the second column at Ramillies--on that
glorious 12th of May," said the Major, drawing the high-backed chair
which the host handed him, and spreading out his legs before the fire,
which burned merrily in the basket-grate on the hearth, "and latterly--"

"Under Wandenberg."

"Ah! an old tyrannical dog."

A dark cloud gathered on the stranger's lofty brow.

"I belonged to the Earl of Orkney's Grey Dragoons," said the Major; "and
remember old Wandenberg making a bold charge in that brilliant onfall
when we passed the lines of Monsieur le Mareschal Villars at
Pont-a-Vendin, and pushed on to the plains of Lens."

"That was before we invested Doway and Fort-Escharpe, where old
Albergotti so ably commanded ten thousand well-beaten soldiers."

"And then Villars drew off from his position at sunset and encamped on
the plain before Arras."

"Thou forgettest, comrade, that previously he took up a position in rear
of Escharpe."

"True; but now I am right into the very melee of those old affairs, and
the mind carries one on like a rocket. Your health, sir--by the way, I
am still ignorant of your name."

"I have such very particular reasons for concealing it in this
neighborhood, that--"

"Do not think me inquisitive; in these times men should not pry too
closely."

"Monsieur will pardon me I hope."

"No apology is necessary, save from myself, for now my curiosity is
thoroughly and most impertinently whetted, to find a Frenchman in this
part of the world, here in this out-o'-the-way place, where no one comes
to, and no one goes from, on a bleak promontory of the German Sea, the
East Neuk of Fife."

"Monsieur will again excuse me; but I have most particular business with
a gentleman in this neighborhood; and having travelled all the way from
Paris, expressly to have it settled, I beg that I may be excused the
pain of prevarication. The circumstance of my having served under the
great Duke of Malborough against my own King and countrymen is
sufficiently explained when I acquaint you, that I was then a French
Protestant refugee; but now, without changing my religion, I have King
Louis's gracious pardon and kind protection extended to me."

"And so you were with Wandenberg when his troopers made that daring
onfall at Pont-a-Vendin, and drove back the horse picquets of Villars,"
said the Major, to lead the conversation from a point which evidently
seemed unpleasant to the stranger. "'Twas sharp, short, and decisive, as