Cousin Edie, just the same as ever,
staring at me with those wild eyes of hers. For a moment she did not
recognise me, but when she did she just took three steps forward and
sprang at me, with her two arms round my neck.

"Oh, my dear old Jock," she cried, "how fine you look in a red coat!"

"Yes, I am a soldier now, Edie," said I, very stiffly; for as I looked
at her pretty face, I seemed to see behind it that other face which had
looked up to the morning sky on the Belgium battle-field.

"Fancy that!" she cried. "What are you, then, Jock? A general?
A captain?"

"No, I am a private."

"What! Not one of the common people who carry guns?"

"Yes, I carry a gun."

"Oh, that is not nearly so interesting," said she. And she went back to
the sofa from which she had risen. It was a wonderful room, all silk
and velvet and shiny things, and I felt inclined to go back to give my
boots another rub. As Edie sat down again, I saw that she was all in
black, and so I knew that she had heard of de Lissac's death.

"I am glad to see that you know all," said I, for I am a clumsy hand at
breaking things. "He said that you were to keep whatever was in the
boxes, and that Antoine had the keys."

"Thank you, Jock, thank you," said she. "It was like your kindness to
bring the message. I heard of it nearly a week ago. I was mad for the
time--quite mad. I shall wear mourning all my days, although you can
see what a fright it makes me look. Ah! I shall never get over it.
I shall take the veil and die in a convent."

"If you please, madame," said a maid, looking in, "the Count de Beton
wishes to see you."

"My dear Jock," said Edie, jumping up, "this is very important. I am
sorry to cut our chat short, but I am sure that you will come to see me
again, will you not, when I am less desolate? And would you mind going
out by the side door instead of the main one? Thank you, you dear old
Jock; you were always such a good boy, and did exactly what you were
told."

And that was the last that I was ever to see of Cousin Edie. She stood
in the sunlight with the old challenge in her eyes, and flash of her
teeth; and so I shall always remember her, shining and unstable, like a
drop of quicksilver. As I joined my comrade in the street below, I saw
a grand carriage and pair at the door, and I knew that she had asked me
to slip out so that her grand new friends might never know what common
people she had been associated with i