, at ten o'clock punctually, awaiting my turn to be introduced, in
the ante-chamber of the Horse Guards. The room was crowded with officers
in full dress. Some old white-haired generals of division had been
coming daily for years past to solicit commands, their fitness for which
lay only in their own doting imaginations; some, broken by sickness
and crippled with wounds, were seeking colonial appointments they never
could live to reach; hale and stout men in the prime of life were there
also, entreating exchanges which should accommodate their wives and
daughters, who preferred Bath or Cheltenham to the banks of the Tagus
or the snows of Canada. Among these, however, were many fine soldierlike
fellows, whose only request was to be sent where hard knocks were going,
careless of the climate and regardless of the cause. Another class
were thinly sprinkled around--young officers of the staff, many of them
delicate, effeminate-looking figures, herding scrupulously together,
and never condescending, by word or look, to acknowledge their brethren
about them. In this knot De Vere was conspicuous by the loud tone of his
voice and the continued titter of his unmeaning laugh. I have already
mentioned the consummate ease with which he could apparently forget all
unpleasant recollections, and accost the man whom he should have blushed
to meet. Now he exhibited this power in perfection; saluting me across
the room with a familiar motion of his hand, he called out--

'Ah, Hinton, you here, too? Sick of Ireland; I knew it would come to
that. Looking for something near town?'

A cold negative, and a colder bow, was my only answer.

Nothing abashed by this--indeed, to all seeming, quite indifferent to
it" he continued--

'Bad style of thing, Dublin; couldn't stand those con-founded talkers,
with their old jokes from circuit. _You_ were horribly bored, too; I saw
it.'

'I beg, my lord,' said I, in a tone of seriousness, the best exchange
I could assume for the deep annoyance I felt--'I beg that you will
not include me in your opinions respecting Ireland; I opine we differ
materially in our impressions on that country, and perhaps not without
reason too. These latter words I spoke with marked emphasis, and fixing
my eyes steadily on him.

'Very possibly,' lisped he, as coolly as before. 'I left it without
regret; you apparently ought to be there still! Ha, ha, ha! he has it
there, I think.'

The blood mounted to my face and temples