spoken at breakfast; when it was over he got
up and said:

"Well, goodbye, father and mother, and you boys. I never thought to
leave you like this, but things have gone against me, and I feel I
shall be best away.

"John, I look to you to fill my place.

"Good-bye all," and with a silent shake of the hand he took up his
bundle and stick and went out, leaving his brothers, who had not
been told of his intentions, speechless with astonishment.

Chapter 2.

Frank Mallet, after he had visited all his tenants, drove to Sir
John Greendale's.

"We have got the route," he said, as he entered; "and I leave this
evening. I had a note from the Adjutant this morning saying that
will be soon enough, so you see I have time to come over and say
goodbye comfortably."

"I do not think goodbyes are ever comfortable," Lady Greendale
said. "One may get through some more comfortably than others, but
that is all that can be said for the best of them."

"I call them hateful," Bertha put in. "Downright hateful, Captain
Mallett--especially when anyone is going away to fight."

"They are not pleasant, I admit," Frank Mallett agreed; "and I
ought to have said as comfortably as may be. I think perhaps those
who go feel it less than those who stay. They are excited about
their going; they have lots to think about and to do; and the idea
that they may not come back again scarcely occurs to them at the
time, although they would admit its possibility or even its
probability if questioned.

"However, I fancy the worst of the fighting will be over by the
time we get there. It seems almost certain that it will be so, if
Delhi is captured and Lucknow relieved. The Sepoys thought that
they had the game entirely in their hands, and that they would
sweep us right out of India almost without resistance. They have
failed, and when they see that every day their chances of success
diminish, their resistance will grow fainter.

"I expect that we shall have many long marches, a great many
skirmishes, and perhaps two or three hard fights; but I have not a
shadow of fear of a single reverse. We are going out at the best
time of year, and with cool weather and hard exercise there will be
little danger of fevers; therefore the chances are very strongly in
favour of my returning safe and sound. It may take a couple of
years to stamp it all out, but at the end of that time I hope to
return here for good.

"I shall find you a good deal more altered