dbye to Martha, and how she had shrugged her shoulders in
contempt.

The man must either be mad, or of a frightfully jealous
disposition, to conjure up harm out of such an incident: and one
who would do so might well, when his brain was on fire, conjure up
this imaginary conversation. Still, he might have heard some man
talking to her. From what Sir John had said, she did leave the
house and go into the garden about that hour, and she certainly
never returned.

He remembered all about George Lechmere now. He had the reputation
of being the best judge of cattle in the neighbourhood, and a
thoroughly steady fellow, but he could see no resemblance in the
shrunk and wasted face to that he remembered.

That evening both the officers and men in the hospital were carried
away to the new one outside the town. When the doctor came in
before they were moved, he told Mallett that the man he had seen
had recovered from his swoon.

"He was very nearly gone," he said, "but we managed to get him
round, and it seems to me that he has been better since. I don't
know what he said to you or you to him, and I don't want to know;
but he seems to have got something off his mind. He is less
feverish than he was, and I have really some faint hopes of pulling
him through, especially as he will now be in a more healthful
atmosphere."

It was a comfort indeed to all the wounded when late that evening
they lay on beds in the hospital marquees. The air seemed
deliciously cool and fresh, and there was a feeling of quiet and
restfulness that was impossible in the town, with the constant
movement of troops, the sound of falling masonry, the dust and
fetid odour of decay.

A week later the surgeon told Mallett that he had now hopes that
the soldier he was interested in would recover.

"The chances were a hundred to one against him," he said, "but the
one chance has come off."

"Will he be fit for service again, doctor?"

"Yes, I don't see why he should not be, though it will be a long
time before he can carry his kit and arms on a long day's march. It
is hot enough now, but we have not got to the worst by a long way,
and as there is still a vast amount of work to be done, I expect
that the regiment will be off again before long."

"Well, at any rate, I shall be able to go with you, doctor."

"I don't quite say that, Mallett," the doctor said, doubtfully. "In
another fortnight your wound will be healed so that you will be
capable of ord