from his command. With great alacrity the lady and her attendant commenced the necessary preparations for their departure from a country to which they had no wish ever to

return.

The vessel which carried out the despatches was to sail for England immediately, and as nothing was then more dreaded than a winter passage across the Atlantic, the Major decided on embracing this opportunity of returning to his native country. With General Gage he might have come home in a line-of-battle ship, expected round from Halifax, but he hoped, by starting without delay, to avoid the stormy months of October and November.

The baggage of a soldier on service is not difficult to collect, and although O'Hara's, for a military establishment, was large, yet the preparations for his voyage were soon completed. The morning of their departure arrived the baggage was already on boardthe wind fair, and the vessel to sail at noon. O'Hara rose early to write some letters, and take leave of his brother officers, to whom he was justly endeared. On entering the outer

room, he was surprised to find his friend the Scotch Serjeant, who for his gallantry on the 16th, had been just promoted to an ensigncy. The Major and the now commissioned officer met with sincere affection, and the Caledonian having heartily shaken the hand which was offered, mentioned the object of his visit.

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They would na let the lads and me place a tomb over the captain, sae I obtained leave to stick a bush o' laurel at his head. The auld body who looks till the place says, he'll have an eye to it, an I guessed you would like till hae a han in the plantin o't." O'Hara thanked him for his attention, and accompanied him to the place where Edwards was interred. The day was just dawning when they reached the gate, and the old man came from his little dwelling beside it, and admitted them. He informed O'Hara, that nothing but the urgent request of Rachel's father could have procured permission for Edwards to be buried there. The erection of any memorial to the dead this simple people considered at best useless and improper, and therefore the wish of the company could not be complied with, but to plant

á laurel on his grave was permitted. The old man led to the spot. The commands of the dying soldier had been minutely obeyed, for he and his beloved Rachel were covered by the same turf-there was no division between the graves one little mound was raised above them both. The serjeant opened the ground, and O'Hara placed the tree in the earth, and they retired unnoticed as they entered. When separating, the Major pressed the old man to accept some money which he presented to him, but he delined it with respect, informing him that his own sect supported him comfortably, and money he neither used nor required. The soldiers walked for some time in silence, absorbed in feelings of melancholy originating in a similar cause. The Major commenced the

conversation.

"Well, M'Greggor, we have done the last kind office for our friend-Mrs. O'Hara expects us to breakfast-nay, make no excuses; this may be the last day we may be together in this world."

The poor fellow's modesty would hardly allow him to receive the honour which O'Hara

insisted on conferring, but the latter was positive. As they returned to the house, the conversation turned on Edwards's successor, the Honourable Gustavus Vining, who had left the Guards for promotion in the forty-seventh. McGreggor, possessing both the caution of a Scotchman and a soldier, to a stranger would have been profoundly silent, but when the disagreeable subject was broached by the Major, he merely observed

"To spake o' one's superiors when ye canna spake weel o' them, is better let alane all thegither; certain the change for the men is a sair one-he's na man to fill the shoes o' sic as brave Edwards, but he's a Laird's son or brither, or sic like, and that's enough; but here's Mr. Malowney, who was sae fond o' the poor Captain, to bid ye farewell, and he's the one who cares for neither man or devil (Lord pardon us.")

Breakfast was scarcely ended, when Lieut. Malowney was announced. M'Gregor hastily took leave, observing, as he had the command of the Sally-port Guard, that he would again see his Irish friends. The visiter, as his name

would intimate, was a regularly-bred gentleman of the Connaught school-a plain, healthylooking young man, with an active, athletic figure, good-humoured to a proverb, alternately the entertainer and the butt of the messtable; with an acquaintance, nothing—with a stranger, any thing would ruffle his versatile temper; a friend might teaze him for a century, but an enemy dare not trifle with him for a second-like the wolf-dog of his country, an infant could ride scathlessly on his back, but if a man crossed his path, on him he would turn with ferocity. The pistol he called his peace-maker; and this same peace-maker was not allowed to hold a sinecure employment. Although he was a professed duellist, there never was a more disinterested one, as he was always readier to do battle in another's quarrel than his own. Malowny had a rich vein of native wit; and when he chose to be severe, his humour was keen and irresistible. Edwards and O'Hara were accounted a species of demigods; and amidst his moments of bitterest irritation, a word of kind advice from either would instantly allay his wrath. The death of the