“What I have done, Alex,” he said “because I think you are a bright and reliable young man, is to make you Nelita’s Guardian!”
This was something that Alex had not expected.
For a moment he resented that this had been done without asking for his permission and then he remembered how much he admired the General and how kind he had been when he had arrived in Portugal quite unprepared for the privations he was confronted with as he stepped ashore.
Aloud Alex said,
“Of course I shall be delighted to do anything you would want me to do, sir. But I am quite certain that it will be unnecessary. When we have beaten Napoleon, you will be there to celebrate the victory and then return home to look after your daughter.”
“I hope you are right, my boy,” the General replied. “But I have a feeling,
