ldierly appearance you present. You have
fully upheld the traditions of the regiment to which you belong. I have
now another pleasant duty. One of your number performed a gallant act
yesterday. He was then a private, and is now a corporal. He has won
his promotion by bravery, as every soldier desires to do, and as a mark
of the Queen's gratitude for saving the life of a distinguished guest,
and in order that he may never forget this day, I now present Corporal
Western with this watch and chain, and I feel sure he will always prize
it. It comes from his Queen. May it one day be carried in the fob of
an officer!"

Bewildered, and scarcely knowing whether he stood on his head or his
heels, Phil took the watch handed to him and returned to the ranks. In
a dream he heard the regiment answer the colonel's call for cheers as
the royal officer stepped into his carriage, and in the same condition
he stood, whilst his comrades tore off their bearskins, and, hoisting
them on their bayonets, shouted cheers at him for his gallantry.

It was a bad half-hour for Phil, but, like all things, it came to an
end. Soon he was back in the barrack-room, with friends crushing round
and eagerly gazing at the gold watch and chain presented to him.

What Phil valued most was the crown set with brilliants on the back, and
the inscription beneath, which ran:

"_Presented to Corporal Philip Western, of the Grenadier Guards,
In recognition of his gallantry,
By Victoria R_."

Many and many a time did Phil pull out the watch and gaze at that
inscription, and often too did he determine that one day it should lie
in the waistcoat pocket of an officer.

"It's my first step in the regiment," he said quietly to Tony, when
talking over his promotion, "and I hope it will not be the last."

"Never fear, young un! You'll get higher yet, I know," Tony replied
earnestly. "In these days of peace it will take a time, no doubt; but
if there's war, as seems likely, then you'll go up, and I don't mind
telling yer it's my opinion you'll be an officer yet afore I gets my
stripes."

"Humbug, Tony! It takes years and years to get a commission, even when
on active service. But I mean to have a good try for it, and should
troubles come with some foreign power, then, as you say, there is all
the more chance of my being successful. Now I am off to the
quarter-master to ask him to put this in his safe and keep it for me. I
wouldn't lose it for wo