Timmy Tosswill struck a match and held it up, far above his little head.  And Radmore saw flash out the gilded words:—­

  ROLL OF HONOUR, 1914-1918. 
  PASS, FRIEND.  ALL’S WELL.

The first name was “Thomas Ingleton,” then came “Mons, 22nd August, 1914.”  Immediately below, bracketed together, came “Peter and Paul Cobbett,” followed, in the one case, by the date October 15, 1915, and in the other, November 19, 1915.  And then, in the wavering light, there seemed to start out another name and date.

Radmore uttered an exclamation of sharp pain, almost of anger.  He did not want the child to see his shocked, convulsed face, but he said quickly:—­“Not George?  Surely, Timmy, not George?”

Timmy answered, “Then you didn’t know?  Dad and Betty thought you did, but Mum thought that perhaps you didn’t.”

“Why wasn’t I told?” asked Radmore roughly.  “I should have thought, Timmy, that you might have told me when you answered my first letter.”

He took the box of matches out of Timmy’s hand, and himself lighting a match, went up quite close to the list of names.  Yes, it was there right enough.

“When did he, George, volunteer?” he asked.

“On the seventh of August, two days after the War began,” said Timmy simply.  “He was awfully afraid they wouldn’t take him.  There was such a rush, you know.  But they did take him, and the doctor who saw him undressed, naked, you know, told Daddy”—­the child hesitated a moment, then repeated slowly, proudly—­“that George was one of the finest specimens of young manhood he had ever seen.”

“And when did he go out?”

“He went out very soon; and we used to have such jolly times when he came back, because, you know, he did come back three times altogether, and the second time—­Betty hadn’t gone to France then—­they all went up to London together and had a splendid time.  I didn’t go; Mum didn’t think it worth the expense that I should go, though George wanted me to.”

Hardly conscious that he was doing so, Radmore turned round, and began walking quietly on along the dark road, with Timmy trotting by his side.  “What I believed,” he muttered, half to himself, “was that George was safe in India, and probably not even allowed to volunteer.”

“George never went to India,” said Timmy soberly.  “Betty wasn’t well, I think, and as they were twins, he didn’t like to go so far away from her.  So he got a job in London.  It was quite nice, and he used to come down once a month or so.”  He waited a moment, then went on.  “Betty always said he was a born soldier, and that he ought to have been a soldier from the very beginning.  As you care so much,” he added a little diffidently, “I expect Betty would show you the letters his men wrote about him.  Dad has got the letters of his Colonel and of the officers, but Betty has the others.”

And then all at once Radmore felt a small skinny hand slipped into his.