I thought of asking for three months' leave to go
home."

"That you should go home for a few months is an excellent plan,
Drummond; but I think it would be better that, when you were there,
you should be able to stay five or six months, if so inclined. Go
to the king, tell him frankly that you feel that you want rest and
quiet for a time, that you have no longer any occasion in the
pecuniary way for remaining in the army, and that you want to get
married--all good reasons for resigning a commission. You see, we
have now some sort of right to have a voice in the matter. You had
a narrow escape at Torgau, and next time you might not be so
fortunate; and, anxious as we are for Thirza's happiness, we do
think it is high time that you retired from the service."

"That decides it, count. I myself have had quite enough of this
terrible work. Were I a Prussian, I should owe my first duty to the
country, and as long as the war continued should feel myself bound
to set aside all private considerations to defend her to the last;
but it is not so, and my first duty now is assuredly to Thirza, to
you, and to the countess. Therefore I will, this morning, go to the
king and ask him to allow me to resign my commission."

"Do so, Drummond. I thought of saying as much to you, last year;
but the anxiety of those terrible three or four days after Torgau
decided me. If I thought that your honour was concerned in
remaining longer in the army, I should be the last to advise you to
leave it, even for the sake of my daughter's happiness; but as it
is not so, I have no hesitation in urging you to retire."

"'Tis a good time for me to leave, now. My cousin, the Earl
Marischal Keith, returned here three days ago, and I will get him
to go with me to the king."

"I shall say nothing to my wife and Thirza about it, till I see you
again, Drummond. Of course the king cannot refuse, but I should
like him to take it in good part; as indeed, I doubt not that he
will."

"I have no doubt that he will, too, count. You may think it absurd,
and perhaps vain of me; but indeed it is of the king that I am
thinking, rather than of myself. During the past three years he has
been good enough to treat me with singular kindness. He has had
trouble and care which would have broken down most men, and I think
that it has been some relief to him to put aside his cares and
troubles, for an hour or two of an evening, and to talk to a young
fellow like myself on al