"My battalion is at the front."
She braced herself for the next question.
"And when do you think you'll have to go, darling?"
"Rather soon," he told her in his gentlest voice.
"Rather soon," she echoed in a whisper. "Shall we go and sit somewhere in the shade? The sun is so hot along this wall. I wonder the phloxes can stand it without wilting."
"There was a heavy dew this morning," he reminded her.
A heavy dew this morning? It was a day then, a real day in time. The date was in the almanac. It was not a dream. There was a heavy dew this morning, and Richard would be on his way to South Africa rather soon.
"And I suppose you'll have to go up to town about your uniform?" she asked.
"Yes, I shall have to see about my kit."