"Well," said Durham, following with his eyes the spare little figure of Miss Berengaria flitting about amongst the flowers, "I didn't approve of it at the time, and I told Conniston so. But now I think it was just as well Bernard did keep to his original intention and go to the Front. It is advisable there should be an interval between the new life and the old."
"The new life?" asked Alice, flushing.
"He is coming home to be married to you," said Durham.
"And with a bullet in his arm," sighed Alice. "I shall have to nurse him back to health before we can marry."
"Miss Randolph will be occupied in the same pleasing task with Conniston," replied Durham, lazily, "and I envy both my friends."
"You needn't," laughed Miss Malleson, opening her sunshade which cast a delicate pink hue on her cheeks. "Poor Bernard has been wounded and Lord Conniston has been down with enteric fever."
"I am glad they have got off so easily. Bernard might have been shot, you know."
Alice shuddered and grew pale. "Don't, Mr. Durham!"
"That was why I feared about his going out," said he. "I thought it would be a pity, after all he passed through, that he should be killed by a Boer bullet. But he has only temporarily lost the use of his arm; he has been mentioned for gallantry in the despatches; and he is coming home to marry the most charming girl in the world—I quote from his own letter," finished Durham, smiling.
"And Lord Conniston?"