ower-beds led down to a miniature lake with
a tiny island; here there were some swans and a punt, and the tall trees
that bordered the water were the favourite haunt of blackbirds and
thrushes.

Captain Burnett sat down on a bench facing the water, and Booty stood
and barked at the swans. How sweet and peaceful everything looked this
evening! The water was golden in the evening sunshine; a blue tit was
flashing from one tree to another; some thrushes were singing a
melodious duet; the swans arched their snowy necks and looked proudly at
him; some children's voices were audible in the distance. There was a
thoughtful expression in Captain Burnett's eyes, a concentrated
melancholy that was often there when he found himself utterly alone.

Captain Burnett had one confidant--his cousin John. Not that he often
called him by that name, their ages were too dissimilar to permit such
easy familiarity; but he had once owned to Dr. Ross, to the man who
loved him as a father, that his life had been a failure.

'Only a failure in the sense that you are no longer fit for active
duty,' had been the reply. 'You must not forget the Victoria Cross,
Michael.'

'Oh, that was nothing; any other man would have done the same in my
place,' Michael had retorted with some heat, for he hated to be reminded
of his good deeds.

Perhaps he was right: hundreds of brave young Englishmen would have
acted in the same way had they been placed in the same circumstances.
The English army is full of heroes, thank God! Nevertheless, Michael
Burnett had earned his Victoria Cross dearly.

It was in one of the Zulu skirmishes. A detachment of the enemy had
surprised them at night; but the little handful of men had repulsed them
bravely. Captain Burnett knew help was at hand; they had only to hold
out until a larger contingent should join them. He hoped things were
going well. They had just driven the Zulus backwards, when, in the dim
light of the flickering watch-fires, he saw dusky figures moving in the
direction of a hut where a few sick and wounded men had been placed.
There was not a second to lose; in another moment the poor fellows would
have been butchered. Calling out to some of his men to follow him, and
not perceiving that he was alone, he tore through the scrub, and entered
the hut by a hole that served as a window. Michael once owned that he
fought like a demon that night; but the thought of the few helpless
wretches writhing in terror on the