4

"But you're quite right," she went on; "it won't do to let him be spoiled. I wonder why it is that a woman must spoil everything she really likes? Look at Millicent with her cat : she nearly smothers it half the day with kisses. Snap the Skye is always carried about in somebody's arms. I ruin my mare's digestion by surfeits of sugar. I believe I should kill dear

Lord Moynehan with kindness, only he's too wise to let me doctor him."

"Wives generally spoil their husbands."

"I hope you may have one to spoil too, Fanny, before long. However, it's quite clear we must put Mr. Frere into your brother Bob's hands. But we can't do much to-day, and tomorrow's Sunday."

"And he goes on Monday?"

"Yes; so we'd better make the most of him while we can," said Lady Moynehan, with a laugh.

"But you'll ask him again?”

"If he likes to come."

The long and the short of it was, Alured's education was taken in hand by his new friends, ably assisted by such under-masters

as Bob Tremenheere, with the keepers and head groom of Moynehan Castle. The first short visit was followed by another and another. Always thoughtful and kind, Lady Moynehan guessed that the ensign's shallow purse would not stand frequent car-hire. A Moynehan dogcart was despatched therefore. to fetch him and take him back. Nothing was complete at the Castle without Alured. He was in and out of the house like a tame cat; never forgetting, however, Miss Tremenheere's advice not to tie himself quite to the ladies' petticoats. He could see himself that a man who shirked manly sports to dally in drawing-rooms might win success, to a certain point, among his charming friends; but he was likely to be more than unpopular among men. He might become a "ladies' man,” but he would never be a "man's man." I expect most high-spirited lads think more of the good opinion of men, however luscious the doses of flattery which women may administer. So Alured accepted a mount from Lord Moynehan's stable, and hunted as often as he could get the chance. the chance. Boyish pluck and young

bones soon gave him a home in the saddle. Although he could not hope to be in the first flight of a hard-riding country, he took all that came in his way, and often saw as much of a run as his betters in the pigskin. He braved the displeasure of the keepers, and blazed away in the covers so much, that at last he got to hold his gun straight.

And it was very pleasant for him to be so much at Moynehan-nicer still to be frequently in Lady Moynehan's society. There was joy in his heart always when he got one of her kind notes of invitation; it was better still when she herself, with Millicent at her side, came to the barracks for him in the carriage. How they sketched and painted indoors, and practised and played all kinds of music!

These were bright days indeed for the boy; halcyon days, with smooth water and a fair wind to carry the young craft far out and onward on his long voyage.

CHAPTER XI.

THE ROUTE.

"Yo, señor, soy medico, y estoy asalariado en esta insula para serlo de los gobernadores della, y miro por su salud mucho mas que por la mia, estudiando de noche y de dia." Don Quijote.

66 I am the doctor, paid to be such, to the governors of this island, and, studying night and day, look to their health more than my own."

"HURRAH, boys! The route's come.'

"For whom?"

"A draft of officers of the 145th, to join head-quarters. Old Draycott showed me the letter."

"How many are to go?"

Half a dozen subalterns."

"Four lieutenants and two ensigns," Draycott added, coming in just then. "To proceed to Gravesend forthwith for embarkation. Reporting themselves, etc., etc.'

"It'll take you in, Frere," said Bulger, who was also to be one of the party.

"Who's going to the Crimea ?" asked

Starkie, in his deep voice, from the far end of the room. "Frere?"

"Yes; he's in the lot."

Ah, indeed;" remarked the surgeon, drily. Then to a mess-waiter, in a brusque, fierce tone, "Confound you, take this filth away. Take it down-stairs. Ask him if he has the effrontery to call that a grill. I'd make better with bread and milk and oatmeal. So you're going to the wars, young Frere, eh? aha! to the wars aha! They'll have you on your back before you've been there a week, and they'll cut your liver out-and eat it probably afterwards, devilled. I hope it'll eat better than what this beast of a mess-man calls a grill. You've had the measles, I suppose?" "I don't know, really."

"And whooping cough, and croup, and all that? Yes? I daresay you have. But have you had dysentery and typhus, and gun-shot wounds, and sword-cuts, and syncope, and tetanus, and cholera ?" His voice rose to a roar as he enumerated each calamity. "Do you know what it is to lie on the damp ground all night in soaking rain, or to march