"Well, just go to him, and put a shawl round him, and go out through the front door. There is some one standing there you will be glad to see."
Dinah stood with open eyes, then her hands began to tremble.
"Is it Tony, sah; for de Lord's sake, is it Tony?"
Vincent nodded, and with a little scream of joy she turned and ran straight to the front door. She could not wait now even to fetch her boy, and in another moment she was clasped in her husband's arms.
"Now, Vincent, tell us all about it," his mother said. "Don't you see we are dying of curiosity?"
"And I am dying of fatigue," Vincent said; "which is a much more painful sort of death, and I can think of nothing else until I have got these boots off. Annie, do run and tell them to bring me a pair of slippers and a cup of tea, and I shall want the buggy at the door in half an hour."
"You are not going away again to-night, Vincent, surely?" his mother said anxiously. "You do look completely exhausted."
"I am exhausted, mother. I have walked seven or eight-and-forty miles, and this cavalry work spoils one for walking altogether."
"Walked forty-eight miles, Vincent! What on earth have you done that for?"
"Not from choice, I can assure you, mother; but you know the old saying, 'Needs must when the devil drives,' and in the present case you must read 'Yankee' instead of 'the gentleman in black.'