The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Rent In A Cloud, by Charles James Lever

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Title: A Rent In A Cloud

Author: Charles James Lever

Release Date: April 21, 2010 [EBook #32082]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A RENT IN A CLOUD ***

Produced by David Widger

A RENT IN A CLOUD

By Charles Lever

CHAPTER I. THE WHITE HORSE AT COBLENTZ

OUT of a window of the Weissen Ross, at Coblentz, looking upon the rapid
Rhine, over whose circling eddies a rich sunset shed a golden tint, two
young Englishmen lounged and smoked their cigars; rarely speaking, and,
to all seeming, wearing that air of boredom which, strangely enough,
would appear peculiar to a very enjoyable time of life. They
were acquaintances of only a few days. They had met on an Antwerp
steamer--rejoined each other in a picture-gallery--chanced to be side
by side at a table d'hote at Brussels, and, at last, drifted into one of
those intimacies which, to very young men, represents friendship. They
agreed they would travel together, all the more readily that neither
cared very much in what direction. "As for me," said Calvert, "it
doesn't much signify where I pass the interval; but, in October, I must
return to India and join my regiment."

"And I," said Loyd, "about the same time must be in England. I have just
been called to the bar."

"Slow work that must be, I take it."

"Do you like soldiering?" asked Loyd, in a low quiet voice.

"Hate it! abhor it! It's all very well when you join first You are so
glad to be free of Woolwich or Sandhurst, or wherever it is. You are
eager to be treated like a man, and so full of Cox and Greenwood, and
the army tailor, and your camp furniture, and then comes the depot and
the mess. One's first three months at mess seemed to be the cream of
existence."

"Is it really so jolly? Are the fellows good talkers?"

"About the worst in the universe; but to a young hand, they are
enchantment All their discourse is of something to be enjoyed. It is
that foot-race, that game of billiards, that match at cricket, that
stunning fine girl to ride out with, those excellent cigars Watkins is
sending us; a