arm was shattered by a shot--he had defended the sick and wounded
in a quickly thrown up fort with desperate bravery against a host of
attacking enemies.

He seemed to hold his life only to spend it for others. No privations
were hard to him. He bore with a smiling face heat or cold, and
encouraged with a cheerful word dispirited soldiers.

"Sir," said a gallant general, "you have won a Victoria Cross three
times over. I honour you for your heroic bravery. Your mother may be
proud to hear of such a son."

Ah! what a tender chord was touched by those words. In the darkness of
the African night Jeff went out with a heavy heart from his tent, and,
looking up at the silent stars, wondered if _she_ knew, if _she_
approved.

And when he went home, and was sent for to Osborne to receive his
decorations from the Queen's hand, the honour heaped upon him seemed
more than he could bear. When the greatest lady in the land spoke a
few kind words of praise the tears started to his brave brown eyes.
Perchance the aspect of such a stripling moved her womanly heart to a
special throb of sympathy, he looked so young to have achieved such
deeds of valour.

But the applause of the world in general will never sound attractively
in Jeff's ears; society will never claim him as one of her pet lions.

At Loch Lossie they speak of him with respectful admiration, and Aunt
Annie no longer holds out any opinions against such a distinguished
young man. She loses no opportunity of proclaiming her kinship to
young Captain Scott. But Jeff only spends a short time occasionally in
Scotland; most of his leave is generally passed with his father.

The deep strong affection between father and son seems to become a
closer bond as the years rolls on. They speak sometimes of the dead
mother, and even now Jeff's voice hushes and his steady eyes are misty
at the mention of her name or the recalling of her words. He loves her
with a love that time has no power to weaken; he has kept all her
sayings faithfully in his heart; her letters to him are his most
cherished possessions.

The passionate intensity of his nature has deepened and strengthened
with his manhood. He never forgets. Oh, brave, true heart! oh, loyal
breast! oh, faithful hero! guarding well the noble standard of courage
and truth that was given you to guard in boyhood's days.

"Her little lad" that she loved so well is indeed "one full of courage
and great patience, and dauntle