e army, and consequently Lady Harriet was
always in danger of being killed or captured. She, like the officers,
lay down in her clothes, so that she might be ready at any moment to
advance. One night the tent in which she and her husband were sleeping
caught fire, and had it not been for the prompt and gallant conduct of
an orderly-sergeant, who at great personal risk dragged them out, they
would have been suffocated or burnt to death. As it was, Major Acland
was severely burnt, and all their personal belongings were lost.

Instead of being disheartened by the hardships and mishaps which fell
to her lot, Lady Harriet became more cheerful as time went on; but
another severe trial was in store for her. Major Acland informed her
that as they would in all probability engage the enemy in a day or two,
she would have to remain in the care of the baggage guard, which was
unlikely to be exposed to danger. Lady Harriet protested, being
anxious to accompany her husband into battle, but she was compelled to
do as the major desired. Here among the baggage she had for companions
two other ladies, wives of officers.

When the action began Lady Harriet was seated in a small hut which she
had found unoccupied, and here she remained listening to the artillery
and musketry fire, and praying that her husband might come out of the
fight uninjured. Soon, however, she had to vacate the hut, for the
surgeons told her that they required it, as the fight was fierce, and
the men were falling fast. Unwittingly the surgeons had alarmed her.
If men were falling fast there was little chance of her husband, whose
place was in the front line of attack, escaping injury.

For four hours the battle raged fiercely, but Lady Harriet could obtain
no news other husband. He was not among the wounded or dead who had
been brought to the rear, but she feared that at any moment she might
see him lying white and still on a stretcher. The two ladies who
waited with her were equally anxious for news from the front, and for
them it came soon, and cruelly. The husband of one was brought back
mortally wounded, and a little later the other was told that her
husband had been shot dead.

The battle ceased, and the last of the wounded was brought to the
surgeons, but still Lady Harriet was without news of Major Acland, and
it was not until many hours later that she heard he was still alive.
Her joy was tempered by the knowledge that the fighting would be
ren