en action, I could not
help comparing him, as he was now, with the first occasion on which I
had seen him. Then, with his nondescript garments, his parchment-like
skin, and the look of wistful indecision in his eyes, he was a creature
to be pitied. Now, in the uniform of a major, he stood stalwart and
erect. In spite of the fact that his left arm was in a sling, there
was something commanding in his attitude. His eyes no longer suggested
indecision, and his bronzed skin was no longer wrinkled and parchment
like. He looked what he was--a tall, strong, capable man, instinct
with life and energy.

There was something, too, in the tones of his voice that aroused the
interest of the audience, and thousands of eyes were turned towards him.

The chairman adjusted his eye-glasses, and looked at Edgecumbe, who
still stood erect, the cynosure of all eyes.

'I am sure,' said the chairman, 'that in spite of the fact that it is
growing late, we shall be glad to hear a few words from a soldier just
back from the front. Will he kindly come to the platform.'

The audience, doubtless noting Edgecumbe's wounded arm, gave him a
cheer as he left his seat, while the reporters, probably hoping for
something good in the way of copy, again opened their note-books.

'I asked permission to say a few words, my lord,' he said, 'because I
have been deeply disappointed in this meeting. This is a great
audience, and it is a great occasion; that is why the lack of an
overwhelming conviction, the lack too of anything like vision of the
inwardness of the problem under discussion is so saddening. I had
hoped for a message to the heart of the nation; I had waited to hear
the Voice of God, without which all such gatherings as this must be in
vain.'

He hesitated a second, and I feared lest he had lost thread of his
thought, feared too lest after his somewhat flamboyant commencement his
appearance would be only a fiasco. I saw, too, that the chairman
looked at him doubtfully, and I had a suspicion that he was on the
point of asking him to sit down.

But his hesitation was only for a moment. He threw back his shoulders
as though he were on the battlefield and was about to give an important
command.

'I speak as one who has been a soldier in the ranks, and who knows the
soldier's hardships, his temptations, his sufferings. I also speak as
one who knows what a fine fellow the British soldier is, for believe me
there are no braver men benea