Hermie clung to his arm—her very lips were white.
'Mortimer has been very brave,' she said; 'he has done something magnificent.' Her voice fell.
'My lad!' he cried, in a changed tone. 'Where? show me—I haven't seen the paper yet.'
She clung to it.
'You will be very proud of him,' she said 'All Australia is talking of him to-day.'
He pulled vigorously at the paper; his creased old face had a strangely illumined look; his hands were trembling with eagerness.
'I knowed it,' he said; 'he always had grit. I've kep' expectin' this. Well, I'll lie quiet in me grave now, whenever the Lord up there likes.'
'Yes,' the girl continued, and gave him the paper. 'All the world is proud of him to-day, so that must help you. He gave his life to save the general's.'
The old man drew a curious breath, and sat down on his chair; he opened the paper and read the paragraph. Then he read it again, and again, and again, until his eyes had carried the news to his brain twenty times at least.
'It was a fine thing to do,' he said at last.