went the next morning to Ghent, and on Thursday to Brussels. I proceeded
by boat to Ghent, and, without stopping, hired a carriage, and arrived
in time to order rooms for Sir Thomas at the Hotel d'Angleterre, Rue
de la Madeleine, at Brussels: our horses followed us.

While we were at breakfast, Colonel Canning came to inform the General
that the Duke of Wellington wished to see him immediately. Sir Thomas
lost not a moment in obeying the order of his chief, leaving
the breakfast-table and proceeding to the park, where Wellington was
walking with Fitzroy Somerset and the Duke of Richmond. Picton's manner
was always more familiar than the Duke liked in his lieutenants, and
on this occasion he approached him in a careless sort of way, just as
he might have met an equal. The Duke bowed coldly to him, and said,
"I am glad you are come, Sir Thomas; the sooner you get on horseback
the better; no time is to be lost. You will take the command of the
troops in advance. The Prince of Orange knows by this time that you
will go to his assistance." Picton appeared not to like the Duke's
manner; for, when he bowed and left, he muttered a few words which convinced
those who were with him that he was not much pleased with his interview.


QUATRE BRAS


I got upon the best of my two horses, and followed Sir Thomas Picton
and his staff to Quatre Bras at full speed. His division was already
engaged in supporting the Prince of Orange, and had deployed itself
in two lines in front of the road to Sombref when he arrived. Sir Thomas
immediately took the command. Shortly afterwards, Kempt's and Pack's
brigades arrived by the Brussels road, and part of Alten's division