"And I cannot think what those men over at the Skyds-station would have done without you," he said. "Their last words to me this afternoon were, 'Tell her we shall always be wishing to serve her.'"
Katharine remained silent.
"There was this little packet which I was to give you," he said, after a pause. "It was the poor fellow's South African service-medal. You were to have it."
He watched her as she opened the packet and touched the medal. He watched her as she put it in the palm of her hand and looked at it with dim eyes. It would have been easy for him to have opened his heart to her then and there, if he could only have known that she was saying to him with speechless tongue:
"My own dear love, whilst I am looking at this soldier's medal, my heart is giving thanks that the lightning spared you to me."
But he could not guess that, and the moment passed.
The next day, when they were again alone, he attempted to speak.
"Do you remember my saying up at the Saeter that I tried never to dream?" he began.
"Yes," she said. "I have always wished to ask you why you should feel so strongly about dreams."
"I should like to tell you," he said eagerly. "I want to tell you. But——"