ton and a good
half-mile upstream. The banks are kept clear on principle,
though none of us ever touch a line. The Castle people come
over now and then: Jack Bendish is keen, and he says our sport
is better than theirs because they fish theirs down too much.
Val put some stock in this spring."

"Val?"

"You seem to fit in so naturally," Laura smiled, "that I forget
you've only just come. Val is Bernard's agent, and I ought not
to have omitted him from our list of country neighbours, but he's
like one of the family. Bernard wants you, to meet him because
he was near you in the war. But I don't know that you'll have
much in common: Val was very junior to you, and he's not keen on
talking about it in any case. So many men have that shrinking.
Have you, I wonder?"

"I'm afraid I don't take impressions easily. Didn't your friend
enjoy it?"

"He had no chance. He had only six or seven weeks at the front;
he was barely nineteen, poor boy, when he was invalided out.
That was why Bernard offered him the agency--he was delighted to
lend a helping hand to one of his old brother officers."

"Wounded?"

"Yes, he had his right arm smashed by a revolver bullet. Then
rheumatic fever set in, and the trouble went to the heart, and he
was very ill for a long time. I don't suppose he ever has been
so strong as he was before. What made it so sad was the splendid
way he had just distinguished himself," Laura continued. She
gave a little sketch of the rescue of Dale, far more vivid than
Val had ever given to his family. "Perhaps you can imagine what
a fuss Chilmark made over its solitary hero! We're still proud
of him. Val is always in request at local shows: he appears on
the platform looking very shy and bored. Poor boy! I believe he
sometimes wishes he had never won that embarrassing decoration."

"What's his name?"

"Val Stafford. Why--do you remember him?"

"Er--yes, I do," said Lawrence. He took out his cigar case and
turned from Laura to light a cigar. "I knew a lot of the
Dorchesters. . . Amiable-looking, fair boy, wasn't he?"

"Middle height, and rather sunburnt. But that description fits
such dozens! However, I'm taking you up to tea there this
afternoon, if the prospect doesn't bore you, so you'll be able to
judge for yourself. He has a young sister who threatens to be
very pretty. Are you still interested in pretty girls, M. le
capitaine?"

"Immensely." Hyde lay back on one arm, smoking rat