'Forgive me, beloved Ellinor, as I have forgiven and forgotten a portion of our past,' he wrote, gently and humbly. 'Because that fellow Sleath was a rascal, you do not mean to go through life "a maiden all forlorn." And so you still stick to me alone, in spite of what people may say--a poor corporal of Hussars as yet. When I think of you sought after, admired, and doubtless loved by dozens of fellows, better a thousand degrees than luckless Bob Wodrow; I can but trust to your heart holding the memory of me against them all--for a memory it may be, Ellinor, as I am not out of this perilous Afghanistan yet--and a year ago I never thought to be _here_. "The poison is yet in my brain, love, The thorn in my flesh, for you know 'Twas only a year ago, love, 'Twas only a year ago." And Ellinor wept as she read the words his hands had traced. A few more references to history. A clasp for Charasiah was ordered to be worn with the war medal, but ere he saw Ellinor, Robert Wodrow had yet to win the bronze star awarded to all who shared in Roberts's famous march to Candahar. 'After all the peril faced and glory won, are we to give up Candahar--after _all_?' was the ever-recurring question among the soldiers of our army, as they marched back to India, and felt that, though Roberts had restored our prestige, all the honour gained in battle would be lost if we failed to retain Candahar. Through the gates of that city have all the great conquerors of India come--Alexander and Timor, Genghis Khan and Nadir Shah; it bars the approach to India from the north and west, and the power that holds it--as one day Russia will--commands both Cabul and Herat. The facilities for attacking India from it are innumerable, and, as Sir Edward Hamley has it, 'I believe the concurrent testimony of all Indians is that there is no territory on which it would be more perilous to give our enemy the chance of winning a battle than our Indian Empire.' General Roberts, in a minute to the Government, 29th May, 1880, urged 'that our grasp on Candahar should never be loosened,' and that its military retention was of vital importance to us in all wars connected with the Afghans or Russians in Central Asia. Lord Napier of Magdala, Sir George Lawrence, Sir Henry Rawlinson, and all other high authorities on Indian military affairs, have spoken or written in the same tone on this all-important subject; yet, in defiance of their opinions, Candahar was handed over to the Ameer, and since then the Russian eagle has laid its talons on Merv! CHAPTER XVII. AMONG THE BIRKS OF INVERMAY. 'Home at last!' exclaimed Leslie Colville, aloud but to himself in the excess of his joy, as his train from Dover went clanking in to crowded and busy Charing-Cross Station. 'Home at last! How jolly it is to see the English faces, the familiar sights and hear the familiar sounds again--and to be once more in mufti!'