iting him on my return home. He had retired I now entreated my brother to assume his titles. from office. On reaching his house, he intro- He said that Lucy Mitford had loved him for what duced me to his only daughter by these words: she called his generosity. He prized her love so "Captain Fitz-Edward, Anne, a man whose ac-much-he had been so happy in retired life-that quaintance it is an honor to make." it would take from his peace of mind to move in another sphere. He advanced a thousand arguments, which, though they were fallacious, were hallowed by the motives which dictated them; and, as he spoke, Lucy sat down on a low ottoman at his feet, and looked up in his face with more pride in her eye than if he had been a royal prince robed in ermine, and decorated with the blazing insignia of his rank. me. There were guests there. I felt my cheeks glow with mingled pride and shame. One of the party-Sir John Manners-came forward with a frank smile, and requested to be made known to At the close of an animated conversation, he invited me to visit him at L Park, when I should have leisure to do so. It was, I found, not twenty miles distant from my early home. gave contingent promises that I would avail myself of his hospitality. I He accompanied me before I went to sea again, to Sir John Manners'. It seemed as if the distinguished guests gathered there had been assembled to do him honor. There was no ostentatious display of attention-no fine speeches; but there were the silent but eloquent looks of admiration from the beautiful, the brave, and the high-born of the land. All, too, vied with each other in marking me out for distinction; thus honoring my brother in the way he loved best-through me-for whom he had renounced so much. Once more I was upon the waters, commanding a gallant frigate. Bonaparte had cast the grenade of discord before him whenever and wheresoever he pleased. England! mighty England! sat in her solitary glory on the ocean, watching his motions, and sending forth at her need her warriors by sea and land, to circumvent his plans, or reply by "deeds" rather than "words," to his ruthless acts of cruelty and ambition. In ten days I was once more under the same roof with my mother and brother. I had heard that the establishment had only removed from one part of the county to the other, and were not very distant neighbors of the good rector, Dr. Mitford. I alighted from the chaise at no great distance from the rectory. I thought it better to see Dr. Mitford before I presented myself to my mother, for I dreaded lest she should be no longer living. Once more I trod the well-remembered pathways over which my brother and myself had often strayed together happily. Excitement kept me up, else had I been quite unmanned at sight of these familiar places of my youth, now in their green time of spring. I hastened on through a gateway, and entering a shady path that led to the house suddenly encountered a youth with a young girl leaning on his arm. I knew, at a glance, he was my brother. My entrance into the coppice was so sudden that the youth and On the very beach, at the last hour of my demaiden started on perceiving me; and my broth-parture, I encountered Lord Islingford. He was er, with a clouded brow, advanced. He did not waiting, he said, to wish me good luck ere I recognize me. What marvel! Sunburnt and travel-worn, little there was about me to remind him of my boyhood! I raised my travelling-cap and the likeness to my father bespoke my identity. I believe I uttered the word "Brother!" He did not reply, but with one accord we flung ourselves on each other's necks and wept aloud. departed; and, as we shook hands, he closed his adieux with: "Now, Admiral Fitz-Edward, go and earn your peerage!" It would ill become me to recall all the deeds by which the fortune of war, and the assistance of the gallant fellows under my command, enabled me, in the space of three years, to become the so-called hero of the day. I would, Miss Mitford, my brother's companion, had for the sake of those by whose help I earned my vanished before we recovered ourselves. My laurels, that my limits would permit me to record mother and brother were Doctor Mitford's guests, their deeds. They are registered, however, in and Lucy had flown to prepare the former for the the proudest annals of England, and their names meeting. are engraven on the heart of their commander. We two brothers, once more linked together, The last engagement which we led, disabled, for passed through the vine-covered porch of the rec-a time, many of my brave men, as well as mytory; and, as we entered the low hall, my mother, self, and crippled my ship. Nevertheless, I was leaning on the arm of her aged host, emerged from enabled to take my prize, a French line-of-battle the library. Pale and wasted, she looked-worn ship, into harbor in the Mediterranean, and after and bowed down with sorrow and anxiety. She hasty repairs, to bring home, as my prisoner, the had followed my routes by means of the public French Admiral, N. . . ., hitherto the scourge journals; she had rejoiced at my successes, but of the seas, from his cruelty to those he captured. her joy had been always damped by terror for my We had come to a close contest, lashed yard-arm safety. Long ago she had given up what is called and yard-arm, fighting hand to hand on each oththe world; never visiting beyond Doctor Mitford's. er's decks, and where the sword was struck down, All she had looked forward to since my departure making the pistol win another back. The Lord had been my safe return; and, as if she had been of Hosts decreed the victory to us, and I reached buoyed up by this alone, her health failed rapidly Portsmouth, acknowledged as the winner of the after it She died within a month after my arrival. battle. 66 You, A royal yacht was lying at Spithead. We his royal highness' most trusty friends, saluted her as we passed, and the crew of that Lord Minorca, have done well, but for you, beautiful craft manned her yards, and cheered our Wallingford, you have done better,"-such a senbattered ship and ragged ensign, with shouts timent was readily echoed back by the circle surechoed back from every vessel anchored there. rounding the royal presence. I found, on my return home, that my brother had married during my absence; but Lucy, like himself, had no wish beyond her happy hearth. And now, in these pleasant days of peace, when we are all united at my brother's ancestral mansion, or in my homelier abode; when for pastime my gentle Anne recites this tale, as one of former days, and under disguised name, and asks of our The regent was on board. He had come down for the purpose of witnessing the launching of several ships of war. It was not long ere a signal from the yacht summoned me on board her. As I raised my hat from my head, on touching the deck of the royal vessel, the prince advanced in front of the crowd of officers, and greeted me with extended hands. The band struck up, "See the Conquering Hero comes!" and the regent, lead-children which of the two brothers hath done best; ing me towards the cabin, ushered me into the presence of the group I had last seen as I left the porch of the little village church in N-shire. Lord Islingford and his daughter, now my own sweet Anne, my wife, were added to the number. I know not what we said at first, there were such greetings; danger, privation, suffering, were more than atoned for. Even royalty was well nigh overlooked, and the prince stood apart smiling, amused, no doubt, at Lady Anne's turning her back on his royal highness, and at her confusion, when reminded by one less lost than herself to all around, but me. 66 then doth my heart rejoice in their decision, and From the United Service Magazine. DAYBREAK AND PEEP OF GUARDHOUSE LEGEND. In those days the grenadiers were all six feet high, and the king's daughter used to stand at the window to look at them as they marched by in front of the palace, with their drums and fifes playing before them. To see them as they advanced, "You have kept me, Admiral Fitz-Edward," you would have thought it was a solid wall of hesaid the gracious prince, idling about in my roes, moving along in a single piece. There was yacht ever since the business of the launch was not one pigtail among them a hair's breadth longer over. Hearing you had been spoken to off Fal-than another, and the buttons of their gaiters were mouth, I have lingered to give you welcome, and as even as the lines of a book. And no wonder to thank you for the victory you have gained. I must insist on your landing first; my people," said his royal highness, smiling round him, "would fain make me believe that the multitude on shore wait my arrival-I wish to land private-to make a nosegay for his sweetheart. In fact it ly-go, and I shall be enabled to do so, for I shall be forgotten; and now Admiral Fitz-Edward," concluded the regent, with a glance at Lord Islingford, and a brilliant smile, "Truly you have earned your peerage." And my brother, my generous-hearted brother! There was more of triumph in his eye than mine. Not for himself but for me-yet which of the two was most truly noble? * * Arm and arm we stepped from the boat upon the pebbly beach, and the multitude beat the air with their shouts, and the guns fired, and the ships saluted, and I was recognized as the lion of the day. How poor and insignificant I felt myself, in comparison with the brother at my side! it should have been so; for the recruiting sergeants used to pick out the finest men from every province to form these companies, just as a body might pick out the handsomest flowers in a garden was out of the veteran remains of troops like these, that, in later days, marshals of France were taken from the ranks by dozens. Now, of all the grenadiers of the various corps, those of the king's regiment were out and out the finest. Superb fellows! and then their uniform! it was splendid; white, with azure blue facings, and orange lace. If you had seen them on a review day, fresh shaved and powdered, you would have taken the soldiers for officers, and the officers for generals. The king's regiment was then in garrison at Nancy, in Lorraine, the prettiest town in France, with its streets all ranged as regularly as a battalion under arms. A likeable place it is, and pleasThe day on which my sovereign was to honor ant quarters for the soldier, barring that wine is me by bestowing on me the barony of Minorca, in rather dear there. Now, as I have said, the commemoration of the victory my brave followers grenadiers of this regiment had not their fellows had assisted me to win, the friends I have men- in the whole army; and among these same grentioned assembled at Lord Islingford's house in St. adiers, the handsomest and dashingest chap was James' Square. My installation was to precede Descillets, who went by the name of Daybreak. the last drawing-room of the season. My brother, He was a strapping lad from Languedoc, and a however, deferred assuming his title till the Par- prime sample of the breed of the province-as liament met, but he accompanied me to the bril-brazen-faced as page, brave as a sabre, as ready at lian ceremony. When it was over, the regent's a lie as a quack doctor, up to all sorts of fun, a capital dancer, a neat hand at the fife, and a firstrate swordsman. He would tell stories to keep words were worthy of record; taking a hand of each brother, he said in the presence of some of the guardhouse awake all night; as for singing, | slo vly along the front and the rear of the line, when he was in the humor, he could keep at it stopping opposite each motionless grenadier, and from now till to-morrow without ever singing the examining them one by one, with eyes endowed same thing twice over. I leave you to guess if for the moment with the power of a magnifying Daybreak was not admired by his comrades, es- glass. teemed by his officers, and favorably regarded by the girls of Nancy. So, finding the service quite to his liking, and thinking there was nothing finer in the world than to be a grenadier in the king's regiment, he made his younger brother, Jean Desœillets, join the corps and become a grenadier like himself. He was a handsome fellow too, was young Descillets, but he was, may be, a quarter of an inch shorter than his brother. He got the name of Peep of Day. Nothing could exceed the polite attentions shown him by his new comrades; and with the help of their obliging instructions, he promised to become, in a short while, an honor to the regiment, like his elder brother. Unfortunately for Peep of Day, the good-will shown him by his comrades was the surest of all means to make him detested by his commanding officer, Major Lerpinière, who, after all, was only a soldier of fortune. Nobody liked the major, for he was an ill-conditioned, brutal tyrant, and the marks of friendship lavished on a raw recruit excited his mean jealousy to the highest pitch. Don't ask me to explain to you how it is that, in certain malignant dispositions, the smallest little pique imaginable goes on festering until it becomes a great venomous hatred; try, if you can, to comprehend the inhuman rascality that can take delight in a low, sneaking, treacherous vengeance; these are things I can't pretend to explain to you; God forbid ! Nothing was easier for the major than to send a grenadier to prison. Peep of Day spent the best part of his time in the strong room of the barracks, and his name was never out of the black list. Things came at length to such a pass that the company could hardly stand it any longer, and they combined together to help Peep of Day in his duty, so as to obtain proof, if possible, of the injustice with which he was treated. Daybreak was at the head of this league; but all its care and watchfulness were for a long while unavailing. You don't any of you happen to know the barracks at Nancy? for that matter it would not signify much one way or the other even if you did; for the barracks I am now talking of were the old ones, which were destroyed long ago. The armorer of the regiment worked in a little building one story high, at the end of the yard, and it was in front of that building that the company was every day inspected by the major at eleven o'clock. The grenadiers were drawn up in line, and if you know anything of the old strictness of military tenue, you will readily suppose that the first company of the king's regiment was in general faultless. From their lily white cockades to the jet black heels of their shoes, the brave fellows looked every day as if they had just stepped out of a box. The major, with his cane in his hand, passed Now, every day when he stopped behind Peep of Day, whose heart thumped against his ribs during that moment of suspense, the major stooped down in silence, and laying the forefinger of his left hand on some part of the young soldier's uniform, uttered these two words in a croaking half whisper: "A spot!" The sergeant knew what that meant, and he marked down twenty-four hours' confinement in his book, opposite Peep of Day's name. When parade was over the grenadiers gathered round the unlucky culprit, and, sure enough, they saw but too plainly the black spot on his snowwhite uniform. Poor Peep of Day used to begin furbishing up his clothes and accoutrements at dawn, and sweat at it all the morning. His comrades invariably put him through a preliminary inspection before parade; but all to no purpose. The major's finger was sure to pounce upon the incomprehensible spot, which changed place, but not color, and always found means to fix itself on some part of the uniform. One morning, Daybreak having twisted his bayonet in his iron gripe, went to have it repaired by the armorer during the hour of parade; and whilst the armorer was straightening the weapon, Daybreak moved softly to the window, whence he could see the company drawn up in line, with their backs towards him, and the major alternately halting and striding forward with his heavy step. When he came to Peep of Day, the major stooped as usual, and—and Daybreak, turning suddenly to the armorer, with his face as pale as a ghost's, asked if he happened to have a loaded musket by him. As the armorer naturally expressed surprise at the question, Daybreak fortunately recovered his self-possession, and seemed to think better of the matter. 66 Guess what Daybreak had seen. He had seen how Major Lerpinière, as he walked along the rear of the line, rubbed his finger slily on the blacking of his shoe, then laid it on Peep of Day's uniform, and so made the spot he pretended to discover. When parade was over, Daybreak told his brother coolly what he had seen. Steady now, my lad," said he to him, "don't let your just resentment boil up too fast, and don't go and serve us up some mess of your hot southern temper, do you see. Your innocence shines as bright as your cartouche box; your cause is just, so mind you don't spoil it. I will go and consult with the old heads; the colonel shall be made acquainted with the rights of the case; and see if we don't tip the major a passado that he won't get the better of in a hurry, that's all." Soup time being come, the company assembled round the king's platters, and Daybreak harangued them with an eloquence that would have inflamed all his hearers even upon much less provocation. They halted at the back of the cemetery, on One cry of horror burst from every lip as he con- the side of a hill, a little way out of the town, cluded, and by a simultaneous movement every where they found a grave dug at the foot of the spoon was thrust into the massive government wall. Peep of Day knelt down at the edge of the pottage, and left sticking there. grave, and the provost bandaged his eyes, whispering to him "Courage!" but very cautiously, for fear of being overheard by the major. The latter watched the proceedings with great composure; and then, as though he were only putting his men through an ordinary drill exercise, he turned to the company, now formed in line, and But scarcely had the grenadiers begun their deliberation, when, alas! it was interrupted by a great uproar. The drum beat to arms; the guard turned out, and three or four fusiliers came with tears in their eyes, and informed Daybreak and his indignant comrades, that Peep of Day had just been thrust into the black hole, and the major car-stepping a little aside he raised his cane. The ried wounded to his room. This was as good as saying that Peep of Day was a dead man. The unfortunate Descillets the younger, having met the major in the first heat of his passion, had knocked him down with the butt of his musket, and would have finished him, but for the untimely interference of some persons, who ought to have come forward sooner or not at all. Daybreak pulled off his gold-laced hat, and banged it flat against the wall, exclaiming, in the highly expressive and figurative language of the barrack-room, which loses infinitely in translation; Peep of Day is flummoxed!" 66 And, sure enough, Peep of Day was sentenced to be shot. I need not tell you anything about the proceedings of the court martial: you know how these things are carried on. The major's rancorous thirst for vengeance raised him up from his sick bed in a manner, and quickened his cure. He gave orders that Peep of Day should be shot by his own Company. Daybreak went to the major and asked, did he mean to say that he was to fire upon his own brother? whereto the major replied that the rules of the service made no mention of any exception, and that there should be none. Daybreak then Isaid he would sooner blow his own brains out; and the major told him he was welcome to do so if he liked. On hearing of this, the grenadiers entreated Daybreak to submit. Oh! if you had seen how sorrowful every man and thing in the quarters looked next day. As the drummer beat the morning call, the tears he dropped, as big as peas, pattered upon the drumhead in dismal concert with the roll of the sticks. You would have thought he was beating the death signal of the whole regiment. The grenadiers being under arms, Peep of Day was brought out from his prison, looking very pale, and placed in the middle of the column, with the provost by his side. The word was given to march; the drums beat mournfully; the grenadiers strode on in silence, with muskets reversed; and, what was very remarkable, considering the regard they all had for Peep of Day, not one of them shed a tear; but they never looked more grim and dangerous. The major marched at the head of the company, digging his cane viciously into the ground at every step, while his pig-tail kept time to the drum, and jerked from right to left and back again, in a way that was most aggravating. drums beat at the signal, and stopped when the cane fell again. "Grenadiers! carry-arms!" The command was executed with one sonorous metallic clash. The major ran his eye rapidly along the line. "Make ready!-Present!" All the musket barrels, like a great machine moved by a single impulse, came down with a slant towards the major. Carried away by the force of habit, he had only time to call out, "Fire!" The major fell to the ground, riddled like a target. Now the town of Nancy, as you are aware, is not far from the frontier, and the emperor's army was then assembled in a menacing attitude on that frontier. What did the grenadiers of the king's regiment do? They threw the major's carcass into the grave; started off Peep of Day, and sent word to their colonel, by a trumpeter, requiring a formal acknowledgment that the grenadiers of the first company of the king's regiment had only done an act of justice; otherwise they would go over, with arms and baggage, like Peep of Day, to the service of the emperor. What was to be done in such a fix? a state does not easily make up its mind to lose a company of grenadiers such as that. The colonel granted pardon, and the grenadiers returned to their quarters, with drums beating just as they had left them. But all this was far from satisfying Desœillets the elder, surnamed Daybreak. He could not bear the thought that his brother, a Desœillets, a grenadier of the king's regiment, should be in the service of the enemies of France, however well they had received him; for you must know that the emperor had enrolled Peep of Day among his hulans, and even that in the first transports of his joy he had invited him to his table; but that fact has not been quite ascertained for certain. Daybreak therefore took it into his head to obtain a pardon for his brother, and made known his project to his comrades, telling them that he would apply to his captain. "And if he refuse you?" said they. There was no more to be said after that, and everybody admired such a noble resolution. So Daybreak went to his captain, and asked pardon of him for Peep of Day. The captain refused it. Daybreak then had recourse to the colonel, but was again refused. was a very balm to the nostrils. And as the storm howled through the forest, the woodman said to his guest: "Come, let us fall to. that than footing it through such weather as "Then I will go and see the king," said Day-this." break. Fixed in his purpose he took leave of his comrades, slung his little bundle over his shoulder on the end of his sword, and off he set in double quick time, singing lustily all the way; for Daybreak was naturally so merry that all his vexations could not extinguish his love of song. His voice might be heard a long half mile off, trolling out his favorite air: Oui, je suis soldat, moi, Et pour ma patrie, Pour la France et pour mon roi, Je donnerais ma vie. And so he kept on, clearing the ground at a prodigious rate; and all who passed him on the road, cavaliers, merchants, monks, herdsmen and wagoners, admired the jolly soldier who stepped out so briskly and sang so well, with a wild field flower between his lips, his hat stuck jauntily over one ear, and his nose thrown up to the wind. "Where are you going, beau grenadier?" 66 Going to Paris to see the king." 'A pleasant journey to you, beau grenadier.” One fine day towards evening it came on to rain in large drops, and Daybreak, seeing the sky overcast with heavy clouds, was anxious to find some place where he might put himself under cover. He quickened his pace, but do what he would, he could not match the speed of the wind and the rain At last he spied a little light proceeding from a little thatched house on the verge of a forest. He went to it and knocked. "Who's there?" "A grenadier of the king's regiment, Desœillets the elder, surnamed Daybreak, in want of shelter for a moment." The woodman opened the door, and seeing a smart soldier, with a frank and jovial face, he said to him, “You 're come just in time; we are going to supper, and you shall sup with us." "But," said Daybreak, “much obliged all the same for your politeness; I have scarce time to stop; I must go a good step yet before I sleep." The woodman poked his head out of doors and looked at the sky; "You can't do it, mon brave militaire, for this storm will last all night. We have a bed at your service, and after a night's sleep you will be fresh and hearty for your journey to-morrow." "Corbleu, my worthy, in regard to obliging me, you don't do things by halves. I accept your offer with many thanks," said Daybreak, cordially shaking hands with the woodman. He threw down his sword, shook the water from his hat, and fell a chatting with his host as he dried himself in the chimney corner. Meanwhile the woodman's wife spread a very clean gray cloth on the table, laid plates, and served up a good savory soupe aux choux, that Better So down they sat, with their chins bent over the table, and their backs to a fine crackling wood fire; but they had barely tasted a spoonful or two when some one knocked at the door. "Who's there?" "A poor traveller wanting shelter for a moment." "Shall I open the door?" said the woodman's wife. "Certainly," ," said her husband; 66 we need not be afraid of any bad people with this brave soldier to defend us.' 99 The good woman opened the door, and in stepped a man dripping wet. He was dressed in a hunting suit, and had the appearance of a gentleman. The stranger saluted the company civilly, and said he had lost his way in hunting, and had been compelled by the storm to seek the cover of a roof. 66 "Very good," said the woodman ; you 're come just in time, for we are going to supper, and you shall sup with us." 66 The stranger expressed his gratitude for the hospitable reception, ate and drank with good appetite and without ceremony, and finally asked if he could not also be accommodated with a bed. "Ma foi," said the woodman, we have only one bed, and I have just offered it to this brave grenadier; but if you have no objection to share with him, I warrant he will let you have the half of it." The stranger replied, like a well-bred person, that he had a great respect for the military profession, that he had himself carried a musket, and that he should feel highly honored in having such a bed-fellow; to all of which Daybreak made a suitable reply as you may suppose. In the course of conversation the stranger asked Daybreak if he might make bold to inquire what was taking him to Paris. Thereupon the grenadier told his story, to the great satisfaction of the woodman and his wife, and wound up by saying: I asked pardon for Peep of Day of my captain, and he refused me; I asked it of my colonel, and he refused me; so I am going to ask it of the king." "And if the king should refuse you?" said the stranger. Daybreak started bolt upright on his chair, cocked his eye at the stranger with a look of invincible determination, and suddenly cleaving the air with a peremptory sweep of his hand, exclaimed, "I will send him to I will not say where Daybreak said he would send the king; but his words, his gesture, and his looks, were so fierce and lofty that the woodman, his wife, and the stranger felt as if they were struck all of a heap. The matter seemed to them as good as settled, for they could not |