a highly respectable balance at the "Agra
and United Service Bank, Calcutta Branch."
When the mutiny broke out, Milson did the
state excellent service, so much so, that at
the strong recommendation of the Secretary
of State for India, he was made a K.C.B., and
was thenceforward known to the world, as he
will be to the readers of this little tale, as Major-
General Sir John Milson, K.C.B.; Annie, as a
matter of course, becoming Lady Milson, and
much honoured as the wife of a well-known
gallant officer. Milson then left the service in
which he had done so much good work, and
came home to England. His pension, together
with what in the Indian service used to be
called his "off-reckonings"—equivalent to the
pay as full colonel of a regiment which is given to
general officers in the English army—amounted
to fifteen hundred a year, and the interest of
what he had saved, his money being well
invested in Indian securities, gave him about three
thousand per annum additional. He was at the
time of the opening of this story in excellent
health, and, being but little more than fifty years
of age, was able to enjoy himself as keenly in
England as if he had never been out of the
country; and, indeed, far more than the
majority of languid youths whom he met at the club
and at every dinner or evening party to which
he went. In field-sports few men could beat
Milson. He was as good a shot, as straight a
rider across country, and could handle the
ribbons of a four-in-hand drag quite as well at
five-and-fifty as he could at five-and-twenty. He
had introductions to the best houses, was well
received everywhere, and was much liked
wherever he went. He took a keen interest in
all political and social movements, had been
asked to contest a Midland borough in Parliament,
and had more than half made up his mind
to do so at the next election. In London he
belonged to two good clubs, and go where he would
he always met people who in Bengal, or in some
Indian campaign, had known him and received
some kindness or other from his hands. He
had been a very popular man in India, and was
now quite as much liked in England. His
health was good, his digestion excellent, his
household well arranged, and the balance at his
banker's more than he required. With all these
many advantages was it possible Sir John
Milson could be unhappy? He was about
as miserable a man as is to be found within
the limits of the kingdom. What his troubles
were, how they arose, who caused them, and
how they were cured, must be told in another
chapter.
* "Pucka," an Anglo-Indian term for bonâ fide,
or real.

CHAPTER II

One of the oldest—if not the oldest, and
certainly the most intimate—friend whom Sir John
Milson had in the world was Colonel Laber, of
the Bengal Horse Artillery. The two soldiers
had gone out to India together some thirty
years before, and their respective careers had
been very similar. As cadets, Milson had gone
out for the infantry, and Laber for the artillery,
and had in due time joined their respective
corps. For many years they had been stationed
at the same place, and in hog-hunting, tiger-
shooting, horse-racing, and the other occupations
which form the staple amusements of
young Indian military men, they had mixed a
great deal together, their pursuits being in
these respects very similar. As years passed on,
both had sobered down considerably, more
particularly Milson, who, as we have seen, had,
when a brevet-major, married and settled in
life. Laber remained a bachelor, but this
had not impaired the intimacy between the
two friends, and whenever they met, or
whenever they were at the same station, no two
officers saw more of each other. In the race
for promotion, the infantry officer had often
headed the artilleryman, and vice versâ. Laber
was a regimental captain some years before
Milson, but the latter had got to be major
before his friend, who had again reached the
rank of lieutenant-colonel first. After this
Milson had again come up with his friend, and
had reached the rank of major-general, and had
been able to retire upon his pension, his old
friend having then attained the rank of full
colonel, and being in command of a brigade of
horse artillery. Since his return to England,
Sir John Milson had often written to ask
Colonel Laber why he did not retire from
the service, as he was now entitled to his
pension, and, never having married, had no cause
or reason to save money, as his friend had done.
But the reply was always the same: "My
pension," wrote Laber, "will die with me; and
as I have others depending upon me, I must
save something for their sake before I give up
the service." The colonel never mentioned
what persons were dependent upon him,
and as Sir John knew he had never married,
he made sure that there was behind the
scenes some widowed sister, or impoverished
brother, or nephew, or nieces, for whom his old
friend thought it incumbent upon him to put by
for the future. In these brief paragraphs about
himself, Colonel Laber offered no explanations,
and therefore Sir John made no further inquiries.
He thought that there must be a skeleton more
or less unsightly in his old friend's cupboard,
and that it was not for him to ask to see
that which the other was evidently so unwilling
to show. A certain amount of correspondence
—an uncommonly frequent one, considering the
great distance apart and the now entirely different
occupations of the two friends—was kept up
after the return of Sir John Milson to Europe,
and presents were, so to speak, exchanged from
time to time between the two veterans.

"I have been over to Delhi," Colonel Laber
would write," and saw there some very
beautiful scarfs of quite a new design and fabric. I
have sent one down to Calcutta for transmission
by the next mail to Lady Milson, and I hope
she will accept it from her old friend."

He had a great respect for Annie had the
colonel, and whenever she asked him why he did
not marry, would always answer that he was
waiting until he could find a lady exactly like
her; and, indeed, the saying had become quite