le of all kinds, and from
the drift of their conversation tried to understand the spirit of the
City.

I shall never forget the look on Edgecumbe's face after our visit to a
hospital for soldiers who suffered from a disease which shall be
nameless. The horror in his eyes and the absolute nausea and loathing
which possessed him has haunted me ever since.

But there were sights which rejoiced him also. The splendid sacrifices
which unnumbered people, both men and women, were making, and the great
broad-hearted charity which abounded on every hand, made him realize not
only the bad but the good, and led him to realize that beneath the mad
whirl of evil passions which was too evident, was a life sacred and
sublime.

Presently, however, our peregrinations came to an end. Edgecumbe had
appeared before a medical officer, and was declared fit for duty again.
He had also received orders to return to his battery, while I daily
waited instructions as to my future course of action.

'We have had a wonderful time, Luscombe,' he said. 'I little dreamt,
when we started out to see London, what it would be like.'

'Well, what do you think of it all?'

'I am bewildered,' he replied; 'it is all too big to co-ordinate. I want
to get a grasp of everything. I want to see things in their true
proportion. I want to understand.'

We had just come from the Crystal Palace, where so many thousands of our
sailors are quartered, and had been talking with the workers of the
Y.M.C.A. concerning their activities there.

'You will never be able to co-ordinate it, Edgecumbe,' I said. 'No man
can understand fully the life of a great city like this.'

'No, I suppose not. Still, I am trying to think my way through it.'

'Anyhow,' I said, 'you have to return to duty tomorrow. Let us forget
the serious things of life for once. By the way,' I added, 'have you
heard from Miss Lorna Bolivick?'

For some seconds he did not reply, and I thought he did not hear what I
said. His face was a curious study at the time, and I wondered what he
was thinking about.

'No,' he replied presently, 'I have not heard from her. Naturally I did
not expect to.'

During the whole time we had spent in London together, he had never once
referred to her, and I imagined, and almost hoped, that he had seen the
madness of the determination he had expressed when we were down in
Devonshire.

'You have given up all thought of her, then?'

'Given up all though