"Is the news too terrible to be repeated?" he asked with marked deliberation.
Helen fidgeted with her fan, picked a bit of bark off the railing in front of her, and, after a long silence, and without raising her eyes, she said,—
"Must I tell you?"
"If you please," rather stiffly.
"She—she—hears that you have been in the army."
"Yes, so I was—I was not aware that it was criminal to hold her Majesty's commission; but, of course, Mrs. Creery knows best."
"She says you were—were obliged to—to leave disgraced," continued his companion in a rapid, broken whisper.
"Cashiered, you mean, of course!"
"Yes," glancing at him nervously. To her amazement, he was smiling.
"Do you believe this, Miss Denis?" he asked, raising himself suddenly from a leaning posture and looking at her steadily.