"

Four days later, Terence received two letters from home. These were
written after the receipt of that sent off by him on his arrival at
Cadiz, narrating his escape. His father wrote:

"My dear Terence,

"Your letter, received this morning, has taken a heavy load off our
minds. Of course, we saw the despatches giving particulars of the
battle of Fuentes d'Onoro--which, by the way, seems to have been
rather a confused sort of affair, and the enemy must have blundered
into it just as we did; only as they were all there, and we only
came up piecemeal, they should have thrashed us handsomely, if they
had known their business. Well, luck is everything and, as you have
had a good deal more than your share of it since you joined, one
must not grumble if the jade has done you a bad turn this time.

"However, as you have got safely out of their hands, you have no
reason for complaint. Still, you had best not try the thing too
often. Next time you may not find a good-looking girl to help you
out. By the way, you don't tell us whether she was good looking.
Mention it in your next; Mary is very curious about it.

"We are getting on capitally here and, I can tell you, the old
place looks quite imposing, and I was never so comfortable in my
life. We have as much company as I care for, and scarce a day
passes but some young fellow or other rides over, on the pretence
of talking over the war news with me. But I am too old a soldier to
be taken in, and know well enough that Mary is the real attraction.

"My leg has now so far recovered that I can sit a horse; but though
I ride with your cousin, when the hounds meet anywhere near, I
cannot venture to follow; for if I got a spill, it might bring on
the old trouble again, and lay me up for a couple of years. I used
to hope that I should get well enough to be able to apply to be put
on full pay again. But I feel myself too comfortable, here, to
think of it; and indeed, until I have handed Mary to someone else's
keeping, it would of course be impossible, and I have quite made up
my mind to be moored here for the rest of my life. But to return.

"Of course, as soon as I saw you were missing, I wrote to an old
friend on the general staff at Dublin, and asked him to write to
the Horse Guards. The answer came back that it was known that you
had been taken prisoner, and that you were wounded, but not
severely. You were commanding the rear face of the square into
which your regiment had