THE SMUGGLER. 243 



visitor with some surprise; " the captain is not here. He is 

 down at Nelly South's, and his name's not Osborn either, but 

 Irby." 



" Then who the deuce have you got here, with all these 

 soldiers about the door?" demanded Mr. Croyland. 



" The colonel of the regiment, sir," answered Miles; "there 

 has only been one captain here all day; and that's Captain 

 Irby." 



"Not right of the lad; not right of the lad!" exclaimed 

 Mr. Croyland, rather testily; " no one should keep a man 

 waiting, especially an old man, and, more especially still, a 

 cross old man. But I'll come in and stop a bit; for I want 

 to see the young gentleman. Where the devil did he go to, I 

 wonder, after the skirmish? Halloo! you sir, corporal. Pray, 

 sir, what's your officer's name?" 



The man put up his hand in military fashion, and, with a 

 strong Hibernian accent, demanded, " Is it the colonel you are 

 inquiring about, sir? Why, then, his name is Lieutenant- 

 Colonel Sir Henry Layton, Knight of the Bath: and mighty 

 cold weather it was, too, when he got the bath; so I didn't 

 envy him his ducking." 



"Oh, ho!" said Mr. Croyland, putting his finger sagaciously 

 to the side of his nose; " be so good as to send up that card 

 to Lieutenant- Colonel Sir Henry Layton, Knight of the Bath, 

 and tell him that the gentleman whose appellation it bears is 

 here, inquiring for one Captain Osborn whom he once saw." 



The corporal took the card himself to the top of the stairs, 

 and delivered the message, with as much precision as his in- 

 tellect could muster, to some person who seemed to be waiting 

 on the outside of a door above. "Why, you fool!" cried a 

 voice, immediately, " I told you, if Mr. Croyland came, to 

 show him up. Sir Henry will see him." And immediately 

 a servant, in plain clothes, descended to perform his function 

 himself. 



"Very grand!" murmured Mr. Croyland, as he followed. 



The door above was immediately thrown open, and his 

 name announced; but, walking slowly, he had not entered the 

 room before the young officer, who has more than once been 

 before the reader's eyes, was half acrqss the floor to meet 

 him. He was now dressed in full uniform; and certainly 

 a finer or more commanding-looking man had seldom, if ever, 



