ying thirty or forty miles away in readiness to engage at any moment
in a desperate struggle. The great subject of talk was the ball that
was to be given that evening by the Duchess of Richmond; this was
expected altogether to outshine any of the other festivities that had
taken place in Brussels during that gay season. It was about half-past
four in the afternoon that the young men saw Captain O'Connor
approaching.

"Can you young fellows keep a secret?" he asked.

"I think so," Ralph laughed.

"I suppose you are both going to the ball?"

"Of course we are. We are both off duty, and Stapleton here is quite
absorbed in the thought of the conquests he intends to make."

"Well, the secret is this. It is quite probable you will not go to the
ball at all."

"Why! How it that?" the young officers exclaimed simultaneously. "Is
the regiment ordered away?"

"Not yet, lads; but it may be. I have just seen the colonel. He dined
with the duke at three o'clock. There were a lot of officers there,
and the Prince of Orange, who had just come in from the outposts for
the ball, told him that the Prussians at Thuin were attacked this
morning, and that a heavy cannonade was going on when he left. Orders
were issued half an hour ago for the whole of the troops to be in
readiness to march at a moment's notice. There's no saying yet which
way the French may come, and this attack upon the Prussians may be
only a feint; so not a soldier can be moved till more is known. The
first division is ordered to collect at Ath to-night, the third at
Braine-le-Comte, and the fourth at Grammont. The fifth--that is
ours--with the Eighty-first and the Hanoverian brigade, and the sixth
division, of course collect here. All are to be in readiness to march
at a moment's notice. The Prince of Orange is to gather the second and
third Dutch divisions at Nivelles. Of course this first skirmish may
only be intended to feel our force and positions; but at any rate, it
is a sign that the game is going to begin."

"But if the orders are issued, and the troops are to collect to-night,
the secret cannot be kept long."

"No; by this time the divisional orders will be published, and
everyone will know it in an hour or two. There is really no secret
about it, lads. If there had been the colonel wouldn't have told me,
and I shouldn't have told you. See, the news is circulating already."

A change was indeed taking place in the position of the scene. The
lounger