nst it, had made the old easy intercourse impossible.
Bernard was in a fashion the link between them. Strangely they were
always more intimate in his presence than when alone, less conscious of
unknown ground, of reserves that could not be broached.

Strive as he might, Tommy could not forget that evening at the mess--the
historic occasion, as he had lightly named it--when like an evil magic
at work he had witnessed the smirching of his hero's honour. He had
sought to bury the matter deep, to thrust it out of all remembrance, but
the evil wrought was too subtle and too potent. It reared itself against
him and would not be trampled down.

Had any of his brother-officers dared to mention the affair to him, he
would have been furious, would strenuously have defended that which
apparently his friend did not deem it worth his while to defend. But no
one ever spoke of it. It dwelt among them, a shameful thing, ignored yet
ever present.

Everard came and went as before, only more reticent, more grim, more
unapproachable than he had ever been in the old days. His utter
indifference to the cold courtesy accorded him was beyond all scorn. He
simply did not see when men avoided him. He was supremely unaware of the
coldness that made Tommy writhe in impotent rebellion. He had never
mixed very freely with his fellows. Upon Tommy alone had he bestowed his
actual friendship, and to Tommy alone did he now display any definite
change of front. His demeanour towards the boy was curiously gentle. He
never treated him confidentially or spoke of intimate things. That
invincible barrier which Tommy strove so hard to ignore, he seemed to
take for granted. But he was invariably kind in all his dealings with
him, as if he realized that Tommy had lost the one possession he prized
above all others and were sorry for him.

Whatever Tommy's mood, and his moods varied considerably, he was never
other than patient with him, bearing with him as he would never have
borne in the byegone happier days of their good comradeship. He never
rebuked him, never offered him advice, never attempted in any fashion to
test the influence that yet remained to him. And his very forbearance
hurt Tommy more poignantly than any open rupture or even tacit avoidance
could have hurt him. There were times when he would have sacrificed all
he had, even down to his own honour, to have forced an understanding
with Monck, to have compelled him to yield up his secret. But when