An officer of the Queen's 44th Regiment escaped death in the Khyber Pass in the mode narrated in its place, by wrapping the regimental colour round him; and strange and varied as the adventures of Captain Waller may appear, after the last fatal stand was made by our troops, some such incidents actually occurred to a Havildar of the Shah's Ghoorka Regiment, after its complete destruction in Afghanistan, so there is much that is real woven up with my story.
Fiction, according to Sir Francis Bacon, infuses in literature that which history denies, and in some measure satisfies the mind with shadows, when it cannot enjoy the substance—the shadows of an ideal world. "Art is long and life is short, so we do wisely to live in as many worlds as we can."
25, TAVISTOCK ROAD, WESTBOURNE PARK,
August, 1871.
CONTENTS.
CHAP.
I.—[THE TIME WILL COME]
II.—[RHOSCADZHEL]
III.—[THE ALARM BELL]
IV.—[POWDERED WITH TEARS]
V.—[PORTHELLICK VILLA]
VI.—[RICHARD'S MYSTERY]
VII.—[LADY LAMORNA]
VIII.—[THE BROKEN CIRCLE]
IX.—[FOREBODINGS]
X.—[THE LONELY TARN]
XI.—[CONCERNING FLIRTATION]
XII.—[THE PIXIES' HOLE]
XIII.—[THE TIDE IN!]
XIV.—[LOST]
XV.—[THE SEARCH]
XVI.—[INTELLIGENCE AT LAST]
XVII.—[THE TRECARRELS]
XVIII.—[HE LOVES ME TRULY]
XIX.—[THE GREATER SORROW]
XX.—[A FAMILY GROUP]
XXI.—[HUMILIATION]
XXII.—["MRS. GRUNDY"]
XXIII.—[A LEGAL "FRIEND"]
XXIV.—[THE DOCTRINE OF CHANCES]
XXV.—[MISCONCEPTION]
XXVI.—[REVERSES]
XXVII.—[ALONE!]
ONLY AN ENSIGN.
CHAPTER I.
THE TIME WILL COME.
"Le jour viendra—it is the motto of our family—given to us by Henry VI. 'The day will come,'" said old Lord Lamorna, proudly, as he lay back in his easy chair, with his elbows resting on the arms thereof, and the tips of his upraised fingers placed together, as if he was about to pray; "and most applicable is that motto to you, nephew Richard, for I am sure that when you are my age you will regret not having taken my advice."