"He was in the Red Cross Hospital here, and we saw him when Elaine took us to the Christmas tree."
"Was it Whitecliffe? I knew he'd been in a Red Cross Hospital, but never heard which one," commented Leonard.
"He was going on to a convalescent home," continued Dona.
"He came back to the front before he was really fit," said Leonard. "The poor chap had had influenza, but he was so afraid of being thought a shirker that he made a push to go. He was laid up with a touch of pneumonia, I remember, a week after he rejoined."
"Will he get leave again?" faltered Marjorie.
"Yes, next month, he hopes. They don't live such a very long way from Silverwood, and he said he'd try to go over and see the Mater. She'd give him a welcome, I know."
"Rather!" agreed the girls.
"We shall be at home in August," added Dona.
Marjorie, however, said nothing. There are some joys that it is quite impossible to express to outsiders.
"I'm glad they've made him a lieutenant," she said to herself.