consideration with her mother for some days.

'And yet not quite like old times, was it?' Jack went on, with his face flushing a little, and his voice shaking: it was queer to me at first to hear him speaking to you as Di, and to think he is going to take you away from us all. When is it to be?'

'I really can hardly say, Jack,' the girl replied, nervously.

'Will you promise to tell me yourself when it is to be? I would rather hear it from you than from any one else. I'd rather you should see what I shan't be able to help showing than any one else.'

'Jack!' she murmured, deprecatingly, almost piteously.

'Yes, you know it will be a sharp blow for me,' he continued; 'but you would not have dealt it if you could have helped it, I know that; and it isn't so bad as it would have been if he were not a good fellow: but he is a good fellow, I'm sure of that.'

'A good fellow!' The praise was so very mediocre when applied to such perfection. Di had to summon up all her long-suffering with regard to Jack Markham before she could answer calmly

'Indeed he is, Jack, everything that every one can desire. The Leslies know him well, and they thought no one on earth like him; that is to say,' she added with a laugh, they thought so until he was engaged to me; now they think less of him.'

'I remember Miss Leslie staying with you once, a pretty little girl,' Jack replied.

'She's a pretty big girl now, tall, with a wonderfully good figure. You should hear-she paused, and then made a little effort of generosity, and added, 'you should hear Mr. Carew talk about her feet when she's playing croquet.'

'Is she coming to see you at all this year?'

'She has promised to be one of my bridesmaids,' Di answered. 'Now, Jack, take my advice, and see a good deal of her while she is here: if you do you won't be able to help liking her, and then she won't be able to help liking you.'

'That did not follow in another case,' he said, meaningly; and she laughed and shook her head, and said

'You had been like a dear brother to me so long that I'm not to be cited. Alice has ten times my sense.'

'How shall you like living in London?' Jack asked, irrelevantly. 'Oh! very much, I fancy-anywhere with Charlie,' Di answered, ruthlessly.

'You'll find it a great change.'

'Of course I shall. You're like mamma; she tells me constantly that I shall not have fresh eggs and unlimited supplies of cream and home-made bread; as if I lived on those things and never ate anything else. And another grievous deprivation she has in store for me. I shall have no lavender out of my own garden to dry and put in my drawers. It never occurs to her that I may buy some ready cut in Covent Garden, or that I mayn't, as I hate it.'

He smiled. You'll miss other things more than eggs and lavender, Di: you'll miss your friends.'

'I shall see them always,' the girl answered, hurriedly. 'London is not Central Africa.'

'Not always, or often even, Di, unless I'm very much mistaken. No, we must make up our minds to lose you when you marry.'

That's simply absurd,' she replied. 'I shall always be glad to see my friends; it's unkind of you to throw a doubt on the subject.'

But though she said this firmly, she did not feel by any means sure that Charlie Carew would be glad to see her friends; and it did occur to her that unless he displayed some such feeling, her friends would very seldom give him an opportunity of seeing them.

Mr. Carew was the first to rejoin the ladies. He had not exactly held aloof from the other men, but he had not mixed well with them. He knew by intuition that they were not free of his topics, and he scorned theirs, or rather scorned their manner of dealing with them. Jack Markham was the most unendurable to the young official, for he (Jack)

'I be

Horace. We have to wait for the arrival of the "Shrew" from the West Indies before we can be moved. Don't you see, the same ship that brings over that regiment will take ours to its destination. Now, I'll bet you we don't move before the 15th of the month.'

Well, my dear old boy, all I can say is, that Turner wrote to Huntley and said that Weatherby, who is in the quartermaster-general's office, you know, told him we were to sail immediately, and he ought to know.'

'I can't believe it, Lambert. Did you see the letter? for that fellow is always picking up some new "shave;" and I shouldn't be surprised if he tells us next we are ordered to Austria or Denmark.'

'We shall go a long way, lads, however, before we find a jollier quarter than this. Where can you get so much leave, and where can you be so near London? I should like to put in the rest of my service here.'

'Oh! that's all very jolly for you, Fox; you've got lots of tin, and can enjoy yourself; but for us poor wretched subalterns there is nothing but guards, parades, and orderly duty. It's a beastly hole to my thinking, and I wish we were out of it.'

'You needn't trouble yourself, you'll go when you least expect it; so if you take my advice you'll pack up all your kit and be ready at a moment's notice.'

'Jones, I'll bet you five shillings we're off before a week is over.'

'Done, with you, my noble Ens. !' 'Ha! ha! Mr. President, half a dozen of "fiz" at once. That bet was made before the cloth was removed, and you must learn the rules of the service.'

'Oh! well, that is deuced sharp; but never mind, order it in; we mayn't be all together again for some time.'

Such was a portion of a conversation overheard at a mess table of a certain gallant regiment not very long ago. Of course, while the champagne (that was forfeited by the thoughtless ensign for accepting a bet at the dinner-table) flowed, the number of opinions as to the date the regiment was to leave the station, the destination to which it was assigned, and the means by which the transport was to be effected, increased to such an alarming extent, that anything like a true appreciation of the real position of matters was an impossibility.

They were not, however, to be kept much longer in doubt. The following morning was but half gone when a mounted soldier gallopped through the lines of huts that formed the camp, and soon became the object of wonder to all. 'He's got the order, and wants the commanding officer's quarters, I'll bet,' shouted a host of voices. 'Come on and let's see what it is.' Away some started in hot pursuit, and were rewarded for their exertion by being the first to hear that the heavy baggage was to be at Portsmouth by daylight on Monday morning, and that the regiment would embark on the following day.' Now

for the mixture of joy and woe; rejoicing at leaving field days, guards, cocked hats, and full-dress tunics; regret at parting with old faces, jolly companions, and well-known friends; at the prospect of a dismantled room, packed baggage, and its accompanying inconveniences; and, perhaps more than all, at the thought of going farther from that city of life and bustle, the very centre of amusement and gaiety, and Paradise of the man of the world.

No class of men are better able to judge of the advantages of places than those who have had extensive experience, and when we see London almost universally acknowledged by military men as the 'prime spot' in England, there must be good reason for such extensive partiality.

How quickly news spreads in a regiment. Everybody seems to consider it his duty to tell his neighbour; and before many minutes have elapsed every man, woman, and child know as much, if not more, than the commanding officer himself. There are very few secrets in this large family; if anything, imagination adds to the reality, and distorted and exaggerated stories are circulated and believed.

What a bustle such an order as that just received produces! Although it was known for some weeks that a move was undoubtedly to be made, you would imagine that this was the first intimation. Such a hubbub, confusion, fuss, and turmoil. Every one going contrary ways-boxes, bedding, furniture, fittings, upside down. The heavy baggage must be ready in twelve hours,' says the regimental orderbook. From early dawn the open spaces in front of the barrack huts, and the ground surrounding the officers' and married quarters, are sprinkled with various articles. Rope is at a premium, and any one possessing a hammer or a paper of nails is regarded with profound feelings of respect, and is addressed in tones of endearment by those less fortunate in carpentry arrangements. What do they mean by 'heavy baggage?' is a question that is asked and yet never satisfactorily

answered. Individuals have formed independent ideas on this point, and while Major Flood despatches chests of drawers, arm-chairs, boxes of pictures, furniture and crockery, Lieutenant Stride includes in his, guncases, hat-boxes, walking-sticks, and archery equipment. The only rational view that can be taken of that truly puzzling term 'heavy baggage' is, to my mind, all that you can do without for any number of days and nights. Do not, reader, on any consideration be persuaded that your bedding and your tub, looking-glass, or toothbrush, come under this sweeping classification. Heed not the fearful accounts of the disciplinarian, who horrifies the youngsters by telling them that the 'military train will only take 80 lbs. of personal property;' and further piles on the agony by insinuating that perhaps the captain of the vessel may refuse to take so much on board, and then of course yours will be left behind.' These are mere phantoms and hobgoblins. A paternal and benevolent government cannot desire her servants to sleep on the ground, and to suffer such miseries and annoyances; and, as far as my experience goes, the more you study your own interest the better you are thought to be. But say you, that's all moonshine; I've had to do without my bed for nights together.' All I would ask is, Wasn't that your own fault? Were you not too anxious about that order? It must come to the same thing if you run the risk of getting your bed with you. Supposing a mishap to arise from either the crusty nature of your colonel, quartermaster, or captain of the troopship, it is only the inconvenience a bit later, and the chances are so much in your favour that it is worth the hazard. Why, if you had seen the 'omnium gatherum' that represented the light baggage' of our regiment the morning we were to leave, you would have been struck dumb with astonishment. Bedding and bedsteads, trunks and shako cases, canary birds and cats, brooms and buckets, billiard cues and clubs, were mixed together in perfect confusion. All gradually melted away,