Miss Bertram looked grave, and the boys sobered down at once.

“But, Aunt Judy, of course fighting is dreadful, but it is a soldier’s duty, isn’t it?”

“And Rob is sure to do his duty.”

“Yes, boys, we will hope he will serve his Queen as well as he served us whilst here.  Rob was a good boy:  I wish there were more like him.”

And Miss Bertram moved away, whilst her little nephews worked off their excitement at this news, by jumping down from the wall, and performing a mimic battle in the pine wood outside.  Very eagerly and impatiently did they look for a letter before they went off to school, but none came; and the last word that Roy said as he was leaving the house was,—­

“Mind, Aunt Judy, you send on my letter when it comes as quick as lightning!”

It was rather an ordeal for both the boys when the last leave-takings of all at home came.  The old nurse wept profusely, and was only comforted by the assurance that she should go to her charges on the very first intimation of illness.  Mrs. Bertram gave them such warnings against choosing evil companions, and becoming depraved in principles, that the boys were quite awed and depressed; and the servants, one and all, expressed such pity and sympathy for their departure, that Dudley at last confided to Roy: 

“If we were going to prison they couldn’t look more shocked and gloomy.”

General Newton insisted upon taking them himself to school.

“It looks well,” he said to Miss Bertram, a little pompously; “for the boys to have a man at their back, and I will have a few words with the principal myself about Roy’s delicacy of constitution.  It will come with more force from me than from you.”

So the general was allowed to have his way, and by the time the boys were in the train with a large packet of sandwiches and cakes to while away the time, their spirits rose, and they declared that going off to school was “the jolliest thing out.”

It was late in the evening when they reached their destination.  The school was not far from the sea, and the clergyman who kept it would never have more than thirty boarders; his wife, a sweet-faced gentlewoman, received the boys most kindly, and General Newton came away satisfied that it would prove a happy home as well as a good training for the motherless boys.

Dudley and Roy were not long in making themselves at home; their high spirits made them general favorites amongst the boys; and even Roy did not feel himself out of place in the playground, whilst in the schoolroom he proved a quick and intelligent pupil.

“The boys are happy, mother,” said Miss Bertram one morning going into her mother’s room and handing her two letters; “and Mrs. Hawthorn has written most favorably of them both.”

“I should think so,” said Mrs. Bertram, stiffly, who though sternness itself to her grandsons was most indignant if any one dared to say a word against them to her; “they would not be true Bertrams if they were not favorites with all.”