n the
Army. On the night before we started for Devonshire I had a talk with
the C.O. of the Officers' Training Corps to which Edgecumbe was
attached. He had been under his command only a few days, but the
attention of the C.O. had already been drawn to him. This man happened
to be an old acquaintance of mine, and he talked with me freely.

'You say you know Edgecumbe?' he asked.

'Yes,' I replied; 'he is a friend of mine.'

'I had a long report of him from France, where he seems to have done
some fine things,' said the colonel. 'Of course you know he is to be
decorated?'

'I had a hint of it before I left France,' I replied.

'Would it be an indiscretion to ask you to tell me what you know of
him?'

'I don't know that it would,' was my answer. 'Only I should like you
to understand that what I am going to tell you is in confidence. You
see, the situation is rather peculiar, and I do not think he wants his
mental condition known.'

'Why? Is there anything wrong about him?'

'Oh, no, nothing.' And then I repeated the story of our meeting in
Plymouth.

'And his memory's not come back?' said Colonel Heywood.

'No.'

'I can tell you this about him, though. He is an old artillery
officer.'

'How do you know?' I asked.

'The thing is as plain as daylight,' was the reply. 'The man may have
no memory for certain things, and the story of his past may be a blank
to him, but he knows his job already.'

'You mean----?'

'I mean this,' interrupted the colonel, 'no man could have the
knowledge he has of an artillery officer's work, without a long and
severe training. If he had forgotten it has come to him like magic.
You know what our work is, and you know, too, that gunners are not made
in a day. But he had it all at his fingers' ends. The major drew my
attention to it almost immediately he joined us, so I determined to
test him myself. He is fit to be sent out right away; he could take
charge of a battery, without an hour's more training. There is not the
slightest doubt about it. I shall take steps to try and find out
particulars about our Indian Army, and whether any officers have been
missing. The fellow interests me tremendously. Why, he has almost a
genius for gunnery! He is full of ideas, too,' and the colonel
laughed. 'He, a cadet, could teach many of us older men our business.
Some day I'm inclined to think there'll be a romantic revelation!'

It was through Colonel Heywood's good of