THE VICARAGE. 315 



in the little arrangements of the family. She 

 longed for the return of her brother, who had some 

 time before accompanied his friend to his rectory. 

 She wanted to consult him as to the best means to 

 be adopted to procure some tidings of the proba- 

 ble fate of Neville. He at length arrived, and 

 brought with him the intelligence that Neville had 

 been wounded and taken prisoner, and that, on 

 the retreat of the French, he had been left at a 

 small village at the foot of the Pyrenees. Lucy's 

 strength of mind now shewed itself. With the 

 permission of her parents she determined to seek 

 out Neville, and her brother was to accompany 

 her. Their preparations were soon made, and as 

 the communications with Bourdeaux were open, 

 they arrived at that city after a quick and 

 prosperous passage. Their next object was to 

 gain the village in which Neville was supposed to 

 have been left, and which was now considerably in 

 the rear of the English army. As they approached 

 the village, after travelling all night, Lucy's heart 

 sickened with fear, nor could she raise her eyes to 

 that glorious sight the sun bursting forth upon 

 the distant mountains. Henry stopped the car- 

 riage on seeing an English soldier crawl out of a 

 cabin by the side of the road. 



" Do you know anything about Captain Neville, 

 and where we can find him ?" said Henry. 



" Captain Neville/' replied the soldier, " was he 



