Page:Memorials of Capt. Hedley Vicars, Ninety-seventh Regiment by Marsh, Catherine, 1818-1912.djvu/236

226 risen and gone to the hospital with the doctor: Whilst there, I was informed that he was being brought in, and hastening to meet him, found, poor fellow, that he had breathed his last — as his bearers informed me calmly and quietly, having spoken a few minutes before I met them.

"I must beg you to convey my condolence to his poor mother, to whom I would have written at the time had I known her address, but I was very busy, the regiment having just shifted ground, and being much pressed with duty, I left the correspondence to a personal and intimate friend of his. Major Ingram.

"Believe me, my dear Lady Rayleigh, most truly to remain yours,

In the majority of the few extracts quoted in this chapter, from a large number of letters of nearly equal interest, the 97th Regiment have borne their own testimony to their value for Hedley Vicars.

In conclusion, the writer of these memorials would venture to repeat, with a deeper meaning, his own last words to his faithful men, "" And would add a humble prayer, not only for that gallant re-