CHAPTER XVII.
QUATRE BRAS.
At ten o'clock Captain O'Connor returned and Lieutenant Desmond hurried off.
"Were you sorry to leave, O'Connor ?" Ralph asked that officer.
"No; I was glad to get away," he replied.

"Knowing as I do that in another twenty-four hours we may be engaged, and that in forty-eight the greatest battle of the age may take place, it was horribly sad to look on at the scene and wonder how many of the men laughing and flirting and dancing so gayly there would be so soon lying stark and cold, how many broken hearts there would be among the women.

I felt heartily glad that I had neither wife nor sweetheart there.

It is not often I feel in low spirits, but for once one could not help thinking.
Here it is a different thing; we are all soldiers, and whatever comes we must do our duty and take our chance.

But the gayety of that scene jarred upon me, and I could see there were many, especially the older men, who were thinking as I did.