CHAPTER XXIV

Percy Hope-Johnstone—A “Special” to Aldershot—A Costume-Ball at Folkestone

Soon after my return to Chatham, my company had to go to Gravesend for a course of musketry. The officers who went were Cramer, Gunning and myself. We had to superintend the shooting of the men, though the musketry instructor, a lieutenant named Hope-Johnstone, was also present. Percy Hope-Johnstone, who was very popular with everyone, was a fine, powerfully-built man, and a very good shot, both with gun and rifle. He took great interest in the men’s shooting, and was a most capable instructor. He was the heir to a baronetcy, and in later years laid claim to the peerage of Annandale, but his claim was not successful.

One day, Hope-Johnstone lent me his horse on the range, and the animal, not being accustomed to so light a weight, bolted with me, and set off at a furious gallop through the town. Fortunately, however, he soon ran himself out, and stopped of his own accord.

Hope-Johnstone often went with Gunning and myself for walks in the country around Gravesend. On one occasion, when we were sitting by the Thames, he said to us:—

“Supposing neither of you had any money at all. What would you do to learn a living?”

Gunning replied that he should become an actor; and they both said that they were sure that I could play the zither at concerts, and make a good deal of money by this. Then Hope-Johnstone remarked:—

“I know what I should do. I am a very fine fellow, well-built, rather imposing in appearance. Therefore, I should be a footman, which is a devilish easy life, nothing to do and plenty to eat and drink.”

Hope-Johnstone told me that he had a younger brother in the Guards, who had told him that he was not allowed to recognize in London officers of other regiments whom he had met in the country, unless he were introduced to them in town, and the same rule applied to civilians whom an officer of the Guards had met in the country. Hope-Johnstone said he much preferred life in a Rifle regiment, as he was far more free to do as he liked, and could obtain more leave than a subaltern in the Guards. He intended retiring from the Service so soon as he got his company, as he was very well off.

Allen, whose eccentricities I have mentioned elsewhere, came to Gravesend with his company, and used to walk about the town with his pockets full of sweets, which he would give to any pretty children whom he happened to meet. He brought with him a rather smart dog-cart and some fine horses, and sometimes took me for a drive, during which he used to entertain me with an account of the charms of a young flower-girl at Folkestone, whom he had known since she was quite a child, and whom he intended to marry, although she was only sixteen and he was forty. He did marry her, in fact, not long afterwards, when the Colonel insisted on his exchanging into another battalion, stationed in India. The officers’ wives called upon her, out of compassion, it would seem, for the miserable life which she led. For Allen was so fearfully jealous that he even went to the length of locking the poor girl up in the house whenever he went out. He was subsequently transferred to another regiment, but his jealousy of his wife continued down to the time of his death, which occurred soon after he had been promoted major.

When the musketry-course was over, I returned with my company to Chatham. One day, I went with Cotton to Southend, and we missed the last train back. Cotton said that he must get back that night, as he was on duty next morning, and asked the station-master if he could have a special train, when that official said that, if we would keep quiet, he would put us in a luggage-train, which was just on the point of starting. We were put into a van, which was half-filled with coal, and had anything but a pleasant journey, as there was nothing but the floor—and the coal—to sit upon. However, we reached our destination in the early morning, in time for Cotton to assume his duties as orderly officer.

Cotton told me that once, when stationed at Aldershot, he went up to town for the day, and missed the last train back. A lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade, named Crofton, who was in a like predicament, asked Cotton if he would come with him in a “special,” which he had just ordered, and the latter, of course, gladly consented. When they were nearing Aldershot, Crofton said:—

“I will send you your half of the bill for the ‘special’ as soon as I get it. It will be a matter of forty pounds.”

Cotton, however, did not see the force of this, as he had quite understood that Crofton, who was a very rich man, had invited him to come with him. Consequently, he refused to pay any part of the bill.

It was no wonder that Cotton occasionally missed trains, for he was constantly late for parade, for mess, and, indeed, for everything. One day, the Colonel, between whom and Cotton there was little love lost, remarked:—

“Cotton, you are always late; I am sure you will be late for your own funeral!”

Cotton, who was a grandson of Viscount Combermere, and whose father, the Hon. Sir C. Stapleton-Cotton, was a general of cavalry, died after the Zulu War of fever.

Cotton and I often dined together at a small hôtel at Rochester, which, if I am not mistaken, was the one where Mr. Pickwick stayed on the night of the ball at Rochester, described by Dickens. Occasionally we would converse in French, which Cotton spoke well, though, singularly enough, he had never been in France. At this hôtel, we occasionally met two officers of the Rifle Brigade, Viscount Bennet, son of the Earl of Tankerville, and Lord Torphichen, the last-named officer an old Etonian, who would join us at dinner. Lord Bennet’s mother was a French lady, and he used to make very clever jokes in French, which, however, lost by being repeated in English, on account of the _jeu de mots_.

Not long after my return from Gravesend, I was sent with Gunning to Dover, to go through a final course of instruction there, before sitting for my lieutenant’s examination, and attached to the 104th Regiment at the Shaft Barracks. I was allotted a very comfortable room in the barracks, and Colonel Græme, who was then commanding the 104th, was very pleasant to me, as was a captain named Hunter, with whom I soon became very friendly. Our instruction, which was conducted by a Captain Savile, of the Staff College, occupied most of the morning and part of the afternoon, but by four o’clock we were generally free. My friends, the Charltons, were still living in Victoria Park, and naturally I lost no time in calling upon them. They were very pleased to see me again, and talked a great deal about poor Dillon, to whom, it appeared, Augusta, the eldest daughter, had become engaged to be married just before he met with his fatal accident. Ida, the second girl, who seemed even prettier than when I had last seen her, told me that she was engaged to a lieutenant in the 12th Lancers named Beck, a very nice young fellow, who had been with me at Sandhurst, and whom I had liked very much there.

Mrs. Charlton, as hospitable as ever, told me that I must come to supper the following Sunday, and bring a friend with me, as I used to do when poor Dillon was alive. I gladly accepted her invitation, and asked Gunning to come with me. But he excused himself, explaining that he was related to the Charltons, but that, owing to some family quarrel, his parents were not on good terms with them. I then asked a lieutenant of the 7th Fusiliers, named Foley, who was only too pleased to go. He fell in love with Augusta at first sight, and he and I used to go every Sunday evening to supper in Victoria Park.

Foley, who was a nephew of Lord Foley, was a very nice fellow indeed and a great friend of mine. He was very witty and amusing, and not infrequently exercised his wit at the expense of Gunning, who, though he rather fancied himself at repartee, and could more than hold his own against most people, invariably got the worst of it when he crossed swords with Foley.

While I was at Dover, a big fancy-dress ball took place at Folkestone, to which Robartes, of the 11th Hussars, and I went with the Charltons. It was a very smart affair indeed, a number of people coming down from London for it, and some of the costumes were very fine. One lady, the Hon. Mrs. Yorke, whose husband was an officer in the Guards, wore a Greek peasant girl’s costume, which was much admired. Mrs. Yorke had, I think, the smallest feet for an Englishwoman that I have ever seen, which the white trousers she wore enabled her to display to advantage. Mrs. Charlton wore some magnificent lace, which a lady with whom I danced told me must be worth at least two or three hundred pounds. When I happened later in the evening to mention this to Mrs. Charlton, she exclaimed:—

“Two or three hundred! The lace on my dress is worth nearer three thousand. It is of Charles II.’s time.”

It was nearly four o’clock in the morning before we left the ball-room, having all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Robartes and I were photographed with the girls a few days later at Dover, they in the fancy dresses they had worn at the ball, and we in our uniform.

When our examination for the rank of lieutenant took place, Foley and myself passed very well in the first class and had our commissions ante-dated two years; Robartes, of the 11th Hussars, and Gunning only succeeded in getting a “second.” The examination was a very stiff one, and a major of the 104th remarked that it ought almost to have qualified us for generals instead of lieutenants.