o leave your door open every time you come out of your room. You
know how I dislike the doors standing open." "Miss Bright, if you've
finished your tea, there's really no need for you to remain."

He hated it. He said nothing, but it was often on the tip of his tongue
to say something, and he showed that he intensely disliked it, and he
knew that Mabel knew he disliked it. On the whole it was rather a relief
when the three days were up and he went down to the Cadet battalion at
Cambridge.

In March he came back, a second lieutenant; and immediately, when in
time to come he looked back, things set in train for that ultimate
encounter with life which was awaiting him.

The projected visit to town did not come off. While he was at Cambridge
Mabel wrote to say that the Garden Home Amateur Dramatic Society was
going to do "His Excellency The Governor" in aid of the Red Cross funds
at the end of March. She was taking part, she was fearfully excited
about it, and as rehearsals began early in the month she naturally could
not be away. She was sure he would understand and would not mind.

He did not mind in the least. They were years past the stage when it
would have so much as crossed his mind that she might give up this
engagement for the sake of spending his leave on a bit of gaiety in
town; he had only suggested the idea on her account; personally he much
preferred the prospect of doing long walks about his beloved countryside
now passing into spring.

VII

Arriving, he began at once to do so. He went over for one visit to the
office at Tidborough. Not so much enthusiasm greeted him as to encourage
a second. Twyning and Mr. Fortune were immersed in adapting the
workshops to war work for the Government. Normal business was coming to
a standstill. Now Twyning had conceived the immense, patriotic, and
profitable idea of making aeroplane parts, and it was made sufficiently
clear to Sabre that, so long away and immediately to be off again, there
could be no interest for him in the enterprise.

"You won't want to go into all we are doing, my dear fellow," said Mr.
Fortune. "Your hard-earned leave, eh? We mustn't expect you to give it
up to business, eh, Twyning?"

And Twyning responded, "No, no, old man. Not likely, old man. Well, it's
jolly to see you in the office again"; and he looked at his watch and
said a word to Mr. Fortune about "Meeting that man" with an air which
quite clearly informed Sabre that it would be j