“Yes; she was right, Frank, my lad. He would never turn his back on his men to save himself.”
“Of course not, till the day was hopelessly lost.”
“Not when the day was hopelessly lost,” said Captain Murray, so sternly that Frank took alarm.
“Why do you speak to me like that?” he cried, rising from his seat. “His name was not in the despatch. Ah! you have heard. There is something worse behind. Oh, Captain Murray, don’t say that he was killed.”
“I say,” said that officer sadly, “it were better that he had been killed—that he had died leading his men, as a brave officer should die.”
“Then he did not,” cried Frank, with a hoarse sigh of relief.
“No, he escaped that.”
“And to liberty?”
“No, my boy, no,” said the doctor, uttering a groan.
“But I tell you that his name was not in the despatch. He couldn’t have been taken prisoner.”