"You well may be," said my father. "A woman who has been heretofore above all suspicion! But come," he said, seeing that my uncle looked sad, and was no doubt casting up the probable price of twice six yards of Holland; "but come, you were always a famous rhapsodist or tale-teller yourself. Come, Roland, let us have some story of your own; something your experience has left strong in your impressions." "Let us first have the candles," said my mother. The candles were brought, the curtain let down--we all drew our chairs to the hearth. But, in the interval, my uncle had sunk into a gloomy reverie; and, when we called upon him to begin, he seemed to shake off with effort some recollections of pain. "You ask me," he said, "to tell you some tale which my own experience has left deeply marked in my impressions--I will tell you one apart from my own life, but which has often haunted me. It is sad and strange, ma'am." "Ma'am, _brother_?" said my mother reproachfully, letting her small hand drop upon that which, large and sunburnt, the Captain waved towards her as he spoke. "Austin, you have married an angel!" said my uncle; and he was, I believe, the only brother-in-law who ever made so hazardous an assertion. CHAPTER VII. MY UNCLE ROLAND'S TALE. "It was in Spain, no matter where or how, that it was my fortune to take prisoner a French officer of the same rank that I then held--a lieutenant; and there was so much similarity in our sentiments, that we became intimate friends--the most intimate friend I ever had, sister, out of this dear circle. He was a rough soldier, whom the world had not well treated; but he never railed at the world, and maintained that he had had his deserts. Honour was his idol, and the sense of honour paid him for the loss of all else. "There was something similar, too, in our domestic relationships. He had a son--a child, an infant--who was all in life to him, next to his country and his duty. I, too, had then such a son of the same years." (The Captain paused an instant: we exchanged glances, and a stifling sensation of pain and suspense was felt by all his listeners.) "We were accustomed, brother, to talk of these children--to picture their future, to compare our hopes and dreams. We hoped and dreamed alike. A short time sufficed to establish this confidence. My prisoner was sent to headquarters, and soon afterwards exchanged.