simply must, Daddy, just one.” He remembered
Leila brewing Turkish coffee—very good,
and how beautiful her white arms looked, hovering about
the cups. He remembered her making the padre
sit down at the piano, and play to them. And
she and the girl on the divan together, side by side,
a strange contrast; with just as strange a likeness
to each other. He always remembered how fine
and rare that music sounded in the little room, flooding
him with a dreamy beatitude. Then—he
remembered—Leila sang, the padre standing-by;
and the tall child on the divan bending forward over
her knees, with her chin on her hands. He remembered
rather vividly how Leila turned her neck and looked
up, now at the padre, now at himself; and, all through,
the delightful sense of colour and warmth, a sort
of glamour over all the evening; and the lingering
pressure of Leila’s hand when he said good-bye
and they went away, for they all went together.
He remembered talking a great deal to the padre in
the cab, about the public school they had both been
at, and thinking: ’It’s a good padre—this!’
He remembered how their taxi took them to an old Square
which he did not know, where the garden trees looked
densely black in the starshine. He remembered
that a man outside the house had engaged the padre
in earnest talk, while the tall child and himself stood
in the open doorway, where the hall beyond was dark.
Very exactly he remembered the little conversation
which then took place between them, while they waited
for her father.
“Is it very horrid in the trenches, Captain
Fort?”
“Yes, Miss Pierson; it is very horrid, as a
rule.”
“Is it dangerous all the time?”
“Pretty well.”
“Do officers run more risks than the men?”
“Not unless there’s an attack.”
“Are there attacks very often?”
It had seemed to him so strangely primitive a little
catechism, that he had smiled. And, though it
was so dark, she had seen that smile, for her face
went proud and close all of a sudden. He had
cursed himself, and said gently:
“Have you a brother out there?”
She shook her head.
“But someone?”
“Yes.”
Someone! He had heard that answer with a little
shock. This child—this fairy princess
of a child already to have someone! He wondered
if she went about asking everyone these questions,
with that someone in her thoughts. Poor child!
And quickly he said:
“After all, look at me! I was out there
a year, and here I am with only half a game leg; times
were a lot worse, then, too. I often wish I were
back there. Anything’s better than London
and the War Office.” But just then he
saw the padre coming, and took her hand. “Good
night, Miss Pierson. Don’t worry.
That does no good, and there isn’t half the
risk you think.”
Her hand stirred, squeezed his gratefully, as a child’s
would squeeze.