Rosamond Leicester; OR, THE TRUE HEROINE. BY H. A. H. "VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO THEE, EXCEPT A MAN AGAIN, HE CANNOT SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD." St. John iii. 3. LONDON: WILLIAM MACINTOSH, 24, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1866. 250. f. 214. Rosamond Leicester. CHAPTER I. WHEN Arthur Leicester, Lieutenant and Captain in one of Her Majesty's regiments of Foot Guards, obtained some months' leave of absence to travel on the Continent, great were his intentions as to all he was to see and to do. He was to visit all the capitals of Europe, and obtain all the knowledge possible in the way of his profession, of which he was really fond. Captain Leicester had been well educated, so well educated that he was aware how little he knew, and was earnestly desirous to know more. He had been a few days at Gibraltar, and was deeply interested in that wonderful place, when the steamer arrived from England bringing amongst its numerous passengers his friend and brother officer Tom Gifford. "Hollo, Leicester! got no further than this? I thought you would have been at St. Petersburgh by this time." B "Not quite so fast," said Leicester, smiling, “but I have done Paris and Lisbon, and they are not to be seen in a day. But what has brought you here, you whom I left growling so because you could not get the leave you wanted ?" "Ah, ha, old boy, I'm appointed on the staff at Malta; merit like mine could not be passed over. Besides, the General is my mother's cousin, not of course that that has anything to do with it, but I consider myself in luck, I assure you, to get away just now. La perfide Albion does not look her best in the month of November; ugh! what a day it was when we left Southampton, and in a week we are in the middle of smiling skies, and-and-you know the rest." "Well, how long does the steamer stop? you had better make the most of your time." "Oh, I'm going to stay two or three days. I shall wait for the next steamer, and then you'll be ready to go on with me.” "I? Oh no. Malta does not enter into my calculations at all. I am going from here to Seville, then on to Madrid." "Seville! a very slow place indeed, I should think. No, no, not a bit of it. You must come on with me to Malta. You've been studying the fortifications here; good, there are fortifications also at Malta, you must compare the two. Don't you see? Now, come and shew me some of the lions." Arthur Leicester was what some people call very good-natured, others weak. When the steamer arrived in which Gifford embarked for Malta, he had the satisfaction of taking his friend along with him. Leicester was his greatest friend, and a true one to him; for when it was a question of right or wrong, he would not yield, and had often kept Tom straight when he was inclined to waver. Two days after their arrival Tom dashed into his friend's room immediately after breakfast, to insist upon his joining a pic-nic party at a country house a few miles from Valetta, which was to take place that day. "No, I can't, I don't care about pic-nics, and I am going to be busy writing all the morning." But, my dear fellow, you must; it is quite an uncommon sort of a party this, given by a great Spanish Don something or other; he does not mix in general society here, it's not good enough for him, but it seems he is fond of the English, for he had an only son who died in England of a fever, and some family there had taken him into their house and been very kind to him. This party is given to the General and his staff; and-" SO "Well, well; but I'm not one of the staff, Stop a minute. You have not heard half the story yet. He has got a beautiful daughter, whom |