smiling through her tears, "indeed, Cousin Harry, had it not been for that naughty girl, I should never have thought of doing such a thing!" "I'm quite sure 'twas all her fault," replied I; "but, never mind, Agnes dear, dry up your tears, come and help me, and shall see how I will punish Miss Louisa for such tricks, and turn the laugh against herself." you "Now, mademoiselle," said I, approaching the merry and still laughing girl, “prepare to atone for your numerous misdeeds: first, for doubting the prowess of a bold fox-hunter like myself; then, for aiding and abetting a challenge, in promising to share one-half of the penalties incurred, in case of a defeat; and next," added I, suddenly rubbing the odoriferous relic of poor departed Reynard over her pretty face, for instigating, and assisting in the perpetration of the atrocious act, just committed before my face!" Then, spite of kicks and claws, I kissed away the marks left by the application of the fox's brush. The laugh now turned against Cousin Loo; she, however, entered into a protest, to the effect that, having paid one-half the penalty, Agnes must be subjected to the like: a proposition which I gladly backed; and, though with some show of opposition on her part, I obliterated the traces of her tears, as I had effaced the marks left by poor Reynard's brush. "Now, young ladies," said I, "I think we are all quits,' and I am quite ready, if you wish; to enter with you into an alliance, offensive and defensive to make a compact, that the past shall be buried in oblivion; and that, if no further allusion be made to my last night's ridiculous début, silence and secrecy shall be the word, as to my cousin's pantaloons,' and the tale' of the fox's brush!" "A bargain! a bargain!" gladly at once exclaimed these charming girls. "A bargain!" repeated I; "and to ratify it I must kiss the book." So saying, unopposed, I imprinted on the lips of my sweet cousins a most cousin-like' salute: a task, generally speaking, more readily undertaken and submitted to, at fifteen or sixteen, than when we are fifty or sixty years of age. My visit to Brock Hall now drew to a close; and, shortly after the occurrence of the above incident, the Admiral and myself took our departure; as the Sandhurst examinations were about to commence. CHAPTER VIII. THE ROYAL MILITARY COLLEGE, OR THE FIRST STEP IN MY MILITARY CAREER. "It was a dreary morning as we sped O'er Bagshot's wide-extending heath and moors; Its lengthen'd front and noble colonnade, How distinctly do I still recollect the period of my first step in the military career! How well, do I to this day remember the cold, raw, winter's morning-one of those mornings so common in this our variable clime-whichI will not say how long ago—found me seated, discussing a farewell breakfast with my respected guardian and kind protector, in the bow-windowed front-parlour of the small and unpretending country inn, then rejoicing in the sign of the "Duke of York:" since promoted to the rank of the "York Hotel;" but affording then, as it does to the present day, the best accommodation to be found both for 'man and horse," in what was then the straggling hamlet of "York Town;" and which stands within a quarter of a mile of that nursery of embryo heroes: the Royal Military College of Sandhurst. I had as one is often apt to do on the eve of an important event; and the anticipated ordeal of the examination I was to undergo appeared to me a most momentous thing-I had passed a restless, and, if not entirely sleepless, certainly a most uneasy night. Although, from a previous severe course of study, I might have been considered what may be termed "well up to the mark;" still an undefined and indefinite dread, a vague apprehension that I might possibly fail; be turned back; or, as it was in college phraseology termed: "spun," had kept me for some time in a most unpleasant state of suspense. |