"He's gone," said his father, as the coach wended its way round the hill. "Never mind, Mary; it was not for this we trained him, but we've done our duty, I hope, in letting him go, for he was determined, and would perhaps soon have taken his own way; poor lad! Perhaps amongst strangers he will do better than with us; but I would sooner have buried him—sooner, by far, have laid him in the churchyard—than he should have taken this course. What is the use of trying to make children good? Tears, prayers, self-denials, what is the use of them all, if the result is like this?" So he murmured, and then bowed his head and wept, and his wife, instead of receiving comfort from him, became the comforter; for, putting her arm round his neck, she replied,
"Oh, yes, dear, our prayers and tears have brought us many blessings; see the other children, how good they are; don't murmur. God may yet bless us in Hubert; it is terrible to part with him in this way; but it may yet be a blessing to us all: God knows." Then she sat down and wept with her husband over this first great sorrow; and they did weep; they and God alone knew the depth of the woe that had come upon them; the first-born pride of their home and hearts going from them, perhaps for ever, without one religious impression, or care for the future, was a sorrow that none around could lighten, and they knelt down and prayed fervently for that reckless son, and tried to feel a deeper trust in Him who, though depriving them of one blessing, gave them many.
CHAPTER II.
TOO LATE FOR THE POST-BAG.
Be wise to-day; 'tis madness to defer;
Next day the fatal precedent will plead;
Thus on, till wisdom is pushed out of life.
Young.
Meantime, Hubert went on his way, and a feeling of sadness came over him after he lost sight of his home amongst the trees; for the thought had come into his mind that perhaps he might never see it again. For a moment his heart beat quickly, and he gave a deep sigh; then, putting his hand into the leather bag, he was just going to take out his mother's present to him, when a man, who sat opposite, said, "I suppose, young soldier, you are off to join your regiment?"
"Yes," replied Hubert, with a smile; and as he drew his hand from the bag, he continued, "we are ordered to the East Indies."
"East Indies, eh? you'll soon see a little life, then; they tell me there's plenty of fighting going on out yonder, though we don't get much of it in the newspaper. But you are very young?"
"Yes, I'm the youngest cadet in the regiment; I'm just turned fifteen; but I shall be as brave as any of the others, I dare say: and I mean to make as good a soldier."