your future just as Stephen would have made them--as a brother might have done. I. . . he and I were brother officers in a very wild army. Your brother--was not a good man. None of us were." His hand was on the door. "He asked me to come and tell you," he added. "I shall go back now. . . ."

They stood thus: he watching her face with his honest soft blue eyes, she failing to meet his glance.

"May I come back again?" he asked suddenly.

She gave a little gasp, but made no answer.

"I will come back in six months," he announced quietly, and then he closed the door behind him.