"Yes," replied Anderson, who did not wish to distress him by the information that young Captain Burrard was mortally wounded.
"I have made my will, and—and—have remembered all my servants. Colbourne has it—tell Willoughby that Colbourne is to get his lieutenant-colonelcy.—Oh, it is a great satisfaction to me that we have beaten the French. Is Paget in the room?"
"No," replied Anderson, in a low voice.
"It is General Paget, I mean; remember me to him—he is a fine fellow! I feel myself so strong—ah, I fear that I shall be a long time in dying!"
In the intervals of his faint and disjointed remarks the boom of the distant artillery was occasionally heard, and their fitful flashes reddened the walls and windows of the room where he lay.
"Is that young lieutenant of the Fusiliers—Kennedy—is, is he here?"
"I am here, sir," said Quentin, in a choking voice.
"I cannot see you—the light of my eyes fails me now. I meant—I meant—for you."
What he "meant" to have done, Quentin was fated never to know.
In broken accents the general thanked the surgeons politely for the care they had taken; and apologized for the trouble he gave them. He then said to the son of Earl Stanhope, who served on his staff,