adjutant to us. The two had lingered at the table so late, that the lieutenant-colonel and myself, as senior sub, had to take charge of the parade; and as the colonel mellowed over his Oporto, he grew quite confidential with old Sykes on the subject of his domestic affairs, and finally inquired, point-blank, whether he, the adjutant, suspected that any, and if so, which of the subs was already smitten with Mag. Sykes was a clever fellow enough generally, but just at that time he had a grudge against me on some accountI don't know exactly what, but I think I had left him out at my dinner-party, because he got drunk so early, habitually, and proposed such silly toasts; but, however, he blurted out that it was the talk of the garrison that Lieutenant Martin was deeply affected in that quarter; at least, he was severely joked about it, at the mess. "So the wind sets in that quarter, eh?" returned the colonel. "The presumptuous young scamp! A nice idea he must have of his position and mine, and his merits! By —, adjutant, I'll have that flame smothered, or I'm not the man I take myself for! Now, sir, bear this in mind; you are to keep him on duty every other day, and as much oftener as will be necessary, to prevent his meeting her. We'll give him a thorough course of detail, till he recovers his senses. Do you understand ?" Sykes did understand; and he took a malicious pleasure in literally obeying his instructions. For the next month there was hardly a day passed that I was not put on some duty which kept me at the barracks; and it was always contrived so as to keep me from the dances and dinner-parties, which the other officers enjoyed to their hearts' content. I remonstrated with the adjutant, and was referred to the colonel; but when Sykes informed me of his instructions, I was not slow to interpret their meaning, and so refrained from appealing to Colonel Maxwell. But my resolution was quickly taken, that no such tactics as these should prevent me from winning his daughter, if a good allowance of British pluck could be of any avail; and I determined to show the old man that he could not drive me from the field by any such selfish use of his authority. I was, in fact, deeply in love with Mag from the first. I had met her at the quay, on the evening of her arrival, whither the colonel had sent me to escort the ladies up to their new quarters. She was a tall, dashing brunette, with an eye 5 69 which would have captivated a much less laugh and mischievous ways completed the impressible man than 1; and her merry business with me. You may laugh at me, you young jackanapes; but you wont laugh two or three years hence, when you meet some such style of a girl, and find yourself conquered before you have had a chance to resist. That evening, on the way up to the quarters, we talked together as frankly as though we had been friends from childhood— always commune with each other. It was a as frankly as two guileless young natures can long walk, and I lengthened it as much as I could; and I was rather encouraged when the ambulance met us half way, and the fat old Mrs. Maxwell and the rest of them got in ing, as the evening was so pleasant. The to ride, that Mag declared she preferred walktruth is, it was a case of love at first sight. She told me afterward that she owned it to herself before I left her; and as for me, my own feelings were too positive to admit of a doubt. She told me all about herself, where she had lived and what she had done; how her mother had kept her out of society, and particularly that of the army, and how lonely Deborah Maxwell, who had always had the she had been at school, and with her aunt, principal charge of her. How the poor girl ever preserved her wonderful vivacity, under the repression she had been subjected to, I never could see; but here she was, as blithe and handsome as a gazelle, after being shut up the whole winter in Dublin, with Aunt Deb; and when I told her something of our life here at Malta, and of all the social pleasure which we expected from the presence of the ladies-the balls, the fetes, the horseback rides, and the moonlight sails in the harbon she clapped her hands gleefully, and accepted my offer on the spot, to be her cavalier. "Mother is always telling me what awful After that, before her father took the alarm, "But sweetest far is love-first, passionate love." And he's entirely right, although I don't suppose he knew anything about the better sort of it. There is nothing in this dark world so beautiful as the spectacle of an honest-hearted, manly young fellow, and a pure-minded girl, deep in love with each other. They are the most hopeful, trustful and devoted people imaginable; all the miserable selfishness which finds a place in the hearts of everybody else, is driven out of theirs; they live and enjoy life only for each other, and if there are difficulties and discouragements in the way, they only love and hope so much the stronger, in defiance of parents, fortune, and the world generally. So, at least, it was with Mag and me. When I made her understand why I could never join in the society of the quarters, upon which my heart was set at first, she opened her blue eyes to their widest, and then set her white teeth together, and stamped her foot in the most determined way. "And you are suffering all this for me?" she said. "Jack Martin, you dear, good boy, you are worth more to me than the whole pack of them, and I love you a great deal better for what they make you suffer. Don't you believe it? There!" What do you suppose she did? She reached up and put her arms round my neck and kissed me-once, twice, three times. Ah, Mag, you darling, I wonder if we shall know each other by-and-by, when it's all over with me, and I go toward the land where you've gone? The major wiped a tear from either eye, coughed, kicked his ankles violently against the lattice, and continued: Well, we were not slow in devising a system of secret meetings; and with the aid of two of my chums who heartily sympathized with me, we managed to meet as often as every other day, without exciting the least suspicion. I was zealous in the performance of my duty, and apparently took no thought of the society of Mag Maxwell or anybody else; in fact, Sykes reported to the colonel that the scheme was working admirably, and that Lieutenant Martin was in a fair way to be cured of his nonsense; and the colonel twirled his gray mustaches, and said, "I thought I knew how to manage them, Sykes." As for Mag, she seemed the gayest of the gay; she danced, walked, rode and flirted with the subalterns indifferently, setting them all by the ears, and treating them all with such equal favor that her father was delighted with her. "That's right, girl," he would say (as she told me); "break their hearts as fast as you like; I wont let them get to blows; and by-and-by you shall have a member of parliament for a husband." "That was news to me," she said, looking up innocently into my face. "You don't mean to join the civil service, do you, Jack ?" The colonel, and Mrs. Maxwell, and the rest of them, saw how Mag conducted herself, and set their minds at rest; but they did not dream of our stolen interviews, and of the thousand and one plans to overcome our difficulties with which we bothered our simple heads. Elopement was out of the question, because there was not a priest on the island at that time, other than our chaplain, who would not have been frightened to death at such a proposition. "If we could only conciliate your father," I sighed. "I'm fearful we never can," said Mag, echoing my sigh. "He has repeated that odious idea about marrying a member of parliament, as much as fifty times. The other day I asked him if a bishop wouldn't do; and do you think, he seemed to consider it all in earnest; for he answered, 'Yes, possibly; some man who stands high in the church or state; but never a soldier.' has the most unaccountable prejudice against my marrying one of his own profession-all because my sisters are soldiers' wives. But he hasn't half as good a son-in-law as I could give him." He She always made me laugh when I felt the most doleful, with one of her queer sayings. I had not done laughing at this one, when she clapped her hands and cried out, joyfully: "Such a happy thought as I've just had! I verily believe Aunt Deb can help us ever so much." Deborah Maxwell, whom I have named once before, was one of the ladies of the Maxwell household at Malta; a tall, angular spinster, of the most uncertain age; although from certain dates which some of the officers had gathered about the Maxwell clan, she was thought to be not less than forty-seven. She was the colonel's youngest sister, and a lady well known to every officer who had held rank under her brother for the past thirty years. Beginning when a girl of seventeen, a bold, wild madcap, as our older officers described her, and when the colonel was a captain in India, she had been a devoted attache of whatever corps he was assigned to, whenever and wherever the presence of ladies was either possible, desirable, or even tolerable. There was hardly a general or fieldofficer in the service who had not waltzed and flirted with her in those days, in some quarter of the globe, when they were captains and subs; and during all these thirty years, she had sedulously pursued the darling object of her heart-the winning of a husband from the service. At such times as the exigences of campaigns forbade her presence with us, she would retire to an old home in Dublin; and upon the first opportunity she would be sure to rejoin us, more ardent than ever in the pursuit. Poor woman! I could pity her, were it not that she was at the bottom of all my misery. The years slipped away, taking from her the bloom of her youth, and bringing not the recompense of a husband, until she came to Malta, thinner, more angular, and more wrinkled as to her sallow face, than ever before; but with a set of curls which none of us had ever seen her wear before, teeth which Captain Burnet said were unquestionably hers, if they were paid for, and that stereotyped, languishing smile, which ought to have melted the stony heart of some son of Mars before most of us were born. To me, the old creature was positively insufferable. For the last three years, or ever since I had served with the 7th, I had seen her dangling upon it, a perfect nightmare to the older men who had escaped her fascinations in times past, and a terror to the newer ones, upon whom she ever brought to bear her most powerful fascinations. And under standing her as well as I did, it surprised me to hear from Mag that she might help us vastly, at this juncture, if she would. "She has an immense influence over father," she explained. “I believe she has more than mother has. Mamma can govern him, but can't coax him a particle, when he gets into one of his set ways. Now I'm pretty sure that if Aunt Deb can be made to go to work at him in good earnest, she can drive all those odd notions of members of parliament out of his stubborn head, and make him think well of you for a-well, no matter; I shan't use that compound word any more." "But I doubt if she will think well of it herself," I suggested. "Botheration, Jack Martin! don't you think I can coax Aunt Deb into anything? Just wait till to-morrow, and I'll tell you what she says." And on the morrow she did tell me. Aunt Deb had received her confession with positive affright; had lifted up her hands, protesting that Mag was a wicked, wicked girl, and she didn't really know what would become of her; that her brother would be fearfully angry, and never would consent; and in fact she did not approve of it herself. And then Mag had soothed and calmed her, and after half an hour's skillful manipulation, had brought her to say that she would dare even her brother's displeasure for her dear Mag, and that she would do all that could possibly be done by any one to help us. But there was one thing must be done first. She wasn't entirely satisfied about Lieutenant Martin. She wanted to think well of him; she must like any one that her dear Mag liked; but she had an old grudge against Lieutenant Martin. He had used her most shabbily a year ago, at the grand review at Dover, and had never explained it at all. She wasn't the person to be slighted by any subaltern of the 7th, and when Lieutenant Martin made amends for his ungentlemanly conduct, it would be quite time for her to intercede with Colonel Max well for him. "What did you do, Jack?" Mag asked. "The Lord knows; I'm sure I don't. No doubt she's right about it; I must have snubbed her unmercifully half a dozen times. But that shall be made right, Mag; only arrange an interview for me, and she shall think me the very nicest young Briton alive. I'll manage her!" Mag went straightway to her aunt, and begged her to grant me an audience immediately. Miss Deborah demurred; she didn't wish to do anything imprudent, and she was afraid this would be. What would Colonel Maxwell think, if he knew she had seen me privately? But for the sake of her dear Mag -yes, for her sake, she would take even as great a risk as this. She would meet me at ten o'clock that night, down by the oak tree at the sea-wall. And I went, unsuspecting gosling as I was. Ned, my boy, you're pretty smart, for a young one, and think you know considerable; and you would have done just as I did-and thrust yourself into the trap just as I did. It's a fact, after all, that nothing but age and experience can confer wisdom. Seventeen hundred times since have I thought of the snare that this old Delilah wove for me, and as many times have I anathematized the blindness which sent me headlong into it. Well, well, we can only be young once, so we can only be silly once. Don't interrupt me, Ned; what I say is the sorrowful truth. I was on hand at the appointed place, promptly at fifteen minutes before ten. Never suspecting any trick, it did not occur to me to look for eavesdroppers; but, as I afterward discovered, Sykes and Simpkins were lying perdu on the other side the wall, and drank in every word that was uttered. Presently a female figure came up with a nimble step, and drawing the shawl down from her head, disclosed the familiar features of Aunt Deborah. "O Lieutenant Martin-is it you?" she began, with two or three abortive attempts at a sob. "Such a time as I have had to get away without being seen! And if they should miss me, I don't know what I would do. O dear, how my heart does beat! O dear, dear -I am so faint! O my-O!" She snatched my hand and placed it where her heart was supposed to be, when I immediately perceived that there was no perceptible palpitation at all. I attempted to disengage myself; but she was now leaning her whole weight on my shoulder; and I was actually compelled to put my arm round her to hold her away from me. said, “don't, I there is surely You embarrass "My dear Miss Maxwell," beg of you, be so agitated; nothing to excite any alarm. me seriously, and I hardly know how to begin what I had to say. You know, I suppose, why I solicited an interview ?" "O Mr. Martin, don't-don't, I beg of you! Whoever would have thought such a thing of you ?" "Be calm, Miss Maxwell; pray be calm. I assure you, I had no reason to suppose that this would take you by surprise. You have been acquainted with me about three years-" A convulsive "yes," interrupted me, and the woman laid her aged head and false curls on my shoulder. "And I had no reason to think that you cherished any other sentiments toward me than those of the kindest regard." "I love to hear you say that," she murmured. "And I now assure you, that however my actions may have appeared to show to the contrary, I have ever regarded you as one of the best of my friends-" "The friendship of you men is so dangerous," she parenthesized. "A lady who has stood very high in my regard, and toward whom I hope my relations will not long hence assume a nearer aspect." "O Mr. Martin, don't, I beg of you!" 66 'Why not, Miss Maxwell? Indeed, you must hear me. You cannot be a stranger to the sentiments of affection which I entertain for your niece—” "What?-for who?" she screamed, starting with well-simulated surprise, and immediately grabbing me by both arms. "Why, for Mag, of course. Didn't she tell you that we were engaged, and—” The woman seemed suddenly transformed into a tigress. She threw her long, bony arms about me, pinning my own to my sides so that I was comparatively powerless, and sent forth upon the still night air a succession of such piercing shrieks and screams as wellnigh deafened me. 66 "O, you horrid man! 0, 0, O! that I should ever live to be deceived in this way! O my poor heart! Help! Murder! Thieves! O you wretch! Help! Colonel! Adjutant! Lieutenant Simpkins! Save me! 0, 0!" She kept up her infernal noise, holding on to ine all the while, at the same time that I was too astonished to break away, until half the garrison had rushed to the spot, including officers, soldiers, and several of the ladies. As soon as the colonel saw the cause of the alarm, he ordered the inen back to their quarters. By this time the woman had released me, and thrown herself down at my feet, where she made a miserable pretence of sobbing and crying. "Mr. Martin, what does all this mean, sir ?" asked the colonel, with his very sternest manner. "I've nothing to say here, sir," I replied. "I've no explanation to give, before this crowd of people." Here several audible comments, such as "Brute," "Scoundrel," "Monster," and the like, from the ladies present, reached me. "I believe I can explain it to your comprehension, if not to your satisfaction, at a private interview; and, in the meantime, I declare that I have done nothing contrary to my obligations as an officer and a gentleman." The colonel was both angry and puzzled, and he looked from Deborah to me, and back to her, in evident perplexity. "You may go to your quarters now," he said. "You will probably hear more of this by-and-by." Mortified, outraged and maddened almost beyond endurance, I obeyed; and hardly had I thrown myself upon my bed, and vowed vengeance upon the crafty man-hunter who had so artfully drawn me into this difficulty, before there was a sharp knock at the door, and Lieutenant Simpkins entered. He was, or pretended to be, in a towering passion; but he had uttered hardly a dozen words, before my own wrath was boiling at fever heat. He said that I had broken the heart and outraged the tenderest sensibilities of his wife's aunt, and made myself an unfit associate for gentlemen. What more he would have said may be conjectured; my temper had already been strained past endurance, and this new revelation of Simpkins joined in the plot to peddle me off to Deborah, was more than I could bear. I jumped up, called him an infamous liar, pulled his nose, and kicked him out of doors. Half an hour after, one of the officers waited on me with a challenge, which I promptly accepted, naming the next morning as the hour of meeting. To cut the story short, the duel took place, and I put a ball through Simpkins's cheek, knocking out several teeth, and giving no particular beauty of expression to his face. And, as a matter of course, I had hardly returned to the barracks before I was put in close arrest. In the meantime, a tremer.dous storm had been brewing in the colonel's household. Sykes had reported to Colonel Maxwell the true object of my meeting with his sister, as he understood it from the first, and one of my confidants, the officer who had helped me in my stolen meetings with Mag, proved treacherous to me, and reported to the colonel the whole truth, from beginning to end. Mag was summoned before a joint council of the colonel, his wife and sister, and boldly avowed the truth, at the same time charging home to Miss Deborah her flagrant hypocrisy. That ancient maiden screamed and went into convulsions, and Mag was locked up in her own room. The next morning, it was known that Mrs. Maxwell and her daughter had taken the steamer for England late the previous night. My poor Mag!-my brave, noble girl! She was true to the last, and sent me a note which I have now somewhere, vowing eternal fidelity, bidding me come home to her as soon as I could get exchanged, and cheering me with the assurance that not all the fathers and mothers in the three kingdoms could keep us apart. Poor, poor Mag! I have always cherished her memory too dearly to admit of another love. And the major wiped his eyes again. "What happened amiss to her, major ?” I asked. The steamer on which they took passage was the ill-starred Dublin Castle, which foundered in the Channel. Not a soul escaped. As for myself, I was court-martialled for the duel, and sentenced to six months' suspension; but the sympathies of the court were all with me, and the sentence was remitted. The whole affair made such a noise that Colonel Maxwell was seriously threatened with a court of inquiry; and he was very glad to approve my request for assignment to another command. "And what became of Deborah ?" I asked. "She married a young greenhorn who obtained a lieutenancy in the -7th, and henpecked him to death." And the major heaved a great sigh, looked contemplatively at his Wellingtons, refilled and lit his pipe, and was quickly lost in a tobacco-reverie, whereof, I know, that rare Mag Maxwell was the queen. |