ladies and the whole of
the women under your charge, and I hope you'll protect us."

"I shall do my utmost, madam," said Tom Long importantly. "You ladies
needn't be under the smallest apprehension, for you will be as safe as
if the major and Mr Linton were here."

"I shall tell Miss Linton so," said Mrs Major, smiling; and she nodded
and went away, leaving the young ensign uncomfortable, as he felt a kind
of suspicion that he had been speaking very consequentially, and making
himself absurd.

"I wish I was either a man or a boy," he said to himself pettishly. "I
feel just like a man, and yet people will treat me as if I were a boy.
That Mrs Major was only talking to me patronisingly, and half-laughing
at me. I can see it now. Oh! here's Smithers."

Captain Smithers came up, looking rather careworn and sad, and nodded in
a friendly way at his junior.

"Well, Long," he said, "so we are commanders-in-chief just now. At
least, I am. You'll have to be my colonel, major, and adjutant, all in
one."

"I shall do my best to help you, Captain Smithers," said Tom Long
stiffly.

"I know you will, my lad," was the reply; "but it will be no child's
play, for we must be extra strict and watchful."

"Do you think there is anything to fear, Captain Smithers," said the
ensign eagerly.

"To fear? No, Mr Long," said the captain. "We are English officers,
and, as such, never mention such a thing; but there is a good deal to be
anxious about--I mean the safety of all here."

"But you have no suspicion, sir--of danger?"

"Not the slightest. Still we will be as careful as if I felt sure that
an enemy was close at hand."

There was something about that _we_ that was very pleasant to the young
ensign; and his heart warmed like a flower in sunshine.

"Of course, sir," he said eagerly. "I'll do the best I can."

"Thank you, Long, I am sure you will," said Captain Smithers. "By the
way, you know, of course, that the ladies are coming to stay with Mrs
Major, so that there will not be much cause for anxiety about the
residency. Suppose we now take a quiet look round together; there is
really no necessity, but we will go as a matter of duty."

Tom Long's self-esteem was flattered, the more especially as he could
see that Captain Smithers was perfectly sincere, and looked to him, in
all confidence, for aid in a time when a great responsibility was thrown
upon his shoulders.

"If I don't let him see that I can act like