tern. He pushed a determined
hand through Derrick's arm. "If you won't come my way," he said, "I
shall come yours."

Derrick swore under his breath. But he yielded. "Very well," he said
aloud. "I'll come. But I swear I won't touch anything."

"You needn't swear," said Carlyon; "it's unnecessary."

And Derrick bit his lip nearly through, being exasperated. He did not,
however, resist the compelling hand a second time, realizing the
futility of such a proceeding.

So in dead silence they reached the Grand and entered. Then Carlyon
spoke again.

"Come up to my room first!" he said.

Derrick went with him unprotesting.

In his own room Carlyon turned round and took him by the shoulders.
"Now," he said, "are you ill or merely sulky? Just tell me which, and I
shall know how to treat you!"

"It's no thanks to you I'm not dead!" exclaimed Derrick stormily. "I
didn't want to meet you, but, by Heaven, since I have, and since you
have forced an interview upon me, I'll go ahead and tell you what I
think of you."

Carlyon turned away from him and sat down. "Do, by all means," he said,
"if it will get you into a healthier frame of mind!"

But Derrick's flow of eloquence unexpectedly failed him at this
juncture, and he stood awkwardly silent.

Carlyon turned round at last and looked at him. "Sit down, Dick," he
said patiently, "and stop being an ass! I'm a difficult man to quarrel
with, as you know. So sit down and state your grievance, and have done
with it!"

"You know very well what's wrong!" Derrick burst out fiercely,
beginning to prowl to and fro.

"Do I?" said Carlyon. He got up deliberately and intercepted Derrick.
"Just stop tramping," he said, with sudden sternness, "and listen to me!
You have your wound alone to thank for keeping you out of the worst mess
you ever got into. If you hadn't gone back in a hospital truck, you
would have gone back under escort. Do you understand that?"

"Why?" flashed Derrick.

"Why?" echoed Carlyon, striking him abruptly on the shoulder. "Tell me
your own opinion of a hot-headed, meddling young fool who not only got
into mischief himself at a most critical moment, but led half-a-score of
valuable men into what was practically a death-trap, for the sake of, I
suppose he would call it, an hour's sport. On my soul, Derrick," he
ended, with a species of quiet vigour that carried considerable weight
behind it, "if you weren't such a skeleton I'd give you a sound
thrashing for yo