88 REMINISCENCES OF 



Willie. He and a Miss Calder managed to change 

 portmanteaus at Melrose, much to his disgust as he 

 had to go on without it. At Derby I found an old 

 Derby friend — Mr. Palmer Morewood, who said he 

 had just come to Derby for the ball, and offered me 

 a ticket and a dinner ; but the train was just starting, 

 so I could not get my baggage. On Friday morn- 

 ing I drove down to Hampton Court and found three 

 troops there and the Colonel, etc. He is a very nice 

 old fellow, and I liked the whole of them very well. 

 They are the tallest lot of officers I ever saw. In 

 our three troops there is no one under six feet. On 

 Saturday I packed up all my kit, and found Madocks 

 in London in the evening. On Sunday I went to 

 Watford with him and saw the other three troops. 

 Yesterday they marched to Slough ; two troops are 

 billeted there and mine here. Madocks and I go to 

 Slough to dinner and sleep here ; we are to dine with 

 the Blues to-day and the nth to-morrow. 



" Wednesday. — Yesterday the baby ^ was christ- 

 ened. Madocks had a ticket for it, so he saw it all ; 

 the rest of us got into the quadrangle of the castle. 

 It was a very pretty sight, the Guards, the 72nd and 

 a guard of honour of the Blues all drawn up in it, 

 and their bands playing by turns. Willy x^dam 

 (72nd) gave us a luncheon at his barracks. The 

 banquet in the evening was very fine, but no tickets 

 to be got, so I did not see it. Some of the officers 

 of the Blues put on the band dress and marched in 

 with their band, so they saw all the fun. This morn- 



' King Edward VII. 



