Part 33 (2/2)

”You know, of course, Sir Denis, that his profession will be closed to him in case his arm doesn't get well. G.o.dfrey has always felt that he had too little to offer your daughter. But now--it will be a maimed life if the worst happens. Both my mother and I appreciated G.o.dfrey's reasons. We could not say that he was not right. Poor G.o.dfrey! I don't know what he will do if he loses his profession. You know he was devoted to his work.”

”I know, ma'am.” The old soldier's eye lit up with a sudden spark. ”In any case, with the help of G.o.d, he will have Nell to comfort him. Your brother's address is----”

”You are going to him?”

”It seems the one thing to do. I've no pride about offering my girl where I know she is deeply loved.”

”You are a trump, General!” Mrs. Rooke said, with sparkling eyes.

”Thank you, ma'am,” the General answered, blus.h.i.+ng like a school-boy. ”I was never one to sit with folded hands. The Lord didn't make me like it.

And I've asked His direction, ma'am; I've asked His direction humbly, and I hope humbly that He is granting it to me.”

”Well, G.o.d speed you!” Mrs. Rooke said. ”G.o.dfrey will be good to Nelly, Sir Denis. He has always been so trustworthy. And he has had so many hard knocks. He deserves happiness in the end.”

”He shall have it, with the help of G.o.d.”

The General never made any forecast without the latter proviso, although that was often said only in the silence of his heart.

The railway journey, unlike the last made in the cause of Nelly's happiness, went without a hitch. The day was a beautiful, bright, suns.h.i.+ny one, with clear skies overhead. The General had the carriage to himself, so that he was able to sit with both windows open as he liked it. He felt the winter air quite invigorating as the train rushed through the pale golden landscape. Robins were singing in the bare trees, which showed their every twig outlined delicately against the pale sky. The brown coppices and hedges by which the train hurried were bright with the scarlet of many berries.

The General, sitting up spare and erect--he had never lolled in his life, and held all such soft ways only suitable for ladies--contrasted the journey with the last; and took the radiant day like a good omen. He wished Nell could have been with him to have the roses blown in her cheeks by the delicious fresh wind. However, he was going to bring her home roses, pink roses; the white rose in his Nelly's cheek did not at all please him.

The little house was quite near the railway, a gabled, two-storied cottage with diamond-paned windows, and creepers and roses all over its walls. Even yet on the sheltered side there was a monthly rose or two on the leafless bushes. The house basked in the sun; and Mrs. Langrishe's red-and-white collie came to meet the General, wagging his tail with a friendly greeting.

The maid who opened the door smiled on him. She knew him for Miss Nelly's father; and Nelly had a way of making herself beloved by servants wherever she went, and not only because she was ready always to empty her little purse among them.

Mrs. Langrishe? Mrs. Langrishe was out, but was expected in to lunch.

The Captain had just come in. Would Sir Denis see him?

Sir Denis would see the Captain. He followed the maid through the clean, orderly little house, every inch of it s.h.i.+ning with the perfection of cleanliness, to the study at the back which opened on the garden.

Captain Langrishe was sitting in a chair in a dejected att.i.tude at the moment the General first caught sight of him. He sprang to his feet, turning red and pale when he saw who his visitor was.

”Well, my lad,” the General said, taking the uninjured left hand in a cordial grip. ”And how do you feel?”

Langrishe looked up at him with shy eyes.

”To tell the truth, Sir Denis, not very cheerful. I have been, in fact, keeping company with the blue devils pretty well since I came home. You know----”

”Yes, I know. We must hope for the best. But, if you can't carry a sword any longer, why it must mean that the Master of us all has another post for you. And now, why didn't you come to Sherwood Square?”

”I couldn't, with this in suspense,” Langrishe stammered. ”It is most kind of you to come to see me.”

”My dear boy,” the General put his hand on Langrishe's shoulder, ”you must come, with this in suspense. Do you know that my girl has looked for you day after day?”

The young man flushed and stared at the General's kind face in bewilderment.

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