The sight of this young officer, with the rank and insignia of major, and wearing on his breast the Prussian order, surprised him.
"I am sorry indeed for your loss, Major Drummond," he said in English.

"Sorry for my own, too; though it may well be that, in any case, Keith and I should never have met again.

But we were comrades once and, like everyone else, I loved him.

What relation was he to you ?" "He was my mother's first cousin, general; but they were always dear friends, and have for years written regularly to each other; and it was settled that I should come out to him, as soon as I was old enough.

'Tis upwards of two years since I did so, and he has been more like a father than a cousin to me, during that time." "You have gone up the tree fast," General Lacy said.
"Very fast, sir; but I owe it to good fortune, and not to his influence.