the ladies----'

'My dear colonel,' said Lord Montacute, 'on the contrary, there
is nothing more interesting to them. Miss Mountjoy was saying only
yesterday, that there was nothing she found so difficult to understand
as the account of a battle, and how much she wished to comprehend it.'

'That is because, in general, they are not written by soldiers,' said
the colonel; 'but Napier's battles are very clear. I could fight every
one of them on this table. That's a great book, that history of Napier;
it has faults, but they are rather omissions than mistakes. Now that
affair of Almeidas of which I was just speaking, and which nearly cost
me my leg, it is very odd, but he has omitted mentioning it altogether.'

'But you saved your leg, colonel,' said the duke.

'Yes, I had the honour of marching into Paris, and that is an event
not very easy to be forgotten, let me tell your Grace. I saved my leg
because I knew my constitution. For the very same reason by which I hope
Sir Russell Malpas will save his leg. Because he will be attended by
a person who knows his constitution. He never did a wiser thing than
sending for Roby. For my part, if I were in garrison at Gibraltar
to-morrow, and laid up, I would do the same; I would send for Roby. In
all these things, depend upon it, knowing the constitution is half the
battle.'

All this time, while Colonel Brace was indulging in his garrulous
comments, the Duke of Bellamont was drawing his moral. He had a great
opinion of Mr. Roby, who was the medical attendant of the castle, and an
able man. Mr. Roby was perfectly acquainted with the constitution of
his son; Mr. Roby must go to the Holy Sepulchre. Cost what it might, Mr.
Roby must be sent to Jerusalem. The duke was calculating all this time
the income that Mr. Roby made. He would not put it down at more than
five hundred pounds per annum, and a third of that was certainly
afforded by the castle. The duke determined to offer Roby a thousand and
his expenses to attend Lord Montacute. He would not be more than a
year absent, and his practice could hardly seriously suffer while away,
backed as he would be, when he returned, by the castle. And if it did,
the duke must guarantee Roby against loss; it was a necessity, absolute
and of the first class, that Tancred should be attended by a medical man
who knew his constitution. The duke agreed with Colonel Brace that it
was half the battle.

CHAPTER IX.

_Tancred, the New C