Max Wyndham stood beside her, the corners of his mouth drawn down and a very peculiar expression in his green eyes. He had amazed his French friend by refusing to follow the cortège. Even Chris did not know why, for he had clothed himself in an impenetrable cloak of reserve since Bertrand's death, and he was not apparently minded to lift it even for her benefit.
Yet she was glad to have him with her, for Noel had elected to go with
Mordaunt; and though she was quite willing to be left alone, she found
Max's presence a help. She had seen but little of him until the moment
that they stood together looking down upon the passing procession.
It was a grey day. Down on the shore the long waves rolled in to break in wide lines of surf up the rock-strewn beach. The thunder of their breaking mingled with the roll of muffled drums. The full honours of a soldier's funeral were to be accorded to the man who had died before France could make amends.
Slowly the procession wound along the plage, and back upon Chris's memory flashed the day when she and Cinders had waited at the garden gate to see the soldiers pass. She saw again the handsome face of the young officer marching behind his men, the sudden animation leaping into it at sight of her, the eagerness with which he turned to greet her, his momentary hesitation at her request, his smiling surrender. What would have happened, she asked herself, if he had managed to resist her that day? Had that been the beginning of his downfall? Might he otherwise have passed on unscathed?
A sudden sense of coldness assailed her. The street below was empty. She stood alone. She leaned her head against the window-frame. How grey it was!
"Sit down!" said Max practically.
She started. "Oh, Max!" she said weakly.
"Here you are," he said, and guided her down into a chair. "That's the way. Now lean back and shut your eyes."
She obeyed him, without question, as she always did. A vague sense of consolation began to steal through her. His hand, holding hers, dispelled the loneliness.
After a while she opened her eyes and found him watching her. "Oh, Max," she said, "I'm so glad you are here."