第3章 CHAPTER I(3)

"More or less," she admitted. "You see, I love people. I love having people around me. My friends find me a perfect nuisance, for I am always wanting to give parties. You have the still, cold face of a surgeon--and the hands, too," she added, glancing at them.

"You are very observant," he remarked laconically.

"I am also curious," she laughed, "as you are about to discover. Tell me why you are so interested in Ronnie Granet? You hadn't met him before, had you?"Almost for the first time he turned and looked directly at his neighbour. She was a woman whose fair hair was turning grey, well-dressed, sprightly, agreeable. She had a humorous mouth and an understanding face.

"Captain Granet was a stranger to me," he assented. "One is naturally interested in soldiers, however.""You must have met thousands like him," she remarked,--"good-looking, very British, keen sportsman, lots of pluck, just a little careless, hating to talk about himself and serious things. I have known him since he was a boy."Major Thomson continued to be gravely interested.

"Granet!" he said to himself thoughtfully, "Do I know any of his people, Iwonder?"

"You know some of his connections, of course," Mrs. Cunningham replied briskly. "Sir Alfred Anselman, for instance, his uncle.""His father and mother?"

"They are both dead. There is a large family place in Warwickshire, and a chateau, just now, I am afraid, in the hands of the Germans. It was somewhere quite close to the frontier. Lady Granet was an Alsatian. He was to have gone out with the polo team, you know, to America, but broke a rib just as they were making the selection. He played cricket for Middlesex once or twice, too and he was Captain of Oxford the year that they did so well.""An Admirable Crichton," Major Thomson murmured.

"In sport, at any rate," his neighbour assented. "He has always been one of the most popular young men about town, but of course the women will spoil him now.""Is it my fancy," he asked, "or was he not reported a prisoner?""He was missing twice, once for over a week," Mrs. Cunningham replied. "There are all sorts of stories as to how he got back to the lines. A perfect young dare-devil, I should think. I must talk to Mr. Daniell for a few minutes or he will never publish my reminiscences."She leaned towards her neighbour on the other side and Major Thomson was able to resume the role of attentive observer, a role which seemed somehow his by destiny. He listened without apparent interest to the conversation between Geraldine Conyers and the young man whom they had been discussing.

"I think," Geraldine complained, "that you are rather overdoing your diplomatic reticence, Captain Granet. You haven't told me a single thing.

Why, some of the Tommies I have been to see in the hospitals have been far more interesting than you."He smiled.

"I can assure you," he protested, "it isn't my fault. You can't imagine how fed up one gets with things out there, and the newspapers can tell you ever so much more than we can. One soldier only sees a little bit of his own corner of the fight, you know.""But can't you tell me some of your own personal experiences?" she persisted.

"They are so much more interesting than what one reads in print.""I never had any," he assured her. "Fearfully slow time we had for months.""Of course, I don't believe a word you say," she declared, laughing.

"You're not taking me for a war correspondent, by any chance, are you?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"Your language isn't sufficiently picturesque! Tell me, when are you going back?""As soon as I can pass the doctors-in a few days, I hope.""You hope?" she repeated. "Do you really mean that, or do you say it because it is the proper thing to say?"He appeared for the moment to somewhat resent her question.

"The fact that I hope to get back," he remarked coldly, "has nothing whatever to do with my liking my job when I get there. As a matter of fact, I hate it.

At the same time, you can surely understand that there isn't any other place for a man of my age and profession.""Of course not," she agreed softly. "I really am sorry that I bothered you.

There is one thing I should like to know, though and that is how you managed to escape?"He shook his head but his amiability seemed to have wholly returned. His eyes twinkled as he looked at her.

"There we're up against a solid wall of impossibility," he replied. "You see, some of our other chaps may try the dodge. I gave them the tip and I don't want to spoil their chances. By-the-bye, do you know the man two places down on your left?" he added dropping his voice a little. "Looks almost like a waxwork figure, doesn't he?""You mean Major Thomson? Yes, I know him," she assented, after a moment's hesitation. "He is very quiet to-day, but he is really most interesting."Their hostess rose and beamed on them all from her end of the table.

"We have decided," she announced, "to take our coffee out in the lounge."