I should have been glad to have utilized your
services at once, and only hope that you will erelong rejoin us."
So saying, he rose. The hour was late, for Terence's description of the
campaign and battle had necessarily been a very long one, and the party at
once broke up, all the officers present shaking the lad warmly by the
hand.
"You are a lucky fellow, O'Connor," Captain Nelson said, as he accompanied
him to his room, in which a second bed had been set up for the young
ensign's accommodation. "You will certainly get on after this. There were
a dozen colonels and two generals of brigade among the party, and I fancy
that there is not one of them that will not bear you in mind and say a
good word for you, if opportunity occurs, and Sir John himself is sure to
push you on. I should say that not an officer of your rank in the army has
such good chances, and you look such a lad, too. You did not show it so
much when you first arrived; of course you were fagged and travel-stained
then, but now I should not take you for more than seventeen. Indeed, I
suppose you are not, as you only joined the service six months ago."
"No; I am not more than seventeen," Terence said, quietly, not thinking it
necessary to state that he wanted a good many months yet to that age, for
to do so would provoke questions as to how he obtained his commission
before he was sixteen.
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