And now you'm going to catch the old Billy Pitt,
I reckon; dear, dear, to think that the horse should still be here and
the captain gone."
"But the Lieutenant's come back," said the Corporal. "Colonel
Fitzdenys, I should say, whom I mind as the captain's lieutenant; come
back only yesterday safe and sound from the Injies."
"That's well," said Sally, "for a fine brave gentleman he is, as never
passes me without a kind word. But don't 'ee go yet for a minute, my
dears," and she hobbled away to a large glass bottle, took out two
sticks of toffee, such as she sold to the village boys for a halfpenny
a piece, and gave them to Dick and Elsie.
The children took them gratefully, for it was little sweet stuff that
children got in those days; and old Sally watched them as they went up
the road, each of them breaking off a large piece for the Corporal.
They had not long been gone when a new and strange figure suddenly
bounded into the road from the bank at the side. It was that of a
young man who seemed to be about five and twenty, short in stature and
slight in figure, and dressed in a long skirted coat, breeches and
gaiters, which were all alike full of rents and patches. He wore no
hat, but his head was so thickly covered by a shock of brown hair that
he did not seem to want one. His face was brown and sunburnt and
partly covered by a fair downy beard, which, though not thick, added to
his wild and untidy appearance; and his eyes were very large, grey and
vacant.
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