d come
to pass; and, remembering her face as we had last seen it, and the look
in her eyes at Tresco, I, too, had not a shadow of a doubt that she
really loved him. She was not the least bit of a flirt, and society
had not had a chance yet of moulding her into the ordinary girl of the
nineteenth century.

Perhaps it was the sudden and unexpected change of the next day that
makes me remember Derrick's face so distinctly as he lay back on the
smooth turf that afternoon in Netley Abbey. As it looked then, full of
youth and hope, full of that dream of cloudless love, I never saw it
again.

Chapter III.

"Religion in him never died, but became a habit--a habit of
enduring hardness, and cleaving to the steadfast performance
of duty in the face of the strongest allurements to the
pleasanter and easier course." Life of Charles Lamb, by A.
Ainger.

Derrick was in good spirits the next day. He talked much of Major
Vaughan, wondered whether the voyage home had restored his health,
discussed the probable length of his leave, and speculated as to the
nature of his illness; the telegram had of course given no details.

"There has not been even a photograph for the last five years," he
remarked, as we walked down to the quay together. "Yet I think I should
know him anywhere, if it is only by his height. He used to look so well
on horseback. I remember as a child seeing him in a sham fight charging
up Caesar's Camp."

"How old were you when he went out?"

"Oh, quite a small boy," replied Derrick. "It was just before I first
stayed with you. However, he has had a regular succession of photographs
sent out to him, and will know me easily enough."

Poor Derrick! I can't think of that day even now without a kind of
mental shiver. We watched the great steamer as it glided up to the quay,
and Derrick scanned the crowded deck with eager eyes, but could nowhere
see the tall, soldierly figure that had lingered so long in his memory.
He stood with his hand resting on the rail of the gangway, and when
presently it was raised to the side of the steamer, he still kept his
position, so that he could instantly catch sight of his father as he
passed down. I stood close behind him, and watched the motley procession
of passengers; most of them had the dull colourless skin which bespeaks
long residence in India, and a particularly yellow and peevish-looking
old man was grumbling loudly as he slowly made his way dow