ust keep a hold of
myself. I've got to look after them ... they'll want some one to ... to
lean on!"

He began the letter to Roger. "_Dear Roger_," he wrote, and then he
dropped his pen. He sat with his elbows resting on the table, staring in
front of him, but seeing nothing. "First there was Gilbert," he was
saying to himself, "then there was Ninian ... and presently there will
be ... _me_!"

One could not believe it. One could not believe it. Why it was only a
little while ago that Ninian was here, in this very room, telling them
how clever the Engineers were. They were to win the war, these
Engineers, unless stupid people, like the "dug-out," prevented them from
doing so. There, in that corner there, over by the fire, that was where
he had sat, and told them of the Engineers. He had lain back in his
chair, carelessly throwing his leg over the arm of it.... And when Mrs.
Graham had risen and left the room, unable to stay any longer, and had
called to him to come to her room and say "Good-night!" he had looked
anxiously after her, and then, after a little while of fidgetting and
poor effort to talk lightly, had gone to her....

How could one believe it! How could any one believe that this hideous
nightmare was true!... that this horrible thing which devoured young men
was not a creature of a fevered mind.... Presently the blood would cool
and the eyes would see clearly ... and Ninian's great shouting voice
would roar through the house, and Gilbert would stroll in, and say
"Hilloa, coves!..."

There was a sound of steps in the passage, and he sat up and listened.
Then the door opened and Mrs. Graham came in. There was a bright look in
her tearless eyes. Her lips were firmly closed, and he saw that her
hands were clenched. He stood up as she entered, and looked at her as
she came towards him. She came close to him and laid her hand on his.

"Poor Mary," she said, softly, "we ... we must comfort poor Mary!"

She looked about the room. "Where is she?" she asked, turning to him
again.

"Upstairs," he answered.

She went towards the door. "I must go and comfort her," she said. "She
was ... very fond of ... of Ninian!"

He followed her to the door, afraid that she might break down, but she
did not break down. She gathered her skirts about her, and went up the
stairs to Mary's room, and her steps were firm and proud. He could hear
the rustle of her skirt on the landing as she passed along it out of his
sight, and t