aller indeed than he was two years before, but
he was broader, by some inches, than before. From the quartermaster
he obtained a pair of jack boots which had belonged to a trooper
who had been killed in a skirmish two days before, and from the
armourer he got a sword, cuirass, and pistols. As to riding
breeches there was no trouble, for several of the officers had
garments which would fit him, but for a regimental coat he could
obtain nothing which was in any way large enough. Hugh was
therefore dispatched to Halle to purchase a riding coat of the best
fashion and largest size that he could find, and a hat as much as
possible in conformity with those generally worn.

An hour or two later Lord Fairholm and Sir John Loveday rode over.
The news of the singular fight on the ground between the armies,
and of the reappearance of the famous "little cornet of the 5th
dragoons" having spread apace through the army.

Joyous and hearty were the greetings, and after a while, the party
being joined by Dillon, Rupert gave his three friends a full
account of his adventures, omitting some of the particulars which
he had not deemed it expedient to speak of in public.

"I understand now," Lord Fairholm said, "the change in your face
which struck me."

"Is my face changed?" Rupert said. "It does not seem to me that I
have changed in face a bit since I joined, six years ago."

"It is not in features, but in expression. You look good tempered
now, Rupert, even merry when you smile, but no man could make a
mistake with you now. There is, when you are not speaking, a sort
of intent look upon your face, intent and determined--the
expression which seems to tell of great danger expected and faced.
No man could have gone through that two months in the dungeon of
Loches and come out unchanged. All the other dangers you have gone
through--and you always seem to be getting into danger of some
kind--were comparatively sharp and sudden, and a sudden peril,
however great, may not leave a permanent mark; but the two months
in that horrible den, from which no other man but yourself would
deem escape possible, could not but change you.

"When you left us, although you were twenty, you were in most
things still a boy; there is nothing boyish about you now. It is
the same material, but it has gone through the fire. You were good
iron, very tough and strong, but you could be bent. Now, Rupert,
you have been tried in the furnace and have come out stee