Gratian, who had managed to get transferred to a London Hospital, was now living at home. She had provided the house with new maids against her sister's return; and though Noel was relieved not to meet her old familiars, she encountered with difficulty the stolid curiosity of new faces. That morning before she left Kestrel, her aunt had come into her room while she was dressing, taken her left hand and slipped a little gold band on to its third finger. “To please me, Nollie, now that you're going, just for the foolish, who know nothing about you.”
Noel had suffered it with the thought: 'It's all very silly!' But now, when the new maid was pouring out her hot water, she was suddenly aware of the girl's round blue eyes wandering, as it were, mechanically to her hand. This little hoop of gold, then, had an awful power! A rush of disgust came over her. All life seemed suddenly a thing of forms and sham. Everybody then would look at that little ring; and she was a coward, saving herself from them! When she was alone again, she slipped it off, and laid it on the washstand, where the sunlight fell. Only this little shining band of metal, this little yellow ring, stood between her and the world's hostile scorn! Her lips trembled. She took up the ring, and went to the open window; to throw it out. But she did not, uncertain and unhappy—half realising the cruelty of life. A knock at the door sent her flying back to the washstand. The visitor was Gratian.
“I've been looking at him,” she said softly; “he's like you, Nollie, except for his nose.”
“He's hardly got one yet. But aren't his eyes intelligent? I think they're wonderful.” She held up the ring: “What shall I do about this, Gratian?”
Gratian flushed. “Wear it. I don't see why outsiders should know. For the sake of Dad I think you ought. There's the parish.”
Noel slipped the ring back on to her finger. “Would you?”
“I can't tell. I think I would.”
Noel laughed suddenly. “I'm going to get cynical; I can feel it in my bones. How is Daddy looking?”
“Very thin; Mr. Lauder is back again from the Front for a bit, and taking some of the work now.”
“Do I hurt him very much still?”