tening to
the bugles in the barrack-yard. And I am sure there is no other way. But
it is well worth trying. You see, if the three take back their
feathers,"--he drew a deep breath, and in a very low voice, with his
eyes upon the table so that his face was hidden from Sutch, he
added--"why, then she perhaps might take hers back too."

"Will she wait, do you think?" asked Sutch; and Harry raised his head
quickly.

"Oh, no," he exclaimed, "I had no thought of that. She has not even a
suspicion of what I intend to do. Nor do I wish her to have one until
the intention is fulfilled. My thought was different"--and he began to
speak with hesitation for the first time in the course of that evening.
"I find it difficult to tell you--Ethne said something to me the day
before the feathers came--something rather sacred. I think that I will
tell you, because what she said is just what sends me out upon this
errand. But for her words, I would very likely never have thought of it.
I find in them my motive and a great hope. They may seem strange to you,
Mr. Sutch; but I ask you to believe that they are very real to me. She
said--it was when she knew no more than that my regiment was ordered to
Egypt--she was blaming herself because I had resigned my commission, for
which there was no need, because--and these were her words--because had
I fallen, although she would have felt lonely all her life, she would
none the less have surely known that she and I would see much of one
another--afterwards."

Feversham had spoken his words with difficulty, not looking at his
companion, and he continued with his eyes still averted:--

"Do you understand? I have a hope that if--this fault can be
repaired,"--and he pointed to the feathers,--"we might still, perhaps,
see something of one another--afterwards."

It was a strange proposition, no doubt, to be debated across the soiled
tablecloth of a public restaurant, but neither of them felt it to be
strange or even fanciful. They were dealing with the simple serious
issues, and they had reached a point where they could not be affected by
any incongruity in their surroundings. Lieutenant Sutch did not speak
for some while after Harry Feversham had done, and in the end Harry
looked up at his companion, prepared for almost a word of ridicule; but
he saw Sutch's right hand outstretched towards him.

"When I come back," said Feversham, and he rose from his chair. He
gathered the feathers together and rep