, having given
themselves good time to catch their train, managed to catch the one
before it; and so arrived at Homewood unheralded and unsung. Norah
and Captain Hardress, who had been knocking golf-balls about, were
crossing the terrace on their way to tea when the three slouched hats
caught Norah's eye through the trees of the avenue. She gasped,
dropped her clubs, and fled to meet them. Hardress stared: then,
perceiving the newcomers, smiled a little and went on slowly.

"I'd like to see her doing a hundred yards!" he said.

The three soldiers jumped as the flying figure came upon them, round a
bend in the drive. Then one of them sprang forward.

"Harry!" said Norah.

"My word, I am glad to see you!" said Harry Trevor, pumping her hand.
"I say, Norah, you haven't changed a bit. You're just the same as
when you were twelve--only that you've grown several feet."

"Did you expect to find me bald and fat?" Norah laughed. "Oh, Harry,
we are glad to see you!"

"Well, you might have aged a little," said he. "Goodness knows _I_
have! Norah, where's old Jim?"

"He's at Aldershot--but you can be certain that he'll be here as soon
as he possibly can--and Wally too."

"That's good business." He suddenly remembered his friends, who were
affecting great interest in the botanical features of a beech-tree.
"Come here, you chaps; Norah, this is Jack Blake--and Dick Harrison.
They're awfully glad to see you, too!"

"Well, you might have let us say it for ourselves, digger," said the
two, shaking hands. "We were just going to."

"It's lovely to have you all," said Norah. She looked over the
tree--all tall fellows, lean and bronzed, with quiet faces and
deep-set eyes, Blake bore a sergeant's stripes; Dick Harrison's sleeve
modestly proclaimed him a lance-corporal.

"We've been wandering in that funny old London like lost sheep," Blake
said. "My word, that's a lonesome place, if you don't happen to know
any one in it. And people look at you as if you were something out of
a Zoo."

"They're not used to you yet," said Norah. "It's the hat, as much as
anything."

"I don't know about that," Harry said. "No, I think they'd know we
came out of a different mob, even if we weren't branded."

"Perhaps they would--and you certainly do," Norah answered. "But come
on to the house. Dad is just as anxious to see you as any one."

Indeed, as they came in sight of the house, David Linton was seen
coming with long s