Page 479 - vanity-fair

command of his Sovereign apparent, the Prince of Orange,
and as respected length of swords and mustachios, and the
richness of uniform and equipments, Regulus and his com-
rades looked to be as gallant a body of men as ever trumpet
sounded for.
When Ney dashed upon the advance of the allied troops,
carrying one position after the other, until the arrival of the
great body of the British army from Brussels changed the
aspect of the combat of Quatre Bras, the squadrons among
which Regulus rode showed the greatest activity in retreat-
ing before the French, and were dislodged from one post
and another which they occupied with perfect alacrity on
their part. Their movements were only checked by the ad-
vance of the British in their rear. Thus forced to halt, the
enemy’s cavalry (whose bloodthirsty obstinacy cannot be
too severely reprehended) had at length an opportunity
of coming to close quarters with the brave Belgians before
them; who preferred to encounter the British rather than
the French, and at once turning tail rode through the Eng-
lish regiments that were behind them, and scattered in all
directions. The regiment in fact did not exist any more. It
was nowhere. It had no head-quarters. Regulus found him-
self galloping many miles from the field of action, entirely
alone; and whither should he fly for refuge so naturally as to
that kitchen and those faithful arms in which Pauline had
so often welcomed him?
At some ten o’clock the clinking of a sabre might have
been heard up the stair of the house where the Osbornes
occupied a story in the continental fashion. A knock might

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