‘I should not mind that, but that I made such horrid mistakes!’

These weighed upon his mind so much, that he went on, half aloud, rehearsing the manoeuvres and orders in which he had failed, from the difficulty of taking the command of his troop for the first time, when bewildered with pain and discomfort.  The others came in, and James looked rabid; Louis stole a glance now and then at his father, who preserved a grave silence, while Clara stood aloof, comparing the prostrate figure in blue and silver to all the wounded knights in history or fiction.

He was past going in to dinner, and the party were ’civil and melancholy,’ Mrs. Frost casting beseeching looks at her grandson, who sat visibly chafing at the gloom that rested on the Earl’s brow, and which increased at each message of refusal of everything but iced water.  At last Mrs. Frost carried off some grapes from the dessert to tempt him, and as she passed through the open window—­her readiest way to the library—­the Earl’s thanks concluded with a disconsolate murmur ‘quite ill,’ and ‘abominable folly;’ a mere soliloquy and nearly inaudible, but sufficient spark to produce the explosion.

‘Fitzjocelyn’s motives deserve no such name as folly,’ James cried, with stammering eagerness.

‘I know you did not encourage him,’ said Lord Ormersfield.

‘I did,’ said a young, clear voice, raised in alarm at her own boldness; ‘Jem knew nothing of it, but I thought it right.’

Lord Ormersfield made a little courteous inclination with his head, which annihilated Clara upon the spot.

’I doubt whether I should have done right in striving to prevent him,’ said James.  ‘Who can appreciate the moral effect of heroism?’

‘Heroism in the cause of a silver jacket!’

‘Now, that is the most unfair thing in the world!’ cried James, always most violent when he launched out with his majestic cousin.  ’There is not a man living more careless of his appearance.  You do him justice, Mrs. Ponsonby?’

’Yes, I do not believe that vanity had anything to do with it.  A man who would bear what he has done to-day would do far more.’

‘If it had been for any reasonable cause,’ said the Earl.

‘You may not understand it, Lord Ormersfield,’ exclaimed James, ’but I do.  In these times of disaffection, a sound heart, and whole spirit, in our volunteer corps may be the saving of the country; and who can tell what may be the benefit of such an exhibition of self-sacrificing zeal.  The time demands every man’s utmost, and neither risk nor suffering can make him flinch from his duty.’

‘My dear Jem,’ said a voice behind him at the window, ’I never see my follies so plainly as when you are defending them.  Come and help me up stairs; Granny is ordering me up; a night’s rest will set all smooth.’

It was not a night’s rest, neither did it set things smooth.  In vain did Louis assume a sprightly countenance, and hold his head and shoulders erect and stately; there was no concealing that he was very pale, and winced at every step.  His ankle had been much hurt by the pressure of the stirrup, and he was not strong enough to bear with impunity severe pain, exertion, and fatigue on a burning summer day.  It was evident that his recovery had been thrown back for weeks.