Well, Major, how did you gain your next step ?" "I had the good fortune to be the only one who survived, of four aides-de-camp who were sent off by the Duke of Berwick, at Oudenarde, to make their way through the allied lines with orders, to the division cut off from the rest of the army in the village of Diepenbeck, to disperse and make off across the country, as best they could.

My comrades were all killed, but I was lucky enough to succeed in reaching the village uninjured, with the exception of a ball in the wrist, which caused the loss of my hand, and, I may say, almost of my life.

It was because of the favourable report, which the duke was pleased to make of this service, that I received my rank as captain." "It was well earned, too, sir," the colonel said warmly.

"I confess, I thought when you arrived that, although Irish by name, you must have had some very powerful influence at your back to have risen so early.

Unhappily, promotion often bears no relation whatever to merit; and one sees young nobles, with no other recommendation than that of their birth, placed over the heads of officers of five-and-twenty years service.