coach for
Bristol, and cross in the packet from there."

It was a month before Bob returned. The evening that he did so, he
said to his uncle:

"I think, uncle, you said that you were anxious that I should marry
young."

"That is so, Bob," Mr. Bale said, gravely.

"Well, uncle, I have been doing my best to carry out your wishes."

"You don't mean to say, Bob," Mr. Bale said, in affected alarm,
"that you are going to marry a soldier's daughter?"

"Well, yes, sir," Bob said, a little taken aback; "but I don't know
how you guessed it. It is a young lady I knew in Gibraltar."

"What, Bob! Not that girl who went running about with you, dressed
up as a boy?"

As this was a portion of his adventures upon which Bob had been
altogether reticent, he sat for a moment, confounded.

"Don't be ashamed of it, Bob," Mr. Bale said, with a smile, laying
his hand kindly on his shoulder. "Your sister Carrie is an
excellent young woman, and it is not difficult to read her thoughts
in her letters. Of course, she told me about your adventure with
Miss Harcourt, and she has mentioned her a good many times, since;
and it did not need a great deal of discernment to see what
Carrie's opinion was regarding the young lady. Carrie has her weak
points--as, for example, when she took up with that wild
Irishman--but she has plenty of good sense; and I am sure, by the
way she wrote about this Miss Harcourt, that she must be a very
charming girl; and I think, Bob, I have been looking forward almost
as much, to the regiment coming home, as you have.

"Regarding you as I do, as my son, there is nothing I should like
so much as having a bright, pretty daughter-in-law; so you have my
hearty consent and approval, even before you ask for it.

"And you found her very nice, Bob--eh?"

"Very nice, sir," Bob said, smiling.

"And very pretty, Bob?"

"Very pretty, sir. I never thought that she would have grown up so
pretty."

"And her head has not been turned by the compliments that she has,
of course, received?"

"I don't think so, sir. She said her mind has been made up, ever
since I brought her back to Gibraltar; so you see, the compliments
did not go for much."

"Well, Bob, I will write to Major Harcourt. I shall hand you over
this place, altogether, and settle down in my old quarters in
Philpot Lane."

"No, no, sir," Bob said.

"But I say yes, Bob. I shall keep a room here, and I dare say I
shall often use it. But I have been rather