no longer ended his remarks with "what?" Once or twice he expressed
his satisfaction at getting the chance at last of having a go at the
Bosches--but he said very little about the future, and seemed more
interested in hearing about Ruby's new school and Edna's ambulance
class.

Then he left them, and for months after that they had to endure the long
strain of constant anxiety and suspense which few British households
have escaped in these dark times. Clarence had always been a poor
correspondent--and his letters, though fairly regular, were short and
wanting in details. But he said the regiment was doing dismounted work
in the trenches; that he was acquiring the habit of sleeping quite
soundly under shell-fire; that he had been much cut up by losing some of
his best pals, but so far had not been hit himself, though he had had
several narrow shaves; he kept pretty fit, but was a bit fed up with
trench work, though he didn't see an earthly of riding in a cavalry
charge at present.

The last letter was dated February. After that came a silence, which was
explained by an official letter stating that he was in a field hospital,
severely wounded. Inglegarth remained for days in helpless misery,
dreading the worst, till they were relieved by the news that he was now
in a base hospital and going on well.

But it was some weeks before he could be moved to London, and longer
still before he was convalescent enough to be taken to his own home,
where the joy of seeing him recover so rapidly was checked by the
knowledge that he would only leave them the sooner.

He was much the same slangy and casual Clarence they had known, though
rather subdued, but he had moods of sombre silence at times which none
of them dared to interrupt, when his eyes seemed to be looking upon
sights they had seen and would fain forget. As to his own doings he said
but little, though he told them something of his experiences during his
last week at the front--how the regiment had been rushed up in
motor-buses from Bleu to Ypres; how they had marched to the Reformatory
which they had defended for five days under heavy fire; how they had
then dug caverns and occupied trenches to the south of the Menin road,
and how the trenches had been mined by the enemy, and five officers
killed and sixty-four casualties, of which latter he was one.

Before he was pronounced fit for active service again he heard that he
had been recommended for a commission, and given o