"It thickens very much indeed. I'm not sure if we oughtn't to tell
somebody."

"No, no! Not on any account!"

"You think so?"

"I'm certain of it. You'll spoil everything if you go blabbing!"

"Well, I won't, if you'd rather not; but I'm just longing to ask
Winifrede what she thinks about it all," said Marjorie regretfully.

CHAPTER XXIII

On Leave

The next great event on the horizon of Marjorie and Dona was that Larry
was transferred from the London Military Hospital to the Whitecliffe Red
Cross Hospital. Mrs. Anderson came to The Tamarisks for a night as soon
as he was installed, and paid a flying visit to Brackenfield to see her
daughters, and beg an exeat, that she might take them to spend a brief
half-hour with their brother. It was neither a Wednesday nor a Saturday,
but in the circumstances Mrs. Morrison granted permission; and the
girls, rejoicing at missing a music lesson and a chemistry lecture, were
borne away by their mother for the afternoon. As they expected, they
found Larry established as prime pet of the hospital. He was an
attractive lad, already a favourite with his cousin Elaine, and his
handsome boyish face and prepossessing manners soon won him the good
graces of the other V.A.D.'s.

"I'm having the time of my life!" he assured his family. "I shan't want
to go away. They certainly know how to take care of a fellow here. After
the trenches it's just heaven!"

"It was hard luck to be wounded when you'd only been at the front three
weeks!" sympathized Dona.

"Never mind! I got on the Roll of Honour before my nineteenth birthday!"
triumphed Larry. "And I'll go back and have another shot before I'm much
older."

"I wish the military age were twenty-one!" sighed Mrs. Anderson.

"And I wished it were fifteen when the war started," laughed Larry.
"Never mind, little Muvviekins! Peter and Cyril are kids enough yet; you
can tie them to your apron-strings for a while."

"I shall go home feeling quite happy at leaving you in such good hands,"
declared his mother. "I know you'll be well nursed here."

Events seemed to crowd upon one another, for hardly was Larry settled in
the Red Cross Hospital than Leonard got leave, and, after first going
home, came for a hurried visit to The Tamarisks in order to see his
brother. Mrs. Anderson wrote to Mrs. Morrison asking special permission
for the girls to be allowed an afternoon with their brother, whom they
had not seen for a year, and agai