r home Mrs.
Garland did not wait on the barrow for him to come back, but walked about
with Anne a little time, until they should be disposed to trot down the
slope to their own door. They listened to a man who was offering one
guinea to receive ten in case Buonaparte should be killed in three
months, and to other entertainments of that nature, which at this time
were not rare. Once during their peregrination the eyes of the sailor
before-mentioned fell upon Anne; but he glanced over her and passed her
unheedingly by. Loveday the elder was at this time on the other side of
the line, looking for a messenger to the town. At twelve o'clock the
review was over, and the King and his family left the hill. The troops
then cleared off the field, the spectators followed, and by one o'clock
the downs were again bare.

They still spread their grassy surface to the sun as on that beautiful
morning not, historically speaking, so very long ago; but the King and
his fifteen thousand armed men, the horses, the bands of music, the
princesses, the cream-coloured teams--the gorgeous centre-piece, in
short, to which the downs were but the mere mount or margin--how entirely
have they all passed and gone!--lying scattered about the world as
military and other dust, some at Talavera, Albuera, Salamanca, Vittoria,
Toulouse, and Waterloo; some in home churchyards; and a few small
handfuls in royal vaults.

In the afternoon John Loveday, lightened of his trumpet and trappings,
appeared at the old mill-house door, and beheld Anne standing at hers.

'I saw you, Miss Garland,' said the soldier gaily.

'Where was I?' said she, smiling.

'On the top of the big mound--to the right of the King.'

'And I saw you; lots of times,' she rejoined.

Loveday seemed pleased. 'Did you really take the trouble to find me?
That was very good of you.'

'Her eyes followed you everywhere,' said Mrs. Garland from an upper
window.

'Of course I looked at the dragoons most,' said Anne, disconcerted. 'And
when I looked at them my eyes naturally fell upon the trumpets. I looked
at the dragoons generally, no more.'

She did not mean to show any vexation to the trumpet-major, but he
fancied otherwise, and stood repressed. The situation was relieved by
the arrival of the miller, still looking serious.

'I am very much concerned, John; I did not go to the review for nothing.
There's a letter a-waiting for me at Budmouth, and I must get it before
bedtime,