"Oh, Richard, it is cruelly hard to think of parting from him," Mrs. Gidley responded, her usually bright face full of pain, "but we must think of him and his welfare, of course, and not of our own feelings at all," she added quickly.
Whilst his parents were discussing a future for him apart from themselves, Dick was undressing, and having said his prayers, he slipped into bed. He lay awake thinking of the great tiger his father had shot with such faultless aim. No wonder Nanukchund was so devoted to the Captain Sahib who had saved his life! No wonder every one spoke of his father as a brave and gallant soldier! Captain Gidley was a pattern for all that was good and true in his little son's partial eyes; the boy meant to be like him in the years to come, if God would allow him to grow into a strong man fitted to be a soldier; but until then, he reflected, he must be content to learn to be good and obedient, because to obey was a soldier's first duty in life; and he must ask God to give him a brave, fearless spirit.
"I am rather small for my age," Dick thought, as he mentally compared his little fragile form with his father's tall, straight, sinewy figure, "but I suppose I shall get bigger by-and-by. Mother thinks when we go to England I shall grow much faster—I hope so, I'm sure. But even if I don't get very tall I can be a soldier all the same! Captain Blair's quite short, and yet father says he's a fine fellow—I suppose that means he's brave, and not afraid of anything?"
"Who's there?" he cried, as a figure paused in the doorway. "Is it you, mother! Oh no; it's you, Nanukchund! Come and tell me a story, do. I'm not a bit sleepy to-night!"
The Hindu obeyed willingly, for the child was a favourite of his. He had the Mem Sahib's permission to talk to Dick, and accordingly he commenced to relate some wonderful stories of Indian conjurers and their marvellous tricks till Dick's eyes grew misty, Nanukchund's lithe, dark figure became more and more indistinct, and at last faded altogether as the heavy lids drooped, and a restful sleep overcame him.
[CHAPTER II]
BREAKING THE NEWS TO DICK
"YOU have not told him yet."
The speaker was Captain Gidley, who stood on the verandah outside their bungalow. He spoke in an anxious tone, and glanced at his wife uneasily. Brave soldier as he was, he felt an abject coward at that moment at the thought of the parting which must soon take place in his little family circle, for the next boat which sailed from Calcutta to England was to bear his only child across the wide waters to his own and his wife's native land.
"No, I have not told him yet," she replied to her husband's question. "Dozens of times I have been on the point of speaking to him on the subject; and then my heart has failed me—and—and—" Mrs. Gidley broke down completely at this point, and, clinging to her husband's arm, wept without restraint.