“I can ride anything, sir,” I said eagerly.
“Indeed!”
“I have hunted a great deal at home.”
“Ah, well, I suppose we must give way, and I hope you will prove worthy of your promotion to so gallant a corps. By the way, you know Captain Brace?”
“Oh yes, sir,” I replied.
“Yes; he speaks very highly of you. So you shall go on probation with his troop at Rambagh.”
I tried to speak, but no words came.
“Which means, Mr Vincent,” said another of the old officers, “that if you prove yourself a soldier of spirit you will stay.”
I hardly knew what followed, and soon after I was dismissed, to go and find Brace, who welcomed me with outstretched hands.
“I am very glad, Vincent,” he said, “very glad indeed. Come along with me, and I’ll introduce you to Major Lacey, and the other officers of your new corps.”