ONLY AN ENSIGN A Tale of the Retreat from Cabul. BY JAMES GRANT, AUTHOR OF "THE ROMANCE OF WAR," "FIRST LOVE AND LAST LOVE," "LADY WEDDERBURN'S WISH," ETC. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. "Come what come may, Time and the Hour runs through the roughest day."--_Macbeth._ LONDON: TINSLEY BROTHERS, 18, CATHERINE ST., STRAND. 1871. [_All Rights Reserved._] LONDON: BRADBURY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. PKEFACE. To have entered, more fully than I have done, into the events and fighting prior to the Retreat from Cabul, would have proved unsuitable for the purpose of my story, and for these events I must refer the reader to history or the newspapers of the time. An officer of the Queen's 44th Regiment escaped death in the Khyber Pass in the mode narrated in its place, by wrapping the regimental colour round him; and strange and varied as the adventures of Captain Waller may appear, after the last fatal stand was made by our troops, some such incidents actually occurred to a Havildar of the Shah's Ghoorka Regiment, after its complete destruction in Afghanistan, so there is much that is real woven up with my story. Fiction, according to Sir Francis Bacon, infuses in literature that which history denies, and in some measure satisfies the mind with shadows, when it cannot enjoy the substance--the shadows of an ideal world. "Art is long and life is short, so we do wisely to live in as many worlds as we can." 25, TAVISTOCK ROAD, WESTBOURNE PARK, _August_, 1871. CONTENTS. CHAP. I.--THE TIME WILL COME II.--RHOSCADZHEL III.--THE ALARM BELL IV.--POWDERED WITH TEARS V.--PORTHELLICK VILLA VI.--RICHARD'S MYSTERY VII.--LADY LAMORNA VIII.--THE BROKEN CIRCLE IX.--FOREBODINGS X.--THE LONELY TARN XI.--CONCERNING FLIRTATION XII.--THE PIXIES' HOLE XIII.--THE TIDE IN! XIV.--LOST XV.--THE SEARCH XVI.--INTELLIGENCE AT LAST XVII.--THE TRECARRELS XVIII.--HE LOVES ME TRULY XIX.--THE GREATER SORROW XX.--A FAMILY GROUP XXI.--HUMILIATION XXII.--"MRS. GRUNDY" XXIII.--A LEGAL "FRIEND" XXIV.--THE DOCTRINE OF CHANCES XXV.--MISCONCEPTION XXVI.--REVERSES XXVII.--ALONE! ONLY AN ENSIGN. CHAPTER I. THE TIME WILL COME. "_Le jour viendra_--it is the motto of our family--given to us by Henry VI. 'The day will come,'" said old Lord Lamorna, proudly, as he lay back in his easy chair, with his elbows resting on the arms thereof, and the tips of his upraised fingers placed together, as if he was about to pray; "and most applicable is that motto to you, nephew Richard, for I am sure that when you are my age you will regret not having taken my advice." Richard Trevelyan smiled, but looked somewhat uneasily at his younger brother Downie.