly 
 sound, reader. It means a general court- 
 martial, with all sorts of pains and penalties 
 for those concerned. So the young fellows were 
 most grateful for his reticence. But Draycott 
 did not like it. He was a busybody with a. 
 conscience, who felt it his duty to ferret out 
 everything, for the colonel's private ear. Now 
 Alured, as a recruit, was handed over to the
 
 I 24 THE QUEEN S SHILLING. 
 
 adjutant, body and soul, and Draycott could 
 not foreet all at once that he had been baffled. 
 At the first drill parade he was more than 
 usually grumpy. Alured had come out flushed 
 with excusable pride, in all the glory of a scarlet 
 jacket indued for the first time. Draycott, 
 looking at him from head to foot, addressed 
 him with a sneer, thus : — 
 
 " And what do you expect me to do with 
 you ? You're too small to hold a rifle ; and 
 I can't put you in front of a squad of recruits, 
 they'd laugh at you. You'd better go and play 
 with the other children there," pointing to a 
 group of soldiers' brats, busy at mud-pies 
 in a distant corner of the square. 
 
 Alured, wounded to the heart, stepped out 
 and began to stammer " he was past sixteen." 
 
 " Silence, sir ! " roared the adjutant, monarch 
 irresponsible and implacable. " Don't answer 
 me, sir. Don't speak in the ranks, sir. You've 
 got to learn a lot, and that's one of the first 
 lessons. Fall in ! " 
 
 A hot flush sprang to Alured's cheek. He 
 had yet to learn indifference — stolid indiffer- 
 ence — to the abrupt peremptoriness that comes
 
 LIFE AT THE DEPOT. 1 25 
 
 to be a second nature with those who command 
 soldiers, and are commanded by them. 
 
 His fellow-ensigns, when the drill was over 
 told him not to mind old Draycott. He was a 
 brute always. But not the less did A lured chafe 
 at Draycott's treatment on this and subsequent 
 occasions. Why should the adjutant single out 
 him, and him only, for constant attack ? Was 
 he, Frere, the only one who was always wrong 
 — who moved off always with right foot instead 
 of left (as if it mattered !); who forgot which was 
 the " front," and hesitated about " changing his 
 flank " at the word of command ? His earliest 
 letters home, — and hither he turned, not un- 
 naturally, to pour out his woes and gather 
 sympathy, — were tinged with the unhappiness 
 he felt. In reply, the major laughed at him, 
 pointing his jests with wise soldier saws that 
 might have made copybook headings in a 
 military school. " The adjutant is the recruits' 
 best friend ;" " Silent suffering is the backbone 
 of discipline ;" " Insubordination is the ruin 
 of armies;" and so forth. Brave-hearted Mrs. 
 Frere understood him better, and, knowing 
 the medicine he needed, wrote encouraging
 
 126 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 words, bidding him face his troubles and beat 
 them. It was early in the fight, she said, to 
 succumb. The adjutant was a hateful man, 
 but perhaps he acted for the best. A mother's 
 sympathy goes straight home to the heart at 
 Alured's age. He began to pluck up his 
 courage remembering how some such assistance 
 from the same loving source had tided him 
 over tv-tttco into the deepest Greek. Surely 
 the drill-book was not tougher than Thucydides; 
 to form square on the two centre subdivisions 
 must be child's play to iambics. Davidson 
 helped him, and McLoughlin ; he read and 
 pondered day after day, till the diagrams ceased 
 to bewilder him, and he had grasped in his 
 memory the parrot-like utterances that con- 
 stitute the words of command. With know- 
 ledge came confidence. He found that he 
 could stand unabashed before a company of 
 men, even with Draycott at his elbow. The 
 lad was so anxious, and took such evident pains 
 to succeed, that in the end he won a complete 
 victory over his cruel task-master. Draycott 
 relented, and began to love the lad in his own 
 surly fashion ; patting him on the back with
 
 f 
 
 LIFE AT THE DEPOT. I 27 
 
 such approving speeches as " You'll do yet, Boy 
 Frere ;" " I've made a man of you ;" and " I 
 wish there were more like you." 
 
 Other trials, more difficult to overcome than 
 drill, met him at this the on^et of his career. 
 Temptations thickly strew the path of youth 
 just emancipated. But Alured was firmly fixed 
 in the principles he had learned at home. He 
 could not condescend to gamble, drink, or swear, 
 as many around him did, even in a moderate 
 degree. His mind, pure, and still uncon- 
 taminated, shrank with sensitive shyness from 
 Starkie's double-edged stories ; and those with 
 whom he lived respected his innocence, admir- 
 ing his inoffensive blameless life. After a 
 month at Ballybanagher, there was no one 
 more universally popular than " Boy Frere."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE; ON THE 
 "THRESHOLD. 
 
 " There was a sound of revelry by night, 
 . . . and bright 
 The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men." 
 
 Childe Harold. 
 
 " You're in luck, Frere." 
 
 " How so ? " 
 
 It was breakfast- time, and a dozen or more 
 officers were in the mess-room, some at table, 
 others turning over on the mantelpiece the 
 letters lying there that had arrived by that 
 morning's post. Alured had just come in, and 
 he repeated his question. 
 
 " Why am I in luck ?" 
 
 " Here's a ticket for you. You're the only 
 man they've asked !" 
 
 " Man ! do you call that thing a man ? He's 
 a child, and it's a children's party ; that's why 
 they want him." 
 
 " You'll have to play with Miss What's-her-
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE : ON THE THRESHOLD. 1 29 
 
 name ; and you'll have tea and jam in the 
 nursery; and we'll send the maid for you at 
 eight punctually." 
 
 " But where am I asked ? For goodness' 
 sake tell me !" 
 
 " For goodness' sake ! How nicely he 
 swears! You're coming on. It'll be some- 
 thing much stronger soon," said old Birch. 
 
 " Give him the card," interposed Davidson, 
 who had just come in. 
 
 " If I don't let him have it, he can't go. Do 
 you want to go very much, boy ?" 
 
 " Boy yourself ! But go where ? Give it 
 me, do," cried Alured rather pettishly, stretch- 
 ing across the table. 
 
 " Hands off! None of your snatching, Boy 
 Frere." 
 
 "If you're so rough, they won't ask you 
 to the Castle any more," said some one else. 
 "You'll be hurting the other children." 
 
 " The Castle ?" 
 
 " Yes, the Castle; fancy that," continued his 
 tormentor. " Here, look. Can you read it 
 across the table ? The letters are big enough, 
 I 'm sure. Listen — 
 
 vol. 1. K
 
 13O THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 " ' The Countess of Moynehan will be at 
 home to Mr. Frere of the 145th, on the 13th 
 at 9 o'clock ;' and there's to be dancing and 
 divilments of all kinds, I don't doubt." 
 
 Alured remembered Moynehan Castle well 
 enough. It was the home of that queenly 
 personage who had pitied and petted him 
 when so forlorn. 
 
 " What do you mean by it, Boy Frere ?" 
 asked Davidson laughingly, as he took the 
 card, and gave it to Alured. " What do you 
 mean by coming down here with your sham 
 innocence and childish ways, when it turns 
 out you are hand and glove with all the lords 
 and ladies in the place ? Here have we been 
 all of us ten months or more at Ballybanagher, 
 and never has a man of us darkened old 
 Moynehan's doors." 
 
 The fact was the neighbouring county 
 families looked with little favour on the over- 
 grown depot which occupied the barracks, and 
 did not care to make acquaintances. 
 
 " Here's Bloxam," went on Davidson, " ready 
 to pay handsomely for a ticket like that, just 
 to frame it, and hang it over his mantelpiece.
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE : ON THE THRESHOLD. 1 3 1 
 
 And you, you miserable little beggar, are 
 asked to a dance at the Castle within a month 
 or two of your joining. What do you mean 
 by it, eh ?" 
 
 " Come on ; I 'm not afraid of you," cried 
 Alured, squaring up to his captain. " 111 
 fight you for the invitation." 
 
 " You've lots of cheek, you have. It was 
 only yesterday, about, that you called me Sir, 
 and seemed so soft that butter wouldn't melt in 
 your mouth. Now, you're offering to strike 
 your superior officer. Do you know it is a 
 court-martial offence ?" 
 
 " Oh, yes ; I know all about your courts- 
 martial. Give me the card, — will you, or won't 
 you r 
 
 "Well — I will. There, boy, take it, and 
 gladden your eyes with it. But don't get 
 snobbish, and gloat over the big names too 
 much. These fellows are dying with envy 
 at your luck ; but don't think too much of it, 
 I tell you. You'll wish yourself back here, 
 when once you get to the Castle." 
 
 "I won't. Why should I ?" 
 
 " Because the people you meet at those places 
 
 *s
 
 132 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 have a way of looking at you till you begin 
 to feel like an escaped criminal or a lost dog — 
 quite out of place, and liable to instant capture 
 and removal." 
 
 Bloxam had been deep in thought for some 
 time. At last he remarked speculatively, " I 
 wonder how you managed to get this ticket 
 Frere ? They tell me the countess is a real 
 knock-me-down fine lady." 
 
 " Who never speaks to anything under a 
 duke," shouted Starkie, "and has baronets for 
 footmen, eh?" 
 
 « No, but— " 
 
 " You wonder why Boy Frere is asked ? 
 Perhaps they'll invite you too, if you dress 
 yourself in a suit of sky blue velvet, and drive 
 up and down in front of the lodge" 
 
 " You're always down on me, Starkie. You 
 know I haven't got a suit of blue velvet." 
 
 Everybody grinned. 
 
 " I met Lord and Lady Moynehan at 
 Ballaborris station, and they gave me a seat 
 as far as this in their carriage," said Frere, 
 apologetically almost, to the whole company. 
 
 " And as you didn't pick his lordship's
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE: ON THE THRESHOLD. 1 33 
 
 pockets, or tread upon her ladyship's toes, they 
 wish to keep up the acquaintance. Natural 
 enough," said Davidson. 
 
 Bloxam said nothing, but he came to the 
 conclusion that introduction was everything. 
 Perhaps if the Moynehans were to meet him 
 too, they might give him the entrie to their 
 house. When he returned to his quarters, 
 he searched his wardrobe — not for sky blue 
 velvet, but for something striking, in which 
 he might parade himself for the inspection of 
 the countess the next time the band played 
 on the mall at Ballybanagher. 
 
 When the night of the 13th arrived, Alured, 
 in fear and trembling, arrayed himself in a 
 tail coat, and tied, for the first time in his life, 
 a white cravat around his neck. For Alured 
 Frere, setat sixteen years and two months, had 
 never been to an evening party before, still 
 less to a ball at an earl's castle. His luck in 
 being the only officer invited reacted rather 
 on himself. He had to travel to Moynehan 
 alone, five dreary miles, with no company but 
 his own thoughts. As he got nearer and 
 nearer to the scene of this new ordeal, his
 
 134 • THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 courage sank, and threatened soon to evaporate 
 altogether. Despair was in his heart when, 
 passing the lodge gates and entering the 
 drive, he knew that his hour had come. Not 
 far from the house, Alured's car joined itself 
 to a string of carriages moving slowly forward 
 to where a great stream of blazing light issued 
 forth from the entrance hall. In this bright 
 white ray the wet holly bushes glistened and 
 twinkled ; footmen in long drab coats came 
 and went; here and there was the sparkle of 
 gold or brilliants, and figures in fluffy gauze 
 or transparent tulle floated by like clouds swift- 
 on the wing. Poor little Alured was quite 
 bewildered when it came to his turn to descend 
 from the Irish car where he sat perched, and 
 he entered abashed and humble in the full 
 gaze of the liveried lackeys who stood around, 
 calmly superior and indifferent. None of them 
 offered to take his coat or hat, nor did any 
 servant address him, but one led the way to 
 a grand staircase, and reaching the first of a 
 suite of antechambers, gave a superb wave of 
 his hand, as much as to say — " There you are ; 
 it's all before you." A long vista of rooms,
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE : ON THE THRESHOLD. 1 35 
 
 empty most of them, but Alured could see 
 an occasional pair of calves ranging away in 
 the distance, the property of other retainers 
 placed like buoys to mark the passage. Alured 
 walked on in silent awe, and with a cold feeling 
 at his heart that he had come the wrong night. 
 Why had he not brought the card with him ? 
 or was he too late, or too early ? By degrees 
 he got into the channel, drifting past couples 
 together in corners, or an old gentleman button- 
 holed by another old gentleman. Then the 
 shipping, to continue our metaphor, became 
 more numerous ; crafts of every build and rig, 
 under full sail, or lying at anchor, and presently 
 he reached the haven itself, the ball-room, 
 crammed full of people. Round about the 
 doorway was a dense hedge of heads, but 
 between the interstices, a glimpse was caught 
 of flying figures within, careering wildly to the 
 tune of a furiously rapid waltz. 
 
 As yet, no one had come forward to receive 
 Alured, and he felt rather uncomfortable. 
 Everybody but himself seemed to know other 
 people ; he alone had not a friend to throw 
 him a civil word. Already he began to re-
 
 I36 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 member Davidson's prophecy that he would 
 wish himself home again. To retrace his steps, 
 and run for it was his first impulse ; but, like 
 Cortes, he had burned his ships, by sending 
 away his car, and his line of retreat was closed 
 till two in the morning. 
 
 Soon the music stopped, and the couples 
 that had been dancing came out past him. He 
 imagined that they were all staring at him. 
 One old dowager drove him nearly frantic by 
 inspecting him closely through her eye-glass. 
 
 Was there anything wrong with his dress ? 
 He looked at the other men, and noted the style 
 of their neck-ties, the cut of their coats, and 
 seemed to see a difference. It is not unusual 
 for people — young men, shy boys, and women, 
 particularly — to be affected by the style or con- 
 dition of their apparel. Dress has often a 
 potent influence upon their actions and their 
 peace of mind. A man must be either very 
 self-possessed or very simple-minded who can 
 continue to speak impressively to a large 
 audience, when the bow of his neck-tie has got 
 close under his left ear. There are some 
 angelic females who can continue to be charm-
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE: ON THE THRESHOLD. 1 37 
 
 ing even when they know their bonnets to be 
 crooked or their hair is tumbling down their 
 backs. But these are surely the exceptions. 
 The sense of misfit, of inappropriateness of the 
 appearance in a high dress, when everybody 
 else is in a low, in a frock coat instead of a 
 swallow-tail — this external inconformity checks, 
 as a rule, all buoyancy of spirit, ruins the 
 temper, ties the tongue. So Alured thought, 
 painfully, that of the other men he saw about, 
 some had on white waistcoats, some had velvet 
 collars to their coats, and some had brought 
 their hats upstairs. Feeling more uncomfort- 
 able every moment, he tried to sneak off and 
 hide in some out-of-the-way corner. But there 
 was no loophole of escape, that he could see. 
 At that moment he would have gladly hired at 
 a high price a partner just to escort him across 
 the passage and round the corner. But no 
 charming girl was likely to offer herself, even 
 as a temporary loan. 
 
 Then said some one en passant — 
 " I cannot understand why the Moynehans 
 fill their rooms with such a set. Did you ever 
 see such odd people ?"
 
 138 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 It is a guest's privilege, of course, to find 
 fault with his host, — to abuse his bread while 
 he eats it, and pick holes in his companions. 
 A very general practice, perhaps, but new to 
 Alured, who took the ill-natured remark en- 
 tirely to himself. Rather than listen to such 
 criticisms, he turned tail and fled. 
 
 Fled past ottoman and couch, through a 
 picture gallery, a card-room, and a library, till 
 he reached a retired spot, — a couple of small 
 rooms, seemingly the thoroughfare to another 
 part or wing of the castle, fitted up with simple 
 furniture but very snug and quiet, and unas- 
 suming. Here, in a wide arm-chair before the 
 fire, Alured ensconced himself, taking first a 
 book from the shelves at hand. But Hallam's 
 History of Literature could not absorb his at- 
 tention altogether. He found himself debating 
 whether it was possible for him to escape from 
 the house. He had quite enough of the ball 
 already. But how to face the men at Bally- 
 banagher to-morrow ? At this moment a voice 
 close by roused him from his thoughts and 
 Hallam's History. A new voice to him, but 
 sweet and clear as a silver chime —
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE : ON THE THRESHOLD. 1 39 
 
 " Why don't you go and dance ?" 
 
 The question was repeated before Alured 
 answered, and the second time there was a 
 pretty petulance in the query. 
 
 He looked up, and saw before him a child ; 
 though, after all, she was only a few years 
 younger than himself. A pretty, petite, fairy- 
 like creature, with great, wide-open, astonished 
 brown eyes, and a torrent of soft black hair 
 hurrying down below her waist in rippling 
 tresses. She tapped her little shoe on the floor 
 again and again, as she cried — 
 
 " Why don't you go and dance, I say ?" 
 
 " I can't dance. I don't know how." 
 
 " Not dance ? Not* waltz or galop ? Why 
 I can't remember when I couldn't dance. 
 But—" 
 
 She was doubting whether he was really a 
 guest, or whether it was right for her to be 
 speaking to him. It was not usual, she 
 thought, for gentlemen to say they couldn't 
 dance. 
 
 " Are you — ?" She wanted to ask him who 
 he was, but could not frame the question 
 rightly.
 
 140 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 " I am an officer. From the barracks at 
 Ballybanagher." 
 
 u An officer ! How nice ! But where's your 
 red coat ? Don't you officers wear red coats ? 
 and swords ? and sashes ? I've seen them 
 often. But " — again doubts assailed her — " I 
 don't believe you are an officer. You're 
 too—" 
 
 " Too what ?" 
 
 " Too young." 
 
 Alured laughed. "I'm older than you are, 
 I dare say." 
 
 " I dare say. But I'm not an officer." 
 
 " Would you like to be ?" 
 
 A very decisive negative shake of the head. 
 
 " Not a bit." Then, " But why don't you 
 go into the ballroom ? Do you know many 
 people ?" 
 
 " You're the first person I have spoken to 
 to-night, and no one has spoken to me." 
 
 "What, hasn't aunt ? Haven't you made your 
 bow to my aunt ? Nor to Uncle Moynehan ? 
 Shall we go and see them ? Don't you know 
 them ?" 
 
 " I met them once at Ballaborris station, and
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE: ON THE THRESHOLD. 141 
 
 they took me to the barracks in their car- 
 riage." 
 
 "Why you must be the little officer that 
 aunt said would just do to play with me. Play 
 with me, indeed ! But, I say, wasn't it funny 
 we should meet in this way ? " 
 
 11 I'm delighted." 
 
 " Thank you. But I was told I wasn't to 
 come down to the ball. Then I heard music, 
 and oh, it was so stupid in the schoolroom ; so 
 I made Hedger — that's our maid, you know — 
 dress me, and here I am." 
 
 " And very nice you look." 
 
 "Yes; don't I!" said she. "But do let us 
 go in and dance. Stay ; I forgot you couldn't 
 dance. Never mind ; we'll stop here. If I 
 did go into the ballroom, I should be ordered 
 straight off to bed. We'll stay and talk here, 
 — that is, if you don't mind." 
 
 " Oh no ; I don't mind," replied Alured, 
 highly amused. 
 
 "And I'll tell you what we'll do; we will 
 sit out like two grown-up people and flirt. Do 
 you know how to flirt ?" she added, looking at 
 him with her great innocent eyes.
 
 142 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 " Not in the least. You shall teach me." 
 
 " Very well. Sit down there, — not so far off. 
 Now look in my face, and say something." 
 
 "What sort of thing?" 
 
 " Oh, something interesting, amusing, plea- 
 sant." 
 
 Alured could not for the life of him imagine 
 what to say. 
 
 " Can't you begin ? Can you say nothing ?" 
 
 " I never felt so stupid in all my life." 
 
 " We can't go on like this, you know. Peo- 
 ple would think it so odd. Shall I show you 
 some pictures, or my flowers in the conserva- 
 tory. No; the conservatory is too far off; but 
 we've got a famous quantity of hothouse plants 
 here close by. Come, come along ; don't be 
 afraid," said the little lady, with a patronising 
 pat of the hand. 
 
 She led the way into the next room, at the 
 far end of which, behind a heavy curtain, was 
 a sort of winter garden on a balcony apparently 
 closed in with glass. 
 
 " And you haven't got a flower in your 
 button-hole ! Well ! I declare I have never 
 seen any one in this house without a flower
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE : ON THE THRESHOLD. 1 43 
 
 in his button-hole. Have this camelia, will 
 you ?" 
 
 " Are you sure you may pick it ?" 
 
 " Oh, yes. But I must cut it. Wait only a 
 minute ; I'll run for a pair of scissors." 
 
 She was off like an arrow from a bow. 
 
 Alured waited patiently where he was ; but 
 the seconds flew by, and he began to wonder 
 what kept her. He was on the point of fol- 
 lowing the little maid, when voices approach- 
 ing cautioned him to remain concealed. 
 
 " Here ; come in here." 
 
 It was Lady Moynehan herself who swept 
 into the room, accompanied by a servant in 
 livery. 
 
 " What are you doing in this house ? How 
 dare you come here ? What is the meaning of 
 this dress ?" 
 
 "It means, my lady, that I am now footman 
 to Sir Arthur Gore, and I am helping in the 
 supper- room." 
 
 He was in plush, silk stockings, and powder, 
 with square- cut whiskers ; in every respect a 
 strictly correct " Jeames." 
 
 " What brought you to these parts ?"
 
 144 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 " I only came to see her." 
 
 "Her/ Whom?" 
 
 " Millicent. I must see her." 
 
 " She is in bed, hours ago." 
 
 " Excuse me, I saw her run from this room, 
 not a minute ago. I must see her, and hear 
 her voice again." 
 
 Millicent at this moment ran in. 
 
 "Millicent!" cried her ladyship, in a vexed 
 tone ; " what are you doing, up and dressed 
 at this time of night ? You ought to have 
 been in bed hours ago. Run away, my child, 
 and tell Hedger she was wrong to let you 
 come." 
 
 Millicent went off with a slow, lingering 
 step, hanging her head, but without a word. 
 
 When she was out of sight, Lady Moynehan 
 turned to her companion. " Now, you will be 
 good enough to go too." 
 
 The man scowled, and said with an oath, 
 " Do not provoke me." 
 
 " Is this the way you keep your promises ? 
 Unless you leave my house this instant, I'll 
 have you turned out. I must see whether I 
 cannot teach you to keep your place. Perhaps
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE I ON THE THRESHOLD. 1 45 
 
 I may, through your pocket I will stop the 
 payment I have made hitherto, unless you 
 engage to leave this neighbourhood at once. 
 But I wonder at your effrontery at entering 
 this house. Begone, I say, or I will have you 
 turned out." 
 
 " You daren't, my lady." 
 
 The man had recovered himself, and with 
 native impudence began to swagger. There 
 was evidently some secret between them — a 
 disagreeable secret ; for as he waxed more rude 
 and menacing, she became strangely agitated, 
 though striving to look and speak bravely. 
 
 "If you raise a cry or lift a finger, my lady, 
 you'll repent it. Do you wish me to announce 
 myself to Lord Moynehan and this houseful of 
 people ? Do you want me to tell them who I 
 am ? By heavens !" he added, with a brutal 
 laugh, " I'll go and do it now." 
 
 " No, no ! anything but that" 
 
 " I thought that would bring, you to book. 
 Be more reasonable." 
 
 " What is it you want now ? You surely 
 cannot wish to stay in these parts as you are ?" 
 pointing to his livery. 
 
 vol 1. l
 
 I46 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 " I don't know. It's not a bad crib, Gore- 
 ham. But I'll go if you particularly wish it." 
 
 " Where ?" 
 
 " Anywhere will suit you, I suppose, if it's 
 only far enough. But you must shell out. I'll 
 collar the swag first. I'll go to the. Crimea if 
 you like ; there's lots of openings there for 
 honest men." 
 
 " What do you require ?" 
 
 " A couple of monkeys." 
 
 " What ?" Her hesitation was not at the 
 request ; but she really did not know what he 
 meant. 
 
 " Well, say a hundred." 
 
 "In addition?" 
 
 " Of course. A bonus as we say in busi- 
 ness." 
 
 " You shall have it to-morrow." 
 
 " No, no, no ; none of your gammon. You 
 must pay me here now. I don't budge a 
 foot till I've pouched the. dibs. You can't 
 play the fool with me ; come, down with the 
 dust." 
 
 " Do you suppose I carry hundred pound 
 notes about me sewn up in my ball-dress ?
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE * ON THE THRESHOLD. 1 47 
 
 You must wait, but you shall have the money 
 I promised you." 
 
 " I must have something on account then. 
 I don't trust you women, no not an inch. 
 Here, give me one of those trumpery bracelets. 
 I'll take it as a pledge." 
 
 " I cannot, indeed I cannot. You must 
 trust me." 
 
 " That I will not. Here, no nonsense," he 
 cried, seizing her wrist roughly. 
 
 " Ah ! " it was only a little scream, but it 
 brought Alured out from behind the curtain, 
 and the next minute the ruffian was thrown 
 to the ground. There was something in the 
 glowing eye of his young assailant that warned 
 the other when he rose to his feet, that he had 
 better throw up the sponge. 'Almost directly 
 he slunk away and left the room. 
 
 Then Lady Moynehan turned at once to 
 Alured, and said to him hurriedly and angrily, 
 " Where did you drop from ?" 
 
 The reply and conversation which followed 
 deserve another chapter.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MO YNEHAN CA STLE: GAINING GROUND. 
 
 Beatrice advances. 
 
 Beat. — What fire is in my ears ? Can this be true ? 
 
 Much Ado about Nothing. 
 
 "Where did you drop from ?" Lady Moynehan 
 had asked while Alured stood like a culprit 
 before her. But not as one hardened in crime, 
 who faces his judge with brazen unabashed 
 front ; he hung his head sheepishly, and had 
 not a word to say. But he pointed to the recess 
 in the window. 
 
 "How long have you been there ? No — tell 
 me first," she went on, rather rudely, " who 
 are you ? " 
 
 Perhaps this wounded him more than detec- 
 tion. Was he so insignificant and unworthy 
 that within a few weeks she had forgotten him 
 altogether ? 
 
 " My name is Frere, Alured Frere. You 
 asked me to come to the ball. I'm sure I wish 
 I had not ; and I'm very, very sorry."
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE : GAINING GROUND. 1 49 
 
 Of course this was the most cunning method 
 to disarm her anger. In her own heart Lady 
 Moynehan was grateful for his prompt assist- 
 ance, but she could not forgive him all at 
 once the crime of listening. 
 
 " How long were you there, I ask ? I mean 
 behind that curtain ?" 
 
 " Half an hour at least." 
 
 '• Who, or what took you there ?" 
 
 " A young lady, I mean a child." 
 
 "Millicent!" 
 
 " Yes ; your niece, I think." 
 
 " And did you hear what passed between 
 us — between me and that man ? Be honest, 
 Mr. Frere." 
 
 Alured looked up into her face, and said as 
 bravely as he could, — 
 
 "I'm afraid I heard every word." 
 
 " And what do you call yourself — a gentle- 
 man ? Faugh, I'm surprised at you. What 
 gentleman would listen to other people's con- 
 versation ?" 
 
 " It was hardly my fault, Lady Moynehan. 
 I had no way of escape — except just past 
 you.
 
 I50 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 " And why did you not take it ?" asked 
 her ladyship coldly, and with an incredulous 
 shrug of her white shoulders. The excuse 
 seemed so pitiably inadequate. 
 
 " From the first moment I felt that I had 
 heard too much ; and I waited hoping — 
 hoping — " 
 
 " Yes, hoping — ?" she repeated. 
 
 11 To escape detection altogether." Alured's 
 cheeks grew hotter, and more scarlet. " Pray 
 forgive me, Lady Moynehan, will you — can 
 you ? I quite hate myself when I think how 
 meanly I have behaved." 
 
 The lad spoke eagerly and fast. He was 
 clearly alive to his fault. Besides there was 
 something so frank and honest in his bright 
 face, that Lady Moynehan read there as in a 
 book that confidence would not be misplaced 
 in Alured Frere. 
 
 " Mr. Frere," she spoke very slowly and 
 gravely, " I will believe you. I will take 
 you at your word, and will believe that you 
 were an unwilling witness to this humiliating, 
 degrading scene. Oh, if you only knew 
 all— "
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE : GAINING GROUND. 1 5 I 
 
 It seemed as if a flood of distressing thoughts 
 rushed in upon her. For a time she covered 
 her face in her hands, and turned away. 
 
 When she looked up, Alured's eyes met 
 hers. Anguish on one side, tender pity and 
 sympathy on the other. 
 
 " Can I trust you, I wonder ? You are such 
 a boy." 
 • " Indeed, indeed you may." 
 
 " Will you give me your promise, — your 
 word of honour as a gentleman ?" 
 
 " Only forgive me, Lady Moynehan, and I 
 promise never to breathe a syllable of what 
 has passed to-night." 
 
 " I think I may rely upon you. I feel it 
 now. There is my hand upon it." 
 
 What could Alured do but take the hand 
 in both his, and dropping to his knees, kiss it 
 glove and all ? 
 
 Lady Moynehan was not angry with him. 
 Perhaps with a woman's quick perception she 
 understood how much he sought to convey by 
 this otctri act of worship. But she drew away 
 her hand, and said, almost laughing, — 
 
 " Get up, get up, Mr. Frere. It is I, I think,
 
 152 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 who should kneel to you, for I am in your 
 power now." 
 
 A pause followed, which neither broke till 
 Lady Moynehan said, " I have been away an 
 unconscionable time. Will you give me your 
 arm back to the ballroom, Mr. Frere ?" 
 
 As they passed out of the little room to the 
 gallery beyond she stopped. 
 
 " For the last time, Mr. Frere, repeat your 
 promise. You will not mention this to a single 
 soul ? " 
 
 " I will not, Lady Moynehan, so help me 
 Heaven." 
 
 " I am satisfied." 
 
 Very soon this accomplished woman of the 
 world began to talk away with her customary 
 ease. One so well-bred and fashionable had all 
 the arts of pleasing at her finger-ends. And 
 these great dames have the knack of throwing 
 such eager interest in each simple question, the 
 charm of their manner is so fascinating, they 
 show so clearly that all this friendliness is 
 assumed for you and you alone, that most men, 
 I take it, are ready to fall headlong at their feet, 
 and accept as gospel truths every syllable ut-
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE: GAINING GROUND. 1 53 
 
 tered. Lady Moynehan was naturally anxious, 
 after what had happened, to win Alured to her 
 side, and hang him with the chains of pleasant 
 servitude. It was not a very difficult task. 
 Boys always worship women much their 
 seniors. 
 
 " You must let me get you some partners," 
 Lady Moynehan said. " There are plenty of 
 nice girls here. But how was it I did not 
 notice you earlier ?" 
 
 " Perhaps you did not recognise me, Lady 
 Moynehan." 
 
 " Perhaps not/' she replied, laughing plea- 
 santly. " But don't be angry with me on that 
 account. We have only met once before, and 
 it was very dark then. But I knew your voice 
 to-night. Tell me, when did you arrive ? We 
 have such a crowd of people here, you know ; 
 it's impossible to shake hands with all directly 
 they come." 
 
 They were now quite close to the ballroom, 
 and Alured found courage to falter out, — 
 
 " I think I'd rather not dance." 
 
 " Not dance ? Why ? You're too young to 
 be lazy or fine ? Oh, you must."
 
 154 the queen's shilling. 
 
 " But I really can't dance." 
 
 "Can't. Rubbish, Mr. Frere," cried her 
 ladyship, highly amused. "Come along," and 
 her hand closed quite tightly on his arm. 
 
 " I mean I can't dance, because I don't know 
 how." 
 
 " Is that all ? Well, we must teach you. 
 But," seeing that he still hung back, she added, 
 " I will not worry you if you'd rather not." 
 
 " Indeed, I had much rather not." 
 
 " As you please. I know you have a will of 
 your own. Do you remember how determined 
 you were that night we dropped you at the 
 barracks ? I quite admired you for your 
 strength of mind." 
 
 It was very pleasant for him, this sort of 
 flattery. Pleasant to think that she could 
 recollect so well, if she pleased, the last occa- 
 sion on which they had met. Pleasanter to 
 find there were traits in his character that won 
 from her words of praise. It is thus that a 
 woman of ripe experience and cleverness wins 
 the battle easily over a boy admirer. Descend- 
 ing from her pedestal to pick him up from the 
 crowd, she flatters his pride by praising his
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE: GAINING GROUND. 1 55 
 
 good points, and evincing a kindly interest in 
 his welfare. 
 
 " And how did you get on that night ? You 
 never told me that." 
 
 " It's a long story, Lady Moynehan." 
 
 "Then it must wait till by-and-by. I will 
 not tax your good nature further now/' she 
 said, relinquishing his arm. " We shall meet 
 again before long, I dare say." 
 
 She took a few steps, then came back. 
 " You know you owe us a visit. When will 
 you come ? Will you stay to-night, and we'll 
 send over for your portmanteau and servant 
 before you are up in the morning ?" 
 
 He had not got leave ; that was his ex- 
 cuse. 
 
 "Oh!" she laughed. "I know all about 
 that. You soldiers never have leave, and 
 never can get leave — when you don't choose. 
 But I choose you to have leave this time. I'll 
 write and tell Colonel Willoughby we've kept 
 you. I know him very well. There will be 
 no difficulty." 
 
 So it was settled for him. And now, to a 
 certain extent, he had obtained " the freedom of
 
 156 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 Moynehan Castle." He was at home, an in- 
 mate in the house from which he had longed to 
 escape an hour before. 
 
 But though the countess greeted him warmly, 
 she was the only person he knew. The others 
 stared at him just as much as ever ; wondering 
 no doubt who he was when they saw him 
 especially favoured by the mistress of the house. 
 Alured wandered from room to room, and by 
 degrees the old feeling of loneliness in a crowd 
 returned to him. He began to regret that he 
 had not made up his mind just to try a qua- 
 drille, or if he might only go and talk to Lady 
 Moynehan again. She made herself so plea- 
 sant. And was this magnificent personage 
 really in his power ? The kindest thing he 
 could do would be to forget what had occurred, 
 — to banish the strange scene from his mind 
 utterly. 
 
 Occupied by these thoughts, he wandered 
 about disconsolately, till, long past midnight, he 
 met Lady Moynehan again. 
 
 "Why, Mr. Frere, I have been looking for 
 you everywhere. You must not hide in this 
 way, or I shall have to order you to come and
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE : GAINING GROUND. 1 5 7 
 
 speak to me every five minutes, just to prove 
 you're not lost in this great labyrinth of a house. 
 Lord Moynehan wanted to see you ; and now 
 I'm afraid he's gone to bed. Late hours don't 
 suit him much. And it's close on supper-time. 
 I want you to take some one ia" 
 
 " I'm sure I shall be very glad," replied 
 Alured, determined to be more sociable. 
 
 " MissTremenheere," said Lady Moynehan, to 
 a bright-eyed, round-faced girl, who was sitting 
 alone, "let me introduce my particular friend, 
 Mr. Frere. There, Mr. Frere — now you'll do. 
 Fanny, take care of him!" she added, with a 
 laugh, as she went off. 
 
 " Why am I to take care of you ?" 
 
 " I suppose, because I am not able to take 
 care of myself." 
 
 " I should think not, indeed ! How came 
 they to let you be out so late at night ?" 
 
 " Who do you mean by ' they' ?" 
 
 " Your father, or mother, or tutor, or whoever 
 has the charge of you." 
 
 " I'm my own master. I'm an officer in the 
 army, Miss Tremenheere." 
 
 "Goodness gracious! do you tell me so! I
 
 158 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 thought — " but the merry girl burst into a 
 peal of laughter. " Here, sit down," she said, 
 making room in the corner, by squeezing aside 
 her dress. " You're quite a boy«, it's true, but 
 you'll do for me to keep my hand in with." 
 
 Alured took the profferred seat, and soon 
 found, by personal inspection, that his com- 
 panion had beautiful eyes. Blue, — " Irish blue," 
 if I may coin a pigment. Art critics tell us 
 that all colour depends for hue on its juxta- 
 position with other colours. It is the pink and 
 white flesh, as pure as Parian marble, the ruddy 
 lips, and the beautiful brown hair, that brings 
 out the azure in an Irish girl's eyes. Miss 
 Tremenheere's eyes were as blue and deep as a 
 southern sky at midday. 
 
 There is nothing like kindly approval from 
 woman's eyes, to bring a boy up to the mark. 
 They force him, like glass does a cucumber. 
 Alured soon began to have a better opinion of 
 himself, and prattled away without reserve to 
 his new friend. Miss Tremenheere was one of 
 those good-tempered girls, not quite young, but 
 not yet soured by the barren harvests of many 
 succeeding and unsuccessful seasons. She could
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE: GAINING GROUND. 1 59 
 
 still find a pleasure in chaffing a boy ; although 
 time and metal might have been more profitably 
 employed on a worthier foe. 
 
 " You'll do well enough, one of these days," 
 she said, patronizingly. 
 
 " When ? " 
 
 "When you're full-grown — ten years hence." 
 
 " That's a long day. I'd like to discount a 
 little." 
 
 " What's ' discount ' mean ? " 
 
 " Did you ever hear of the boy that ate his 
 cake and wanted to have it too ? If I wait till 
 I'm six-and-twenty, according to you, I shall 
 get my cake ; but I want to eat some of it now. 
 That's discount." 
 
 " Oh, bother ; let's go and discount some 
 supper, and then you shall dance with me. 
 Are you a good mover ? " 
 
 " I can't dance." 
 
 " That's disgraceful. What can you do ? 
 Ride ? " 
 
 " Not much." 
 
 " Worse and worse. Shoot ? " 
 
 " A haystack, perhaps." 
 
 " The snipe about here, are not so big as
 
 l60 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 haystacks, whatever they may be over the 
 water. Flirt ? — No ; I can answer that." 
 
 " How ? " 
 
 " Well, you have some notion, but vague, 
 very vague. Dear me ! how your education 
 has been neglected! I must take you in hand 
 myself. Neither shoot, ride, dance, nor flirt, 
 and you an officer. Oh, Mr. Frere ! " 
 
 By this time they were in the supper-room 
 discussing soup, champagne, and truffles, at 
 a small table which they had all to themselves. 
 Ambrosial fare, Alured thought, and heavenly 
 company. 
 
 "And you don't regret your toffee and hard- 
 bake ?" asked Miss Tremenheere. " Have you 
 got to like olives, and caviare, and claret, yet ? 
 But what's the matter ?" 
 
 Alured had half started from his chair. 
 Not a dozen yards from him was the scowling 
 face of the man he had seen with Lady 
 Moynehan. 
 
 " I thought you wanted something," he said, 
 rather confused. 
 
 " Not I ; and if I did, it's no reason why 
 you should upset the table."
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE : GAINING GROUND. l6l 
 
 " Shall we go back to the ballroom ? " 
 
 " By all means." 
 
 They returned, and tried a quadrille, with 
 satisfactory results. Then a set of the lancers : 
 progress less clearly marked, but still satisfac- 
 tory. After which, Alured suggested himself 
 a fast dance, but Miss Tremenheere would not 
 hear of it yet. 
 
 " You're staying in the house are you not, 
 Mr. Frere ?" 
 
 " For a day or two, I believe." 
 
 "Well, then, I'll give you some lessons on 
 the sly, but you'd better not make the experi- 
 ment for the first time in public. Sara, that's 
 my sister, and Bob, — we're to be here for a 
 week." 
 
 " Who's Bob ? " 
 
 " My brother. Don't you know Bob ? 
 Everybody knows Bob. He's in the Halber- 
 diers. I '11 introduce you. I'm sure you'll like 
 him." 
 
 " h shall, if—" 
 
 " If what ?" 
 
 " If he's as nice as the rest of the family," 
 blurted out Alured. 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 1 62 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 " Bravo, Mr. Frere ! I thought you'd get on. 
 But let me tell you, it's not usual to pay such 
 broad compliments. Some people call it bad 
 taste." 
 
 By the time the ball was over, Alured was 
 on excellent terms with his new friend. And 
 not with her alone. Other girls received him 
 well, and allowed him to dance with them ; and 
 the great " Bob " had promised him protection. 
 
 It was very late when Alured got to bed, 
 The pale winter's dawn was trying to steal in 
 through the window-curtains, but it was not 
 strong enough to overcome the blazing fire- 
 light or the wax candles on the dressing-table. 
 Although Alured's servant could not be ex- 
 pected till the morning, there were preparations 
 for his comfort. Brushes, ivory-backed, night- 
 shirt, even a dressing-gown and slippers. 
 They didn't do things by halves at Moynehan. 
 Such a jolly room too ! not too big to be snug. 
 Pretty chintz hangings, a bright carpet ; on the 
 walls a few curious old prints in black and gold 
 frames. There was a smell of lavender in the 
 sheets, and of dried flowers and sandal wood in 
 the walnut wardrobe.
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE : GAINING GROUND. 1 63 
 
 The other men had gone off to smoke, but 
 Alured prepared to turn in at once. The fact 
 was, he had not learned to smoke yet. There 
 were so many things, as Miss Tremenheere told 
 him, which he had yet to learn. But know- 
 ledge of the kind he lacked would come soon 
 enough, unsought. The world has much to 
 teach, lessons both good and bad, and its pupils 
 cannot quite choose their own curriculum. A 
 man who has got his experience by heart, has 
 indeed, tasted of the tree of knowledge, and 
 knows both good and evil. 
 
 That night at Moynehan, our hero had barely 
 got his teeth into the fruit.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE: QUITE AT HOME. 
 
 " Poor boy/' she said ; " can he not read — no books ? 
 Quoit, tennis, ball — no games ? Nor deals in that 
 Which men delight in, martial exercise ? " 
 
 Tennyson : The Princess. 
 
 No. 3 of the detailed instructions drawn up 
 by the far-seeing Major Frere for Alured's 
 guidance on joining was to this effect : — 
 
 " 3. Call upon the adjutant, and beg of him 
 to provide you with a good servant. A re- 
 spectable old soldier if possible." 
 
 Draycott being evilly disposed towards 
 Alured at first, had told him to fish for himself ; 
 he did not keep a registry office, the adjutant 
 said. Whereupon Davidson found a man for 
 Alured, Grimes by name, No. 2847, Theo- 
 philus Grimes ; a soldier of fifteen years' service, 
 with a fine weather-beaten face, somewhat dis- 
 coloured by time and the tropics. He was more 
 or less broken down by the continuous strain of 
 these heavy fifteen years. " Sentry-go " once 
 a week, and drink once an hour, must have its
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE: QUITE AT HOME. 1 65 
 
 effect upon the constitution in the end. Not 
 that Grimes was a drunkard. Far from it. 
 He had three good-conduct badges, each of 
 which he had earned nobly by the strength of 
 his head. When the other men fell into the 
 clutches of the sergeant of the guard, Grimes 
 carried his liquor bravely to his barrack-room, 
 and was half asleep before tattoo roll-call began. 
 
 On the departure of the 145th for the East, 
 Grimes had been declared unfit for active 
 service. He had remained, therefore, at the 
 depot, helping, as old soldiers do, to train 
 recruits by their advice and example. Grimes 
 looked upon his master as a recruit, whom .he 
 was bound to dry-nurse and instruct. 
 
 It was Grimes himself who brought in 
 Alured's hot water the morning after the ball at 
 Moynehan. His fairy footfall soon awakened 
 his master, for Grimes, seeking to do honour 
 to himself and his profession, had taken into 
 wear that morning his last issued ammunition 
 boots. They were of a stiff uncompromising 
 material, and might have been made by the 
 armourer-sergeant ; creaking at each move till 
 the very windows rattled and vibrated at the
 
 1 66 the queen's shilling. 
 
 noise, their aggrieved owner apostrophizing 
 them at intervals thus : — 
 
 " Is it grease ye want ? Bad luck to you — 
 and you won't take the blacking yet." " Quiet, 
 will you ? " " Make less noise or I'll have you 
 off." And sometimes with a long-drawn sigh 
 he murmured, " Oh ! me boots. This is no 
 place, sure, for store boots." 
 
 But all the time Grimes was taking stock 
 of the room and its contents. Naturally the 
 mansions of the great were not among his daily 
 experiences. I doubt very much whether he 
 had seen the inside of a large country house 
 before. But it was a confirmed habit with this 
 astute old soldier to depreciate everything he 
 came across. He had examined his master's 
 kit the very first day, with severely critical 
 eyes. Declared that them boots would never 
 do at all. They were too narrow. And the 
 uniform clothes were all too loose. And the 
 blacking brushes (provided by Messrs. Jobson), 
 were just rubbish compared with those in the 
 quartermaster's store. " You'll have to give 
 that sword away, sir. It won't do for the 
 Crimayer." " Lord save us ! and is this the
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE : QUITE AT HOME. 1 67 
 
 new pattern shakoo-hat-cap ? You can't go to 
 parade in this rigga-my-dandy. It's the first 
 that's come to these barracks, and the men'll 
 all be laughing in the ranks, sir." And when 
 the boxes had been inspected and their con- 
 tents condemned, other things got their turn. 
 Ballybanagher and its products, natural and 
 artificial were roundly abused. The milk 
 called pigs wash ; the bread, bran ; the people, 
 savages. Alured was told that the adjutant 
 was " no drill." " Nor yet Sergeant Gaskitt. 
 There's none of them fit to carry the pace-stick 
 for Lance-Corporal Raper ; " who was drill 
 instructor to the squad in which, years ago, 
 Grimes had learnt his exercises. The mess- 
 man was a villain, and Mrs. Moriarty, who was 
 to do Alured's washing, " an old soldier." 
 She'd rob him of the very shirts off his back ; 
 and wash the sheets into holes, and " divil a 
 darn in the socks." 
 
 As soon as Grimes recovered his first as- 
 tonishment at Moynehan, he attacked the bed- 
 room furniture. 
 
 " A tin foot-pan for a bath. It ought to 
 be mahogany. And not a bootjack, nor a
 
 1 68 the queen's shilling. 
 
 hearth-brush, nor yet glove-trees ; and the 
 delf!— " 
 
 " Shut up, you old ass ! " cried Alured from 
 his bed. 
 
 " Are you awake, sir ? I thought you were 
 sleeping." 
 
 " Who could sleep with you dancing the 
 fandango about the room like an elephant with 
 the erysipelas ? What time is it ? When did 
 you come over ? Is it all right about my 
 leave ? " 
 
 " There's no rouse sounding in this house. 
 It was near eight when I got here, and it was 
 like a sementerry." 
 
 " That'll do, that'll do. Have you filled my 
 bath ? " 
 
 " I could get no water. And there's nothing 
 but a foot-pan, which wouldn't hold your right 
 leg — let alone your whole body, sotto voce, small 
 as ye are." 
 
 " Why, you great idiot, don't you see that 
 marble bath in the end of the room ? " 
 
 " That a bath ? Sure I took it for the sink. 
 And it's two men's work to fill that tank. I 
 must ask for a fatigue party."
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE I QUITE AT HOME. 1 69 
 
 " Turn on the tap, and it'll fill I daresay. 
 But look sharp ; I want to get up." 
 
 " There's a letter for you from the dee-pot." 
 
 It was a line from Draycott to say he could 
 stay till Monday, and that Grimes had got a 
 pass for the same period. 
 
 " Have you brought all I want ? " 
 
 " Every stitch, sir. Mess clothes and full 
 dress, — not the shakoo hat, leastways ; for as 
 it's the new pattern — " 
 
 " No mufti ? " 
 
 " Not a rag. Would you be wearing the 
 like in a duke's castle ? " 
 
 " By George ! of all the owls — do you thirrk 
 I ought to turn out as if for a full-dress 
 parade ? How did you get here ? " 
 
 " On a car, sir." 
 
 " Then get the car, and go back to barracks 
 as fast as you can. Bring me all my plain 
 clothes." 
 
 " Which, sir ? " 
 
 " All ; " and Alured turned over for a second 
 sleep. 
 
 Moynehan Castle was one of the pleasantest 
 houses in the three kingdoms. There was
 
 I70 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 always a party in the house ; a crowd of girls, 
 and a dozen men. Everybody did as he liked. 
 Fun and amusement were the order of the 
 day. Now a concert ; next night they impro- 
 vised tableaux ; on the following day a whole 
 troop turned out to hunt with the Moynehan 
 hounds. Then came a frost, and they skated 
 or played golf on the ice, or prepared a theatri- 
 cal performance, or begged Lady Moynehan to 
 light up the ballroom and give them a dance. 
 This very ball to which Alured had been in- 
 vited had been started suddenly, just to give 
 the young ladies a fillip. In everything Lady 
 Moynehan herself took the lead. She was the 
 life and soul of the place. His lordship was a 
 dear old man ; small, chirpy, with bright apple 
 cheeks, and snow white whiskers, cut very pre- 
 cisely ; not very active now, although for 
 years he had hunted his own hounds. At 
 times quite kors de combat with the gout, at 
 others he hopped about his garden like a bird, 
 or took much interest in his stables. If he 
 had not been such a thoroughly amiable, attrac- 
 tive old gentleman, people might have been 
 disposed to call him a cipher in his own house,
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE: QUITE AT HOME. I J I 
 
 for the active duty of doing the honours of 
 Moynehan devolved upon his wife. But she 
 always seemed to defer to him, whenever he 
 made his appearance among the guests. 
 
 It was past midday before any of the party 
 appeared at breakfast. Lady Moynehan was 
 one of the first, accompanied by the Tremen- 
 heere girls, and one or two other favourites 
 whom she had picked up on the way down 
 stairs. 
 
 " Some men want so much sleep," said she. 
 
 rt The boys are worse," cried Bob Tremen- 
 heere. " Your young friend turned in long 
 before any of us, and he's not put in an appear- 
 ance yet." 
 
 " Perhaps he's too shy to come down all 
 alone. I wish, Captain Tremenheere you'd 
 run up and see if he's all right ? Do you 
 mind ? " 
 
 Good-natured Bob started off, and found 
 Alured half dressed, waiting for Grimes' return. 
 
 " Breakfast is nearly over." 
 
 11 I've got no clothes." 
 
 " Didn't your servant come ? " 
 
 " Yes ; and brought nothing but uniform."
 
 172 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 " What a joke ! Shall I lend you some 
 mufti, or will you appear in your red coat ? " 
 
 " He ought to be back soon. I think I'll 
 wait." 
 
 " As you please. I'll go back and tell Lady 
 Moynehan." 
 
 When Alured got down, the breakfast-room 
 was almost deserted. But Lady Moynehan 
 came in, and apologised for not having waited. 
 
 " Why didn't you put on your uniform, Mr. 
 Frere ? It wouldn't have mattered. I've no 
 doubt it suits you." » 
 
 Alured blushed. 
 
 " They'd have thought it so odd, Captain 
 Tremenheere and the men. We never wear 
 uniform, you know, more than we can help." 
 
 " It's nothing to be ashamed of, I'm sure. 
 I wish you would, of a night especially. At 
 my balls the men look like undertakers al- 
 ways." 
 
 After breakfast, Lady Moynehan said, " The 
 gentlemen have all gone off to shoot or to ride. 
 What would you like to do ? " 
 
 " Anything." 
 
 "Would it bore you to come and help us
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE I QUITE AT HOME. I >]$ 
 
 ladies ? We're going to arrange a charade for 
 to-night. Can you act ? " 
 
 " I have acted a little — at home." 
 " And do you know any good words ? You'll 
 be quite a treasure." 
 
 It was a charming retreat, that ladies' morn- 
 ing-room at Moynehan. Being set apart for 
 Lady Moynehan's private use, no one entered 
 it except by special invitation. Away from the 
 ordinary reception rooms, its windows looked 
 upon a private lawn, guarded by tall trees. 
 On one side, wide doors of plate glass led 
 to a conservatory, crammed always with the 
 choicest plants. Nor was there any la'ck 
 within the room of brilliant colours. Its de- 
 corations were " harlequin." Although the 
 hangings were lemon silk studded with pretty 
 pink roses, and the wood mostly maple and 
 birch, crimson, orange, and purple met the eye 
 here and there in rugs, cushions, Turkey car- 
 pet, Moorish footstools, Austrian blankets, and 
 Spanish mule-cloths. The effect, if bizarre, 
 was not unpleasing; and there was relief in 
 the broad white margins of the exquisite water- 
 colours that hid half the walls. Variety as
 
 174 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 ample was to be seen in the shape of chair 
 and lounge. To suit every taste was the first 
 and only study. Those who preferred fau- 
 teuils, soft and downy, with wide hospitable 
 arms, found them. If any prim miss sought 
 to do penance in a prie-dieu chair for confes- 
 sion or orisons neglected, she could be accom- 
 modated with a seat having a back as stiff and 
 uncompromising as the teaching of her own 
 model divine. There were long roomy sofas 
 for real idlers, who asked only to be undis- 
 turbed while others read aloud ; and more than 
 one cunningly devised ottoman, just adapted for 
 a very private tete a-tete talk. 
 
 When Lady Moynehan introduced Alured 
 to this sanctum, he found it half full of young 
 ladies. They were all cutting and contriving, 
 putting their heads together to devise costumes 
 for the evening's charade. Little Millicent was 
 there too, and she welcomed her friend very 
 warmly. 
 
 " Did you wonder why I never came back 
 last night ?" she asked innocently. " How long 
 did you wait ? " 
 
 Alured felt that he looked guilty, and knew
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE: QUITE AT HOME. 1 75 
 
 that Lady Moynehan's eye was upon him. 
 What was he to say ? He had not learnt as 
 yet that perfect command of countenance which 
 is the wages of years of hard service in the 
 wars of society. But he remembered his pro- 
 mise, and it behoved him to give a loyal an- 
 swer. 
 
 " I came out almost directly after you. Did 
 they send you to bed ? " 
 
 "Yes, aunt did," replied Millicent, pointing 
 crossly to Lady Moynehan. 
 
 " Oh, Lady Moynehan ! " Alured exclaimed. 
 " What a shame ! Why didn't you let her stay 
 up and play with me ? You know that was 
 the only reason you asked me to the ball." 
 
 This raised a gentle laugh around ; and he 
 was rewarded for his promptitude by a grate- 
 ful approving smile. Then the business in 
 hand was proceeded with. Alured proved 
 indeed a treasure. With some artistic and 
 dramatic taste, as yet hardly developed, he 
 was able to suggest or improve. Then he 
 sketched roughly the design of a dress, which 
 brought several pretty heads to bend over him, 
 and caress him with sweet words of praise.
 
 176 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 "Why, you can draw quite nicely," said 
 Lady Moynehan. " Have you ever learnt 
 from any one good ? Riviere, or Leitch, or 
 Skinner Prout ?" 
 
 Alured had not even heard their names. 
 
 " I'm very fond of it. But I only had a 
 few lessons — at school." 
 
 " I must take you in hand myself. Har- 
 ding taught me what little I know." 
 
 " Draw me a picture for my dress," said little 
 Millicent. " Do, Mr. Frere ; please, do." 
 
 " I want to teach him to dance," interposed 
 Fanny Tremenheere. " Come away, Mr. Frere, 
 and get it over." 
 
 Alured got up very obediently. 
 
 " I should have thought, Fanny, you'd had 
 enough of dancing last night." 
 
 " That was pleasure ; this is duty." 
 
 " How many lessons will make me perfect ?" 
 asked Alured, when in a more retired room 
 they were prepared to begin, with a good- 
 natured dowager at the piano. 
 
 " We'll see." 
 
 After the first turn or two, Miss Tremen- 
 heere, said " I only brought you in here to
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE : QUITE AT HOME. I 77 
 
 get you out of mischief. Those people will 
 spoil you." 
 
 " Nonsense." 
 
 " Yes, they will. And I thought you pro- 
 mised to learn to shoot and ride and be a 
 man. Bob's quite ready to teach you. Don't 
 stop in here like a milksop with us women. 
 Go out, and behave like a man. We women 
 •will like you all the better for it." 
 
 " Upon my word, I believe you're right." 
 
 " I know I am." 
 
 Next time she met Lady Moynehan, this 
 admirable instructress of youth said, " I've 
 been telling our little friend that he'll never 
 get on if he lets himself be coddled amongst 
 us women." 
 
 " Why, Fanny, you seem to take an extra- 
 ordinary interest in Mr. Frere." 
 
 " Perhaps I'm not the only person. But 
 he's so nice and fresh and innocent." 
 
 " Such a thorough little gentleman," added 
 the other. " I'm sure he's as chivalrous and 
 honourable as he's good-looking." 
 
 Perhaps Lady Moynehan was thinking upon 
 her secret, and of Alured as its depositary. 
 
 vol. 1. N
 
 178 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 " But you're quite right," she went on ; " it 
 won't do to let him be spoiled. I wonder why 
 it is that a woman must spoil everything she 
 really likes ? Look at Millicent with her cat : 
 she nearly smothers it half the day with kisses. 
 Snap the Skye is always carried about in some- 
 body's arms. I ruin my mare's digestion by 
 surfeits of sugar. I believe I should kill dear 
 Lord Moynehan with kindness, only he's too 
 wise to let me doctor him." 
 
 " Wives generally spoil their husbands." 
 
 " I hope you may have one to spoil too, 
 Fanny, before long. However, it's quite clear 
 we must put Mr. Frere into your brother Bob's 
 hands. But we can't do much to-day, and to- 
 morrow's Sunday." 
 
 " And he goes on Monday ? " 
 
 " Yes ; so we'd better make the most of him 
 while we can," said Lady Moynehan, with a 
 laugh. 
 
 " But you'll ask him again ? " 
 
 " If he likes to come." 
 
 The long and the short of it was, Alured's 
 education was taken in hand by his new 
 friends, ably assisted by such under-masters
 
 MOYNEHAN CASTLE I QUITE AT HOME. 1 79 
 
 as Bob Tremenheere, with the keepers and 
 head groom of Moynehan Castle. The first 
 short visit was followed by another and ano- 
 ther. Always thoughtful and kind, Lady 
 Moynehan guessed that the ensigns shallow 
 purse would not stand frequent car-hire. A 
 Moynehan dogcart was despatched therefore 
 to fetch him and take him back. Nothing 
 was complete at the Castle without Alured. 
 He was in and out of the house like a tame 
 cat; never forgetting, however, Miss Tremen- 
 heere's advice not to tie himself quite to the 
 ladies' petticoats. He could see himself that 
 a man who shirked manly sports to dally in 
 drawing-rooms might win success, to a certain 
 point, among his charming friends ; but he 
 was likely to be more than unpopular among 
 men. He might become a " ladies' man," but 
 he would never be a " man's man." I expect 
 most high-spirited lads think more of the 
 good opinion of men, however luscious the 
 doses of flattery which women may administer. 
 So Alured accepted a mount from Lord Moy- 
 nehan's stable, and hunted as often as he 
 could get the chance. Boyish pluck and young
 
 l8o THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 bones soon gave him a home in the saddle. 
 Although he could not hope to be in the first 
 flight of a hard-riding country, he took all 
 that came in his way, and often saw as much 
 of a run as his betters in the pigskin. He 
 braved the displeasure of the keepers, and 
 blazed away in the covers so much, that at 
 last he got to hold his gun straight. 
 
 And it was very pleasant for him to be so 
 much at Moynehan— nicer still to be frequently 
 in Lady Moynehan's society. There was joy in 
 his heart always when he got one of her kind 
 notes of invitation ; it was better still when 
 she herself, with Millicent at her side, came 
 to the barracks for him in the carriage. How 
 they sketched and painted indoors, and prac- 
 tised and played all kinds of music ! 
 
 These were bright days indeed for the boy ; 
 halcyon days, with smooth water and a fair 
 wind to carry the young craft far out and 
 onward on his long voyage.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE ROUTE. 
 
 " Yo, senor, soy medico, y estoy asalariado en esta insula 
 para serlo de los gobernadores della, y miro por su salud 
 mucho mas que por la mia, estudiando de noche y de dia." 
 
 \Don Qirijote. 
 
 " I am the doctor, paid to be such, to the governors of 
 this island, and, studying night and day, look to their 
 health more than my own." 
 
 " Hurrah, boys ! The route's come." 
 
 " For whom ?" 
 
 "A draft of officers of the 145th, to join 
 head- quarters. Old Draycott showed me the 
 letter." 
 
 " How many are to go ?" 
 
 " Haifa dozen subalterns." 
 
 " Four lieutenants and two ensigns," Dray- 
 cott added, coming in just then. " To pro- 
 ceed to Gravesend forthwith for embarkation. 
 Reporting themselves, etc., etc." 
 
 " It'll take you in, Frere," said Bulger, who 
 was also to be one of the party. 
 
 " Who's going to the Crimea?" asked
 
 1 82 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 Starkie, in his deep voice, from the far end 
 of the room. " Frere ?" 
 
 " Yes ; he's in the lot." 
 
 " Ah, indeed ;" remarked the surgeon, drily. 
 Then to a mess-waiter, in a brusque, fierce 
 tone, " Confound you, take this filth away. 
 Take it down-stairs. Ask him if he has the 
 effrontery to call that a grill. I'd make better 
 with bread and milk and oatmeal. So you're 
 going to the wars, young Frere, eh ? aha ! 
 to the wars aha ! They'll have you on your 
 back before you've been there a week, and 
 they'll cut your liver out — and eat it probably 
 afterwards, devilled. I hope it'll eat better 
 than what this beast of a mess-man calls a 
 grill. You've had the measles, I suppose ?" 
 
 " I don't know, really." 
 
 " And whooping cough, and croup, and all 
 that ? Yes ? I daresay you have. But have 
 you had dysentery and typhus, and gun-shot 
 wounds, and sword-cuts, and syncope, and 
 tetanus, and cholera ?" His voice rose to a 
 roar as he enumerated each calamity. " Do 
 you know what it is to lie on the damp 
 ground all night in soaking rain, or to march
 
 THE ROUTE. 1 83 
 
 with a pile of bread and beef on your back, 
 beside your accoutrements, till your throat is 
 dry and rough, like a new sponge, and your 
 head is fit to burst under the blazing heat ? 
 Do you know what it is to be in a raging 
 fever, with no food to suit your pampered 
 appetite but pickled sardines or fried salt pork 
 — and hard tough biscuit, instead of tapioca 
 and arrowroot and pap ? Not you. Bah ! 
 You'd better go home again. It's murder, 
 neither more nor less ; and I should be an 
 accessory before the fact if I let you go out." 
 
 Just at this time the side bones of a turkey 
 reappeared, as hot as cayenne could make 
 them, and as the grill seemed to stimulate 
 his palate a little, Starkie gave up talking, 
 and addressed himself vigorously to his 
 food. Frere flushed indignantly at what the 
 doctor said, but did not expostulate. It 
 would have been useless ; everybody laughed 
 at Starkie's jokes. 
 
 But it was no joke when later that day an 
 ^ orderly came to fetch Mr. Frere to the 
 colonel's office. There, in state, sat the per- 
 sonage in chief command ; an austere man,
 
 184 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 who scowled at the youngsters as if they were 
 his personal enemies, but who was as tender- 
 hearted and affectionate, really, as any woman. 
 Alured had entered that office once only be- 
 fore. It had fallen to his lot to' "take a 
 defaulter " before the colonel ; that is, to stand 
 by with the character-book, and assist in the 
 disposal of prisoners. Some one had told him 
 it was the correct thing to draw his sword and 
 march in like an executioner in front of his 
 defaulter. ' This he had done most religiously, 
 to the great delight of the lookers-on ; but the 
 scolding he had got on that occasion, was still 
 fresh in his mind at this his second visit, and 
 he waited trembling to hear what was in store 
 for him now. 
 
 " Your name, Mr. Frere, has been ' returned ' 
 to me, to go with the draft. I have sent for you 
 to tell you that I cannot permit you to proceed 
 to the Crimea." 
 
 " Oh, sir, why not ?" asked Alured piteously, 
 his eyes filling with tears. 
 
 " The doctor says — " 
 
 Alured looked up at once, and for the first 
 time became aware that Starkie was there stand-
 
 THE ROUTE. 1 85 
 
 ing beside the colonel. He, then, was the 
 enemy who had done this thing. 
 
 The surgeon now spoke. 
 
 " Mr. Frere, in my opinion, colonel, is unfit 
 for active service. He is much too young, 
 his constitution is still unformed, and he has not 
 the physique to withstand privations." 
 
 " Physique ? Why, sir," cried Alured, wiping 
 his eyes, " I never was ill in my life. It's true 
 I'm only just sixteen ; but I'll run any man 
 in the battalion round the barrack square or 
 walk the doctor to Knockalofty and back. 
 Don't, please, sir, don't, mind what he says ; 
 he doesn't know anything about it, — not half 
 as much as I do myself." 
 
 The colonel smiled at Mr. Frere's arguments, 
 and looked inquiringly at the doctor. Old 
 Starkie merely shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " I think we'd better let him go," said the 
 chief. 
 
 "As you please, sir. He won't live there 
 a week I expect." 
 
 " That's my affair ;" put in Alured. 
 
 " It certainly is your own look-out," remarked 
 the colonel.
 
 1 86 the queen's shilling. 
 
 " You see if I don't live," added Alured, 
 almost snapping his fingers in Starkie's face. 
 
 "Very well, Mr. Frere," said Colonel 
 Willoughby, at last. " You shall go. It would 
 would be a pity to baulk you ; and I like your 
 spirit. Captain Draycott, his name may be 
 included in the list for the quarter-master 
 general." And with these words the interview 
 broke up. 
 
 Outside of the office, Alured flew at old 
 Starkie. 
 
 " Why did you try to put a spoke in my 
 wheel ? I'm sure I never did you any harm." 
 
 " Harm boy ? No, no harm. But I like you 
 too much to wish you under the sod." 
 
 It was not often that the man threw anybody 
 a civil word. Alured felt that, after all, the 
 doctor's interference was kindly meant. And 
 he was to go — that was enough ! He was 
 fairly beside himself with delight. 
 
 " Are you going to say good-bye to your 
 swell friends, over at that castle, or cockloft, or 
 whatever it is ? " asked Starkie. 
 
 " I want to, but I have so little time." 
 
 " I will drive you over if you like, and pick
 
 THE ROUTE. 1 87 
 
 you up on my way back. My trap's at the 
 door. Run along and dress." 
 
 Alured had no idea that this curious creature, 
 whose society he had somewhat shunned, could 
 make himself so agreeable. All along the road 
 he poured forth story after story, and joke upon 
 joke — most of them directed against the softer 
 sex. 
 
 " They'll be wanting you to marry one of 
 them one of these days. Some duchess's 
 daughter, Lady Barbara Balderdash, or a 
 dowager marchioness." 
 
 "■No such luck. These people look higher 
 than a marching ensign." 
 
 " I don't believe it. The higher the rank, 
 the more they don't care. I know it. I'll 
 swear to it. I've seen it," roared Sparkie. 
 
 " Not often." 
 
 " Well, not often ; but once, in my own 
 experience. Why, man alive, I had a groom 
 once, — and a precious scoundrel he was, — it 
 was when I was doing duty with the Guards, 
 and this fellow, this flunky was married to a 
 lady. Ran off with her, by George, from her 
 father's house ; and her father, lord something 
 or other, with a lot of daughters all first chop."
 
 « 
 
 1 88 the queen's shilling. 
 
 " Did you call on your groom's wife, Starkie, 
 and ask her tea, to meet her own relations ? " 
 
 " No. But I bundled the man neck and 
 crop out of the stable when I found him selling 
 my oats. Not that it was easy to shake him 
 off. He came whining back to say his wife 
 was dying, and that she hadn't the commonest 
 necessaries of life. So .1 went and saw them, 
 and gave her the benefit of my professional 
 advice such as it is." 
 
 " Did she die?" 
 
 " Meaning that for me, eh ? As much as to 
 say I killed her ? No ; I pulled her through, 
 young chap. There was a baby besides, which 
 lived all right too." 
 
 " Did you ever see anything of the people 
 again r 
 
 " Well, not exactly. But, when I came from 
 India in '51, I used to think. I saw the groom's 
 wife sometimes ; in a carriage generally — but 
 I never bothered my head about her. It was 
 evident she didn't want any help, or she'd have 
 asked for it. That's the way with women. They 
 sponge upon you, if it suits them, turn you inside 
 out like an orange; and when sucked dry, they 
 chuck you away.
 
 THF ROUTE. 189 
 
 " But here we are at the lodge gates. Shall 
 I take you up to the door or drop you here ? " 
 
 " Won't you come in and make their ac- 
 quaintance ? " 
 
 " What I ? You must be rather out in your 
 calculations about me. Not a step, boy. I 
 hate women, the whole kit of them, from 
 countesses to kitchen-maids. But I may as 
 well drive in." 
 
 Alured jumped down at the door, and met 
 Lady Moynehan coming out from the hall, 
 accompanied by the dogs. 
 
 " Why, Mr. Frere," she said, holding out 
 her hand with good-natured warmth, " it's an 
 age since you were near us. You're quite a 
 stranger. Will you come in ? I was only 
 going out with my private pack into the 
 shrubbery. Which do you perfer ? " 
 
 At the same moment Starkie's voice was 
 heard from the trap, — " I'll call for you in an 
 hour's time, Frere, if that will suit." 
 
 " Yes ; very well." 
 
 And then the doctor drove off. 
 
 Now I have already said there was something 
 peculiar about Starkie's voice. It was a deep-
 
 I QO THE QUEEN S SHILLING. 
 
 toned, massive voice, that made an echo like 
 a clanging ponderous bell. 
 
 No sooner had Lady Moynehan heard it, than 
 she grew strangely agitated. Her lips blanched 
 and her hands seemed to quiver with excite- 
 ment. 
 
 " Ah ! " she exclaimed with a long-drawn 
 sigh, as soon as Starkie was out of sight, " I felt 
 just as if some one had been treading on my 
 grave. Do you know the feeling, Mr. Frere ? 
 Goose flesh, and an involuntary shudder. Come; 
 Let us walk it off." 
 
 Lady Moynehan stepped on briskly. No one 
 knew better than she that sharp exercise meant 
 health, and that health meant a satin skin and 
 clear complexion. Every day, wet or dry, 
 accompanied by a troop of dogs, she made the 
 circuit of the park. 
 
 Alured told her he had come to say good- 
 bye. 
 
 " Oh, dear me! are you going away so soon ? 
 I do hope you won't get killed or come to any 
 harm. It seems such a shame to send you to 
 the Crimea. You are so much too young." 
 
 Alured and the countess had become very
 
 THE ROUTE. I9I 
 
 fast friends since that first curious passage of 
 arms at the ball, and he, boydike, had fallen 
 desperately in love — quite innocently be it 
 understood — with this magnificent woman who 
 was so much older than he was. Not that he 
 allowed it to himself, or thought of her other- 
 wise than as a queen ; she was so grand, so 
 beautiful, of such high rank, so immeasurably 
 his superior. But it hurt him rather that she 
 should speak of him almost as a child. He 
 did not quite know what he wanted, but he 
 longed for some opportunity to show himself a 
 man. 
 
 " You are so very young," repeated Lady 
 Moynehan. 
 
 "They said the same, Lady Moynehan, at the 
 barracks. But I beat them, doctor and all. 
 That was the doctor who drove me over here." 
 
 " That man ?" said her ladyship, laying her 
 hand nervously on Alured's-arm. "What's his 
 name r 
 
 " Starkie." 
 
 " Starkie, Starkie," as if musing. " What an 
 odd name ; and what a strange-looking man. 
 Do you like him very much ? "
 
 192 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 1 
 
 " I believe he's a good fellow at bottom, but 
 he's curious in his ways — lives hard and — " 
 
 Alured was going to say that the doctor 
 sometimes drank more than was good for him, 
 but it seemed like telling tales out of school. 
 
 His hesitation had been lost on his com- 
 panion. Evidently heedless of his words, Lady 
 Moynehan walked on. The dogs fawned upon 
 her, and jumped upon her dress without rebuke. 
 
 " Let us go back to the house," she said 
 abruptly. " You would like to see Lord Moyne- 
 han perhaps." 
 
 " And Miss Millicent ?" 
 
 " Oh Millicent, of course. You shall make 
 your adieus in the tenderest language if you 
 like We'll all look the other way. But I really 
 am very sorry you are going ; we seem to have 
 got to be such good friends. And you won't 
 forget us ?" 
 
 " Not easily, Lady Moynehan, or all your 
 kindness." 
 
 " You must come back, Mr. Frere ; come 
 back a general, if possible." 
 
 " A live donkey is better than a dead general, 
 they say."
 
 THE ROUTE. 1 93 
 
 " If you like to call yourself names, well and 
 good. But you are the last person I should 
 call a donkey. Far from it ; and you ought to 
 do very well in the world." She led the way into 
 her own cosy room, and sank into her favourite 
 seat, a low chair by the fire, as soon as she had 
 touched the bell. " Tell Miss Millicent," she 
 said to the groom of the chambers, " that Mr. 
 Frere is here ; and is his lordship in his room ?" 
 
 " He is, my lady." 
 
 " Ask him if he will come and have some 
 tea. I always take tea about this time of the 
 day, Mr. Frere; will you have some too? Yes ? 
 Tea," to the servant, who disappeared. 
 
 It was a pleasant little party. First the 
 bright-eyed maid rushed in ; then the old lord, 
 with slow and painful step, came to bid the young 
 man God speed, and was full of courtly interest 
 in his future. 
 
 " I dare say I can give you some introduction 
 out there. De Courcey is an old friend of 
 mine, and Cawthorpe, and Thorold. They were 
 in the Guards with me years ago." 
 
 " A gentleman is waiting. He has called for 
 Mr. Frere," said the footman, coming in. 
 
 vol. i. o
 
 194 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 " My time is up, Lady Moynehan." 
 
 " Your friend would not care to come in, 
 would he ?" she asked. 
 
 " He is an old bear, and hates ladies' 
 society." 
 
 " Then he had better stay outside," said her 
 ladyship gaily. " And must you really go ? ' 
 
 Good-byes are always sad to say ; and these 
 kind people reminded Alured somewhat of the 
 dear ones at home. His orders to start for the 
 Crimea had come so suddenly that it had been 
 impossible for him to go to Scaggleton. Obliged 
 thus to leave England without seeing his mother 
 and sisters again, the ladies of Moynehan, for 
 the moment, took their place. But gulping 
 down his sorrow, he exclaimed, — 
 
 " Starkie will be getting savage. I am 
 keeping him in the cold all this time." 
 
 " Good-bye, then ; good-bye. Take care of 
 yourself, Mr. Frere." 
 
 " And come back, Mr. Frere ; mind you 
 come back." 
 
 " I hope you'll prosper," said Lord Moyne- 
 han, giving him his hand. " I'll send the letter 
 over to the barracks to-night. Bonvoyage."
 
 THE ROUTE. 195 
 
 The ladies came out into the hall to see the 
 last of him. Then he swung himself up to 
 Starkie's side, and they drove off. 
 
 " Who was that we met at the hall door ? " 
 asked the doctor, as soon as they were once 
 more on the high road. 
 
 " Lady Moynehan." 
 
 " Lady Moynehan. Not to put too fine a 
 point upon it, the Earl of Moynehan's wife ?" 
 
 " Do you know her ? Have you ever seen 
 her before ?" 
 
 " Perhaps I have, and perhaps I haven't. 
 It's no affair of yours, youngster. She may be 
 like some one I knew long ago. Will that 
 satisfy you ?" 
 
 Frere for answer launched forth into a 
 panegyric of the countess, which lasted them 
 all the way back to barracks. 
 
 It did not occur to him, simple youth, to 
 put two and two together. Had he been as 
 clever as you, reader, he might have con- 
 structed a pretty mystery from the fragments 
 put into his hands at Moynehan Castle.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE VOYAGE OUT. 
 
 " And oh the bitter tears we wept 
 In those our days of fame ; 
 The dread that o'er our heartstrings crept 
 
 With every post that came. 
 The home affections waged and lost 
 
 In every far-off fray ! 
 The price that British glory cost — 
 Ah ! take the sword away." 
 
 Praed. 
 
 Alured Frere and his companions on reaching 
 Gravesend, found the Sailor Qtceen, their trans- 
 port, out in the stream, but by no means ready 
 for sea. Freight littered the deck, mingled 
 with coal dust, live stock, and baggage. Al- 
 together the Sailor Queen seemed quite unfit 
 to rule waves more boisterous than a ripple on 
 the Thames. 
 
 There was no one to receive them ; every 
 one was too busy, and they had scaled the 
 ship's side unnoticed. After some difficulty 
 and delay the " chief officer " was dug out 
 from a cabin which bore his name, on the upper
 
 THE VOYAGE OUT. 197 
 
 deck. The chief was anxious to be civil, but 
 " unfort'ntly rather mops and brooms," as he 
 said himself. They gathered from his in- 
 distinct speech that the ship could not sail till 
 next day. 
 
 " 'Old on, gen'lm'n, '1 ask the p-purser," he 
 hiccoughed, as he leant with drunken tenacity 
 over the main hatch, and roared down " 'Ere 
 'Any, 'Any ! drop them ullages and rot-rot 
 down in the 'old. Come up and tell the 
 genTmn — off'shers, and genTmn — when ship's 
 shready for sh-ea." 
 
 " 'Any," the purser, was also supercargo. 
 For the voyage of the Sailor Queen to the East 
 was a trading venture, and she carried pas- 
 sengers only as a secondary business. 
 
 As " Mi's'r Jeel," the chief officer introduced 
 the purser ; but his real name was Geil, and he 
 was better known as Jellybags. A little, round, 
 podgy man, young still, but over fat for his age. 
 It was his first voyage as supercargo, and as 
 he was part owner, some importance attached 
 itself to him — at least in his own eyes. 
 
 "Hi am surprised, Mr. Helmouth, you should 
 have disturbed me in the midst of a ' tally.' "
 
 I98 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 " 'Ang the tally, 'Any; speak to the genTm." 
 Then, in reply to Alured, Mr. Geil con- 
 descended to say, — " We shall in most proba- 
 bility descend the river by to-morrow's tyide. 
 The hevening ty-ide." 
 
 " Is it necessary for us to remain on board?" 
 asked Gregson. 
 
 " Ham I to understand that you hair pro- 
 vided with passages in this steam ship ?" 
 
 " You hair," replied Alured, mimicking his 
 voice. " Pray, say whether we are to expect 
 an answer to-night ?" 
 
 " I de-clyine, gentlemen, to be more com- 
 municative, and refer you to the captain ; he's 
 at present from home." 
 
 " Oh, come lads," cried Dalrymple ; " let's 
 go back to the village ; we shall get no good 
 out of this little cad." 
 
 " Cad, sir ! " exclaimed Jellybags, advancing 
 threateningly at Alured, whom he thought the 
 easiest to lick, being the youngest of the party. 
 " Was that hoffensive, brutally hoffensive 
 hepithet haddressed to me ?" 
 
 " I'll pitch you over the side if you come an 
 inch nearer," said Alured.
 
 THE VOYAGE OUT. 199 
 
 " Drop it, 'Any, drop it. Of course he 
 knows, an' I know, an' everybody knows, that 
 you're only old Jellybags." 
 
 " I shall demand han hapology — categorically 
 hapologetic, when you return gentlemen. Your 
 language has been most huntemperate." 
 
 Alured and the others turned on their heels 
 and left him. Hurrying back to shore they 
 took the first train back to London, determined 
 to take a last taste of the pleasures of civilized 
 life. 
 
 It was the strangest night's fun, and the 
 most miserable apology for a debauch that ever 
 truant schoolboys indulged in. Yet Alured, 
 mindful of his meeting with Pierpoint, fancied 
 that for that night only he too was a " man 
 about town." Heaven save the mark ! Had 
 these youngsters been brought before a select 
 committee of Arthur's, Boodle's, Brook's, or 
 Pratt's, they would hardly have passed muster. 
 Gregson, on the strength of his approaching 
 apotheosis as a Crimean hero, had thought it 
 right to let his beard grow, but it was still in 
 the stubbly recent stage, and his chin was black 
 and unlovely to look upon. Routh, too, had
 
 200 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 been determined to cast himself adrift from the 
 conventionalities of life as soon as practicable, 
 and he had made a football of his hat and 
 hat-box as he entered Athenmore station, 
 adorning himself with a regimental forage-cap 
 instead. But the others had refused to travel 
 with him in this " cocktail " apparel, so he 
 disguised the badge and cap with an oil silk 
 cover, till he looked like a railway guard. 
 Little Bulger, the third of the party, had 
 missed his baggage, " sent it to the wrong 
 'otel," he said ; and this was his excuse for 
 wearing a dirty shirt, but he might have bought 
 a clean collar, if it had only been a paper one, 
 nor would it have cost him much to wash his 
 face, or to cover his vulgar hands with a pair of 
 cheap gloves. But Bulger was the leading 
 man of the party, on the strength of his 
 knowledge of life. It was he who marched 
 them to an hotel in Covent Garden, where 
 they were refused admittance promptly. With- 
 out baggage, and with Bulger as a spokes- 
 man, they did not inspire confidence among 
 hotel-keepers. At last Bulger said he knew 
 of a snug little crib somewhere off Soho, and
 
 THE VOYAGE OUT. 20 1 
 
 thither they repaired in a body. Here they 
 were more successful. But the money for their 
 night's lodging had to be paid down in advance. 
 Fortunately they were all in funds. The 
 morning they left Ballybanagher the pay- 
 master had handed to each a small pile of 
 golden sovereigns — six months' field allowance 
 paid in advance, and it was this windfall they 
 were now eager to spend. 
 
 It would be as well, perhaps, to draw a veil 
 over their adventures. Suffice it to say that 
 they dined at a swell eating-house — in Soho ; 
 went to a swell theatre also — in Soho, and to 
 swell concert-rooms, and swell billiard-rooms, 
 and swell supper-rooms, and, as Bulger ex- 
 plained to a friend next day on board the 
 Sailor Queen, kept it up till all was blue. 
 
 Oh, the curse of a vicious associate ! the 
 curse of gas-lit, flaring, midnight London, to 
 poison and blight the innocence of unsuspecting 
 youth ! Poor Alured was none the better for 
 tasting the pleasures of town. It was not till 
 next afternoon that he could pull himself 
 together, and swallow breakfast. Then they 
 journeyed again to Gravesend, and once more
 
 202 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 trod the deck of the Sailor Queen. Such as 
 she was — a coasting-boat, meant at times to 
 cross the Channel in favourable weather, — this 
 great steamship was ready for sea. Had she 
 been told that she was now to face the Black 
 Sea, the Bay of Biscay, and Mediterranean gales, 
 she would have shrieked out a vigorous veto 
 from all her creaking timbers. But the anchor 
 was a-trip, steam up, the pilot aboard ; the 
 captain came off in a shore boat with one of the 
 owners ; passenger after passenger clambered 
 up to the deck ; and all was ready. 
 
 Frere, Bulger, Routh, Gregson, and Dal- 
 rymple, were standing together, and the 145th 
 mustered all present. No, not all present. 
 Where was Skinner? Skinner, an old lieu- 
 tenant, who had lived much to himself at 
 Ballybanagher, and when the route had come, 
 had travelled to Gravesend alone. 
 
 Now, discerning his absence, one man 
 asserted that he had bolted, gone off, deserted. 
 Another swore he would be tried by court 
 martial, as sure as the trees grew little apples. 
 
 " You'll give him a moment's law ; won't 
 you, captain ?" asked Alured, soft-hearted.
 
 THE VOYAGE OUT. 203 
 
 " Give whom ?" 
 
 " Skinner of ours." 
 
 "Hain't he made out the number of his mess? 
 Then, by thunder, he'll lose his passage. I 
 couldn't wait now for the commander-in-chief, 
 or the queen of Sheba, or my own father." 
 
 He mentioned the three in a breath, as if 
 they were all nearly connected. 
 
 " But if he loses his passage — " 
 
 "Sailor Queen, ahoy!" came from a boat 
 alongside — a boat bearing three passengers, 
 Skinner among them. 
 
 " You'll miss your passage," cried Frere. But 
 Skinner paid no heed to the lad's words. All 
 his attention was engrossed by a person who sat 
 by his side in a paroxysm of grief. It was his 
 bride. Just one short week of married bliss, 
 then Eastward, ho ! This. Skinner had been 
 engaged for years, and was waiting till he was 
 a captain to marry. But a slender provision 
 even that for matrimony. Yet had he left the 
 depot when the sudden route had come, to 
 marry out of hand. Poor souls ! What did 
 they reck of the lookers-on that crowded the 
 deck of the Sailor Queen ? What to them, in
 
 204 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 that moment of intense agony had been even 
 a million eyes bent upon them with curious in- 
 trusive gaze ? For her there was no one else in 
 all the world but Archibald, and he was going 
 from her, perhaps never to return. To her the 
 interest of life seemed almost at an end. For 
 him there was little to hope for. The circle of 
 a grey uneventful career had been completed ; 
 apart from her there could be neither happiness 
 nor comfort, no sensation but one long yearn- 
 ing desire to be reunited to the woman he 
 loved. Of what avail to protract the bitter 
 moment ? The words must be spoken ; Cap- 
 tain Costabadie would wait no longer. 
 
 " God bless you, my own darling!" 
 
 " Oh, Archibald! oh, my love ! how can I 
 part with you ! Say you will come back — only 
 say you will come back." 
 
 "If God wills," said Skinner, taking off his 
 hat solemnly. 
 
 There were many youths and hardened men 
 too standing there, unwilling witnesses to the 
 scene, who echoed the poor fellow's words, 
 and added a silent amen to his prayer. 
 
 They were soon speeding along the river,
 
 THE VOYAGE OUT. 205 
 
 and until the channel widened, took part in 
 the grand regatta for ever in progress on the 
 Thames. Presently the sun went down — 
 setting upon Old England, and Skinner's sor- 
 row, and his wife's lonely anguish, upon the 
 hushed quiet of many an English home own- 
 ing a son embarked that night in the Sailor 
 Queen. The bright luminary disappeared, not 
 with cold heartless tones, but in a blaze of 
 splendour, warming up with hope and courage 
 the hearts of men, tingeing with the reflection 
 of his royal presence the vassal clouds that 
 waited obsequious on his exit, and flushing 
 with rosy pride the dancing waves that last 
 had felt his smile. Lights on either bank 
 began to flash and sparkle, at first with timid 
 radiance, as if it had been intolerable conceit to 
 seek to vie with the bright effulgence yet 
 scarcely passed away, then with more assurance 
 as the darkness came on apace. The world 
 was narrowed now for those on board the 
 Sailor Queen to the ship itself. The ceaseless 
 play of the engines, the red light that rose 
 above the funnel, the movement of sailors and 
 passengers, the casting of the log, or the strik-
 
 206 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 ing of the hours, — beyond these, all things were 
 shut out by the black night. 
 
 A very notable voyage this for Alured. The 
 mere transition from his native la/id to scenes 
 entirely different in character and local colour, 
 must alone have given him food for thought. 
 Each day there was something new. After a 
 prosperous run down Channel, they left late 
 one evening the Start Point under their lee — 
 the last English land. Then came the Bay 
 of Biscay, like a terrible dream, from which 
 Alured woke to hear that the ship had been 
 in danger more than once. But with Cape 
 St. Vincent and the Spanish coast, brighter 
 days dawned ; skies a deeper blue, seas a 
 brighter purple, washing the base of mountains, 
 whose summits neared the clouds. Here was 
 smooth water ; an infinite boon after the 
 tossings of the " Bay." At length, passing 
 Cape Trafalgar so close that they might have 
 thrown a biscuit on shore, they entered one 
 splendid spring morning the far-famed Straits 
 of Hercules. Europe and Africa, on either 
 side, seemed to be stretching out their hands 
 as if in salutation ; each continent on tip-toe
 
 THE VOYAGE OUT. 207 
 
 with a thousand miles of country, waste or 
 populated, behind to keep them from toppling 
 over. Sea and heaven smiled upon the meet- 
 ing. The first lay with a smooth face beneath 
 the bright burning gaze of the sun, placidly 
 dozing on in sleek happiness unruffled by a 
 breeze, unrippled by a current, stirred only by 
 the dipping wings of the sea-birds or the gam- 
 bols of a porpoise. On one side tall blue 
 mountains melting away into the far distance ; 
 on the other, mountains bluer, taller, and more 
 remote, while the Great Rock, Tank's Rock, — 
 Gibraltar, — a focus, as it were, of all this beauty, 
 lay in the centre, interposing like a stone door 
 right across the gateway of the Mediterranean. 
 Captain Costabadie had apparently no wish 
 to consult but his own wayward fancy as to 
 his course. From Gibraltar he steered for 
 Algiers, not because it was on his road, but 
 because some one had asked what the place 
 was like, and he did not want to be compelled 
 to confess twice that he had never seen it. 
 The chief officer arrogated to himself the same 
 powers. He bore up one night for Cagliari 
 in the island of Sardinia, because the liquor
 
 208 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 was running short, and he had a fancy that 
 light Italian wines might suit his palate. At 
 Malta they halted of course. Jellybags had 
 plenty of business to transact in the Strada 
 Stretta. But these days at Malta were full 
 of excruciating torture to Alured, for he had 
 there met a young officer like himself, who 
 had been actually detained at Malta, as too 
 young to go on. Frere ran back from Joe 
 Micalet's straight to the Sailor Queen, and hid 
 himself. He neglected altogether the intro- 
 ductions given him by his father and Lord 
 Moynehan. He did not dare go on shore to 
 present them. And one was to the general 
 in command, Alured' s chief enemy ! It was 
 not till they were once more at sea that he 
 breathed freely. 
 
 There was some talk of making for 
 Alexandria, but a naval officer among the 
 passengers who was anxious to join his ship 
 before Sebastopol, began to talk about " charter 
 parties," and "demurrage" for delays. Jelly- 
 bags grew frightened. The further he got 
 from England the more he respected the 
 powers of war, and those who followed its
 
 THE VOYAGE OUT. 209 
 
 trade. But he made a stand at Syra, in the 
 Grecian archipelago, though there was little 
 trade to be done there except in windmills ; 
 and at Constantinople they wasted a week. 
 
 At last, one morning, Alured woke in 
 Balaclava harbour. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AT THE FRONT. 
 
 11 The trumpets sound 
 The colours flying are, my boys ; 
 
 To fight, kill, or wound, 
 
 May we still be found, 
 Content with our hard fare, my boys, 
 
 On the cold ground." 
 
 The Sailor Queen lay amidst a forest of masts, 
 in a busy bay, landlocked and sheltered by 
 high hills. Bustle surrounded her. Boats 
 hurrying to and fro, laden with freight, living 
 and dead, merchandize, fruits, sick and 
 wounded, shot and shell. 
 
 " There goes Blatherwyck," cries some one, 
 as a man in an old sheepskin coat, and looking 
 like a ghost, is rowed past. " I said he 
 wouldn't last a week out here." 
 
 " Going to Scutari." 
 
 " Dying of funk probably." 
 
 Blatherwyck was one of the Ballybanagher 
 bad bargains. He had shirked so long, that
 
 AT THE FRONT. 211 
 
 at last they had ordered him to sell or sail. 
 He sailed, and stayed in the Crimea just one 
 week, during which time he obtained a majority 
 without purchase in his regiment. 
 
 But by this time the Sailor Queen had been 
 boarded by many visitors. It was refreshing 
 to see the air with which the captain and 
 Mister Jellybags did the honours of the ship. 
 These visitors were customers, — officers from 
 " the front," in search of food, clothing, drink, — 
 anything, from paper to pickles. Jellybags was 
 more at home now than he had been at sea. 
 His real trade was barter ; his training had 
 been .behind a counter, in the mysteries of 
 profit and loss. 
 
 " H excuse me, major, it's cheap at forty-two 
 the dozen ;" and " I couldn't let you have 
 it a halfpenny cheaper ;" " They stands us 
 in more than that ; they does indeed," were 
 phrases constantly in his mouth. Captain 
 Costabadie presided at the festive board, where 
 sardines and bottled beer were laid out to foster 
 enterprise among the buyers. 
 
 Of course there was plenty of news about. 
 
 " A sortie last night ; the — th bolted."
 
 212 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 "Oh come!" 
 
 "They did. Blessington told me so. I'd 
 have fired into them, by George." 
 
 " Like Paddy Geoghan of ours." 
 
 "-Did he ?" 
 
 " Yes, faith. We were in support at the 
 Woronzoff road, and a fellow of the Blazers 
 hooked it back from the chevaux de /rise. 
 Crying for his mother he was. The Russians 
 were in force at the picquet house." 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 " As he came towards us, Geoghan put up 
 his rifle, and shot him dead." 
 
 " What did they do to Geoghan ?" 
 
 " What 'd you want 'em to do to him ? He's 
 shouldering his gun still. They call him ' Pad- 
 dy Geoghan that shot the Blazer,' that's all." 
 
 " Carruthers, of the — th was shot, at the 
 Ovens last night." 
 
 " Infernal place. Hot as — ' 
 
 " An oven." 
 
 " Poor joke. But it is hot. There's a 
 casualty or two there most nights." 
 
 " A casualty " is a military euphemism for 
 a man killed.
 
 AT THE FRONT. 2 1 3 
 
 " They say there's to be another attack 
 to-morrow.' ' 
 
 " Pooh ! there's always going to be an attack. 
 I'll believe it when I see it in orders." 
 
 " They won't put it in orders ; there are 
 too many spies about." 
 
 " Spies !" derisively. 
 
 " There are I " emphatically. 
 
 Now although this conversation was swal- 
 lowed with delight by our friends of the Sailor 
 Queen, still Frere and the others of the 145th 
 were anxious to know how they were to get 
 to " the front." Bulger, more forward than 
 the rest, asked at length. 
 
 "You can ride up. I'll sell you a pony," 
 answered some one at once. 
 
 " So will I," added another and another. 
 
 " Can't we take the train ?" inquired Bulger. 
 • " What train ? the Military Train ?" 
 
 " No ; I mean the railway." 
 
 " That's a good idea ! Why it only goes 
 to Kadikoi ; and there are no officers' tickets 
 on this line." 
 
 " And no carriages." 
 
 " And no guard's van."
 
 214 THE queen's shilling. 
 
 " And no refreshment rooms — I wish there 
 
 were." 
 
 By this time a laugh had been got up at 
 Bulger's expense. They would have got no 
 information had not Frere interposed. Some- 
 how the apple-faced lad, with his bright cheery 
 looks, won friends at once. 
 
 " You are going to join the 145th ? They 
 are in the Fourth Division. You had better 
 walk. It's only half a dozen miles." 
 
 " And our baggage ?" 
 
 " Leave it at the regimental store in Balac- 
 lava. They'll send some mokes down for it 
 from your head-quarters." 
 
 No better advice than this, so they landed 
 at once. Did any emotions swell the hearts 
 of these young soldiers as they trod for the 
 first time Crimean soil ? Were they conscious 
 that they too, in a humble way, were about 
 to make history ; that as simple units they 
 might perhaps add something to the array of 
 facts to be handed down as the deeds of the 
 Crimeans ? Not exactly I take it. One 
 youngster was growling at the sun ; another 
 at the dust ; a third began to wonder where
 
 AT THE FRONT. 215 
 
 the store was, and if there was any liquor to 
 be got there. But it was impossible even 
 for the most matter-of-fact among them, and 
 this was certainly not our hero, to gaze for 
 the first time on Balaclava without surprise. 
 It was like a great world fair — as if a concourse 
 of nations had come together on pressing 
 business of their own, and bivouacking, or 
 building huts, as suited them best, had stayed 
 to carry it out ; a motley crowd, in diverse and 
 many coloured raiment. Soldiers were but 
 sparingly seen, for their work was elsewhere ; 
 but among the waggons of the land transport 
 were fatigue parties in dust-coloured tunics, 
 and besides them a sprinkling of horse 
 artillerymen or cavalry troopers, from their 
 camp close at hand, some Sardinians and stray 
 Frenchmen, and no end of Turks. Here and 
 there an occasional T. G. — travelling gentle- 
 man — the nom de guerre of all amateurs, from 
 the Duke of This or Lord John That, to lowly 
 canteen keepers coining money, or gents travel- 
 ling for Messrs. Jobson & Co. Hurry was 
 the order of the day — a normal condition for 
 staff officers dashing in and out, for British
 
 2l6 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 tars riding borrowed ponies ; abnormal and 
 constantly slackening on the part of those lazy 
 races who were compensating Great Britain 
 for voluntary enlistment and the thinned ranks 
 it entails, by doing as little of the dirty work 
 as could be got out of them. All this in the 
 midst of a Babel of languages — Smaitch, 
 Turkish, Greek, Armenian, Dutch, while high 
 above all the din rose strong and superior 
 the Englishman's undisguised and idiomatic 
 invective. 
 
 There was a good road by this time to 
 the front, and our friends had no difficulty in 
 piloting themselves along. Every mile brought 
 them to something new, which counteracted 
 the monotony of their march. Now it was 
 Kadikoi, a shanty-town, full of activity, now 
 a camp, or a battery, or another camp. Soon 
 a dull, distant, heavy " thud " began to fall 
 frequently upon the ear; and as they gained 
 at length the summit of the Fedukhine heights, 
 and saw beneath them the camps of the oppos- 
 ing armies, the lines of trench, and beyond 
 again, spread out like a scroll, Sebastopol it- 
 self, they understood what was meant by the
 
 AT THE FRONT. 21 7 
 
 puff of white smoke, for all the world like a 
 morsel of cotton-wool, and the far-off report 
 that followed it. At last the curtain was up, 
 and they were looking at the performance. 
 Indeed, the last act was already begun. The 
 allies, like hounds, would soon break from scent 
 to view, and Alured was destined to be in at 
 the death. 
 
 At the camp of the 145th, every one turned 
 out to greet the new arrivals. Those of the 
 soldiers not too jaded or worn to care for new 
 sensations, came to stare at the reinforcement 
 of young blood and fresh sinew from the old 
 country at home. 
 
 " It's good for sore eyes to see an ensign," 
 said old McGuiness, a captain of thirty years' 
 service — one of the very oldest school. " Faix, 
 ye're the only ensigns in the Crimayer." 
 
 " They'll not have to wait long for the next 
 step." 
 
 " Be japers, they won't. We're bound to 
 the ditches, some of us, to-night, and the 
 Rooshies maybe'll be making cold meat of 
 one or another of us. It's more than a month 
 since we had a casualty in the ridgement."
 
 2l8 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. ' 
 
 " Where are you detailed for, McGuiness ?" 
 
 " I don't know. Greenhill, covering party, 
 advanced trenches, Woronzoff Road, or the 
 cimitery, or some other divilish hot place.'-' 
 
 " What's the good of their sending out little 
 chaps like you ? " said a voice behind Alured. 
 " You'll be on your back before a week's out, 
 and we'll have to do your duty for you." 
 
 Frere looked round to see who it was that 
 gave him such a cordial welcome. The veteran 
 who spoke in such disparaging language of the 
 newly-arrived ensign was not such a very big 
 chap himself: a boy-captain, with a smooth 
 face, smoother than was agreeable to himself, 
 to judge from the care bestowed upon the three 
 hairs that did duty for a beard. But there was 
 a look of kindly interest in his eyes that took 
 all the venom out of his jesting speech. 
 
 " Let me introduce ypu two boys," said old 
 McGuiness. " There's hardly a pin to choose 
 between you. If he's too young to be an en- 
 sign, I'll swear you're too young to be a cap- 
 tain." 
 
 "You'd have liked promotion as quick as 
 mine, if you could have got it."
 
 AT THE FRONT. 2 19 
 
 " Children like you commanding companies 
 under fire ! It's ridiculous. And this young 
 Frere as bad. He won't be able to carry the 
 colour. " 
 
 " Frere ?" 
 
 " Yes ; poor Bob's brother." 
 
 " You don't mean that ? But I ought to 
 have seen the likeness. Your brother and I," 
 said this young man, abruptly, " were always 
 very thick. I dare say he used to mention 
 my name — Kenneth Kensington." 
 
 It was not a name likely to be forgotten* 
 soon by the Freres. 
 
 " Then it was you who brought back # the 
 body under fire, and — " 
 
 " Don't talk about it. I only did what any 
 one else would have done." 
 
 There was a slight pause. 
 
 " Have you had any dinner ? " Kensington 
 said soon, in an ordinary voice. " Come to my 
 tent. I'm going to dine early. As I'm for the 
 trenches with McGuiness, you can sleep in my 
 bed to-night." 
 
 " We were to have had some mutton," he 
 went on, as they sat down to those tough
 
 2 20 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 steaks of ration beef, the usual Crimean din- 
 ner, " but I couldn't manage it. There's lots 
 of drink, however." 
 
 Choice of a dozen liquids rather bewildered 
 Frere ; but Kensington decided for him by 
 insisting on champagne. 
 
 " They say the Rooshies drink porter with 
 their champagne. Would you like to mix ? 
 No ? But you must have some grog. I have 
 half-a-dozen rations of rum put by, and lots of 
 lime-juice. I like to take my whack always 
 before I go down to the ditches : it keeps the 
 cold out. By-the-way, you'd better come down 
 and see us by-and-by. It's sure to be a quiet 
 night." 
 
 Frere was nothing loth, and, shortly after 
 dark, with Gregson, he started ; Joe Candlish, 
 one of the old hands, volunteering to do guide. 
 
 From their camp into the valley of the sha- 
 dow of death was but a step ; and along the 
 low ground there was plenty to remind them 
 of the game at which they were playing. All 
 about, choking and crushing down the herbage, 
 lay shot of all sizes, and shapeless fragments 
 of shells. They passed more than one party
 
 AT THE FRONT. 221 
 
 homeward bound, after twenty-four hours trench 
 duty, glad to turn in at length with whole skins. 
 Every now and then a clatter and a rushing, 
 whistling sound, gave notice of a passing shot ; 
 gone as it had come, leaving no track but the 
 rattle it made on the rocks and stones as it 
 bounded onward. 
 
 They found McGuiness in reserve at the 
 first parallel, his men lying asleep close up 
 under the gabions. Kensington was detached, 
 down to the Woronzoff Road. 
 
 " How are we to get there ?" asked Alured. 
 
 " You'd better not go, lads. You're not on 
 duty mind. Suppose anything were to happen 
 to you ?" 
 
 " But I promised Kensington." 
 
 " I'll see you through it," said Joe Candlish. 
 " I know the way down." 
 
 The three threaded the parallel slowly, stum- 
 bling at every yard over men asleep. At the 
 end of the trench was a steep descent, down 
 which they floundered by a sort of covered 
 way, till they reached, at the bottom, the 
 Woronzoff Road. 
 
 To their surprise, they found the place in
 
 222 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 a fluster. The general commanding the left 
 attack was there, peering over the trench and 
 up the pass. Kensington met his visitors 
 rather coldly, and pointed hurriedly to the 
 general. 
 
 The great man at that instant turned and 
 spoke. 
 
 "As soon as the enemy advance, Captain 
 Kensington, retire your men slowly from the 
 chevaux defrise. There are two guns in posi- 
 tion just over us, which will sweep the road. 
 But hold on here, in the second line, to the 
 last. I'll send you more men if you're hard 
 pressed." 
 
 He stopped suddenly, for Alured's shooting 
 coat caught his eye. 
 
 "Who are these?" asked the general, 
 sharply. 
 
 " Friends of mine, who have come down to 
 the trenches for the first time to — " 
 
 " Amateurs ?" 
 
 "No, sir. They are officers of my regiment. 
 They have only just landed." 
 
 " You came down here for a lark, I suppose, 
 young gentlemen ? I have nothing to do with
 
 AT THE FRONT. 223 
 
 your larks ; and, recollect, you're not on duty. 
 If anything happens to you, it will be your own 
 fault. 
 
 " Take my advice," continued the general : 
 " go back to your camp sharp. I don't mind 
 telling you we are expecting a sortie in force, 
 along our whole line. The sentries report 
 heavy columns forming just in front. Back ! 
 Go back at once. You must not get into 
 trouble," added the general, speaking kindly 
 to Alured, " by being absent from your colours 
 the first time you're ordered under fire. Your 
 division will be paraded directly, I promise you. 
 In half an hour the whole army will be under 
 arms." 
 
 Somewhat abashed, the boys turned and 
 retraced their steps. For all their hurry, they 
 could not regain their camp before the game 
 began. Soon a series of sparks lit up the line 
 of the trenches they had just left, followed by 
 a sharp rattle, — rifle shots barking quick and 
 angrily, like the growls of a house-dog dis- 
 turbed. Five minutes more, and the 145th 
 had turned out. Officers rapidly inspected 
 pouches, and counted ammunition. The regi-
 
 224 THE Queen's shilling. 
 
 ment formed up, and was marched to the divi- 
 sional rallying place ; thence the whole mass 
 moved to the engineer park, behind Greenhill. 
 Meanwhile, the turmoil down below con- 
 tinued. The flashing lights lit up half the 
 horizon, and defined clearly the whereabouts 
 of the fight. At times, the noise rose or sank, 
 as each side seemed to slacken or renew the 
 struggle. Then all at once it ceased ; the 
 enemy had been driven back. 
 
 Parade dismissed, Alured would gladly have 
 gone to bed, but the night's excitement was 
 not at an end. He was carried off with the 
 other new arrivals to receive his Crimean 
 baptism. A brew of strong punch, songs, and 
 much tobacco smoke soon filled Candlish's tent 
 with noise and steam. They insisted upon 
 making Alured smoke for the first time in his 
 life, and then, just as he was in the throes of 
 sickness, all hands rushed out to bait a " spy." 
 Some one had declared that the Smaitch (or 
 native Maltee) who kept the canteen behind 
 the camp, was in Russian pay. He had been 
 observed to light up his canvas booth just 
 before the sortie began. Of course this was
 
 AT THE FRONT. 225 
 
 t 
 
 a signal. Alured herded out with the others, 
 bent upon pulling down the scoundrel's tent 
 about his ears. In less than five minutes, the 
 madcaps had broken into the canteen, and held 
 the proprietor by the nape of the neck. Some 
 were for hanging him on the spot ; others, 
 more lenient, dragged him out into the light 
 of a lantern to scrutinize his features before he 
 was handed over to the regimental guard. An 
 abject wretch it was, who roared for mercy, 
 and swore, in the best English, that he was a 
 harmless London trader. As Alured looked 
 on the man's face, it seemed to grow familiar. 
 Yes ; he recognised him. It was the footman 
 who had insulted Lady Moynehan. 
 
 " Let him go!" cried Alured. "I know 
 this man. I have met him before, — at home." 
 
 "Will you answer for his good behaviour?" 
 asked some of the others with semi-drunken 
 solemnity. 
 
 "Certainly." 
 
 " Then we'll let him go. But don't do it 
 
 again ; mind that. Next time we'll scrag 
 
 J? 
 you. 
 
 The wretch was only too glad to escape at 
 
 vol. 1. Q
 
 2 26 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 any price. Without one grateful glance to- 
 wards Alured, his deliverer, he made one 
 bound, the moment he was free, towards his 
 tent. But he got back rather late in the day. 
 It is wonderful how quickly old campaigners 
 ascertain when liquor is to be had for the 
 asking. Within a minute or two of the forci- 
 ble entry into the spy's canteen, a crowd of 
 soldiers had collected, despite the objections 
 of the quarter-guard sentry, and had laid hands 
 on everything. Porter barrels were rolled 
 away, black wine drawn off in mess-tins from 
 the cask, all the tobacco and most of the 
 bottles were removed. To no purpose did the 
 disconsolate proprietor seek to save his goods. 
 The place was soon entirely gutted. 
 
 Next day the man had disappeared with 
 the wreck of his belongings, and No. 3 of the 
 General Orders, printed at Head-Quarters, 
 contained a stringent injunction to repress all 
 disorders in camp.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 BATTLE AND SIEGE. 
 
 " Why, soldiers, why, 
 Should we be melancholy, boys ? 
 Why, soldiers, why, 
 Whose business 'tis to die." 
 
 Young Frere was soon initiated into the ways 
 of die place. First of all he had to get a 
 mount, and in this Kensington stood his friend. 
 
 " You must have a nag," said Kensington. 
 
 " I'm afraid I can't afford — " 
 
 " Oh, it won't cost you much." 
 
 " Ah, but how much is that ?" 
 
 "Just what you like to give, — a bottle of 
 rum or a plug of tobacco." 
 
 " Is that the circulating medium here ?" 
 
 " It is with my horse dealer. I'll send for 
 him. It's a wonder he hasn't been here long 
 before, for he pretends to be much attached to 
 me, and calls himself my 'towney.' Perhaps 
 he has been shot by the French sentries for 
 marauding."
 
 2 28 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 That evening, as they were dining off fried 
 beef, a visitor was heard announcing himself 
 outside. 
 
 " Is the captain in the tint beyant ?" 
 
 " That's Driscoll," said Kensington ; " we'll 
 have him in." 
 
 Driscoll proved to be a Jack Tar belonging 
 to the Naval Brigade. He appeared at the 
 door of the tent, but would come no farther. 
 On his back was some enormous burden, which 
 it was impossible to make out quite distinctly 
 in the dusk of the evening. 
 
 "What on earth have you got?" asked 
 Kensington. " Drop it outside, and come in." 
 
 "Shure, captain, darling, it's a trifle I've 
 brought for the new tint. They told me you'd 
 dug it out and flured it, so I laid my hands 
 on a nice little bit of matting to make ye a 
 carpet for the flure. If I might make so bold, 
 would you step out and look at it." 
 
 It was a mantlet. One of those great, 
 bullet-proof, rope-woven screens, several inches 
 thick, and at least six feet by four in dimen- 
 sions. Driscoll must have stolen it from an 
 embrasure in the trenches.
 
 BATTLE AND SIEGE. 2 29 
 
 " Why where did you get this from ?" 
 
 " Shure I found it, captain. It was a-lying 
 about the camp." 
 
 " Now look here, my fine towney, you'll 
 be tried by court-martial before you're many 
 weeks older, unless you mend your ways. Do 
 you know that these are Government stores 
 you've been laying your hands upon ? As sure 
 as God made little apples, they'll scratch your 
 back if they find you at these games." 
 
 Kensington's look and words were meant 
 to be severe ; but it was as much as he could 
 do to restrain his laughter. 
 
 " And you want to implicate me as a re- 
 ceiver ? You shall take it down to the trenches 
 again, — this very night." 
 
 " I will, captain, I will, by dis cross," said 
 Driscoll, crossing his two forefingers so as to 
 make a rude effigy of a cross. " Shure I 
 thought it'd plaze you." 
 
 " Well, come in and drink a glass of grog ; 
 but leave Government stores alone in future." 
 
 When the rum was finished, Kensington told 
 Driscoll that Alured wanted a pony. 
 
 "A pony!" said Jack, as if he had heard of
 
 23O THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 « 
 
 such things, but was not quite certain whether 
 they were fish, flesh, fowl, or good red-herring. 
 
 " Yes ; a pony. Do you happen to know 
 of any?" 
 
 " I saw one this very evening that'd suit him 
 down to the ground." 
 
 " Not a Government one ?" 
 
 " No, captain ; shure he belongs to a friend 
 of mine." 
 
 The pony was produced for inspection while 
 Kensington was absent from camp. Alured 
 liked the beast, and bought it for a song. 
 Upon Kensington's return he recognised it as 
 one of his own. 
 
 " Upon my word, that Driscoll's incorri- 
 gible," he said. But he insisted that Frere 
 should keep the pony, which had been fairly 
 bought. He himself was sold, but that was 
 no matter. This was only a delicate way of 
 making the boy a present. 
 
 Now that he was mounted, Alured was able 
 to explore the country. Rides to Baidar 
 Valley, to Kamiesch, and down to Balaclava, 
 filled up the first few days ; but he was not 
 always clear of duty, and the Russians were
 
 BATTLE AND SIEGE. 23 1 
 
 kind enough to provide plenty of amusement 
 for Frere soon after his arrival. It was the 
 morning after Driscoll had sold him Kensing- 
 ton's pony, that the enemy attacked the French 
 and Sardinians in the valley of the Tchernaya. 
 
 Alured was dressing, half in his own tent, 
 half in that of a neighbour, when his attention 
 was called to a lofty pillar of white smoke that 
 rose straight into the sky at a distance of six or 
 seven miles. There was a continuous rattling 
 of musketry and banging of big guns in the 
 same direction, so that the lad, imagining some- 
 thing extraordinary had happened, called to his 
 servant to ask what it all meant. 
 " Which, sir ? " 
 " That smoke, and all that." 
 " It's a battle, sir." 
 
 By this time others had collected : old 
 Hicks, the major, and Kensington, McGuiness, 
 and half a dozen more. News of this kind 
 flies like wildfire through the camp. A staff 
 officer comes galloping by. It is Underwood, 
 the quarter-master general of the division ; a 
 light-hearted, jovial soldier, the life and soul of 
 every bit of stirring work in these stirring times.
 
 232 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 " Good-morning, Underwood," cries out 
 Hicks. " Hold on a minute." 
 
 The other reins up. 
 
 " Morning. Fine morning," short and sharp. 
 He was in a hurry. " Fine morning," he said, 
 snuffing eagerly at the air. " Fine morning for 
 a battle." 
 
 " What's going on ? " 
 
 " They're hard at it down below there, 
 Rooshies and Sardines — the other side of the 
 Fedukhine heights." 
 
 " Where ? " 
 
 " About Traktir Bridge. By-bye. I'm in a 
 hurry — going to head-quarters." 
 
 The battle was raging fiercely, and almost as 
 fiercely beat the young blood in Alured's heart. 
 
 " Oh, Kensington, let's go and see it." 
 
 "With all my heart." 
 
 The ponies were ordered, and* in less than 
 ten minutes they were in their saddles. 
 
 " Stop, stop ! ' cried Kensington to Alured, 
 who was cantering on far ahead. 
 
 " What's the matter ? " 
 
 " There goes the assembly." 
 
 True enough. The bugles of every regi-
 
 BATTLE AND SIEGE. 233 
 
 ment in the division were blowing away as if 
 they were the last trumpets. 
 
 " What a nuisance ! We must turn back, I 
 suppose." 
 
 They were not much too soon, for they 
 found the 145th fallen in on parade. In 
 another minute they marched to the divisional 
 parade ground, and there remained until night, 
 cooped up among the tents, without even a 
 glimpse of the battle in progress about Traktir 
 Bridge. Such is the fighting men's luck : 
 either in the thick of the smoke and din, quite 
 lost to all that is passing around them, or in 
 reserve behind a hill, or far away waiting on 
 the divisional parade for orders to march. 
 The common men and the regimental officers 
 see but little of the game. All the front seats 
 in the stalls are reserved for the newspaper 
 correspondents and the staff. In action, the 
 world of a subaltern like Alured Frere is nar- 
 rowed indeed, and his view does not extend 
 much beyond the pouches of the men just in 
 front. 
 
 Alured's experiences of a battle-field were 
 reserved till the following day, when, released
 
 234 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 from confinement to camp, he got leave to ride 
 over the ground at Traktir Bridge. The sight 
 was somewhat appalling. The carnage of the 
 fight was evident around, in the hideous 
 shapeless masses that lay about, bodies heaped 
 one above another in an undistinguishable 
 tangle — arms, legs, and heads, twisted in and 
 out with agonized contortions, as if thus, writh- 
 ing and in torture, the breath of life had been 
 spent at last. Alured and his companion 
 lingered about the spots where the battle had 
 raged most fiercely, and where the dead lay 
 thick. One, a Zouave, who seemed stooping to 
 tie his shoe, knelt a little apart. Alured went 
 up and touched him. The body toppled over : 
 the man had been shot through the heart. 
 And yet there was a strange fascination in this 
 utter desolation of death. It was something to 
 be remembered for years. Already under the 
 burning sun of the south, the corpses were 
 changing colour. And all alike, friend and foe, 
 as they gazed up with lack-lustre eyes at the 
 brazen sky, were turning black in the face. 
 
 " My God, how awful!" said Frere, almost 
 involuntarily.
 
 BATTLE AND SIEGE. 235 
 
 " You ought not to stay here. Come away," 
 answered Kensington, taking him by the arm. 
 
 " Stay. There — there ! I saw a leg move," 
 shouted Alured suddenly, in a frenzy almost, 
 pointing to a matted mass of corpses at his feet. 
 
 " Nonsense. Come away." 
 
 " I did, I swear. There it is again ; the 
 same man too. He is moving his arm now. 
 Let us help him out." 
 
 They tore away furiously at the superincum- 
 bent carcases, throwing them to right and left ; 
 digging furiously like terrier dogs in this great 
 mound of mortality. Presently they reached 
 the man, who was yet alive, and thanked them 
 with his eyes as they dragged him forth. It 
 was in vain that he essayed to speak — a bullet 
 had passed through his lungs. He could find 
 no voice, but there was a horrid gurgling in his 
 throat repeated at each attempt at respiration. 
 Kensington tried to place the poor wretch, a 
 Sardinian trooper, as easily as he could, while 
 Frere ran off to fetch up a doctor who was at 
 work at the other end of the field. It was 
 no avail ; the hurt was mortal. There was 
 nothing for it but to lay the wounded man out,
 
 236 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 and leave him to die. But neither of those 
 young fellows could leave the spot until the 
 death-rattle and the last terrible throe proved 
 that life was indeed extinct. 
 
 But it soon came to be Alured's turn for the 
 trenches. This time he went down on duty, 
 and did not feel at all ashamed of himself, until 
 they passed a picquet of Frenchmen, who turned 
 out, one and all, to look and laugh at ce petit 
 enfant. His own men had christened him "the 
 baby" long before this, and it was rather a sore 
 subject. Inwardly he had resolved to show 
 them, if he got a chance, that he was no baby. 
 But everything was so new and strange out 
 here. Hardly had the men of the 145th settled 
 themselves down in the trench after their 
 arrival at the second parallel, when a voice cried 
 out, — 
 
 " The captain in command of the 145th 
 covering party ? " 
 
 It was the field officer on duty for the left 
 attack. 
 
 " Yes, sir; here." 
 
 " You are to send a party of fifty men and an 
 officer back to the first parallel — is that where
 
 BATTLE AND SIEGE. 237 
 
 they are to go ? " he inquired of an engineer 
 standing by. 
 
 "To the first parallel, and fetch up a — a — a 
 Gibraltar gyn that is lying there." 
 
 " Gibraltar gyn. Very good, sir. Mr. Frere, 
 you must go ; take fifty, the first fifty you can 
 fall in, and be off." 
 
 The men hated "fatigue" work, as it was 
 extra labour, and Alured had some trouble 
 in getting his fifty together. But at length 
 he marched the party away, their comrades 
 crying out as they left, " Right face ; follow the 
 sapper " — a piece of thread-bare Crimean chaff 
 for which half a hundred explanations were 
 given. It was generally supposed that a sapper 
 who headed a party thus entrusted to his guid- 
 ance, had returned with only one man out of 
 the dozen or more that started. The rest had 
 " gone under." 
 
 But there was no sapper this time ; and when 
 Alured had groped his way back to the first 
 parallel, he was rather at a loss where to 
 find his Gibraltar gyn. Besides, what was a 
 Gibraltar gyn ? Was it something to drink ? 
 he asked his sergeant, and his sergeant, licking
 
 238 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 his lips, said he hoped it was. They wandered 
 about, Frere and his fifty men, till they were 
 a nuisance to every one in Greenhill Trench. 
 
 " Who on earth are you," said a " gunner " 
 officer, " and what is it you want ? " 
 
 " Some ' gin,' or something." 
 
 " You're a green hand. It's that Gibraltar 
 gyn I suppose. Here, Sergeant Atkins, hand 
 over that gyn to this party." 
 
 The object of Alured's search proved to be 
 something like a gallows or guillotine frame. 
 But he was glad to get it, and asked no 
 questions. The gyn was taken to pieces, and 
 carried to the front, where they were getting 
 rather impatient. 
 
 " You've been a confounded long time," said 
 the officer in charge rather sharply to Alured ; 
 "we shall never get done before daylight, I'm 
 afraid." 
 
 They were placing a sea-service mortar in a 
 new battery. The gunners of the field battery, 
 who, with their horses, had brought the piece 
 down to the trench, remained to help. So did 
 Alured's men, as it was a heavy job. All were 
 soon hard at work. The night was "quiet,"
 
 BATTLE AND SIEGE. 239 
 
 but guns were fired at regular intervals on both 
 sides ; sometimes shot and sometimes shell. 
 It chanced that one of these was directed at the 
 spot where the men, round Alured, were work- 
 ing at the mortar; and suddenly there rose 
 a cry among them of " Shell, shell ! " The 
 mere words were sufficient to strike every one 
 dumb. Sure enough amid the death-like 
 silence that prevailed, the peculiar creaking, 
 sing-song of the approaching projectile was 
 plainly audible. 
 
 It comes closer, closer, closer. Suspense ; 
 breathless suspense ; and then a murmur bursts 
 forth from this silent band thus momentarily 
 expecting death, a sort of hoarse groan, the 
 voice of their tense-strung feelings. What 
 thoughts are afloat I wonder among that hand- 
 ful of human beings, standing, for all they know, 
 upon the brink of an open grave ? Are there 
 any who employ the brief instant on thoughts of 
 repentance ; any who view at that awful moment 
 in their mind's eye the happy home, far away, 
 with its dear ones, never, perhaps, to be met 
 with again on earth ? It is said that a drown- 
 ing man sees at the acme of his danger the past
 
 24O THE QUEEN S SHILLING. 
 
 actions of his life move like a rapid panorama 
 before him. The men who stood with Alured 
 Frere must needs make haste. Quick — the 
 fatal moment is advancing rapidly as thought ; 
 already a harsh hissing, rushing, whistling sound 
 has replaced the soft creaking of the distant 
 shell ; the light of its fuse is now in sight above 
 the trench, like a falling star, slowly descending 
 through the dark purple vault. 
 
 Whish, whish, whist ; sh — sht, st. thud. 
 
 " It's down ! Where ? " 
 
 " Short ! short ! It has fallen outside the 
 trench ! " some one cries out with joyful 
 voice. 
 
 The next moment his statement is confirmed, 
 as with violent explosion, uprooting as it seems, 
 all the ground about them, the fragments are 
 blown into the sky. Another second, the 
 murderous shower of iron raindrops has fallen* 
 and no one is hurt. All is over. 
 
 " Turn to, men ! " the officer in command 
 cries out sharply. 
 
 There is no time for sentiment. Danger for 
 the present is past ; there must be no romantic 
 stock-taking of the agony endured through
 
 BATTLE AND SIEGE. 24 1 
 
 those moments of excruciating suspense. On- 
 ward ! Leave all the rest behind ; as the 
 drums and fifes strike up a lively air returning 
 from the grave of a comrade, newly filled. 
 
 With nights like this Alured interspersed 
 others more dangerous, spending hours under a 
 heavy fire, and risking his life often. Fool- 
 hardiness came to be a matter of competition 
 between him and his companions It was 
 
 1 
 
 an exciting game, to try who would stand 
 longest above the trench, and brave the most 
 shots ; to go across the " open," and touch that 
 gunner's body who was killed there that 
 morning ; to sneak out at night beyond our line 
 and beard the Russian sentries in their shelter 
 pits. In one of these madcap escapades, one 
 bullet pierced Alured's coat, and another took 
 his hat off. The jagged hole in his jacket, with 
 the long irregular tear which the shot had made, 
 were like trophies, and our hero began to take 
 rank as one who had really smelt powder. 
 
 Meanwhile the siege dragged itself; but the 
 end was near at hand. Another attack was 
 imminent. Unmistakable warnings were cur- 
 rent. The commander-in-chief had been seen 
 
 vol. 1. R
 
 242 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 reconnoitring from Cathcart's Hill alone, all 
 one afternoon. Woolbags to fill the ditch of 
 the Redan were being made at the engineer 
 park. There had been a council of war at head- 
 quarters. The attack was to come off to- 
 morrow, to-morrow, and to-morrow, till the 
 day did dawn at length. A lured, who had 
 spent the previous night on duty in the trenches, 
 saw it all, in the face of a tornado, a perfect 
 whirlwind of dust, from the left attack. The 
 assailants, like a thin black line — Rifles first — 
 ran out from the flying sap, across the open to 
 the Redan. How few they seemed ! and yet 
 of these, half are swept away by the first fire of 
 the enemy's guns. More follow. The chevaux 
 de /rises gained, the woolbags are thrown 
 down into the ditch ; the great earthen mound 
 of the Redan is scaled. At the top, Greeks 
 meet Greek ; and all scramble back together. 
 All round, the air is hideous with the roar of 
 guns, great and small ; smoke rises in clouds. 
 Moments, minutes, hours of anxious suspense 
 for those who watch from without, and wait. 
 Within the womb of the Redan all is mystery ; 
 but that the fighting is sharp, is proved by
 
 BATTLE AND SIEGE. 243 
 
 the unceasing fire, the occasional sight of a 
 body blown into the air, of men mortally 
 stricken, who drop back over the slope to fall 
 and die. " Why don't they send on more 
 men !" cry, almost in frenzied excitement, those 
 who, under a heavy fire themselves, stand round 
 Alured in the left attack. The trenches are 
 quite crammed with troops. They are to be 
 seen plainly : Highlanders, a whole division 
 from Kamara ; Guards, Marines not long 
 landed, and still fresh and unworn by the 
 hardships or losses of the campaign. What is 
 Simpson about ? Why does he hesitate ? If 
 he would only let them loose, — over the trench 
 and on. But the time wears away. The 
 Fourth Division is there too ; and the Third 
 is at the Park. Nothing is wanted but the 
 word to advance. 
 
 But no word is given. The handful that 
 went out has got to do it all. 
 
 The task is clearly beyond their strength, 
 and there can be none of them left by this 
 time — stay, yes ; a few ; for see, they are re- 
 treating ! Englishmen retreating, falling back, 
 withered, crestfallen, unsuccessful.
 
 244 THE QUEENS SHILLING. 
 
 A feeling of deep gloom settles on those in 
 the left attack, who have had no share in the 
 fight, and are too far distant to get intelligence 
 of what has passed. That the assault has 
 again failed at the Redan, they have the evi- 
 dence of their own eyes. But what is to be 
 the next move ? Will not fresh storming 
 parties be organized without delay ? Rumour 
 and counter rumour fly like wildfire. Four 
 companies of the 145th were in the action. 
 The colonel is killed, and the adjutant, they 
 say. The enemy, flushed with success, is about 
 to make a combined sortie all along their line ; 
 while Liprandi, advancing from the Tchernaya 
 Valley, storms the Fedhukhine Heights. Then 
 it becomes known that the Malakoff has been 
 captured — and why not the Redan ? 
 
 "It was never meant to be taken ; the attack 
 was a feint to draw attention from the Mala- 
 koff." 
 
 " Then the French have all the glory ; ours 
 is the shame." 
 
 Evening now draws on. Alured, with Mc- 
 Guiness is sent to the advanced trenches ; and 
 sentries are once more posted, and the night is
 
 BATTLE AND SIEGE. 245 
 
 passed anxiously awaiting a Russian onslaught. 
 Just before dawn, as they lie extended on the 
 ground within the trench, worn out and tired, 
 their backs are nearly broken by a violent con- 
 vulsion of the earth beneath them. A terrible 
 roar follows. " A mine ! a mine ! They will 
 advance under cover of this." The men stand 
 to their arms silently, expecting the worst. 
 
 The light grows stronger ; but it is garish, 
 sickly, artificial, as if the dawn broke sick at 
 heart at all the carnage it must see at waking. 
 Is it really day-break ; or are the heavens on 
 fire ? 
 
 No. Sebastopol is in flames ; the enemy has 
 evacuated the place, leaving smoking ruins, 
 forts crumbled into dust, — an empty shell, void 
 of life or value to its jaded captors.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A CHANCE SHOT. 
 
 " What, sighing ? fie ! 
 Drink on ; drown fear ; be jolly, boys ; 
 ; Tis he, you, or I." 
 
 After the fall of Sebastopol there was a lull in 
 hostilities. But rumour, within a week, was 
 busy inventing fresh outlets for the allied 
 arms. It was asserted, for instance, that the 
 whole of our forces were to embark forthwith 
 for Asia, to raise the siege of Kars. For this 
 purpose the fleet had been ordered to rendez- 
 vous at Kamiesch. Then it became known 
 that a combined assault was meditated upon 
 the Mackenzie Heights, beyond the Tchernaya, 
 striking thus at Batchiserai and Simpheropol 
 in the interior. After which, it was probable 
 that the armies would march upon Moscow or 
 St. Petersburgh, time, and the coming winter 
 being naturally neither object nor obstacle. 
 There was plenty of tall talk about the camps, 
 till September had passed without a move be-
 
 A CHANCE SHOT. 247 
 
 yond some trifling naval operations in the Sea 
 of Azof. It became evident then that nothing 
 much would be attempted that year, and our 
 brave soldiers, like Caesar's legions in Gaul, 
 went into winter quarters. Those who disliked 
 their tents built huts, taught by the experience 
 of the past to guard against the hardships of the 
 coming winter. All ranks tried to make them- 
 selves comfortable. The troops were flush of 
 cash, thanks to their increased pay, and spent 
 it like men, as who should say " See how we 
 soldiers live ! Sometimes better, and never 
 worse." Tobacco was a drug in the camp ; grog 
 flowed in streams ; biscuit, as a ration, despised 
 for the fresh soft bread sold daily by the 
 Maltee hawkers. In this respect there was a 
 marked difference between the English and 
 French armies. As supplies poured in to the 
 former, the latter became more and more 
 straitened. There was hardly a regiment in 
 the British encampment but had a strong 
 clientele of hungry French pensioners, who 
 were fed after meals with what was left. 
 Every morning a lean piou-piou came past 
 Alured's tent, following a trail of crumbs laid
 
 248 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 by the men of Alured's company, to show 
 where the buried heap of biscuits was concealed. 
 And if the English soldiers fared so well, the 
 officers were not much worse off. Had there 
 been a pack or two of hounds in the neighbour- 
 hood, or more shooting than the few snipe 
 down in the Tchernaya marsh, they would 
 have been quite contented. As it was every 
 effort was made to supply the loss. Dogs 
 were hunted instead of foxes, paper chases 
 organized on the wildest principles of " larking 
 across country." Sometimes a sportsman, with 
 memories of moor or Norfolk strong upon him, 
 dropped down upon the snipe, and wiped the 
 eye of the French and Sardinians, who stalked 
 their bird in full regimentals, booted and 
 spurred, with sword girded on to despatch the 
 winged. Steeple chases and flat races were 
 announced for a coming day ; amateur thea- 
 tricals and glee clubs filled up the evenings ; 
 while rather under the rose, those who suffered 
 most from ennui developed a strong taste for 
 gambling at "unlimited loo." 
 
 In all these sports the 145th were not 
 behind-hand ; and it might have fallen to our
 
 A CHANCE SHOT. 249 
 
 hero's fate to graduate as a gambler or a light 
 weight jock, had not his regiment got the 
 route one fine morning for Kamiesch. The 
 brigade to which it belonged was to form part 
 of a secret expedition in the northernmost 
 regions of the Black Sea. 
 
 It was not till a week had been spent on 
 board ship, sailing off the coast of the Crimea, 
 or anchored in front of Odessa till its peaceful 
 inhabitants were half frantic with terror, that 
 the expeditionary force found that their mark 
 was Kinburn, a fort unimportant in itself, but 
 with that of Otchakoff, opposite, closing the 
 mouth of the river Bug, the high road # to 
 Nicholaieff and Kherson. 
 
 The reduction of Kinburn was after all but 
 an inglorious achievement for the combined 
 fleets of England and France. It was scarcely 
 more than a naval parade ; and the troops 
 destined to co-operate in this great enterprise 
 hardly fired a shot. Bazaine, later conqueror 
 in Mexico, but also commander-in-chief in Metz, 
 led the French, Spencer the English, contin- 
 gent. 
 
 A long low spit of land, a sand-bank eaten
 
 25O THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 into by the aggressive tide, treeless, lonely, and 
 deserted, with patches here and there of a thin 
 vegetation, — such was Kinburn, viewed from 
 the pontoons that conveyed the invading army 
 through the long shallows to shore. Theirs 
 were keen eyes which magnified the long- 
 legged sea-birds upon the beach into an enemy's 
 sharpshooters ; an imagination very vivid was 
 required to make columns of troops out of the 
 sand-dunes. There was no opposition, to the 
 landing, no enemies to overcome greater than 
 hunger and ennui. The latter was inevitable 
 except for sand-crabs or blow-flies ; the former 
 might have been avoided by a proper husband- 
 ing of the salt provisions each officer and man 
 was ordered to carry. Indeed the chance of 
 starvation stared all in the face ; and a strict 
 search among- the deserted hovels that did 
 duty for villages brought nothing to light but 
 vats full of pickled gherkins floating fish-like 
 in a sea of brine. These were but the leavings 
 of the Turcos, who, light-fingered foragers, had 
 swept like locusts across the land. 
 
 In munching biscuits, digging sand-pits as 
 shelter, harvesting the wild reeds for bedding,
 
 A CHANCE SHOT. 25 I 
 
 day followed day, till Grimes, — who had joined 
 his master, not from devotion, but because the 
 doctor thought he would be the better for a 
 little campaigning, — declared he'd rather have 
 a month in the provost cells. 
 
 " There's stones there to break at any rate," 
 said Grimes. " Divil a pebble on this big 
 sairey." 
 
 " There's no Saireys nor Mary's nuther in 
 Rooshia, you great omahdawn," cried a com- 
 rade, in correction. 
 
 " Go 'long wid ye. I call to mind when I 
 was in the regimental school, I saw that sairey 
 was furrin for sand, and these Rooshie women 
 are all sandy, that's why they christen them 
 Sairey's." 
 
 Grimes was a little out of date. The 
 prestige he enjoyed as an old soldier was 
 gone in the presence of veteran campaigners 
 who had been at Alma and the Redan, while 
 he had never seen a shot fired. It kept him 
 on the stretch to be even with his comrades. 
 He talked continually of the days when the 
 regiment lay at " Moulmain," and " Bellary." 
 They capped his stories with descriptions of
 
 252 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 hand-to-hand fights at Inkerman. They told 
 him of Dooley the recruit, that flung away his 
 rifle just before the last attack, and called for 
 his mother, and how the general had sent for 
 Dooley, and said, " You think you belong to 
 your mother, do you ? You belong to your 
 country, sir, — to be shot, or otherwise disposed 
 of." Upon which Grimes swore Dooley was 
 a disgrace to the regiment, and said that at 
 Tounghoo there were " doolies " and " coolies ' 
 too. 
 
 " It's like the riffraff that 'lists these days," 
 Grimes went on. " With your doolies. Shure. 
 when I was a recruit at drill, I had a real lord 
 for a rear rank man." 
 
 "Not you!" 
 
 " By this cross. No less. Own son to the 
 divil do I know who. And his father came 
 and bought him out one morning as we stood 
 upon parade. Driving on the square in a 
 coach and four." 
 
 " Was that the last of him ?" 
 
 " Not at all. He was that fond of us, he 
 gave his father the slip, and re-enlisted. A 
 mighty big drink we had over his second
 
 A CHANCE SHOT. 253 
 
 bounty. There was many lost their stripes 
 over that." 
 
 " And what became of his lordship ?" 
 
 " He died at Moulmain of the horrors. 
 Drought did it. He was such a thirsty chap." 
 
 Grimes was interrupted by his master's 
 voice. 
 
 Alured was for outlying picquet that night 
 with his company, condemned to keep watch 
 through the long hours, and protect the rest 
 from surprise. It was just possible that the 
 enemy might make an effort to relieve the fort 
 of Kinburn, dropping down in force from 
 Nicholaieff, where they had a large garrison, 
 to drive the besiegers into the sea. Across 
 the isthmus, therefore, was drawn a chain of 
 posts, strong enough to hold in check any 
 attack until it was fully developed, and until 
 the main body behind had time to stand to its 
 arms. Far in front of the outposts double 
 sentries patrolled right, left, and forward, listen- 
 ing sometimes with ear to earth, at others 
 getting low down into the hollows, so as to 
 bring the ground in front against the sky-line. 
 
 The party to which Alured belonged was
 
 254 THE queen's shilling. 
 
 right across the main road from Nicholaieff, 
 and held the key of the position. A little to 
 the front lay a few hovels, — half village, half 
 overgrown homestead, — quite deserted now, but 
 capable of giving cover to the Sclaireitrs of an 
 advancing enemy. Taking with him an escort 
 of a dozen men, Alured visited this place more 
 than once during the night, but found all quiet. 
 In this and in visiting the line of sentries the 
 time passed, till, towards morning, our hero 
 threw himself upon the sand, tired out, meaning 
 to have forty winks, waking up first his sergeant 
 to take his place on the look-out. 
 
 Campaigners may be said to have got the 
 better of conscience, sleep comes to them so 
 easily. Not even the memory of atrocious 
 crimes could keep a man awake whose day 
 had been spent on the line of march and his 
 evening by the bivouac fire. For him the cold 
 ground is a softer bed than springs or feathers 
 could provide, and his head sinks into the sand 
 as if it were a luxurious pillow. Alured was 
 soon sound asleep ; next minute, as it seemed, 
 he was awakened by a shot. 
 
 " A shot fired in front!" The picquet stood
 
 A CHANCE SHOT. 255 
 
 to its arms ; Alured ran to place himself at the 
 head of his men, and sent back to give the 
 alarm. 
 
 A second shot ! » 
 
 A third ! 
 
 The sentries had been ordered not to fire, 
 but to fall back at once upon their supporters. 
 It was evident they could not restrain them- 
 selves. The enemy must be quite close upon 
 them. In another minute Alured expected to 
 be engaged. 
 
 With nerves strung tight, yet with beating 
 anxious heart he awaited attack. Five minutes 
 passed. No more firing in front, no Cossacks. 
 The sentries had not even fallen back! Alured 
 was on the point of sending out a strong patrol 
 to reconnoitre his front, when he seemed to 
 observe in the scant, dim light, something 
 moving towards him. A body, lightish in 
 colour (the Russians he knew wore grey) creep- 
 ing with slow cautious steps up to where he 
 and his picquet stood. Could the enemy have 
 forced their way unobserved through the line 
 of sentries ? A terrible moment this. Should 
 he receive them with a volley ? No ; perhaps
 
 256 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 he had better reserve his fire to the last. 
 Nearer and nearer came his strange mysterious 
 assailant ; faster and faster beat his heart ; 
 then all at once it weat, — snap ! 
 
 Another shot, this time close under their 
 noses. 
 
 Then a voice, a well-known voice, crying out 
 in joyful accents : — 
 
 " I've kilt him ; I've kilt him. Hurrah, boys ! 
 he's as dead as mutton." 
 
 Rushing forward, Alured and his men found 
 Grimes astride of a cow ! 
 
 " What's the meaning of this?" asked his 
 master sternly. " What have you been up to ? 
 The whole force is under arms by this time. 
 Make a prisoner of him," he went on to the 
 sergeant. "I'll teach you to play the fool. 
 Send him back to the regiment with an es- 
 cort." 
 
 " And me cow, sir ?" said Grimes, with a 
 oroan. " Sorrow a taste of fresh meat these 
 weeks, and I saw the devilish beast go by. 
 How could I help it ?" 
 
 By this time the field officer on duty for 
 the night came up (he was one of the majors
 
 A CHANCE SHOT. 257 
 
 of the 145th) to inquire into the cause of dis- 
 turbance. Alured explained. 
 
 "You old rascal!" said the major, with a 
 laugh ; " you must take the consequences of 
 this. March him into the quarter-guard. But, 
 Mr. Frere," in a lower tone, " take care of the 
 cow. It won't go a great way among the whole 
 force, but there's enough to give all the men of 
 our regiment a ration a-piece to-morrow. I 
 think we'd better say nothing about this. Be- 
 tween ourselves, it would be better to hush the 
 whole thing up. Sentries got excited, — fired 
 without necessity, — and so forth." And Grimes 
 
 was dealt very leniently with, for in his way 
 
 - 
 
 he was a benefactor to his fellow-men. The 
 jaws that chewed the tough fresh beef next 
 day, in the 145th camp, had their work cut out 
 for them ; but the men were not too busy to 
 forget a word of praise for the valiant sports- 
 man who had killed the cow. 
 
 In this bloodless Kinburn campaign, Grimes' 
 rifle was, with one exception, the only weapon 
 discharged by the 145th. Alured Frere's re- 
 volver was the other. 
 
 The fort itself fell without striking a blow. 
 
 vol. 1. s
 
 258 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 It was hammered to pieces in half an hour by 
 the murderous cannonade of the combined fleets, 
 and all was over. But before the troops were 
 re-embarked, the generals in command resolved 
 to make a reconnaissance in force. Two strong 
 columns marched inland for a couple of days, 
 presumably to stretch their legs, and see the 
 country. A closer inspection developed nothing 
 but sand, and more sand. Sometimes a few 
 trees ; here and there a little sparse brush- 
 wood ; at one or two places a group of huts, 
 now empty, which once had done duty as a 
 village. Near one of these, on the evening of 
 the first day, the 145th bivouacked. The 
 march had been long and dreary, the allowance 
 of rations limited, and Alured with his friend, 
 Kensington, lay down in a hastily erected sand 
 hovel, roofed with a few reeds, open at one 
 end, where a scanty fire was kept up, to growl 
 themselves to sleep. During the night a driz- 
 zling rain fell without intermission, and made 
 its way almost at once through their threadbare 
 shelter. Soon after dawn the whole camp, 
 weary of the comfortless night, was astir. 
 Frere and his captain woke like the rest,
 
 A CHANCE SHOT. 259 
 
 saddened and sulky, to pick the sand out of 
 their gummy eyes, and swear at Grimes for not 
 relighting the fire. As they sat side by side, in 
 their miserable den, chilled in every bone, they 
 thought of home, and dry clothes, and a com 
 fortable breakfast. 
 
 "What a night !" said Kensington. " I'd as 
 soon have slept in a gutter." 
 
 " Do you remember ' Margery Daw/ who 
 sold her bed and laid upon straw ? I wish 
 we'd had some straw last night. I'm in a pool 
 of water. It'll play the mischief, this wet, 
 with our swords and things." 
 
 " And the revolvers. Where's yours, Boy 
 Frere ?" 
 
 Alured hunted, and found it half soaked with 
 the rain, and rusting already. 
 
 " You'd better clean it, and put it to rights. 
 We might have a brush with the Rooshies by- 
 and-by. I shall rub up mine." 
 
 "Yes, I would," said Alured, with a laugh; 
 " it wants it." 
 
 There was a good deal of rivalry about 
 the respective merits of their weapons. 
 
 " It's worth a dozen of yours. You boys
 
 260 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 who've just come out, think everything must 
 be brand new to be of use." 
 
 " Mine must be more use than that old rattle- 
 trap of yours. Why the spring's got all clogged 
 with sand." 
 
 " The spring works easy enough. Look." 
 
 "Let me try." 
 
 " No ; try your own." 
 
 " Talk about springs — ah !" 
 
 A report, a wild scared shout from a group 
 standing by, one short groan from Alured, and 
 the deed was done. 
 
 " Good heavens !" cried Kensington. " What 
 has happened ? What are those fellows staring 
 at. Did any one fall. You have hit some 
 one." 
 
 "Yes," said Alured, faintly; "I've hit — 
 myself." 
 
 There was a little hole in his trowsers just 
 above the knee. The cloth was torn, and a 
 small thin wisp of smoke curled up from the 
 spot where the bullet had entered. Alured 
 Frere had shot himself in the leg. 
 
 A minute more, and the news flew through 
 the camp. The regimental doctors came to
 
 A CHANCE SHOT. 26 1 
 
 probe the wound, while Kensington stood by 
 holding poor Alured's hand, and Grimes ad- 
 ministered doses of brandy. Friends (and 
 among those, already, in the few months that 
 he had served, the baby-faced boy counted all 
 the regiment) waited anxiously for the verdict. 
 Was there any immediate danger. No, thank 
 Heaven, no immediate danger. And then, in 
 a whisper, the surgeon told the colonel that 
 he feared it would be necessary to amputate 
 the leg. 
 
 " Not here, surely ? We're on the march, 
 and might be attacked any moment. There is 
 no field hospital." 
 
 " No, not here, of course. We'll send him 
 back to the coast. The Botmtiftd is there, 
 you know, sir, the hospital ship. He'll do on 
 a small litter. His servant with him, and 
 Townshend, the assistant-surgeon, to see him 
 on board." 
 
 Kensington pressed Alured's hand as they 
 parted. 
 
 " It was all my fault ! If I'd never said any- 
 thing about those cursed revolvers " 
 
 " No, no, no ; it was my own."
 
 262 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 The journey tried our hero's courage. Al- 
 though late in the year, the October sun beat 
 down fiercely on his poor feverish face, and the 
 wound, self-inflicted, ached and pained him hor- 
 ribly. Looking back upon it in after-days, 
 Alured seemed, in that day's march, to have 
 suffered the agony of a lifetime. By the time 
 they lifted him into a boat he was speechless. 
 Townshend began to be alarmed, and Grimes 
 was in tears. 
 
 Painted in black upon a white square, the 
 Bountiful bore upon her bows the numerals 
 337, her number in the transport service. She 
 was a sailing ship ; a large, commodious East 
 Indiaman, fitted up as a floating hospital, with 
 sick bays clean and airy, swinging cots, a cap- 
 tain of the orderlies, a staff of doctors, and a 
 cargo of medicines and surgical instruments. 
 Balaclava Harbour was her home, but they had 
 sent her up in tow to Kinburn to provide for 
 any casualties that might occur in the cam- 
 paign. Beyond a few Russians injured in the 
 bombardment, so far there had been no demand 
 upon the Bountiful 's accommodation, and those 
 who formed her cabin company, finding time
 
 A CHANCE SHOT. 263 
 
 heavy upon their hands, fought as only men 
 of the same profession can, or, being already far 
 advanced towards dyspepsia from over-feeding 
 without exercise, abused the table kept on 
 board. 
 
 One voice in particular was heard above all 
 the din, louder in tone and fiercer in invective 
 than all the rest — Starkie's. 
 
 From morning till night Starkie swore at 
 everything in the ship. At early dawn he 
 cursed the seamen holystoning the deck over 
 head ; next the steward, who would not give 
 him a brandy and soda before breakfast ; then 
 the food set in front of him. By-and-by he 
 quarrelled with his assistants because they 
 could not play whist as well as himself, and 
 wished to heaven they'd send him some work 
 from shore, if it was only to save him from his 
 companions, — a case of cholera or two, or 
 some good gunshot wounds. But the purser 
 was his chief enemy. " I'd like to prescribe for 
 you, Mr. Crouch," Starkie would say to him 
 with a fiendish grin. " If you would only lay 
 up now, and call me in, I'd pay you off for the 
 filth you've made me eat on board your bounti-
 
 264 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 ful ship. I'd let you know what filth tasted 
 like." 
 
 They were in the middle of dinner when 
 the boat containing Alured and his attendants 
 came alongside. Starkie was making a running 
 commentary on the bill of fare in his loudest 
 tones, calling the soup dish-water, and asking 
 for fish. " No fish ? with the sea all round us. 
 Veal cutlets ! pah ! ' Slink ' veal out of a tin. 
 Boiled beef; drowned horse. Fresh pork; I 
 like that ! Fresh from the pickle-tub. Get me 
 some cold meat, steward ; some cold meat and 
 pickles. Pickles ; you know what I mean ; 
 piccalilli, or Captain White, or Black, or gunners 
 delight, or mumbo jumbo, — anything just to 
 make the stuff go down." 
 
 Then some one coming down into the cabin, 
 said an officer had been brought on board badly 
 wounded. 
 
 "■ What's that ?" roared Starkie. " Fighting 
 begun, eh ? " 
 
 " It's an officer of the 145th — " but before 
 Starkie could hear more, Grimes appeared with 
 a scared face, and went up to him. 
 
 " Shure I heard your voice, doctor, darling.
 
 A CHANCE SHOT. 265 
 
 I hope ye'll remember the dipot, and old times. 
 There's bad luck come on us," said the old 
 soldier, half breaking down. 
 
 " What are you whimpering at, you great 
 ass ?" cried Starkie. 
 
 " My boy ! oh, my boy !" 
 
 " What boy ? You're not a father, are you ? 
 I thought you were a miserable old bachelor 
 like myself." 
 
 " No, doctor ; shure, sir, it's me master 
 that's a boy I mean." 
 
 " What, master ?" asked Starkie, rising to 
 interest at once. 
 
 " Little Mr. Frere, sir. He's badly hot — 
 hot in the leg, sir. Iss, sir ; iss, sir," faltered 
 Grimes, in snuffling accents. 
 
 " Where was the fighting ?" asked Starkie. 
 
 " There was no fighting at all, sir. He hot 
 himself in the leg, sir ; iss, sir ; iss, sir." 
 
 Starkie, without waiting for more, rushed on 
 deck. They had already taken A lured below, 
 and he was in his cot, looking very pale and 
 white, by the time that Starkie found him. 
 Townshend, with an anxious face, sat by his 
 side. 
 
 vol. 1. T
 
 ' 266 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 " Poor boy!" said the old doctor, in such a 
 strange soft voice that it might have come from 
 some other man. " Poor little chap. I am 
 sorry to see this. But we'll put you right, 
 never fear. You know me, don't you ?" 
 
 Alured's answer was a faint flush, of pleasure 
 probably at meeting with his former friend ; 
 but he could not speak. 
 
 Townshend took Starkie aside, and told him 
 the whole story. 
 
 " We're afraid the leg will have to come off." 
 
 " Are you to wait with us ?" Starkie asked. 
 
 "No; they want me back with the regiment." 
 
 " Then I can take the case into my own 
 hands. This little chap is an old friend of 
 mine; and his leg shall be saved, if I can do it." 
 
 Never had wounded man nurse so tender 
 and attentive. Starkie forsook everything for 
 Alured Frere. It was the wonder of the whole 
 ship. He scarcely left the lad's bedside ; and 
 when there, was as gentle and quiet as a 
 woman, modulating his rough voice to speak 
 in whispers, and treading with noiseless step 
 as he moved across the sick bay. This godless, 
 cross-grained, old reprobate seemed suddenly
 
 A CHANCE SHOT. 20 J 
 
 transformed. The dangerous illness of this 
 boy, to whom he had taken such a strange 
 liking, woke in him all those better feelings 
 which had long been buried beneath the crust 
 of his dried-up heart. 
 
 His devotion met with its reward. After 
 some days the ball was extracted. Fever 
 followed ; a prostrating fever that retarded the 
 healing of the wound. Alured was moved to 
 Balaclava ; thence to Scutari ; and at last to 
 England, reaching Scaggleton just twelve 
 months after his departure from home. 
 
 Starkie accompanied him. 
 
 " I owe it all to him, mother," said our hero, 
 pointing to the doctor, who stood somewhat 
 apart from the family group, as they fondled 
 and caressed the dear one who had come back, 
 as it were, from the grave. " He saved my 
 life." 
 
 " May the great God bless you, Doctor 
 Starkie," said Mrs. Frere, going up to him, 
 with solemn face and streaming eyes, and 
 taking his big brown hands into hers, she 
 kissed them. " You have saved my life, too, 
 I think."
 
 268 THE QUEEN'S SHILLING. 
 
 Starkie, for the first time in his life, felt 
 almost unmanned. He blushed even, and 
 could say nothing at first ; but I doubt whether 
 for years and years he had known any such 
 emotion of pure pleasure as swelled his heart 
 at that moment. 
 
 " Don't, ma'am ; don't speak about it," said 
 Starkie at length, in a husky voice. 
 
 Nor were the others behindhand in their 
 gratitude and thanks. Starkie had never been 
 made so much of before. He was more a hero, 
 if it were possible, than Alured himself. 
 
 The winter was now nearly past, and the 
 war was at an end. The Crimean army, 
 broken up, passed in driblets to various stations 
 at home and abroad. And by the summer, 
 Alured was able to rejoin his regiment, per- 
 fectly restored to health and strength. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 

 
 65, CORNHILL, AND 12, PATERNOSTER ROW, 
 
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 wish to see things with their own eyes, and shift for themselves, next winter 
 in Upper Egypt, they will find this book a very agreeable guide." — Times. 
 
 " Gives, within moderate compass, a suggestive description of the charms, 
 curiosities, dangers, and discomforts of the Nile voyage." — Saturday 
 Review. 
 
 " We have in these pages the most minute description of life as it ap- 
 peared on the banks of the Nile ; all that could be seen or was worth seeing 
 in nature or in art is here pleasantly and graphically set down. . . . 
 It is a book to read during an autumn holiday." — Spectator. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 Second Edition. 
 
 THE SECRET OF LONG LIFE. Dedicated by special per- 
 mission to Lord St. Leonards. Large crown 8vo, $s. 
 
 " A charming little volume, written with singular felicity of style and 
 illustration. " — Times. 
 
 "A very pleasant little book, which is always, whether it deal in 
 paradox or earnest, cheerful, genial, scholarly." — Spectator. 
 
 ' ' The bold and striking character of the whole conception is entitled 
 to the warmest admiration." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 1 ' We should recommend our readers to get this book . . . because 
 they will be amused by the jovial miscellaneous and cultured gossip with 
 which he strews his pages." — British Quarterly Review. 
 
 65, Cornhill, and 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 Books Published by Hefiry S. King 6° Co., 13 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 Second Edition. 
 
 SCRIPTURE LANDS IN CONNECTION WITH THEIR 
 HISTORY. By G. S. Drew, M.A., Vicar of Trinity, 
 Lambeth, Author of "Reasons of Faith." Bevelled boards, 
 8vo, price ioj\ 6d. 
 
 " Mr. Drew has invented a new method of illustrating Scripture history 
 — from observation of the countries. Instead of narrating his travels and 
 referring from time to time to the facts of sacred history belonging to the 
 different countries, he writes an outline history of the Hebrew nation from 
 Abraham downwards, with special reference to the various points in which 
 the geography illustrates the history. The advantages of this plan are 
 obvious. Mr. Drew thus gives us not a mere imitation of ' Sinai and 
 Palestine,' but a view of the same subject from the other side. . . . He 
 is very successful in picturing to his readers the scenes before his own mind. 
 The position of Abraham in Palestine is portrayed, both socially and geo- 
 graphically, with great vigour. Mr. Drew has given an admirable account 
 of the Hebrew sojourn in Egypt, and has done much to popularize the 
 newly-acquired knowledge of Assyria in connection with the two Jewish 
 kingdoms. — Saturday Review. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 Second Edition. 
 
 CATHOLICISM AND THE VATICAN. With a Narrative of the 
 
 Old Catholic Congresses at Munich and Cologne. By J. LOWRY 
 
 Whittle, A.M., Trin. Coll., Dublin. Crown 8vo, 4s. 6d. 
 
 " We cannot follow the author through his graphic and lucid sketch ot 
 
 the Catholic movement in Germany and of the Munich Congress, at which 
 
 he was present ; but we may cordially recommend his book to all who 
 
 wish to follow the course of the movement." — Saturday Review. 
 
 " A valuable and philosophic contribution to the solution of one of the 
 greatest questions of this stirring age." — Church Times. 
 
 XXXIX 
 
 NAZARETH : ITS LIFE AND * LESSONS. In small 8vo, 
 cloth, $s. By the Author of "The Divine Kingdom on 
 Earth as it is in Heaven." 
 
 "In Him was life, and the life was the light oj men." 
 "A singularly reverent and beautiful book; the style in which it is 
 written is not less chaste and attractive than its subject." — Daily Telegraph. 
 "Perhaps one of the most remarkable books recently issued in the 
 whole range of English theology. . . . Original in design, calm and 
 appreciative in language, noble and elevated in style, this book, we venture 
 to think, will live." — Churchman's Magazine. 
 
 65, Cornhill, and 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 14 Books Published by Henry S. King e^ Co., 
 
 XL. 
 
 JOURNALS KEPT IN FRANCE AND ITALY, FROM 1848 
 TO 1852. With a Sketch of the Revolution of 1848. By 
 the late Nassau William Senior. Edited by his daughter, 
 M. C. M. Simpson. In two vols., post 8vo, 24s. 
 
 "The present volume gives us conversations with some of the most 
 prominent men in the political history of France and Italy ... as 
 well as with others whose names are not so familiar or are hidden tin 
 initials. Mr. Senior has the art of inspiring all men with frankness, and 
 of persuading them to put themselves unreservedly in his hands without 
 ear of private circulation." — Athenceum. 
 
 u The book has a genuine historical value." — Saturday Review. 
 
 " No better, more honest, and more readable view of the state of 
 political society during the existence of the second Republic could well 
 be looked for." — Examiner. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 THE DIVINE KINGDOM ON EARTH AS IT IS IN 
 HEAVEN. In demy 8vo, bound in cloth. Price jar. 6d. 
 " OurJCOMMONWEALTH is in Heaven." [Now ready. 
 
 11 It is seldom that, in the course of our critical duties, we have to deal 
 with a volume of any size or pretension so entirely valuable and sati 
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 to whom the authorship would not be a credit. . . . Not the least of 
 its merits is the perfect simplicity and clearness, conjoined with a certain 
 massive beauty, of its style." — Literary Churchman. 
 
 "A high purpose and a devout spirit characterize this work. It is 
 thoughtful and eloquent. . . . The most valuable and suggestive chap: er 
 is entitled ' Fulfilment in Life and Ministry of Christ,' which is full of 
 original thinking admirably expressed." — British Quarterly Review. 
 
 65, Comhillfjind 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 Books Published by Henry S. King 6° Co., 15 
 
 F< 
 
 ORTHCOMING NoYELS. 
 
 I. 
 
 A LITTLE WORLD. By Geo. Manville Fenn, Author of 
 " The Sapphire Cross," " Mad/' etc. Three vols. 
 
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 CIVIL SERVICE. By J. T. Listado, Author of "Maurice 
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 JOHANNES OLAP. By E. de Wille. Translated by F. E. 
 
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 The author of this story enjoys a high reputation in Germany ; and both 
 English and German critics have spoken in terms of the warmest praise 
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 Eliot' of Germany." 
 
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 crown 8vo. 
 
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 i6 
 
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 Recently 
 
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 tion to Mr. Collins' ' vers de socie'te,' the 
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 with which we recommend all genuine 
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 earliest opportunity. " — Standard. 
 
 VII. 
 
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 of "Dorothy," "De Cressy," 
 etc. Two vols., crown 8vo. 
 
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 CRUEL AS THE GRAVE. 
 
 By the Countess von Both- 
 mer. Three vols., crown 8vo. 
 
 " Jealousy is cruel as the Grave." 
 
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 an interesting, though somewhat tragic 
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 worthy type of a national character which 
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 of old-fashioned heroism." — Athencewn. 
 
 " An agreeable, unaffected, and emi- 
 nently readable novel." — Daily News. 
 
 65, Cornhill, and 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 Books Published by Henry S. King 6^ Co., 
 
 n 
 
 THE STORY^OF SIR ED- 
 WARD'S WIFE. By Hamilton 
 Marshall, Author of " For 
 Very Life." One vol., crown 
 8vo. [Just 07(1. 
 
 " There are many clever conceits in it. 
 . . , Mr. Hamilton Marshall proves in ' Sir 
 Edward's "Wife ' that he can tell a story 
 closely and pleasantly." — Pall Mall Ga- 
 zette. 
 
 "A quiet graceful little story." — Spec- 
 tator: 
 
 XI. 
 
 PERPLEXITY. By Sydney 
 Mostyn. Three vols., cr. 8vo. 
 
 " Shows much lucidity, much power of 
 portraiture, and no inconsiderable sense of 
 humour." — Examiner. 
 
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 out with great cleverness and sustained 
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 By F. 
 
 , cr. 8vo. 
 
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 once takes it up will not be inclined to re- 
 linquish it without concluding the volume." 
 Morning Post. 
 
 "A very charming story." — John Bull. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 HER TITLE OF HONOUR. 
 
 By Holme Lee. One vol., 
 crown 8vo. (Second Edition.) 
 
 "It is unnecessary to recommend tales 
 of Holme Lee's, for they are well known, 
 and all more or less liked. But this book 
 far exceeds even our favourites, Sylvan 
 Holt's Daughter, Kathie Braride, and 
 Thorney Hall, because with the interest 
 of a pathetic story is united the value of 
 a definite and high purpose." — Spectator. 
 
 "A most exquisitely written story." — 
 Literary Churchman. 
 
 •»•» 
 
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 OOKS FOR THE YOUNG. 
 
 T« 
 
 BRAVE MEN'S FOOTSTEPS. A Book of Example and Anec- 
 dote for Young People. By the Editor of " Men who have 
 Risen." With four Illustrations by C. Doyle. Crown 8vo. 
 3.?. 6d. 
 
 Michael Faraday — the Refined 
 Philosopher. 
 
 Thomas Wright — the Prison Phi- 
 lanthropist. 
 
 Joseph Paxton — the Gardener Ar- 
 chitect. 
 
 The Early Life of the late Prince 
 Consort. 
 
 Etc., etc. 
 
 Josiah Wedgwood — the Man of 
 
 Energy. 
 Granville Sharp — the Negro's 
 
 earliest Friend. 
 Richard Cobden — the International 
 
 Man. 
 Dr. William Smith— the Father of 
 
 English Geology. 
 Andrew Reed — the Stay of the 
 
 Flopeless. 
 
 65, Cornhil/, and 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 1 8 Books Published by Henry S. King 6- Co., 
 
 n. 
 Just ready, gilt cloth and gilt edges, price 7s. 6d., the Volume for 1872, of 
 
 GOOD WORDS FOR THE YOUNG. Containing Numerous 
 Contributions by 
 
 NORMAN MACLEOD, D.D. 
 THE AUTHOR OF " PATTY. 
 LADY BARKER. 
 JEAN INGELOW. 
 
 A. L. WARING. 
 W. ALLINGHAM. 
 MRS. GEORGE CUPPLES. 
 ROBERT BUCHANAN. 
 
 C. C. FRASER-TYTLER. 
 And about One Hundred and Fifty Illustrations by 
 
 ARTHUR HUGHES. 
 J. MAHONEY. 
 J. B. ZWECKER. 
 
 W. J. WIEGAND. 
 TOWNLEY GREEN. 
 F. A. FRASER. 
 
 III. 
 
 F. S. WALKER. 
 
 M. FRASER-TYTLER. 
 
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 Second Series of " Stories told to a Child." 15 Illustrations. 
 Cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. 
 
 IV, 
 
 GUTTA-PERCHA WILLIE : THE WORKING GENIUS. By 
 
 George MacDonald. With Illustrations by Arthur 
 Hughes. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. 
 
 v. 
 
 PLUCKY FELLOWS. A Book for Boys. By Stephen T 
 Mackenna. Illustrated. 
 
 VI. 
 
 HOITY TOITY, THE GOOD LITTLE FELLOW. By Charles 
 Camden, Author of "The Boys of Axleford." Illustrated. 
 Crown 8vo, 3^. 6d. 
 
 VII. 
 
 STORIES IN PRECIOUS STONES. By Helen Zimmern. 
 Crown 8vo. Six Illustrations. Price 5^. 
 
 65, Comhill, and 12, Paternoster Row, London,
 
 Books Published by Henry S. King &* Co., 19 
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE TRAVELLING MENAGERIE. By Charles Camden, 
 Author of "Hoity Toity." Illustrated by J. Mahoney. 
 Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. 
 
 IX. 
 
 THE DESERTED SHIP. A Real Story of the Atlantic. By 
 Cupples -Howe, Master Mariner. Illustrated by Townley 
 Green. Crown 8vo, y. 6d. 
 
 x. 
 ELSIE DINSMORE. By Martha Farquharson. Crown 8vo. 
 Illustrated. 
 
 XL 
 TTftTTTIAYS AT ROSELANDS. With some after scenes in Elsie's 
 H0L hfe A Betg a ^Sequtl fo " Elsie Dinsmore." By Martha 
 Farquharson. Crown 8vo. Illustrated. 
 
 XII. 
 
 -ffTqTF'q GIRLHOOD A Sequel to "Elsie Dinsmore" and 
 ELS » Erie's HolSaysat Roselanl." By Martha Farquharson. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 JEAN JAROUSSEAU, THE PASTOR OF THE DESERT 
 From the French of Eugene Pelletan. Translated by 
 Colonel E. P. DE l'Hoste. In fcap. Svo, with an engraved 
 frontispiece, price $ s - ,_ A , . 
 
 » There is a poetical simplicity and picturesqueness ; the noblest heroism , 
 
 nnprSs J &P /e lo7e, and the spectacle £ ^^J 
 
 2^M to thS which invest^ a charmUe ^easily «* than 
 described the site of some splendid mm. "-Illustrated London News. 
 
 " A touching record of the struggles in the cause of religious liberty oi 
 a real man. "—Graphic. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 LILLIPUT REVELS. By the Author of " ^FgJ-^" 
 With Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6a. \znoruy. 
 
 65, Cornhill, and 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 20 
 
 Books Published by Henry S. King 6° Co., 
 
 Military Works. 
 
 ARMY RESERVES AND 
 MILITIA REFORMS. By Lieut. - 
 Col. The Hon. C. Anson. 
 
 \_In the press. 
 
 ir. 
 
 VICTORIES AND DEFEATS. 
 
 An attempt to explain the causes 
 which have led to them. An 
 Officer's Manual. By Col. R. P. 
 Anderson. Demy 8vo. 
 
 [In preparation. 
 
 in. 
 Shortly will be published : 
 
 STUDIES IN THE NEW 
 
 INFANTRY TACTICS. By Major 
 W. von Schereff. Translated 
 from the German. 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE OPERATIONS OF THE 
 FIRST ARMY TO THE CAPI- 
 TULATION OF METZ. By Von 
 Schell, Major in the Chief 
 General Staff, with Maps, includ- 
 ing one of Metz and of the country 
 around, which will be the most 
 perfect yet published of that dis- 
 trict. In demy 8vo. Uniform 
 with the above. 
 
 [In preparation. 
 
 %* The most important events de- 
 scribed in this work are the battles of 
 Spichern, those before Metz on the 14th 
 and 18th August, and (on this point no- 
 thing authentic has yet been published) 
 the history of the investment of Metz 
 (battle of Noisseville). 
 
 This work, however, possesses a greater 
 importance than that derived from these 
 points, because it represents for the first 
 time from the official documents the gene- 
 ralship of Von Steinmetz. Hitherto we 
 
 have had no exact reports on the deeds 
 and motives of this celebrated general. 
 This work has the special object of un- 
 folding carefully the relations in which the 
 commander of the First Army acted, the 
 plan of operations which he drew up, and 
 the manner in which he carried it out. 
 
 V. 
 
 THE OPERATIONS OP THE 
 
 GERMAN ARMIES IN FRANCE, 
 FROM SEDAN TO THE END 
 OF THE "WAR OF 1870-1. With 
 
 large Official Map. From the 
 Journals of the Head- Quarters 
 Staff. By Major Wm. Blume, 
 of the Prussian Ministry of War. 
 Translated by E. M. Jones, 
 Major 20th Foot, late Professor 
 of Military History, Sandhurst. 
 Demy 8vo. Price gs. 
 
 "The work of Major von Blume in its 
 English dress forms the most valuable 
 addition to our stock of works upon the 
 war that our press has put forth. Major 
 Blume writes with a clear conciseness 
 much wanting in many of his country's 
 historians, and Major Jones has done 
 himself and his original alike justice by 
 his vigorous yet correct translation of the 
 excellent volume on which he has laboured. 
 Our space forbids our doing more than 
 commending it earnestly as the most au- 
 thentic and instructive narrative of the 
 second section of the war that has yet 
 appeared. y — Saturday Review. 
 
 "The book is of absolute necessity to 
 the military student. : . . The work 
 is one of high merit and . . . has the 
 advantage of being rendered into fluent 
 English, and is accompanied by an ex- 
 cellent military map." — United Service 
 Gazette. 
 
 " The work of translation has been well 
 done ; the expressive German idioms have 
 been rendered into clear nervous English 
 without losing any of their original force ; 
 and in notes, prefaces, and introductions, 
 much additional information has been 
 given. " — A thence inn. 
 
 65, Comhill, and 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 Books Published by Henry S. King &> Co., 
 
 21 
 
 VI. 
 
 THE OPERATIONS OP THE 
 SOUTH ARMY IN JANUARY 
 AND FEBRUARY, 1871. Com- 
 piled from the Official War Docu- 
 ments of the Head-Quarters of 
 the Southern Army. By Count 
 Hermann von Wartensleben, 
 Colonel in the Prussian General 
 Staff. Translated by Colonel C. 
 H. von Wright. Demy 8vo., 
 with Maps. Uniform with the 
 above. Price 6s. 
 
 VII. 
 
 THE CAMPAIGN OF THE 
 FIRST ARMY IN NORTHERN 
 FRANCE. (Against Faidherbe.) 
 By Colonel Count Hermann 
 von Wartensleben, Chief of 
 the Staff of the First Army. In 
 demy 8vo. Uniform with the 
 above. [In preparation. 
 
 N.B. — It is believed that General 
 Beauchamp Walker, of Berlin, 
 will translate this work. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 TACTICAL DEDUCTIONS 
 
 FROM THE WAR OF 1870-1. 
 By Captain A. von Boguslaw- 
 SKI. Translated by Colonel 
 Lumley Graham, Late i8th 
 (Royal Irish) Regiment. Demy 
 8vo. Uniform with the above. 
 Price p. 
 
 " In all essential things, according to 
 our conviction, the author has rightly ap- 
 prehended the lessons of the late war, and 
 his views are a guide and criterion that 
 will be of service to every officer." — Mili- 
 tair Wochenblatt. 
 
 " Major Boguslawski's tactical deduc- 
 tions from the war are, that infantry still 
 preserve their superiority over cavalry, that 
 open order must henceforth be the main 
 principles of all drill, and that the chas- 
 sepot is the best of all small arms for pre- 
 cision. . . . We must, without delay, 
 
 impress brain and forethought into the 
 British Service ; and we cannot commence 
 the good work too soon, or better, than by 
 placing the two books (' The Operations of 
 the German Armies' and 'Tactical De- 
 ductions ') we have here criticised, in every 
 military library, and introducing them as 
 class-books in every tactical school." — 
 United Service Gazette. 
 
 IX. 
 
 HASTY INTRENCHMENTS. 
 
 By A. Brialmont, Colonel on 
 the Belgian Staff. Translated by 
 Charles A. Empson, Lieutenant 
 R.A. Nine Plates. Price 6^. 
 
 x. 
 CAVALRY FIELD DUTY. 
 
 By Major-General Von Mirus. 
 Translated by Capt. Frank S. 
 Russell, 14th (King's) Hussars. 
 Crown 8vo, limp cloth, 5-r. 
 
 *** This is the text-book of instruction 
 in the German cavalry, and comprises all 
 the details connected with the military 
 duties of cavalry soldiers on service. The 
 translation is made from a new edition, 
 which contains the modifications intro- 
 duced consequent on the experiences of 
 the late war. The great interest that stu- 
 dents feel in all the German military 
 methods, will it is believed, render this 
 book especially acceptable at the present 
 time. 
 
 XI. 
 
 THE ARMY OF THE NORTH- 
 GERMAN CONFEDERATION. A 
 
 brief description of its organiza- 
 tion, of the different branches of 
 the Service and their rdle in war, 
 of its mode of fighting," etc. By 
 a Prussian General. Trans- 
 lated from the German by Col. 
 Edward Newdigate. Demy 
 8vo. 5.$-. 
 
 *** The authorship of this book was 
 erroneously ascribed to the renowned 
 General von Moltke, but there can be 
 little doubt that it was written under his 
 immediate inspiration. 
 
 65, Cornhill, and 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 22 
 
 Books Published by Henry S. Ki?ig &* Co. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Now ready, an authorised and accu- 
 rate Translation of 
 
 STUDIES IN LEADING 
 
 TROOPS. By Col. Von Verdu 
 du Vernois. Translated by 
 Lieut. H. J. T. Hillyard, 71st 
 Foot. Parts I. and II. Demy 
 8vo, price Js. 
 
 Notice. — The German publishers of this 
 work desire to make it known that the 
 author protests against an edition of Part 
 I. which is on sale in England, and which 
 is both an inaccurate and unauthorised 
 translation. 
 
 *** General Beauchamp Walker says 
 of this work : — " I recommend the first 
 two numbers of Colonel von Verdy's 
 1 Studies ' to the attentive perusal of my 
 brother officers. They supply a want 
 which I have often felt during my service 
 in this country, namely, a minuter tactical 
 detail of the minor operations of the war 
 than any but the most observant and for- 
 tunately placed staff officer is in a position 
 to give. I have read and re-read them 
 very carefully, I hope with profit, certainly 
 with great interest, and believe_ that prac- 
 tice, in the sense of these ' Studies,' would 
 be a valuable preparation for manoeuvres 
 on a more extended scale." — Berlin, June, 
 1872. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 DISCIPLINE AND DRILL. 
 
 Four Lectures delivered to the 
 London Scottish Rifle Volunteers. 
 By Captain S. Flood Page, 
 Adjutant of the Regiment, late 
 105th Light Infantry, and Adju- 
 tant of the Edinburgh Rifle Bri- 
 gade. Just published. A 
 Cheaper Edition, price is. 
 
 " One of the best-known and coolest- 
 headed of the metropolitan regiments, 
 whose adj utant moreover has lately pub- 
 lished an admirable collection of lectures 
 addressed by him to the men of his corps." 
 — Times. 
 
 " The very useful and interesting work. 
 . . . Every Volunteer, officer or pri- 
 vate, will be the better for perusing and 
 digesting the plain-spoken truths which 
 Captain Page so firmly, and yet so mo- 
 destly, puts before them ; and we trust 
 that the little book in which they are con- 
 tained will find its way into all parts of 
 Great Britain." — Volunteer Service Ga- 
 zette. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Authorised Translation. 
 
 THE FRANCO-GERMAN 
 WAR, 1870-71. First Part :— 
 History of the War to the Down- 
 fall of the Empire. First Sec- 
 tion : — The events in July. 
 Translated from the German 
 Official Account at the Topo- 
 graphical and Statistical Depart- 
 ment of the War Office. By 
 Capt. F. C. H. Clarke, R.A. 
 First Section, with Map, now 
 Ready. Demy 8vo, $s. 
 
 xv. 
 
 THE SUBSTANTIVE SEN- 
 IORITY ARMY LIST. Majors 
 and Captains. Containing the 
 Names of all Substantive Majors 
 and Captains, Serving upon Full- 
 pay or Retired upon Half-pay, 
 arranged according to their 
 Seniority in the Service, and in 
 such order as immediately to ex- 
 hibit the standing of every such 
 Major or Captain for Promotion 
 in his own arm of the Service, 
 whether Cavalry, Artillery, En- 
 gineers, Infantry, or Marines, 
 specifying their particular Corps, 
 and distinguishing those holding 
 Higher Brevet-rank. By Capt. 
 F. B. P. White, 1st W. I. 
 Regiment. 8vo, sewed, 2s. 6d. 
 
 THE BENGAL QUARTERLY ARMY LIST. Sewed, 15s. 
 THE BOMBAY DO. DO. Sewed, 9* 
 
 THE MADRAS DO. DO. Sewed, Us. 
 
 65, Comhill, and 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 Books Published by Henry S. King c^ Co., 
 
 2 3 
 
 Jhe p 
 
 ornhill Library 
 
 V 
 
 OF F 
 
 ICTION. 
 
 It is intended in this Series to produce books of such merit 
 that readers will care to preserve them on their shelves. They 
 are well printed on good paper, handsomely bound, with a 
 Frontispiece, and are sold at the moderate price of 
 
 3s. 6d. each. 
 
 ROBIN GRAY. By Charles 
 Gibbon. With a Frontispiece 
 by Hennessy. [Ready. 
 
 ii. 
 
 KITTY. By Miss M. Betham- 
 Edwards. [Ready. 
 
 in. 
 
 HIRELL. By John Saun- 
 ders, Author of " Abel Drake's 
 Wife." [Ready. 
 
 IV. 
 
 ONE OF TWO. By J. Hain 
 
 Friswell, Author of " The 
 Gentle Life," etc. 
 
 READY MONEY MORTIBOY. 
 
 [At Christmas. 
 
 Other Standard Novels to follow. 
 
 f 
 
 O E TR Y , 
 
 i. 
 
 CALDERON.— THE PURGA- 
 TORY OF ST. PATRICK— THE 
 WONDERFUL MAGICIAN — 
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