As they played on sneers were changed for rapturous admiration, and at last, as the final notes rang through the room in a tremendous vibrating chord that it seemed could never have been produced by those few tightly-drawn strings, there was a furious burst of applause, glasses were broken, decanters hammered the table, and four men who had sunk beneath, suffering from too many bottles, roused up for the moment to shout ere they sank asleep again, while the Major excitedly stretched out his hand first to one and then to the other of the performers. "Gentlemen," he cried at last, hammering the table to obtain order, "I am going to ask a favour of our talented guests. This has come upon me like a revelation. Such music is too good for men." "Hear! hear! hear! hear!" came in chorus. "It is fit only for the ears of those we love." "Hear!--hear!--hear!--hear!" "We have drunk their health, to-night; each the health of the woman of his heart." "Hear!--hear!--hear!--hear!" "And now, as we have such music, I am going to beg our guests to come with us and serenade a lady whose name I will not mention." "Hear!--hear!--hurrah!" "It is the lady I am proud to toast, and I ask the favour of you, Colonel Mellersh, of you, Mr Linnell, to come and play that air once through beneath her window." "Oh, nonsense, Rockley. My dear fellow, no," cried the Colonel. "My dear Mellersh," said the Major with half-tipsy gravity. "My dear friend; and you, my dear friend Linnell, I pray you hear me. It may mean much more than you can tell--the happiness of my life. Come, my dear fellow, you'll not refuse." "What do you say, Linnell?" cried the Colonel good-humouredly. "Oh, it is so absurd," said Linnell warmly. "No, no, not absurd," said the Major sternly. "I beg you'll not refuse." "Humour him, Dick," said the Colonel in a whisper. "You are telling him not to play," said the Major fiercely. "My dear fellow, no: I was asking him to consent. Humour him, Dick," said the Colonel. "It's nearly two, and there'll be no one about. If we refuse it may mean a quarrel." "I'll go if you wish it," said Richard Linnell quietly. "All right, Major; we'll serenade your lady in good old Spanish style," said the Colonel laughingly. "Quick, then, at once. How far is it?" "Not far," cried the Major. "Who will come? Bray, Payne, and half a dozen more. Will you be one, Burnett?" "No, not I," said the little, fair man with the sneering smile; "I shall stay;" and he gave effect to his words by sinking back in his chair and then gliding softly beneath the table. "Just as you like," said the Major, and the result was that a party of about a dozen sallied out of the barrack mess-room, crossed the yard, and were allowed to pass by the sentry on duty, carbine on arm.