"
"And you have no home then? Ah, take me with you, Monsieur
Horace, I should like to see the world--let me go with you."
"Would you like to put on a little red coat, and shoulder a
musket and stand to be shot at?" says Graham, laughing at her.
"I hope to see more of the world than you would quite like, I
fancy, Madelon, that is, if we have any luck and get ordered
out to the Crimea."
For indeed it was just the moment of the Crimean war, and
while the events recorded in this little story were going on,
the world was all astir with the great game in which kingdoms
are staked, and a nation's destinies decided; treaties were
being torn, alliances formed, armies marching, all Europe
arming and standing at arms to prepare for the mighty
struggle, and Graham, like many another young fellow, was
watching anxiously to see whether, in the great tide rolling
eastward, some wave would not reach to where he stood, and
sweep him away to the scene of action.
Madelon had not heard much about the Crimea, and did not very
well know what Horace meant; but she understood the first part
of his speech, and she, too, laughed at this picture of
herself in a little red coat.
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