y would take me," he muttered, as he
walked back toward the town in the pleasant sunny evening; and, as if
attracted by the place, he made his way again towards the barracks,
thinking of the fat sergeant, and in his utter loneliness feeling a
yearning to meet him again for a friendly chat, if it were possible.

"What did they call him--Lambert?" thought Richard.  "Absurd!  That was
only banter on the part of his companions.  I wonder whether I shall
ever see him again!"



CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

IN PIPE-CLAYDOM.

There was still none of the pageant and display of a military life
visible to Richard as he re-entered the great gateway, before which a
sentry in white flannel jacket and forage cap was marching to and fro
with a bayonet in his hand, ready to give a glance at the lad and then
turn upon his heels and march away.

The lad walked forward as if he had business there, and went on,
wondering what the stout sergeant's name was, but not liking to stop and
ask.  Then on straight across the great dreary barrack yard, surrounded
on all sides by bare-looking buildings, full of open windows, at one of
which he saw a pair of folded arms and the top of a closely-cropped
head, the owner thereof being evidently asleep.  At another window there
was a pair of boot-soles, and at another a man, in shirt and trousers,
seated sidewise upon the sill, with his knees drawn up so as to form a
reading-desk, upon which a paper was spread, which the man, with his
hands behind his head, was perusing.

A little farther on there was a cat asleep, and just above it a canary
in a cage twittering away as if in friendly discourse with the animal
below.  But for the most part the windows of the great barracks were
unoccupied, and the place looked deserted and desolate in the extreme.

Richard walked on, thinking of what he was not long before, and of his
present position through one turn of fortune's wheel.  What was to
happen next, now that he had been disappointed and his project had come
to naught?

Right on before him there was another gatew