Here, contrary to the custom of this species of tale, we leave
the General in possession of his apartment until the next
morning.
The company assembled for breakfast at an early hour, but without
the appearance of General Browne, who seemed the guest that Lord
Woodville was desirous of honouring above all whom his
hospitality had assembled around him. He more than once
expressed surprise at the General's absence, and at length sent a
servant to make inquiry after him. The man brought back
information that General Browne had been walking abroad since an
early hour of the morning, in defiance of the weather, which was
misty and ungenial.
"The custom of a soldier," said the young nobleman to his
friends. "Many of them acquire habitual vigilance, and cannot
sleep after the early hour at which their duty usually commands
them to be alert."
Yet the explanation which Lord Woodville thus offered to the
company seemed hardly satisfactory to his own mind, and it was in
a fit of silence and abstraction that he waited the return of the
General. It took place near an hour after the breakfast bell had
rung.
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