Sir Francis, as I afterwards learned, did not insist upon the matter,
but the very next day, as I was in the peach-house, I heard the door
open, and I felt anything but comfortable as I saw Courtenay enter the
place and come slowly up to me.
I was prepared for anything, but I had no cause for expecting war. He
had come in peace.
"We're going away directly after lunch," he said in a low, surly tone,
as if he resented what he was saying. "I'll--, I'll--there! I'll try--
to be different when I come back again."
He turned and went hurriedly out of the place, and he had not been gone
long when the door at the other end clicked, and I found, as soon as he
who entered had come round into sight, that it was Philip.
He came up to me in a quick, impetuous way, as if eager to get his task
over, and as our eyes met I could see that he had evidently been
suffering a good deal.
"I'm going away this afternoon," he said quickly. "I wish I hadn't said
and done all I have. I beg--"
He could not finish, but burst into a passionate fit of sobbing, and
turned away his face.
"Good-bye!" I said. "I shall not think about it any more."
"Then we'll shake hands," he cried--"some day--next time we meet."
We did shake hands next time we met, but when Philip Dalton said those
words he did not know it would be seven years first. But so it was.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------I never knew exactly how it happened, but I believe one of my uncles was
influenced to take some part in the affair, and Sir Francis did all the
rest. What I do know is that about three months after the young Daltons
had gone I was on my way to a clergyman's house, where I stayed a year,
being prepared for my future career; and when I had been with the
Reverend Hartley Dallas a year I was able to join the Military College
at Woolwich, where I went through the regular course, and in due time
obtained my commission in the artillery.
I had not long been in the service before the Crimean war broke out, and
our battery was one of the first despatched to the seat of war, where,
in company with my comrades, I went through that terrible period of
misery and privation.
One night I was in charge of a couple of guns in a rather dangerous
position near the Redan, and after repairing damages under fire my lads
had contrived to patch up a pretty secure shelter with sand-bag and
gabion, ready for knocking down next day, but it kept off the rain, and
where we huddled together there was no mud under our feet, though it was
inches deep in the trench.