ence, and walked on.

CHAPTER XII.

THE LETTER.

As I hurried to my quarters, I made a hundred guesses from whom the letter
could have come; a kind of presentiment told me that it bore, in some
measure, upon the present crisis of my life, and I burned with anxiety to
read it.

No sooner had I reached the light, than all my hopes on this head vanished;
the envelope bore the well-known name of my old college chum, Frank Webber,
and none could, at the moment, have more completely dispelled all chance
of interesting me. I threw it from me with disappointment, and sat moodily
down to brood over my fate.

At length, however, and almost without knowing it, I drew the lamp towards
me, and broke the seal. The reader being already acquainted with my amiable
friend, there is the less indiscretion in communicating the contents, which
ran thus:--

TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN, No. 2,

October 5, 1810.

My Dear O'Malley,--Nothing short of your death and burial,
with or without military honors, can possibly excuse your very
disgraceful neglect of your old friends here. Nesbitt has never
heard of you, neither has Smith. Ottley swears never to have seen
your handwriting, save on the back of a protested bill. You have
totally forgotten _me_, and the dean informs me that you have never
condescended a single line to him; which latter inquiry on my part
nearly cost me a rustication.

A hundred conjectures to account for your silence--a new feature
in you since you were here--are afloat. Some assert that your
soldiering has turned your head, and that you are above corresponding
with civilians. Your friends, however, who know you better and
value your worth, think otherwise; and having seen a paragraph
about a certain O'Malley being tried by court-martial for stealing a
goose, and maltreating the woman that owned it, ascribe your not
writing to other motives. Do, in any case, relieve our minds; say,
is it yourself, or only a relative that's mentioned?
Herbert came over from London with a long story about your
doing wonderful things,--capturing cannon and general officers by
scores,--but devil a word of it is extant; and if you have really
committed these acts, they have "misused the king's press damnably,"
for neither in the "Times" nor the "Post" are you heard of.
Answer this point, and say also if you have got promotion; for