tongue thus
unexpectedly tied with regard to Jeffreys, of whose stay at Wildtree he
had calculated on making very short work.

The one comfort was, that there was little enough danger of her seeing
in the ill-favoured Bolsover cad anything which need make him--Scarfe--
jealous. Doubtless she took a romantic interest in this librarian; many
girls have whims of that sort. But the idea of her preferring him to
the smart Oxford hero was preposterous.

Jeffreys would still believe in the sword of Damocles which hung above
him, and the time might come when Raby would cease to stand between him
and his Nemesis.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

WILD PIKE.

Before breakfast on the following morning, Scarfe, in fulfilment of a
long-standing engagement with a college friend to spend a day with him,
rode off to catch the train at Overstone, and consequently was not
present when the post arrived, and with it a telegram from London for
Mr Rimbolt. Raby, who had been on the watch, could scarcely allow her
uncle time to examine its contents before claiming it; and had it
contained bad news, the chance of breaking them would have been out of
the question. But it did not contain bad news. On the contrary, as
Raby devoured the few official lines she became radiant with pride and
happiness. The telegram was a copy of a dispatch received the evening
before at the War Office:--

"News is to hand of a sharp brush with the Afghans on the 4th inst. at
---, two days' march from Kandahar. About mid-day the--Hussars,
commanded by Major Atherton, in advance of the main body, encountered
and dislodged from a defile on the right bank of the river a
considerable body of the enemy, who fled to the plain. It becoming
evident the enemy was at hand in force, a battery of field guns was
pushed forward, under the escort of a troop of Hussars; and the main
body followed in two columns. The cavalry meanwhile, having cleared the
defile and chased the enemy into the plain beyond, became involved in a
desperate scrimmage, the Afghans having descended in full force into the
plain with the evident intention of cutting them off from the main body.
Major Atherton, completely hemmed in, made a desperate stand, in which
upwards of twenty of his men perished, the gallant officer himself
having his horse shot under him. The guns meanwhile, escorted by
Captain Forrester, of the--Hussars, gained the head of the defile, where
they were immediately surrounded by t