e to
another, and on to the quarter where the soldiers' wives lived who had
not been able to get lodgings in the cottages near. The most sheltered
place had been chosen for them, and snug huts had been built for their
use by their husbands, of clods, hurdles, a little thatch, or whatever
they could lay hands on. The trumpet-major conducted his friends thence
to the large barn which had been appropriated as a hospital, and to the
cottage with its windows bricked up, that was used as the magazine; then
they inspected the lines of shining dark horses (each representing the
then high figure of two-and-twenty guineas purchase money), standing
patiently at the ropes which stretched from one picket-post to another, a
bank being thrown up in front of them as a protection at night.

They passed on to the tents of the German Legion, a well-grown and rather
dandy set of men, with a poetical look about their faces which rendered
them interesting to feminine eyes. Hanoverians, Saxons, Prussians,
Swedes, Hungarians, and other foreigners were numbered in their ranks.
They were cleaning arms, which they leant carefully against a rail when
the work was complete.

On their return they passed the mess-house, a temporary wooden building
with a brick chimney. As Anne and her companions went by, a group of
three or four of the hussars were standing at the door talking to a
dashing young man, who was expatiating on the qualities of a horse that
one was inclined to buy. Anne recognized Festus Derriman in the seller,
and Cripplestraw was trotting the animal up and down. As soon as she
caught the yeoman's eye he came forward, making some friendly remark to
the miller, and then turning to Miss Garland, who kept her eyes steadily
fixed on the distant landscape till he got so near that it was impossible
to do so longer. Festus looked from Anne to the trumpet-major, and from
the trumpet-major back to Anne, with a dark expression of face, as if he
suspected that there might be a tender understanding between them.

'Are you offended with me?' he said to her in a low voice of repressed
resentment.

'No,' said Anne.

'When are you coming to the hall again?'

'Never, perhaps.'

'Nonsense, Anne,' said Mrs. Garland, who had come near, and smiled
pleasantly on Festus. 'You can go at any time, as usual.'

'Let her come with me now, Mrs. Garland; I should be pleased to walk
along with her. My man can lead home the horse.'

'Thank you, but