ete beside a cheerful fire; a well-chosen array of bottles
guaranteeing that for some time at least no necessity of leave-taking
should arise from any deficiency of wine.

"That sherry is very near the thing, Charley; a little, a very little
sharp, but the after-taste perfect. And now, my boy, how have you been
doing since we parted?"

"Not so badly, Major. I have already got a step in promotion. The affair at
the Douro gave me a lieutenancy."

"I wish you joy with all my heart. I'll call you captain always while
you're with me. Upon my life I will. Why, man, they style me your
Excellency here. Bless your heart, we are great folk among the Portuguese,
and no bad service, after all."

"I should think not, Major. You seem to have always made a good thing of
it."

"No, Charley; no, my boy. They overlook us greatly in general orders
and despatches. Had the brilliant action of to-day been fought by the
British--But no matter, they may behave well in England, after all; and
when I'm called to the Upper House as Baron Monsoon of the Tagus,--is that
better than Lord Alcantara?"

"I prefer the latter."

"Well, then, I'll have it. Lord! what a treaty I'll move for with Portugal,
to let us have wine cheap. Wine, you know, as David says, gives us a
pleasant countenance; and oil,--I forget what oil does. Pass over the
decanter. And how is Sir Arthur, Charley? A fine fellow, but sadly
deficient in the knowledge of supplies. Never would have made any character
in the commissariat. Bless your heart, he pays for everything here as if he
were in Cheapside."

"How absurd, to be sure!"

"Isn't it, though? That was not my way, when I was commissary-general about
a year or two ago. To be sure, how I did puzzle them! They tried to audit
my accounts, and what do you think I did? I brought them in three thousand
pounds in my debt. They never tried on that game any more. 'No, no,' said
the Junta, 'Beresford and Monsoon are great men, and must be treated with
respect!' Do you think we'd let them search our pockets? But the rogues
doubled on us after all; they sent us to the northward,--a poor country--"

"So that, except a little commonplace pillage of the convents and
nunneries, you had little or nothing?"

"Exactly so; and then I got a great shock about that time that affected my
spirits for a considerable while."

"Indeed, Major, some illness?"

"No, I was quite well; but--Lord, how thirsty it makes me to think of it;
my throa