associations,--the kind mother whose
breath had fanned my brow in infancy, and for her in my manhood my heart
beat with every throb of filial affection. Need I say, then, how ardently
I longed to turn homeward; for independent of all else, I could not avoid
some self-reproach on thinking what might be the condition of those I
prized the most on earth, at that very moment I was engaging in all the
voluptuous abandonment, and all the fascinating excesses of a life of
pleasure. I wrote several letters home, but received no answer; nor did I,
in the whole round of London society, meet with a single person who could
give me information of my family or my friends. The Easter recess had sent
the different members of Parliament to their homes; and thus, within a
comparatively short distance of all I cared for, I could learn nothing of
their fate.

The invitations of the Prince Regent, which were, of course, to be regarded
as commands, still detained me in London; and I knew not in what manner
to escape from the fresh engagements which each day heaped upon me. In
my anxiety upon the subject, I communicated my wishes to a friend on the
duke's staff, and the following morning, as I presented myself at his
levee, he called me towards him and addressed me:--

"What leave have you got, Captain O'Malley?"

"Three months, your Royal Highness."

"Do you desire an unattached troop; for if so, an opportunity occurs just
at this moment."

"I thank you most sincerely, sir, for your condescension in thinking of me;
but my wish is to join my regiment at the expiration of my leave."

"Why, I thought they told me you wanted to spend some time in Ireland?"

"Only sufficient to see my friends, your Royal Highness. That done, I'd
rather join my regiment immediately."

"Ah, that alters the case! So then, probably, you'd like to leave us at
once. I see how it is; you've been staying here against your will all this
while. Then, don't say a word. I'll make your excuses at Carlton House; and
the better to cover your retreat, I'll employ you on service. Here, Gordon,
let Captain O'Malley have the despatches for Sir Henry Howard, at Cork." As
he said this, he turned towards me with an air of affected sternness in his
manner, and continued: "I expect, Captain O'Malley, that you will deliver
the despatches intrusted to your care without a moment's loss of time. You
will leave London within an hour. The instructions for your journey will
be sent to