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of pestilence, and his friends were beginning to smile at his assertions; when one evening the earl came home at sunset from seeing a poor soldier, in whom with surprise he had recognised one of his own vassals, and who was at the point of death in the French quarter of the camp. Lindsay was absent, on guard at the trenches; Ogilvie was seated reading, outside their little tent, which had been pitched on a low knoll, at a short distance apart from those of their comrades.

The earl stretched himself wearily on the harsh, rank grass, and, supporting his head on his already burning hand, looked far, far over the wide prospect to where, flooded by the last splendours of a southern eve, the gigantic Pyrenees flamed on the horizon like a crested barrier of ruddy gold and oriental purple, tipped with glittering silver-his eyes beaming, as if in the distant reflection, with a brilliancy which Ogilvie noted as ominously unnatural. He entreated his friend to retire within the tent, and not increase whatever mischief might have begun by carelessly exposing himself to the poisonous dews and chill night-air.

"What matters?" said the earl dreamily.

"Let

me look my last on those gorgeous mountains; they remind me of the chain of hills which I used to watch at sunset from my ancient castle turrets; fancy carries me back thither, and my aching heart rests there. Never, save in thought, shall I revisit them, but even that is sweet to me."

"Glencarrig, a brave man should never court death. Await it calmly, defy it manfully, if you will; but, believe me, there is more true grandeur in the soul which

can endure life than in the meaner spirit which fears not to seek death. You must live, you are not your own."

We

"I am willing," replied the young earl with a smile of indescribable expression. "I am content to wear the worn-out garment until it drop from me. shall see. Poor mother! Poor mother! poor Flora !-and poor Lindsay too!" he added smiling again; then rose and betook himself to his wretched straw pallet as placidly as ever he had lain down on the softest bed, when all the future was before him, and his dreams a rainbow phantasy of utopian glory and happiness.

The next day, with all Ogilvie's care, he was too ill to rise, and Lindsay, returning in overflowing spirits with accounts of a decisive success in a nocturnal attack upon the works of the town, was instantly and completely sobered by the intelligence which met him.

It was evident that while Lord Glencarrig continued cooped up within the confined space of a small tent, and constantly exposed to the deleterious effects of so unfavourable a situation, all expectation of amendment would be absurd. Ogilvie therefore obtained from the French commander of the division to which they belonged licence to remove the earl to a deserted cabin situated in a cooler and healthier spot about half a mile from the camp, and attend him there, in so far as that occupation involved no dereliction from his soldier's duties. This latter request for himself and Lindsay was readily acceded to, and acted upon with such expedition that by nightfall the earl had been transported to his new abode, and placed in such poor comfort as their ingenuity could discover or create for him.

Lindsay's distress was excessive, and in unselfish consideration for his feelings Ogilvie took upon himself an extra share of all such military employments as admitted of exchange--thus leaving to Burnielaw the almost exclusive charge of their friend. The earl understood perfectly the motive on which he acted, and valued him the more for its generosity: indeed his mind rarely wandered, or, if it did, never on such points. The slow incessant fever which preyed upon him was not violent enough to produce absolute delirium, but his friends could not hide from themselves that, whatever amelioration the cooler evening air or intervals of uneasy sleep might bring, waxed less and less as the fiery days came up, waxed less and less with each succeeding night.

He was as gentle and patient as a woman, asked for nothing which he knew they would have grieved at being unable to procure―never uttered a complaint; but it was a sore trial to the home-sick exiles to hear him talk eagerly, in his choking, languid tones, of breezy hills where he had roamed in childhood, of the clear, deep azure of their northern skies, far lovelier than the white, blazing firmament of the torrid south of the solemn grandeur of dark pine-forests-of the delicious freshness which his own clear Carrigburn diffused around, as it wound its pellucid current towards the ocean. They, who so yearned for what the dying man desired, could well nigh have wept at thememory which each had of some such lost home--more beautiful than any other scene on earth to them-more longed for than any thing on this side the grave.

"I could die so easily if I were there," he said faintly one night, when, worn out with sickness and devoured by insatiable thirst, the picture of his home in all its luxuriance of temperate shade and humid verdure became a torturing reality before his mind's eye.

Lindsay, who was alone with him, offered him some water, the best one tiny thread of a brook creeping lazily between white, sun-dried stones could furnish; but the earl could not touch it, it was so hot and thick, and, thanking his friend, turned away his lips almost with loathing-only to ask for it again in a moment when the craving became intolerable.

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Glencarrig, if I could but be in your place!" said the generous youth, "I have no soul to mourn for me!"

"And you have never mourned so for any as to make death welcome and kind," replied the earl. "Lindsay, hearken hither. Nay, nearer-come nearer, dear lad-I never felt so weak."

Lindsay was obliged to kneel down by the low truckle-bed, so as to bring his ear on a level with his comrade's lips.

"Bear back my eternal, undying love to my mother, give her my last blessing, her son's fervent blessing, and tell her that he died in the hope that is hers, in the faith she taught, and which by God's grace he kept unto the end. That will comfort her as nothing else can." "I will, trust me, I will," murmured Lindsay. "I bequeath you to her as a son, you must fill my place in that. Walk by her counsels, they will never lead you astray. These kisses to her and my sweet

Flora."

The young earl, whose arm had been drawn round Lindsay's neck, pressed him closer with all his little remaining strength: the lad could only hide his face on the dying man's breast, fighting with tears he was too proud to shed or too generous to show, and wish for morning and Ogilvie's return, as if they must assuredly bring help and cheerfulness in their train.

Daybreak came, and with it Ogilvie, spent and downhearted. He was accompanied by the surgeon of their brigade, who, overtaxed by multitudinous calls upon his attention, had not yet been able to spare an instant to visit the young Scottish nobleman, and had only been persuaded to do so now by the anxious entreaties of Ogilvie. The visit was a short one, for other claims on his time and skill were urgent; indeed in the utter scarcity of everything which might have contributed to a cure there was very little to be done beyond pronouncing on the probabilities of unassisted recovery. He took Ogilvie apart and said,

"There are other causes than mere disease at work here. Are you aware of them?"

"Yes!" said Ogilvie, shortly. Then, after a moment, he continued with exceeding sadness,

"The same causes which are grinding us all too surely down-banishment, poverty, broken hearts— But will he live?"

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'Complete change of scene, removal into a climate more like that in which he was born, the greatest care and ease of mind, might have saved him

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"Can they not avail now?" asked Ogilvie, instantly forming a scheme for quitting the French service, and,

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