ld copy it again and again, Nevil, to get it right.'

'No: I'd rather see it off than have it right,' said Nevil, and he folded
the letter.

How the deuce to address it, and what direction to write on it, were
further difficulties. He had half a mind to remain at home to conquer
them by excogitation.

Rosamund urged him not to break his engagement to dine at the Halketts',
where perhaps from his friend Colonel Halkett, who would never imagine
the reason for the inquiry, he might learn how a letter to a crack French
regiment should be addressed and directed.

This proved persuasive, and as the hour was late Nevil had to act on her
advice in a hurry.

His uncle Everard enjoyed a perusal of the manuscript in his absence.

CHAPTER II

UNCLE, NEPHEW, AND ANOTHER

The Honourable Everard Romfrey came of a race of fighting earls, toughest
of men, whose high, stout, Western castle had weathered our cyclone
periods of history without changeing hands more than once, and then but
for a short year or two, as if to teach the original possessors the
wisdom of inclining to the stronger side. They had a queen's chamber in
it, and a king's; and they stood well up against the charge of having
dealt darkly with the king. He died among them--how has not been told. We
will not discuss the conjectures here. A savour of North Sea foam and
ballad pirates hangs about the early chronicles of the family.
Indications of an ancestry that had lived between the wave and the cloud
were discernible in their notions of right and wrong. But a settlement on
solid earth has its influences. They were chivalrous knights bannerets,
and leaders in the tented field, paying and taking fair ransom for
captures; and they were good landlords, good masters blithely followed to
the wars. Sing an old battle of Normandy, Picardy, Gascony, and you
celebrate deeds of theirs. At home they were vexatious neighbours to a
town of burghers claiming privileges: nor was it unreasonable that the
Earl should flout the pretensions of the town to read things for
themselves, documents, titleships, rights, and the rest. As well might
the flat plain boast of seeing as far as the pillar. Earl and town fought
the fight of Barons and Commons in epitome. The Earl gave way; the Barons
gave way. Mighty men may thrash numbers for a time; in the end the
numbers will be thrashed into the art of beating their teachers. It is
bad policy to fight the odds inch by inch. Those primiti