renew the youthfulness of his appearance, which made him
feel older, leaner, bonier and browner than ever. He got up early, rode
in the rain, took Turkish baths, and did all manner of exercises; neither
smoked nor drank, and went to bed early, exactly as if he had been going
to ride a steeplechase. On the afternoon, when at last he left on that
terrific pilgrimage, he gazed at his face with a sort of despair, it was
so lean, and leather-coloured, and he counted almost a dozen grey hairs.

When he reached the bungalow, and was told that she was working in the
corn-fields, he had for the first time a feeling that Fate was on his
side. Such a meeting would be easier than any other! He had been
watching her for several minutes before she saw him, with his heart
beating more violently than it had ever beaten in the trenches; and that
new feeling of hope stayed with him--all through the greeting, throughout
supper, and even after she had left them and gone upstairs. Then, with
the suddenness of a blind drawn down, it vanished, and he sat on, trying
to talk, and slowly getting more and more silent and restless.

"Nollie gets so tired, working," Gratian said: He knew she meant it
kindly but that she should say it at all was ominous. He got up at last,
having lost hope of seeing Noel again, conscious too that he had answered
the last three questions at random.

In the porch George said: "You'll come in to lunch tomorrow, won't you?"

"Oh, thanks, I'm afraid it'll bore you all."

"Not a bit. Nollie won't be so tired."

Again--so well meant. They were very kind. He looked up from the gate,
trying to make out which her window might be; but all was dark. A little
way down the road he stopped to light a cigarette; and, leaning against a
gate, drew the smoke of it deep into his lungs, trying to assuage the
ache in his heart. So it was hopeless! She had taken the first, the
very first chance, to get away from him! She knew that he loved her,
could not help knowing, for he had never been able to keep it out of his
eyes and voice. If she had felt ever so little for him, she would not
have avoided him this first evening. 'I'll go back to that desert,' he
thought; 'I'm not going to whine and crawl. I'll go back, and bite on
it; one must have some pride. Oh, why the hell am I crocked-up like this?
If only I could get out to France again!' And then Noel's figure bent
over the falling corn formed before him. 'I'll have one