But I had always remembered Major Brooks as one who approached, if
ever man did, the ideal of an officer and a gentleman. Now at first,
ladies, the discovery suggested no thought to me beyond the
pleasure of knowing that my old friend was alive and hale, and the
hope of seeing Harry grow up to be as good a man as his father.
But by-and-by I found a thought waking and growing, and awake again
and itching after I had done my best to kill it, that the Major might
be moved by the story of an old shipmate brought so low. God forgive
me, ladies!" Captain Branscome put up a hand to cover his brow.
"The very telling of it degrades me over again; but I came here to
make a clean breast, and there is no other way. I had cross-examined
Harry about the Major and his habits--not always allowing to myself
why I asked him many trivial questions. And then suddenly the
temptation came to a head. Certain Englishmen discharged from the
French war-prisons were landed at Plymouth. The town turned out to
welcome the poor fellows home, and the Mayor entertained them at a
banquet, to which also he invited some two hundred townsmen.
Among the guests he was good enough to include me; for it has been a
consolation to me, ladies, and a source of pride, that my friends in
Falmouth have not withdrawn in adversity the respect which in old
days my uniform commanded.
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