fession."

At that she turned upon him with a spontaneous frankness of interest,
which had lured many men to their undoing.

"Will you think me very ill-mannered if I ask how you ever came to
choose such a profession at all? I wondered about it the first time I
saw you."

"Do I look as hopelessly unsoldier-like as all _that?_"

"No--a thousand times, no!" And the quick colour flamed in her cheeks.

"Well, then?"

"I only meant--I see a good deal in faces, and--yours gave me a strong
impression that you would prefer reading and thinking to acting and
striving."

His smile had in it both surprise and satisfaction.

"You were not far out there. Let us sit down on this rock for a bit. I
would like to answer your question. May I light a cigarette?"

"Do."

He took his time over the simple operation. His impulse towards
unreserve puzzled him, and several seconds of silence passed before he
spoke again; silence, emphasised by broken snatches of talk and
laughter; by the sharp crack of guns; and the whirring of a hundred
wings, like the restless murmuring in the heart of a shell.

"It may sound strange to you," he began, not without an effort, "but
the truth is that my choice of a profession was simply the result of
my friendship with Desmond. I think I told you we were at school
together. _His_ future was a foregone conclusion, and when it came to
the point--I chose just to throw in my lot with his. I am quite aware
that many people thought me a fool. But we have had twelve years of it
together here, he and I; and it has certainly been good enough for
me."

He spoke in a tone of great quietness, his eyes set upon the shining
reaches of the river which, by now, ran molten gold in the westering
sunlight.

"Thank you for telling me," she said; and the simple words set his
pulses travelling at an unreasonable rate of speed. "I had no idea
friendship could ever mean quite so much."

"It doesn't in nine cases out of ten. But I think that's enough about
myself. It isn't my habit to entertain ladies with egotistical
monologues!"

"But then, properly behaved ladies don't ask you direct personal
questions, do they?"

"Well--no--not often."

And they exchanged one of those smiles that ripen intimacy more
speedily than a month of talk.

"I'm quite unrepentant, all the same!" she said. "And I'm rather
wanting to ask you another. It's about Captain Desmond this time. May
I?"

"Ask away!"

"Well, I want to know