"My dear sir," interrupted the Major, eager to disclaim,
"I trust you have not mistaken me so far, as to have
imputed a reserve of speech and manner during dinner, to
which I cannot but plead guilty, to a fastidiousness
which, situated as I am, (and he bowed to the General,
and Commodore,) would have been wholly misplaced. My
distraction, pardonable perhaps under all the
circumstances, was produced entirely by a recurrence to
certain inconveniences which I felt might arise to me
from my imprisonment. The captive bird," he pursued,
while a smile for the first time animated his very fine
countenance, "will pine within its cage, however gilded
the wires which compose it. In every sense, my
experience of to-day only leads me to the expression of
a hope, that all whom the chances of war may throw into
a similar position, may meet with a similar reception."

"Since," observed the General, "your private affairs are
of the importance you express, Major Montgomerie, you
shall depart with your niece. Perhaps I am rather exceeding
my powers in this respect, but, however this may be, I
shall take the responsibility on myself. You will hold
yourself pledged, of course, to take no part against us
in the forthcoming struggle, until you have been regularly
exchanged for whatever officer of your own rank, may
happen to fall into the hands of your countrymen. I shall
dispatch an express to the Commander-in-Chief, to intimate
this fact, requesting at the same time, that your name
may be put down in the first list for exchange."