On hearing of
the services Dick had rendered in the last war, and that his perfect
acquaintance with the language, and with the ground over which the
army would pass, would enable him to be equally efficient on the
present occasion, General Harris at once detached him from service
with the regiment, and appointed him to a post on his own staff.
Had it not been that Dick had seen, for the last two years, that
hostilities must ere long be commenced with Tippoo; he would, before
this, have left the army and returned home. He was heartily tired of
the long inaction. When the regiment was stationed at Madras, life was
very pleasant; but a considerable portion of his time was spent at out
stations, where the duties were very light, and there was nothing to
break the monotony of camp life. He received letters regularly from
his mother, who gave him full details of their home life.
The first that he received merely announced their safe arrival in
England. The second was longer and more interesting. They had had no
difficulty in discovering the address of Annie's father, and on
writing to him, he had immediately come up to town. He had lost his
wife, on his voyage home from India, and was overjoyed at the
discovery of his daughter, and at her return to England.
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