The Gallant Read Online Free PDF

thought!”
    “Why, Edmund?”
    Edmund spread his big, work-scarred hands in a gesture of disgust. “Why, sir? Well, for a start because I’m not cut out to be a politician. I’m a pastoralist, a squatter, and I love the land.
    If I were to serve in the Assembly it would mean that I’d have to spend half my time in Sydney, socializing and attending a lot of their infernal dinners and routs, as well as trying to make speeches and dressing as a blasted dandy. You carry on, sir, and let me take care of the property with Luke and Dickon, as I always have during your necessary absences on government affairs. You’ve nothing to complain of on that score, have you?”
    “No,” his father conceded readily. “Nothing at all, my dear boy. But I’m past my
    threescore years and ten, you know, and I’m beginning to feel my age. Henry Osborne is in his early fifties. He owns more land than I do, and more stock, it’s true, and he has a large family-thirteen children, I think he told me, though they have not all survived. But …” Again he paused, eyeing Edmund a trifle reproachfully.
    “He has heirs, Edmund. Your mother and I have long hoped that you would marry and
    give us grandchildren, but you’ve left it to Elizabeth and Luke, haven’t you?”
    Edmund reddened. “There’s time enough, Father. I’m not in my dotage. I-was Dickon came in, and, as if he welcomed the temporary distraction, Edmund got to his feet and went to pour a drink for the new arrival, taking the opportunity to top off his own glass. “Luke?” he invited. “Just the thing for one who is about to beget an heir.”
    Luke shook his head. He seldom drank spirits, and already the brandy he had been given had made his senses swim. “No, thanks,” he said. “I’m fine.”
    Edmund returned to his seat, still looking disgruntled. “Do you suppose that getting myself elected to the new Assembly would enhance my chances of finding a bride, Father?” he asked aggressively.
    “I imagine anything that took you to Sydney and forced you to-how did you express it?-socialize and attend dinners and routs might do just that,” his father answered, a slight edge to his voice. “Burying yourself up here lost you the lovely little Jenny Broome, did it not?” He sighed, reaching for his pipe. “I attended her wedding while I was in Sydney, Edmund. You know, of course, that she married William De Lancey?”
    “Indeed I know!” Edmund, to Luke’s shocked surprise, appeared perilously near to losing his temper. “Devil take it, Father, if I had
    wasted my time at balls and garden parties and picnics, which is how folk in Sydney amuse themselves, what chance would I have had against a hero of the Light Cavalry Brigade’s charge at
    Balaclava? And one, furthermore, who returned here with an empty sleeve and the exalted rank of lieutenant colonel! Jenny had no eyes for me when Will De Lancey came on leave from India, for the Lord’s sake!”
    Luke, fully distracted now, stared at his brother-in-law in frank bewilderment. The names meant nothing to him, and he said, in an attempt to stem Edmund’s unaccustomed anger, “Who is William De Lancey, Edmund? I suppose he’s a relation of Francis De Lancey, the one I met on the Turon River. But-was
    Edmund controlled himself with a visible effort.
    “They’re brothers, the sons of Judge De Lancey. Here-was He
     

William Stuart Long
    rose again and, crossing to the table on the far side of the room, selected a copy of one of the newspapers his father had brought back with him from Sydney. “You can read all about Will’s exploits in this. Or I’ll read it for you.” He picked up an oil lamp and, setting it by the arm of his chair, spread out the paper on his knee and commenced to read in a flat, expressionless voice.
    “Eulogies have been written, by this newspaper and others, lauding the heroism and the superb discipline of the British Light Cavalry Brigade in the recent Russian War. The fact that the