'Ah! well--they be not regulars,' said Miller Loveday, keeping back
harsher criticism as uncalled for. But inflamed by the arrival of
the dragoons, which had been the exciting cause of his call, his
mind would not go to yeomanry. 'John has not been home these five
years,' he said.

'And what rank does he hold now?' said the widow.

'He's trumpet-major, ma'am; and a good musician.' The miller, who
was a good father, went on to explain that John had seen some
service, too. He had enlisted when the regiment was lying in this
neighbourhood, more than eleven years before, which put his father
out of temper with him, as he had wished him to follow on at the
mill. But as the lad had enlisted seriously, and as he had often
said that he would be a soldier, the miller had thought that he
would let Jack take his chance in the profession of his choice.

Loveday had two sons, and the second was now brought into the
conversation by a remark of Anne's that neither of them seemed to
care for the miller's business.

'No,' said Loveday in a less buoyant tone. 'Robert, you see, must
needs go to sea.'

'He is much younger than his brother?' said Mrs. Garland.

About four years, the miller told her. His soldier son was
two-and-thirty, and Bob was twenty-eight. When Bob returned from
his present voyage, he was to be persuaded to stay and assist as