ove_ at the Adelphi was well
worth seeing, he believed. Lady Drummond accepted, flattered by this
unwonted friendliness. He would hardly let her out of his sight all that
afternoon. She was his safeguard against Nelly's wondering, reproachful
eyes.

He had to endure those eyes all the next day. Then--the eyes retired in
on themselves, became introspective. It was hardly easier for the
General, that look of a suffering woman in his Nelly's eyes.

To be sure, poor Nelly had known of that journey to Tilbury just as well
as if she had accompanied him. The only thing she did not know was that
he had failed to see Captain Langrishe. And his silence--the looks of
tender pity he sent her when he thought he was unobserved, what could
they mean but that his mediation had been in vain? For some strange,
cruel reason, although he loved her and he must know he was breaking her
heart, her lover would have none of her. Even the knowledge that he
loved her ceased to be an anodyne in those days.

Everyone was so good to her. She seemed to have found a way to the
Dowager's arid heart, as her own son had not. The Dowager seemed dimly
aware that Nelly was suffering in some way, and was tender to her. She
came to the General with a proposal. Why should they not all go abroad
together and escape the east winds of spring? The General leaped at it.
Once get Nelly abroad and she would know nothing of what was happening
on the Indian frontier. He, and Nelly and the Dowager. He had not
imagined the Dowager in such a party--yet, he shrank from the prolonged
_tete-a-tete_ with Nell which the trip would have been without the
Dowager's presence. Robin would join them at Easter. They could all
travel home together.

There was a time of bustle when Nelly and the Dowager were getting their
travelling outfits. A spark of excitement, of anticipation, lit up
Nelly's sad eyes. The General could have hugged the Dowager.

"Your dear father," the Dowager said to Nelly one day, "how calm he
grows as he turns round to old age! I see in him more and more the
brother my dear Gerald looked up to and reverenced."

The peacefulness, the good understanding, had their effect, too, on
Nelly. It was good that those she loved should dwell together in amity.
She was in that state that she could not have endured sharpness or
rancour.

Only Pat shook his head disapprovingly.

"If he goes on like this," he said, "he'll be goin' to Heaven before his
time. I'd a deal