on, and was not often
down at his place. I don't remember his being there since you came
back from the Crimea. Anyhow, I do not think that I ever saw you
and him together, either in a hunting field or at a dinner party;
which, of course, you would have been had you both been down here
at the same time. If I remember right, you were at the same
school."

And then followed some gossip about mutual friends, and the letter
concluded:

"The general excitement is calming down a little now that Delhi is
taken and the garrison of Lucknow brought off. Of course there will
be a great deal more fighting before the whole thing is over, but
there is no longer any fear for the safety of India. The Sikhs have
come out splendidly. Who would have thought it after the tremendous
thrashing we gave them a few years back?

"Take care of yourself, lad. You have the Victoria Cross and can do
very well without a bar, so give someone else the chance. My wife
and Bertha send their love."

Two or three of his other letters were from friends in regiments at
home bewailing their hard fortune at being out of the fighting. The
last he opened bore the latest postmark. It was from his solicitor,
and enclosed Marshall's cancelled bill.

"Of course, as you requested me to give 300 pounds for the
enclosed, I did so, but by the way in which Morrison jumped at the
offer I believe that he would have been glad to have taken half
that sum."

Mallett had gone into his tent to open his letters in quiet. He
presently went to the entrance, and catching sight of Marshall
called him up.

"I have managed that affair for you, Marshall," he said; "and have
arranged it in a way that I am sure will be satisfactory to us
both. You must look upon me now as your creditor instead of
Morrison, and you won't find me a hard one. Here is your cancelled
bill for four hundred and fifty. I got it for three hundred, so
that a third of your debt is wiped off at once. As to the rest, you
can pay me as you intended to pay him, but I don't want you to
stint yourself unnecessarily. Pay me ten or fifteen pounds at a
time at your convenience, and don't let us say anything more about
it."

"But I may be killed," Marshall said, in a voice struggling with
emotion.

"If you are, lad, there is an end of the business. As you know, I
am very well off, and the loss would not affect me in any way. Very
likely you will light upon some rich booty in one of these affairs
with a rebel R