is not much. She's a good girl, but she would need a
protector if I was not there."

"She shall have it," said his friend.

"I'm not sure that she's happy at Wildtree," continued the father, with
a smile, "despite the dog and his master. Rimbolt's a bookworm, and
doesn't see what goes on under his nose, and her aunt, as she says, is
an animated extinguisher. It always puzzled me how Rimbolt came to
marry Charlotte Halgrove."

"Halgrove? Was she the sister of your old college friend?"

"Yes. Rimbolt, Halgrove, and I were inseparable when we were at Oxford.
Did I ever tell you of our walking tour in the Lakes? We ruled a bee-
line across the map with a ruler and walked along it, neck or nothing.
Of course you know about it. We've sobered down since then. Rimbolt
married Halgrove's sister, and I married Rimbolt's. I had no sister, so
Halgrove remained a bachelor."

"What became of him?"

"I fancy he made a mess of it, poor fellow. He went in for finance, and
it was too much for him. Not that he lost his money; but he became a
little too smart. He dropped a hundred or two of mine, and a good deal
more of Rimbolt's--but he could spare it. The last I heard of him was
about twelve years ago. He had a partner called Jeffreys; a stupid
honest sort of fellow who believed in him. I had a newspaper sent me
with an account of an inquest on poor Jeffreys, who had gone out of his
mind after some heavy losses. There was no special reason to connect
Halgrove with the losses, except that Jeffreys would never have dreamed
of speculating if he hadn't been led on. And it's only fair to Halgrove
to say that after the event he offered to take charge of Jeffreys' boy,
at that time eight years old. That shows there was some good in him."

"Unless," suggested Captain Forrester, "there was some money along with
the boy."

"Well, I dare say if he's alive still, Rimbolt will know something of
him; so I may come across him yet," said the major; and there the
conversation ended.

Major Atherton's prophecy of a brush with the enemy was not long in
being fulfilled.

Early next day the expeditionary force was ordered forward, the cavalry
regiment in which the two friends were officers being sent ahead to
reconnoitre and clear the passes.

The march lay for some distance along a rocky valley, almost desolate of
habitations, and at parts so cumbered with rocks and stones as to be
scarcely passable by the horses, still less