"Only a temporary one, I should think," Captain Nelson said. "From Mr.
O'Connor's account of the state of the army, I should think that it is
just as well that they should have gone home to obtain an entirely new
rig-out; there would be no means of fitting them out here. A fortnight
ought to be enough to set them up in all respects, and as we certainly
shall not be able to march for another month--"

"For another three months, you mean, Nelson."

"Well, perhaps for another three months, the delay will not matter
materially."

"It won't matter at all, if the French oblige us by keeping perfectly
quiet, but if Soult menaces Portugal with invasion from the north, Lapisse
from the centre, and Victor from the south, we may have to defend
ourselves here in Lisbon before six weeks are out."

"Personally, I should not be sorry," another said, "if Soult does invade
the north and captures Oporto, hangs the bishop, and all the Junta. It
would be worth ten thousand men to us, for they are continually at
mischief. They do nothing themselves, and thwart all our efforts. They are
worse than the Junta here--if that is possible--and they have excited the
peasants so much against us that they desert in thousands as fast as they
are collected, while the population here hate us, I believe, quite as much
as they hate the French. But why they should do so Heaven knows, when we
have spent more money in Portugal than the whole country contained before
we came here."

After the party had broken up, Captain Nelson took Terence to Mr.
Villiers, who, on reading the general's letter and hearing from Terence