ort of tin god.
Congratulations poured in on every hand and--and, but there's no need
to say any more about it.'

'And what did Springfield say then?'

'Oh, he was louder in his congratulations than any one. It makes me
sick to think of it!'

'But didn't you expose him?'

'I couldn't. You see, I only learnt in a roundabout way that he had
tried to poison the General's mind against me, and he very nearly
covered his traces everywhere. Oh, he's a clever beggar. Still, you
see the situation. It was jolly sultry for a time.'

'I see you have had another move,' I said looking at his uniform.

'Yes, I've had great luck; but don't let's talk any more about me. How
are _you_ getting on? And can't you get some leave?'

'I have some due,' I replied, noting the far-away look in his eyes, and
wondering what was in his mind. 'Why do you ask?'

'Big things are going to happen,' he said after a long silence.

'What do you mean? Tell me, Edgecumbe, has your memory come back?
Have you learnt anything--in--in that direction?'

He shook his head sadly. 'No, nothing. The past is blank, blank. And
yet I think sometimes----I say, Luscombe, I wonder who I am? I
wonder----'

'And do you still persist in your mad fancies?' I blurted out after a
long silence.

'Persist! Mad fancies!' he cried passionately. 'As long as my heart
beats, as long as I have consciousness, I shall never cease to--to----I
say, old man, get some leave and go with me.'

'Why?' I asked. 'If your mind is made up, seek her out wherever she
is. I know she is at a V.A.D. Hospital not far from her home; so your
way is plain. You can go to her on more equal terms now. You are a
distinguished man now. In a few months you have risen from obscurity
to eminence.'

'Don't talk rot. I can never meet her on equal terms.'

'Then why bother about her?'

'Because God has decreed that I shall. But you must go with me, my
dear fellow. In ways I can't understand, your life is linked to mine.
It was not for nothing that we met down at Plymouth Harbour; it was not
without purpose that I was led to love you like a brother.'

'Well, what then?'

'You must go with me. In some way or another, your life is linked to
mine, and you must go with me.'

Of course I applied for leave right away, and as I had been working
hard all the while Edgecumbe had been in France I was able to get it
without difficulty.

'My word, have you seen this, Edgecumbe?' I c