There were present not less than a hundred thousand of the sight-loving Londoners, full of generous enthusiasm. A grand review formed a portion of the programme; but as such displays are all alike, I shall skip that part of the day's proceedings10; though there were present the 79th Highlanders, whom I had last seen in the trenches12 before the Redan, preparing for the final assault at daybreak; the 19th, that with the 23rd went side by side in the uphill charge at Alma; the showy 11th Hussars in blue with scarlet13 pelisses, who had ridden in the terrible death ride at Balaclava; and with glittering brass14 helmets the gallant15 Enniskillens, who, with the Greys, had followed Scarlett in the task of avenging16 them. And there, too, commanding the whole, in his plumed17 bonnet19 and tartan trews, was old Colin Campbell, riding as quietly and as grimly, amid the youth, rank, and beauty of London, as when he brought his Highland11 Brigade in stately échelon of regiments20 along the green slopes of the Kourgané Hill, and heard the gray Kazan columns, ere they fled, send up their terrible wail22 to heaven, that "the angel of Death had come!" This veteran soldier, who had carried the colours of the 9th Regiment21 under Moore at Corunna, looked old now, worn, and service-stricken, yet he had the wars of the Indian Mutiny before him still. By his side rode the hero of Kars in artillery23 uniform, and that brilliant Hussar officer, the Earl of Cardigan, mounted on the same horse he had ridden at Balaclava. The royal stand, as yet empty, was elaborately decorated; gilded24 chairs of state were placed within it; and in front, covered with scarlet cloth, was a table whereon lay sixty-two of those black crosses, cast from Russian cannon25, rude in design, but named after her Majesty26, and inscribed27 "For Valour"--sixty-two being the number who, on that day, were to receive them.
We, "the observed of all observers," had not as yet fallen in, so I lingered near the stand, where Winifred, Dora, and Gwenny Vaughan, and many other ladies were seated, and seeking, by the aid of parasol and fan, to shield themselves from the heat of the sun, and using their lorgnettes freely in looking for friends among the crowd, and in watching the proceedings, chatting and laughing gaily28 the while, with all the freedom of happy and heedless girls; for the troops were "standing29 at ease," and her Majesty had not yet come. Winifred was looking charming in her bridal bonnet, charming amid the loveliest women in the world--and they were there by thousands; for she had the beauty of perfect goodness, and of the purest and gentlest attributes of woman-kind; for she was an artless and generous creature, too simpleminded at times, even in this cold-blooded and well-bred age, to have the power of concealing30 her emotions.
I wore my old and faded red coat of the Welsh Fusileers for the last time; and though there was something sad in the conviction that it was so, I never felt so proud of it, or of my looped-up sleeve, as on that day in Hyde Park. I felt that my occupation was gone, and that any other was unsuited to me, for "it is the speciality of a soldier's career, that it unfits most men for any other life. They cannot throw off the old habitudes. They cannot turn from the noisy stir of war to the tame quiet of every-day life; and even when they fancy themselves wearied and worn out, and willing to retire from the service, their souls are stirred by every sound of the distant contest, as the war-steed is roused by the blast of a trumpet31." Often in fancy before this, for I was ever addicted32 to daydreams33, I had pictured some such fête, some such ceremony, some such reward, for all our army had endured in Bulgaria, and done by the shores of the Black Sea; but the reality far exceeded all I had ever imagined. In my school-days, how I had longed, with all a boy's ardour, to fight for my country and Queen! Well, I had fought--not for either, certainly, but for the lazy, wretched, and contemptible34 Turks--and her royal hand was about to reward me, by placing an order on my breast.
The longing35, the wild desire to achieve, to do something great, or grand, or dashing, had ever since those school-boy days been mine; now that mysterious "something" was achieved, and I was about to be made a V.C. before that vast multitude, and more than all, beneath the soft kind eyes of one who loved me more than all the world.
"Who the dooce is that handsome woman, on whom----" (I failed to catch the name) "of ours is so devilish spooney?" I heard one tall Plunger, in a marvellously new panoply36, lisp to another, as he checked his beautiful black horse for a moment in passing.
"What! can it be possible you don't know? It is the talk of all town," replied the other, laughing, and in a low tone; "she is Lady Aberconway, old Pottersleigh's wife--a more ill-mated pair don't exist in Europe, by Jove!"
"So she has found consolation37?"
"Rather."
And the two glittering warriors38 with black boots, shining breastplates, and fly-away whiskers, winked39 to each other knowingly, and separated.
I looked in the direction they had indicated. Close by me an officer of the Oxford40 Blues41, with his horse reined42 in close to the stand, was engaged in a conversation, by turns gay and animated44, or low and confidential45, with--Estelle! She was seated near her mother, Lady Naseby, who looked as impassible and passionless as ever, with her cold and imperious dignity of face and manner, and her odious46 white shock, now somewhat aged43 and wheezy, in her lap.
"Love," it is said, "is hard as any snake to kill." Perhaps so; but I could regard her daughter now without any special throb47 of my pulse, or thrill in my heart.
Still I could not but confess that her high class of beauty, in style, polish, and finish, was wonderful, and when in repose48, cold and aristocratic to a degree. She had achieved already that which has been justly described as "that queenly standard women so often attain49 after marriage, while losing none of their early charms," unless I except a little heartless flippancy50 of manner in the conversation, which, as I was pressed near her by the crowd, I was compelled to overhear. Her toilette was as perfect as lace, tulle, and flowers could make it. How often had I gazed tenderly and passionately51 on that face, so false and yet so fair, and kissed it on lips, and eyes, and cheek! and now it was turned, smilingly, laughingly, and, I am sorry to add, lovingly, to the boyish and insipid52 face of that long-legged, curled, and pomatumed Guardsman, who had "never set a squadron in the field," nor smelt53 powder elsewhere than at Wormwood Scrubs or Bushey Park.
I turned from her with something of sublime54 contempt, and yet, odd to say, I felt a nervous twinge, as if in the arm that was now no longer in my sleeve, when her voice reached me; but after all that had come and gone, that voice could find no echo now in my heart. Sweetly modulated55 it was still, but seemed to me only "low and clear as the song of a snake-charmer."
"It will be the ball of the season--you will be there, of course?" she asked.
"Only if you go, Lady Aberconway--not unless," replied the trooper, in a low tone; "what or who else should take me there?"
"So they have made your uncle a K.C.B."
"Yes--and somebody is going to marry him on Tuesday at eleven in Hanover-square."
"And your brother is coming up for his little exam. I have heard also."
"Yes--at Woolwich. The idea of any fellow fancying the Artillery!"
"Is he handsome--is he anything like you?" Then, without waiting for a reply to these important queries56, she suddenly said, "Gracious, mamma, there is another poor creature without an arm!"
"Poor deyvil--so there is," drawled her male friend, and then I knew by these flattering remarks that their august regards were turned on me; but my bushy Crimean beard, my empty sleeve, and, as yet, rather pale cheek, and moreover my face being half averted57, prevented Estelle from recognising me; or it might be, that I dwelt but little in her memory.
"What is that officer's regiment?" she asked, adding doubtfully, "he is an officer, isn't he--but his uniform is deplorable!"
"Twenty-third--Welsh Fusileers."
"Ah, indeed!"
I now turned fully58 round; for a moment our eyes met, and then I moved back to where Winifred sat. Estelle eyed me keenly enough now, and fanned herself, as I thought, with a little air of vexation, from time to time. Yet that was not flattering; for I knew that though a woman may forget, she does not like the idea of being forgotten, or that even when flirting59 with another, her empire over an old lover's heart is at an end.
She had deteriorated60 in style, and her tone of flippancy was not that of the Estelle I had once loved; and as for the boy Guardsman, with whom gossip was already linking her name, poor fool! his love for her and her extravagance soon ruined him. Bills were dishonoured61 thick and threefold; cent. per cent., London, and Judea between them cleaned him out. A meeting of the Guards' Club passed such resolutions that he was compelled to begin the sliding scale--from "the Guards to Line, and from thence to the devil," as the phrase is--and to recruiting for H.M. 2nd West India Regiment in Sierra Leone, where drink and fever finished him; and he lies now by the bank of the Bunce river, as completely forgotten by Estelle as if he never had been.
"Do you see who is there, Harry62?" asked Winifred, with a rather agitated63 voice.
"Yes; what of it, little one?"
"Only that I--hate her!"
"Why?"
"For her treatment of you."
"How odd!" said I, laughing; "had it been otherwise, Winny, we should not have had our delightful64 little trip to Brighton. Think of that, my British matron!"
"I am not a matron yet, but only your bride; the honeymoon65 is not yet over, sir."
"Thank God you are so, darling! What an escape I have had from being in old Pottersleigh's place! But there sound the trumpets66, and I must fall in--fall in for the last time."
And as drum and bugle67 sounded on all sides, and the arms flashed in the sunshine when the order was given to "shoulder," a brightness seemed to pass over all the eyes and expectant faces in the grand stand. The Queen had come, and all that passed subsequently was like a dream to me then, and is more so now. The sixty-two officers and men who were to receive the cross (and twelve of whom belonged to the navy) were all, irrespective of rank, marshalled according to the number of their regiment under Lieutenant68 John Knox, of the Rifles, who, like myself, had an empty sleeve. The braided breast of his dark-green uniform seemed ablaze69 with medals, for he had been with the ladder party in the attack on the Redan, where he lost an arm by a grape-shot. There were but two officers of the 23rd to win the decoration, and we were posted between two privates of the 19th, and two of the 34th; but all passed the royal stand in single file. I had never seen the Queen hitherto, and suddenly I found myself before her--a smiling-faced, graceful70, though stout71 little lady, in a low hat, adorned72 with a beautiful plume18, and wearing a scarlet tunic73 and blue skirt; and I certainly felt my heart vibrate, as with her own hands she pinned the decoration on my breast--vibrate with a flush of pride and joy only to be felt at such a time and at such a ceremony; and yet amid it all I thought of the dear little wife who, with her eyes dim with tears of happiness, was watching me. I then passed on, giving place to a lame74 private of the 34th Foot, the Prince Consort75 saluting76 each recipient77 as they passed him--many slowly, painfully, and with difficulty; for some poor maimed and haggard-faced fellows were hobbling on sticks and crutches78, and some, like the gallant Sir Thomas Trowbridge, who had lost both legs, were wheeled to the very feet of the Queen in Bath-chairs. At last all was over--this closing episode of our war in the Crimea; and as we drove from the crowded park to get the train for Brighton--the honeymoon was not yet finished--I had forgotten all about Estelle and her Plunger; and I thanked God in my heart that I was not lying where so many lay in the land we had left, and for the tender and true-hearted wife He had given me, as I laughingly hung round her pretty neck the black-iron order of valour--the Victoria Cross.
Fifteen years have passed since that auspicious79 day. And now, as I write these closing lines, I can see, through the lozenged and mullioned windows of the library, the old woods of Craigaderyn tossing their leafy branches on the evening wind, and the sunset lingering redly on the lofty peaks of Snowdon and Carneydd Llewellyn. Old Sir Madoc--too old now to back even his most favourite hunter--is sitting yonder in the sunshine, looking dreamily down the far-stretched vista80 of the chase to where the bright sea is rippling81 in the distance.
The flowers are blooming as gaily on the terrace as they did on the day of Dora's fête, and she has long been Aunt Vaughan; for at Craigaderyn there are little ones now--a violet-eyed Winifred, who scampers82 through the park on a Welsh pony83; a dark-haired Madoc, who can almost handle a gun; and a golden-curled Harry to run after the tossing leaves, to shout to the deer and hare as they lurk84 among the fern; to seek for birds' nests among the shrubbery; to grab at the gold fish in the fountain with his fat little fists; to clamber about Sir Madoc's chair and knees; to ride on the backs of Owen Gwyllim and old Corporal Mulligan, and in whom we see mamma's eyes, papa's expression--nods, winks85, and blinks, and so forth86, all so exactly reproduced and blended, that our best friends don't know which of us he most resembles; so "Time, the avenger87" of all things, has brought nothing but joy and happiness to us at Craigaderyn.
FOOTNOTES:
Footnote 1: Without God, without everything.
Footnote 2: The artillery of the Prussian Guard have also had constantly a goat, its neck encircled by a beautiful collar, and one, named by the soldiers "Herr Schneider," accompanied them in every battle, from the war which broke out in 1866 till the peace in 1870. He always marched with the men of the first gun. At K?ninghof, Herr Schneider was left in the rear, tied to a powder caisson; but he broke loose, came to the front at full gallop88, and was recaptured under fire; the soldiers afterwards attached to his collar a copper89 medal, made from a pan found among the captured cooking utensils90 of General Coronini. His death was formally announced by the artillery of the Guard in the Berlin Vossische Zeitung.
Footnote 3: Fusileer regiments did not then wear epaulettes.
Footnote 4: May God preserve us!
Footnote 5: Good Lord deliver us.
The End
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1
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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auspices
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| n.资助，赞助 | |
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3
royalty
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| n.皇家，皇族 | |
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mellow
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| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
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haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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trophy
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| n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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highland
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| n.(pl.)高地，山地 | |
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trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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13
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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16
avenging
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| adj.报仇的，复仇的v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的现在分词 )；为…报复 | |
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plumed
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| 饰有羽毛的 | |
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plume
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| n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰 | |
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bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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22
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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23
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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30
concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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31
trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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32
addicted
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| adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的 | |
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daydreams
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| n.白日梦( daydream的名词复数 )v.想入非非，空想( daydream的第三人称单数 ) | |
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contemptible
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| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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panoply
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| n.全副甲胄，礼服 | |
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consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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39
winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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40
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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41
blues
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| n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐 | |
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42
reined
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| 勒缰绳使（马）停步( rein的过去式和过去分词 )； 驾驭； 严格控制； 加强管理 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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48
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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49
attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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50
flippancy
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| n.轻率；浮躁；无礼的行动 | |
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51
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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52
insipid
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| adj.无味的，枯燥乏味的，单调的 | |
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53
smelt
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| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
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54
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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55
modulated
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| 已调整[制]的，被调的 | |
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56
queries
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| n.问题( query的名词复数 )；疑问；询问；问号v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的第三人称单数 )；询问 | |
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57
averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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58
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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59
flirting
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| v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的现在分词 ) | |
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60
deteriorated
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| 恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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61
dishonoured
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| a.不光彩的，不名誉的 | |
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62
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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63
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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64
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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65
honeymoon
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| n.蜜月（假期）；vi.度蜜月 | |
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66
trumpets
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| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
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67
bugle
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| n.军号，号角，喇叭；v.吹号，吹号召集 | |
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68
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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69
ablaze
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| adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的 | |
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70
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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73
tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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74
lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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consort
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| v.相伴；结交 | |
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saluting
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的现在分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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recipient
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| a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器 | |
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crutches
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| n.拐杖, 支柱 v.支撑 | |
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auspicious
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| adj.吉利的；幸运的，吉兆的 | |
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vista
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| n.远景，深景，展望，回想 | |
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81
rippling
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| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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82
scampers
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| v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的第三人称单数 ) | |
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pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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lurk
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| n.潜伏，潜行；v.潜藏，潜伏，埋伏 | |
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85
winks
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| v.使眼色( wink的第三人称单数 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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avenger
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| n. 复仇者 | |
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gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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utensils
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| 器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物 | |
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