"Why did you utter that exclamation when you came into the room?" said Kitty.
"Because you are so like your sister," he replied. "You know I have been in hospital for the last fortnight. I am better, but I am confoundedly weak. Would you think me very rude if I dropped into a chair?"
"Oh, please seat yourself," said the girl. She gave a dreary sigh and looked out of the window. "It will soon be dark," she said. "The only peaceful time in Ladysmith is when it is dark! Do you think the enemy will make an assault and try to take the town at night, Major Strause?"
"Oh, bless you, no," said the major. "The Boers like to fight under cover. They won't attack us; at least that is my belief."
"But I heard some of the officers saying to-day at dinner that the Boers did fight sometimes in the open, and that they might make an assault on the town. I heard them say so—I did really," said Kitty.
"Well, they talked nonsense; don't you believe a word of it," said the major.
He felt himself quite manly as he sat not far away from Kitty and looked avariciously at her face. Her likeness to Mollie made this quite an agreeable task. She shuffled uneasily under his stare, and turned once more to look out of the window.
"It is so dull in Ladysmith," she said then, with a sigh. "I never knew a siege meant this."
"What did you think it meant?" asked the major.
"Oh, nothing like this," she repeated. "I thought there was great excitement, and that everybody kept close together, and that—"