was failing, it was hastily
decided that my aunt should return to England, taking of course her
little son with her.

"Everything had to be done in a great hurry, and my uncle had barely
time to pack his wife's boxes and see her safely _en route_ for Montreal
before he set out with his detachment for the post to which he had been
ordered.

"My aunt arrived safely at Montreal, but failing to find there a ship
ready to sail for England, went on to Quebec, which she reached just in
time to embark for London. She had written to my uncle from Montreal,
and she wrote again from Quebec, the letter reaching her husband's hands
as he was on the point of marching out of the fort on a night expedition
against a band of hostile Indians who had been discovered in the
neighbourhood.

"An engagement took place, in which my uncle was desperately wounded and
narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the Indians. His men
succeeded, however, in saving him and making good their own retreat into
the fort, where poor uncle Dick lay hovering for weeks between life and
death. After a long and weary struggle his splendid constitution
triumphed; and with the return of consciousness came anxious thoughts
respecting his wife and child. He remembered the letter which had been
handed to him as he marched out upon that ill-starred expedition, the
letter which he had never had an opportunity to read, and he made eager
inquiries respecting it. It was found in an inner breast-pocket of his
uniform coat, but it had been so thoroughly saturated with his own
blood, poor fellow, that it was practically undecipherable; by careful
soaking and washing he at last succeeded in ascertaining that my aunt
and her baby had actually sailed from Quebec, but on what date or in
what ship it was quite impossible to learn. And that was the last news
he ever heard of them."

"How very dreadful!" murmured Lance. "Of course he made every possible
inquiry respecting their fate?"

"Not immediately," answered Blanche. "He waited patiently for news of
my aunt's arrival in England; but as mail after mail came without
bringing him any intelligence he grew uneasy, and finally wrote to his
mother-in-law asking an explanation of the unaccountable silence. This
letter remained unanswered; but just when his uneasiness had increased
to such a pitch that he had determined to apply for leave of absence in
order to proceed to England, it was returned to him through the dead