And Lily, beholding the phantom regiment, with mournful eyes, played
their grand sad march proudly as they passed.

They looked so dashing and so grand; they were the tallest, shapeliest
fellows. Faith, I can tell you, it was no such trifle, pulling along all
those six and four pounders; and they needed to be athletic lads; and
the officers were, with hardly an exception, martial, high-bred
gentlemen, with aristocratic bearing, and some of them, without
question, confoundedly handsome.

And always there was one light, tall shape; one dark handsome face, with
darker, stranger eyes, and a nameless grace and interest, moving with
the march of the gay pageant, before her mind's eye, to this harmonious
and regretful music, which, as she played on, and her reverie deepened,
grew slower and more sad, till old Sally's voice awoke the dreamer. The
chords ceased, the vision melted, and poor little Lily smiled sadly and
kindly on old Sally, and took her candle, and went up with her to her
bed.

CHAPTER LX.

BEING A CHAPTER OF HOOPS, FEATHERS, AND BRILLIANTS, AND BUCKS AND
FIDDLERS.

It was a mighty grand affair, this ball of the Royal Irish Artillery.
General Chattesworth had arrived that morning, just in time to preside
over the hospitalities--he could not contribute much to the dancing--and
his advent, still a little lame, but looking, as his friends told him,
ten years younger for his snug little fit of the gout at Buxton,
reinstated Aunt Becky in her place of power, to the secret
disappointment of Madame Strafford, who had set her heart on doing the
honours, and rehearsed for weeks, over her toilet, and even in bed, her
little speeches, airs, and graces.

Lord Castlemallard was there, of course--and the gay and splendid Lady
Moira--whom I mention because General Chattesworth opened the ball in a
minuet with her ladyship--hobbling with wonderful grace, and beaming
with great ceremonious smiles through his honourable martyrdom. But
there were more than a score of peers there beside, with their peeresses
in tall feathers, diamonds, and monstrous hoops. And the lord lieutenant
was very near coming--and a lord lieutenant in those days, with a
parliament to open, and all the regalia of his office about him, was a
far greater personage than, in our democratic age, the sovereign in
person.

Captain Cluffe had gone down in a chair to Puddock's lodgings, to borrow
a pair of magnificent knee-buckles. Puddock had a seco