"And what was it that struck you most now in connection with the whole affair?" asked the colonel.
"I lost three half-crowns over it, I did," crooned old Brewster. "I shouldn't wonder if I was never to get that money now. I lent 'em to Jabez Smith, my rear rank man, in Brussels. `Only till pay-day, Grig,' says he. By Gosh! he was stuck by a lancer at Quatre Bras, and me with not so much as a slip o' paper to prove the debt! Them three half-crowns is as good as lost to me."
The colonel rose from his chair laughing. "The officers of the Guards want you to buy yourself some little trifle which may add to your comfort," he said. "It is not from me, so you need not thank me." He took up the old man's tobacco pouch and slipped a crisp banknote inside it.
"Thank ye kindly, sir. But there's one favour that I would like to ask you, colonel."
"Yes, my man."
"If I'm called, colonel, you won't grudge me a flag and a firing party? I'm not a civilian; I'm a guardsman--I'm the last of the old Third Guards."
"All right, my man, I'll see to it," said the colonel. "Good-bye; I hope to have nothing but good news from you."
"A kind gentleman, Norah," croaked old
