e hall, and Charlie
Framlingham waltzed into the room with Jack Summertown and subsided at a
table by the door. They had hardly begun supper when George Oakleigh
entered to say that war had changed from speculation to probability and
that officers were being mobilized. Then at last Jack roused, and she
had only a moment for making amends.

"Jack was talking about applying for a commission," she went on. "I went
out on to the terrace, I wanted to _think_. . . . It was no good
_apologizing_. . . . They got into the car, one after another. I was
still trying to think. Jack came down the steps. . . . And then I saw
that there was only one reparation I _could_ make; I had to offer myself
to him, even if he hit me in the mouth. . . . I didn't care about my
vanity now; I called out to him, but the others were making such a
noise. . . . The car started, I was blinded by the head-lights. When I
could see again, there was only a little pin-point of red light. I
shouted, ran. . . . Then I came back. When every one else had gone to
bed, I told Jim. And I thought he'd have killed me. . . . And then I
swore solemnly that Jack should have me if he wanted me. I wrote to him,
and he never answered my letter. I tried to see him. And now . . ."

Eric rose and stood by the fire, resting his head on his hand.

"You offered the only reparation in your power," he said at length.

"What am I to do?" she asked dizzily. "I want peace! . . . I told him
that, whatever happened, however long the war went on, I should always
be here, always ready to keep my promise, always prepared to make what
amends I could. . . . I've dedicated myself. If he's alive, until he
tells me that he rejects me . . ."

With a sigh of exhaustion, she slipped forward, turning as she fell and
burying her arms and face. The rose in her hair trembled to the heaving
of her shoulders and scattered a shower of petals over the cushions of
the sofa.

4

"And I meant to be so sweet, I meant to make you enjoy yourself until
you thought me quite irresistible," Barbara laughed through her tears,
kneeling upright on the sofa and dabbing at her eyes. "And then I was
going to tell you that I have to come up to my dentist once a week for
about two months; and I shall be all alone and I wanted you to promise
to make me happy--like to-night."

Her recovery was as sudden as her collapse. Still kneeling with her
hands clasped behind her head, she leaned forward until he had to catc