Part 58 (1/2)

”Greyman! You mean Douglas, I suppose?”

She stared for a second. ”Douglas? I don't know. I mean----” Then she paused. How could she say, ”The man you rode against at Lucknow,” when she wanted to forget all that; forget everything? And then a sudden fear made her add hastily, ”He is here, surely--he came long ago.”

Major Erlton nodded. ”I know; but his real name is Douglas; at least he says so. Do you mean to say you haven't seen him? That he didn't help you to get out?”

”You mean that--that he has gone back?” asked Kate faintly.

Her husband gave a low whistle. ”What a queer start; a sort of Box and c.o.x. He went back to find you yesterday.”

Kate's hand went up to her forehead almost wildly. Then Tara must have known. But why had she not mentioned it? Still, in a way, it was best as it was; since once he heard she, Kate, had gone, he would return.

For Tara would tell him, of course.

These thoughts claimed her for the moment, and when she looked up, she found her husband watching her curiously.

”He must have done an awful lot for you, of course,” he said shortly; ”but I'd rather it had been anyone else, and that's a fact. However, it can't be helped. Hullo! here's the khansaman with some tea.

Thoughtful of the old scoundrel, isn't it?”

”I--I ordered it,” put in Kate, feeling glad of the diversion.

Major Erlton laughed kindly. ”What, begun already? The old sinner's had a precious easy time of it; but now----” He pulled himself up awkwardly, and, as if to cover his hesitation, walked over to a box, and after rummaging in it, brought out a packet of letters.

”Freddy's,” he said cheerfully. ”He's all right. Jolly as a sandboy. I kept them--in--in case----”

A great grat.i.tude made the past dim for a moment. He seemed nearer to her again. ”I can't look at them to-night, Herbert,” she said softly, laying her hand beside his upon them. ”I'm--I'm too tired.”

”No wonder. You must have your tea and go to bed,” he replied. Then he looked round the tent. ”It isn't a bad little place, you'll find--I'm on duty tonight--so--so you'll manage, I dare say.”

”On duty?” she echoed, pouring herself out a cup of tea rather hastily.

”Where?”

”Oh! at the front. There is never anything worth going for now. We are both waiting for the a.s.sault; that's the fact. But I shan't be back till dawn, so----”

He was standing looking at her, tall, handsome, full of vitality; and suddenly he lifted a fold of her tinsel-set veil and smiled.

”Jolly dress that for a fancy ball, and what a jolly scent it's got.

It is that flower, isn't it? You look awfully well in it, Kate! In fact, you look wonderfully fit all round.”

”So do you!” she said hurriedly, her hand going up to the henna blossom. There was a sudden quiver in her voice, a sudden fierce pain in her heart. ”You--you look----”

”Oh! I,” he replied carelessly, still with admiring eyes, ”I'm as fit as a fiddle. I say! where did you get all those jewels? What a lot you have! They're awfully becoming.”

”They are Mr. Greyman's,” she said; ”they belonged to his--to----”

then she paused. But the contemptuously comprehending smile on her husband's face made her add quietly, ”to a woman--a woman _he loved very dearly_, Herbert.”

There was a moment or two of silence, and then Major Erlton went to the entrance, raised the curtain, and looked out. A flood of moonlight streamed into the tent.

”It's about time I was off,” he said after a bit, and there was a queer constraint in his voice. Then he came over and stood by Kate again.

”It isn't any use talking over--over things to-night, Kate,” he said quietly. ”There's a lot to think of and I haven't thought of it at all. I never knew, you see--if this would happen. But I dare say you have; you were always a oner at thinking. So--so you had better do it for both of us. I don't care, _now_. It will be what you wish, of course.”

”We will talk it over to-morrow,” she said in a low voice. She would not look in his face. She knew she would find it soft with the memory held in that one word--now. Ah! how much easier it would have been if she had never come back! And yet she shrank from the same thought on his lips.