Our hero was now summoned. He met with a very flattering reception; and, after a respectable examination, was informed, that his commission should be made out immediately. He had also the satisfaction of being expressly told, that he was thus early promoted, to mark their lordship's approbation of his gallant and meritorious conduct, as reported by Captain B. How different this from being turned out of the ship in disgrace! thought Edmund. CHAPTER XXVI. "Behold! the red stars silently descend High Cromla's head of clouds is grey." "Towards Temora's groves rolls the lofty car Of Cormac." We next find our hero, wrapped in a large boat cloak of blue camlet, lined with scarlet plush, and seated on the top of a mail coach; which, with more regard to expedition than to comfort, travels night and day towards the north. His anticipations were all of unmixed delight. With what fixed attention would his darling Julia, and even the restless Frances, listen to all he had to recount! How much gratified would both Mrs. Montgomery and Mr. Jackson be, to find, that by endeavouring to follow their wise counsels, he had obtained the approbation of those best entitled to judge of his conduct. And this, to Edmund, was no trifling source of happiness. Then, what an important personage must his promotion render him in the eyes of every one! What joy would Mrs. Smyth evince, on seeing him return safe, and grown to be a man too! for such, at little more than nineteen, he already thought himself. Even one glimpse of the gleeful countenance of the old bargeman, who had the care of the pleasure-boat on the lake, appeared in the far perspective of busy fancy. Or, perhaps, this was a sort of vision; for it was one of the last things he could remember to have seen pass in review before his mind's eye, when, over night, he had begun to nod on his perilous throne. The hour was early, the morning bright, when the mail set him down where the road turns off to Lodore House. He almost ran the rest of the way, and quite breathless entered the dear haven of all his wishes, not by the common approach, but, as had ever been the custom of his childhood, by one of the glass doors which open on the lawn. Breakfast was laid; the urn and hot rolls, evidently but just brought in, were smoking on the table: yet, a general stillness prevailed, and the room seemed without inhabitant. Edmund's heart, which had been beating with violence, stopped suddenly: he drew a longer breath, and felt even a kind of relief; for the intensity of expectation had arisen to almost a painful height while he crossed the green and stepped over the threshold.