and made a place for him beside her on the
bench. Her flushed, handsome face covered him with its smile. You could
see she was used to being obeyed when she smiled like that; when she sent
that light out of her eyes men did what she wanted. All her life the men
she knew had obeyed her, all except McClane. She didn't know John.

He raised his head and looked at her with cool, concentrated dislike.

"I'd rather stay where I am if you don't mind. I want to talk to
Miss Redhead."

"Oh--" Mrs. Rankin's flush went out like a blown flame. Her lips made
one pale, tight thread above the set square of her chin. All her light
was in her eyes. They stared before her at the glass door where McClane
was entering.

He came swaggering and slipped into his place between her and Alice
Bartrum with his air of not seeing Mrs. Rankin, of not seeing Charlotte
and John, of not seeing anything he didn't want to see. Presently he
bobbed round in his seat so as to see Sutton, and began talking to him
excitedly.

At the end of it Charlotte and Sutton found themselves alone, smiling
into each other's faces.

"Do you like him?" she said.

"I'm not sure. All the same that isn't a bad idea of Mrs. Rankin's."

It was Sutton who tried to work it the next morning, sounding McClane.

Charlotte was in the space between the glass doors, arranging their
stores in their own cupboard. McClane's stores had overflowed into it on
the lower shelves. She could hear the two men talking in the room,
Sutton's low, persuasive voice; she couldn't hear what he was saying.

Suddenly McClane brought his fist down on the table.

"I'll take you. And I'll take your women. And I'll take your ambulances.
I could do with two more ambulances. But I won't take Conway."

"You can't tell him that."

"Can't I!"

"What can you say?"

"I can say--"

She pushed open the glass door and went in. McClane was whispering
furtively. She saw Sutton stop him with a look. They turned to her and
Sutton spoke.

"Come in, Miss Redhead. This concerns you. Dr. McClane wants you and Miss
Denning and me to join his corps."

"And how about Mr. Conway?"

"Well--" McClane was trying to look innocent. "Mr. Conway's just the
difficulty. There can't be two commandants in one corps and he says he
won't take orders from me."

(Mrs. Rankin must have talked about it, then.)

"Is that what you told Dr. Sutton?"

"Yes."

His cold, innocent blue eyes supported him. He was lying; she