WHAT THE GAZETTE CONTAINED.
I had now served one campaign, though a short one; had seen the
conclusion of another, ending in the total destruction of Cherbourg,
and was on the eve of commencing a third, and yet found myself,
despite all my day-dreams and lofty aspirations, unnoticed and
unknown. I was graver now than before. It seemed to me that I had
seen much of the world, and assuredly I had suffered much in the time
that had elapsed between our landing at Cancalle Bay and the
re-embarkation at Fort Galette.
We were now at Wadhurst, a secluded place in Sussex. On the morning
after we joined, Colonel Preston sent for me to the orderly-room,
where there ensued a conversation which caused some speculation in
the regiment, where my incognito was still preserved. The secret of
who I was, or what I should have been, was now known to Kirkton only,
for poor Jack Charters, as I have already said, was in his soldier's
grave among the ruins of Cherbourg, and the only relic I possessed of
him was a pair of sleeve-links.
The bluff old colonel was standing with his spurred heels planted
firmly on the hearthrug, and his hands behind his back, which was
opposed to the fireplace, in the true orderly-room fashion, and he
gave me a friendly nod as I entered.
"You are aware, of course, Gauntlet," said he, "that money to
purchase a cornetcy has been lodged for you."
"With whom, sir?" I asked, in astonishment.
"The regimental agents, Messrs. Cox and Mair, of Craig's Court,
London."
"By whom, colonel?"
"Your friends--you should know best."
"I have no friends--never had any," said I, bitterly.
"It was lodged two months since," resumed the colonel, "and gazetted
you would have been ere this, but for our doubt about your fate, poor
Captain Lindsay having sent your name to the War Office as _missing_."
I stood looking at the grave, kind, and soldierly old man with a
stupified air.
My cousin Aurora must have done this--I was certain of it--for no one
else in all the world knew of me, or cared for me; but I was too
proud to accept of this donation even from her--from the usurper of
my patrimony, for such I deemed her--and urged the colonel to write
at once to the regimental agents, desiring them to return the money
to the depositor thereof, whoever he or she might he.
I said this so haughtily, so bitterly, and peremptorily, and with
such a flush on my cheek, that the adjutant and orderly-room clerks,
who were fussing among docquets of papers and returns, looked up with
surprise, and the old colonel, after carefully wiping a great pair of
spectacles, put them on his copper-coloured nose, and surveyed me
from head to foot with extreme coolness and curiosity.
"Zounds! Gauntlet," said he, "you are a very extraordinary
fellow--very! Have you no wish to rise in the service?"
"By my own merit, sir, I have every wish, but not by the money--(of
others, I was about to say, but added)--the money that should have
been mine."
"Should--hum."
"I shall go to Germany with you, Colonel Preston, as a private
trooper, and I care little if I never come back again."
"And you positively refuse this commission?"
"From an unknown donor, yes, colonel."
"Well, 'tis puzzling, but you know your own affairs best. I have the
reputation of being the most eccentric old fellow in the service;
henceforth you shall enjoy the reputation of being the most eccentric
young one."
Old Preston gave me a kind of nod, as if to intimate that the
interview was over, and resumed a conference with the
farrier-sergeant concerning the re-shoeing of all the horses prior to
embarkation, while I strolled forth into the barrack-yard to ponder
over what had passed.
The news of this interview rapidly spread, and I was speedily joined
by Tom Kirkton.
"By Jove!" he exclaimed, "I like your spirit, Gauntlet; yet this
seems to me--and it would have seemed to poor Jack, had he been
here--the very acme of petulance and folly."
Selfishness and ambition struggled with pride. I was silent, for it
seemed to me that never again might such a chance of being raised to
my proper position occur to me, and already I half repented having
scorned or refused the proffered gift, without inquiry. It was not
too late to retract! I made one pace towards the orderly-room, but
pride resumed its power, and I turned away.
"It must be the act of my cousin, Aurora Gauntlet," said I, "for I
have not a relative on earth that I know of, Tom, but her."
"Does it not occur to you, most sapient sir, that your cousin might
find it easier and more convenient to forget you--to ignore rather
than to remember you, and do her utmost to be your friend?"
"True, Tom, but you cannot feel as I feel in this matter."
"And then, of course, it is not every dragoon who carries in his
valise a diploma of baronetcy."
"These last words of yours, Kirkton, have cured me even of regret,"
said I, bitterly.
"Then I am sorry that they passed my lips. 'Oons man, why not make
love to her?--there are worse matches in this world than a young and
handsome cousin."
These words provoked only an angry smile, and the trumpet sounding
for stable duty cut short the interview by hurrying us to look after
the wants of our respective steeds.
So, according to my desire, Colonel Preston wrote to the agents, and
the money was returned; but in the next War Office Gazette how great
was the surprise of my comrades and myself when we read the following
announcement--
"_Scots Greys, Light Troop_.--Lieut. Sholto Douglas to be captain,
_vice_ Lindsay, killed in action; Cornet James Keith to be Lieut.,
_vice_ Douglas, promoted; Sir Basil Gauntlet, Bart., to be cornet,
_vice_ Keith."
"Sir Basil Gauntlet, _Baronet_!"
Had a loaded bomb of the greatest size exploded in the centre of the
mess-room table it could scarcely have created so much speculation as
this remarkable gazette did among the officers of his Majesty's
Second Dragoons, of whom I thus found myself one.
Could I doubt that Aurora had done this? Could I be less than
grateful that she--the only being who inherited the same name and
blood, was determined not to forget me? Thus, finding that in my
stubborn pride I declined the cornetcy by purchase, without further
consultation she had resolved to drag me into my place by a
commission without it.
As yet I knew not all this with certainty, and was too proud to write
to Netherwood Hall; moreover, I knew not whether Aurora was there,
though had I considered, the celerity with which the whole affair had
been transacted should have convinced me that she was in the
metropolis.
And thus I was an officer, an officer at last, and without having
performed even the smallest of those superhuman acts of heroism of
which I had drawn such dashing pictures in my day-dreams; without
capturing standards sword-in-hand, without leading on furious
charges, or disastrous forlorn hopes; made an officer simply through
a note, written by a pretty girl's hand to some official source.
Thus was I promoted; my comrades congratulated me, and I felt a
joyous certainty that their emotions were sincere, even those of the
old grumblers and the "knowing ones," who at the outset of his career
had fleeced poor Basil the recruit of his bounty at the Canteen and
tavern.
The day of embarkation for Germany had not been named, but it was
known to be drawing near: thus, with the extremely limited means at
my disposal I had little else to think of than providing myself with
a horse in addition to my trooper uniform and other _et cetera_
befitting my rank. Those friendly and fatherly gentlemen of the race
of Judah who hang about all barracks as the carrion crow and vulture
in mid-air overhang a battle-field, were at hand to aid me for a
"moderate consideration" in the way of thirty or forty per cent.
interest, and the whole affair was soon done--all the sooner that old
Colonel Preston was my friend.
In a _week_ after my appointment (the rules of the service were not
then what they were afterwards) I found myself on duty as an officer,
and oddly enough it was that of a _marine_ on board a frigate.