ours,
ROY."

Yes, he was still hers--so far. More than that he could not honestly
add. Beyond this awful hour he could not look. It was as if one stood on
the edge of a precipice, and the next step would be a drop into black
darkness....

* * * * *

By Monday night it was over. After forty-eight hours of fever and
struggle and pain, Lance Desmond lay at rest--serene and noble in death,
as he had been in life. And Roy--having achieved one long, slow climb
out of the depths--was flung back again, deeper than ever....

It was near midnight when the end came. Utterly weary and broken, he had
sunk into Lance's chair, leaning forward, his face hidden, his frame
shaken all through with hard dry sobs that would not be stilled.

Through the fog of his misery, he felt the Colonel's hand on his
shoulder; heard the familiar voice, deep and kindly: "My dear Roy, get
to bed. We can't have you on the sick-list. There's work to do; a great
gap to be filled--somehow. I'll stay--with him."

At that, he pulled himself together and stood up. "I'll do my best,
Colonel," was all he could say. The face he had so rarely seen perturbed
was haggard with grief. They looked straight at one another; and the
thought flashed on Roy, 'I must tell him.' Not easy; but it had to be
done.

"There's something, sir," he began, "I feel you ought to know. By
rights, it--it should have been _me_. That brute with the _lathi_ was
right on me; and he--Lance--dashed in between ... rode him off--and got
the knock intended for me. It--it haunts me."

Paul Desmond was silent a moment. Pain and exaltation contended
strangely in his tired eyes. Then: "I--don't wonder," he said slowly.
"It--was like him. Thank you for telling me. It will be--some small
comfort ... to all of them. Now--try and get a little sleep."

Roy shook his head. "Impossible.--Good-night, Colonel. It's a relief to
feel you know. For God's sake, let me do any mortal thing I can for any
of you."

There was another moment of silence, of palpable hesitation; then once
again Paul Desmond put his hand on Roy's shoulder.

"Look here, Roy," he said. "Drop calling me Colonel. You two--were like
brothers. And--as Thea's included, why should I be out of it. Let me--be
'Paul.'"

It was hard to do. It was inimitably done. It gave Roy the very lift he
needed in that hour when he felt as if they must almost hate him, and
never w