He was one of your military secretaries, was he not ?" "He was." "Ha! Pity! Pity!" His lordship was thoughtful for a moment.

Then he dismissed the matter.

"But then orders are orders, and soldiers must learn to obey implicitly.

British soldiers of all degrees seem to find the lesson difficult.

We must inculcate it more sternly, that is all." O'Moy's honest soul was in torturing revolt against the falsehoods he had implied--and to this man of all men, to this man whom he reverenced above all others, who stood to him for the very fount of military honour and lofty principle! He was in such a mood that one more question on the subject from Wellington and the whole ghastly truth must have come pouring from his lips.