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 SUFFERINGS OF THE AEMIES. 185 this time, there is not, I think, to be found one CHAP. . . VIII ill-aimed appeal, one random or misapplied word, L. one statement disclosing confusion or obscurity in the mind of the writer. Every sentence flies straight to its purpose and seems exactly apt. Interrupted of course in the early morning and during the day-time by other numberless duties, he recurred, wlieu he could, to the desk, there commonly pursuing his labours deep into the night ; and even when at last he had gone to his bed, he too often continued to let his mind work, calling out through the wooden par- tition which divided his room from the cabin of the Quartermaster-General, and from time to time consulting with him upon some newly- occurring thought concerning the state of his troops. There was one night, however, at last when care pressed so heavily on him that, perceiving his power of bodily endurance to be for the moment endangered by the strain of importu- luite thought, he got up and went to the door of Mr Odo Ptussell (who had lately come up to headquarters from our Embassy at Constanti- nople), and confessing himself unwell, asked his guest to come and talk to him for a while. The conversation that followed turned on all sorts of subjects except those connected with the cam- paign (which were purposely excluded), and at length Lord Eaglan, saying that he felt much better, dismissed Mr Odo Eussell with cordial thanks, and again souglit the needed sleep. So far as I have learnt, this is the only instance in