llery which every passing object or event was sure to elicit.

Emerging at a bound from the petty annoyances and vexatious cares of his
humble position, with all its harassing of debt and poverty, the boy was
almost wild with delight at his newly won freedom. A thorough Dalton,
he forgot every strait and difficulty he had passed through, and thought
only of the present, or so much of the future as his hopes embellished.
Kate's generosity, too, made him feel rich, and he was not unwilling to
be thought so. That passion for ascendancy, that over-eagerness to make
a fair figure before the world, no matter at what material sacrifice
or at what heavy cost, was bred "in his very bone;" but so inveterately
Irish is it that if the nation should ever be visited by the income-tax,
there is not a man in the land who will not over-estimate his means for
the sake of the boast to the collector!

A wealthy comrade, if he be but free-handed, is sure to be popular on
a march. The fastidiousness that would stand aloof from more formal
attentions gives way here to the chances of the road; and civilities
that would elsewhere imply obligation are now the mere accidents of the
way.

To the honor of the Austrian service be it said, "Tuft-hunting" is not
to be found there. The officers of a regiment embrace representatives of
every class of the Empire, from the haughtiest names of Europe down to
the sons of the humblest peasant; and yet the _camaraderie_ is perfect.
Very probably there is nothing more contributes to this than the absence
of all secrecy as to each man's resources. The prince is known to be
rich; the son of the little burgher, or Amtmann, is equally known to
be poor. Nothing is expected from any above his means, and no disgrace
attaches to narrow fortune. If, therefore, Frank was not surrounded by
shrewd-witted adventurers, eager to make the most of his extravagance,
he was not the less exposed to the flattering acknowledgments his
generous habits evoked, and the vanity that comes of being distinguished
amongst one's fellows. To be sure, this was his father's failing, and
his grandfather's before him! Frank, then, entertained all the officers
of his squadron on the march, practising a hundred little devices and
surprises for them. Now, it was a cold luncheon, laid out in a wood
at noonday; now, it was a smoking supper in a village, where even the
generals were fain to munch "commissary rations." Even the soldiers of
his "Zug"