The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1881-09-01


The newspaper extracts which he left
in Lucys hands for few hours and
which she read with glistening eyes, for
the deceased Twigget had been very
brave man, removed all possibility Of a
doubt as to his veracity; and many of
our friends fellow. tOwnsmen began to
feel proud of having such distin-
guished man among them, all the more
SO, as Twigget's modesty contrasted so
happily with the overbearing demeanor
of sundry half-pay officers who lived in
the borough. 1t was all very we'll for
these old fellows to pooh pooh the Rou-
manian army AMI to laugh at the notion
OF man winning Colonelcy during q
single campaign; these jibes, which would
have had some point if Twigget had
Dragged OF his deeds, had none at all
when the hero was the first to disclaim
glory. As he would not sound his own
trumpet others did so for him without
stint, and several of the half-pay off,
GERS were put to shame by being asked
to state whether they themselves had
ever seen such hot fire as Twig-
get? Before long the half-pay officers
and their martial brethren OF the volun-
teers thought it prudent to sing small
and to pay Twigget marked honor. lest
they should seem to be jealous. One
evening when Twigget had strolled
down to Buns Piece to see the volun-
teers drill he was quite unexpectedly
treated to general salute. AS soon rs
he showed himself on the ground the
Commandment gave the order to form in
line; the men presented arms and the
band played "See the Conqueriny
Hero" What a moment it was for
Twigget, who, bare-headed and blush
ing. had to acknowledge this courtesy
with few soldierly words. Lucy Light
trembled with emotion and actually
chung to his arm that she might be seen
publicly to share his triumph. But
Twigget did not avail himself of this
opportunity to propose to her, and the
damsel began to be rather seriously
alarmed. lest by flirting with the gal
liant Strapper she had made a goose of
herself.
But now the dav of the Windsor re-
view was approaching, and Twigget had
promised to consummate his Eudos by
showing himself attired in his full war
harness and riding in the Commander
in-Chiet's staff. Lucy Light and her
parents were going to see the review;
but Lucy softly confessed that the only
attraction of this pageant in her eyes
would be Twigget in his beautiful uni
form. A beautiful uniform indeed it
was. for when a man improvises fancy
costume he may as well make it as
brilliant as possible, and Twigget, hav-
ing not the remotest idea of how the
Roumanians dressed, had ordered the
uniform which he thought would best
suit his complexion. 1t was light blue,
with white facings embroidered with
silver, and with silver epaulets
and aiglets. A silvered helmet,
with light blue and white plumes, buck
skin breeches and tall boots, like those
of the Horse Guards, completed
this equipment, which was further
set off by a red ribbon of Knighthood
hanging around the neck. and by
a medal and couple OF crosses on the
breast. Lucy Light, when she was
shown this uniform at Twigget's house,
whittier she went with her parents and
sisters on purpose to see it, clasped her
hands in wonder and would have liked
Twigget to put It on straightway and
walk down the High street in it. But
Twigget wisely resolved that he had
better show himself for once-and once
only-in his full splendor on horseback
and in martial company, leaving upon
Lucy's senses beatiic vision never to
be forgotten. Ii the truth must be told,
his love. for Lucy was beginning to cool.
Her infatuation about uniforms, which
had been the primary cause of his lib,
made him feel spiteful against her for
having forced him to degrade himself
in his own eyes. His spitefulness was
just of the kind which makes man de-
light in overwhelming woman for not
having paid him sufficient reverence at
starting; but in secret Twigget cursed
both Lucy's folly and his own.
He hired charger in London on the
great day; he purchased q beautiful
saddle-cloth, and he chartered groom
to 90 down to Windsor with the horse.
AS for himself, he went to Windsor on
the day before the review, took a room
at the White Hart, and did not array
himself in his gorgeous attire until the
time came for starting. Now it must
not be supposed that Twigget did all
this without much inward commotion
lest he should be found out, hooted of
the review-ground and taken into GUS
tody. He was, indeed, so nervous that
he swallowed a whole bottle of Burgun-
dy while dressing; but, on the other
hand, Twigget was sharp fellow, and
when the wine had given him courage
he reflected that if he rode calmly on
to the ground as if he knew what he
was doing, nobody would think of
stopping him; and that if he kept his
mouth closed nobody would be able to
detect that he was an Englishman. 1t
was accordingly with a ''do-or-die" ex-
press on on his features that he marched
down stairs as soon as the waiter inform
ed him that his charger had been brought
round. There were great many
officers in the passages and in the front
hall, with all of whom he exchanged
salutes; and the crowd outside the hotel
who saw him mount were greatly struck
with his splendid uniform. He heard
several ladies exclaim, "What a mag
niicent officer" And they specialized
as to whether he were q Prussian or a
Russian.
The justice of story telling should
compel one to own that Twigget was
detected as an impostor and reaped
scorn as the price of his unseemly prank,
but nothing of the sort happened. He
rode past sentries and policemen, past
scores of battalions and companies of
volunteers; was saluted by commanding
officers, bowed to by Generals, ogled by
ladies; and he made his way with the
greatest ease to q clump of mounted Of
ficers, who were waiting at the Castle
end of the Long Walk to join the Dukes
staff. Twigget found himself among
some forty foreign officers, and. having
one who addressed him some
in French about the weather, he
rode beside this gentleman the rest of
the day and found him a charming COM
panion. Nobody asked him who he
was, or where he had served. His STRAIT
agem succeeded as completely as 1t de-
served to fail.
Presently the Commander-in-C Chief
rode out of the Castle gates, followed
by large staff of English officers. and
= L. Al Il =