Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/295

 CHANGE OBSEliVED IN LOED liAGLAN. 265 fatally preyed; but the animating emotion of chap. combat may have naturally masked for the time - — - any symptoms of undermined health ; and be- sides, it is hard to understand how the Chief, if indeed what he had seemed, and therefore strong as strong iron whilst confronting the enemy's fire, could presently, at the thought of his losses in killed and wounded, become all at once a changed man — a man not indeed stricken with illness of any ascertained kind, nor even so heavily griev- ing as to be robbed of the power to maintain his grand air of cheerfulness; but losing neverthe- less that inner, that subtle force which is the mainspring of health and of life. On the whole, one, I think, may agree that care had long since been weighing on the mind of Lord Eaglan and slowly undermining his strength. A falling off in the sis;ns of srood, vigorous, The charge ft ° & & in his out- general health which his looks had hitherto wardap- pearance. shown was remarked by men at Headquarters ; * yet there, it is plain, such a change might less strongly impress the observers who were con- stantly near their Chief than one who only saw him at intervals. On either, I believe, the 19th or the 20th of June, an officer of the Coldstreams came up to Headquarters, and there transacted business with the Chief. After quitting him, the Colonel found himself in company with some of the staff, and what he said to them will convey an idea of the impression his mind had received.
 * Letters from Headquarters, vol. ii. p. 351.