He had not seen an English girl—especially one of Olive's style and beauty—for a considerable time past, perhaps, and he looked with genuine interest on Olive, her half-opened mouth, her soft, earnest eyes, her trembling lips, and the tears that clung to her long lashes.
Shyly she asked if it were possible to see Captain Graham, of the Black Watch, who was a patient.
He smiled, and shook his head.
'Do permit me, sir,' she asked, with half-clasped hands and her eyes full of entreaty.
'Do be reasonable, Miss—Raymond,' said he, glancing at her card, which an orderly had given him. 'Your presence would but excite him too much. It will be folly on your part to undo all our precautions simply from a mere desire, however natural, to speak with or see Captain Graham.'
'Oh, sir, if you knew all!'
'All that can be done for him is being done. Besides, there is danger in being near him.'
'Danger!'
'To you.'
'I care not. Why?'