“You are very good,” she murmured confusedly. She was moving away when she noticed that Colonel Dalton was staring fixedly, not at her, but at a brooch which she wore fastening her nurse’s apron to her dress.
But probably he was in a reverie and not seeing anything at all!
However, Nona did not have to remain long in doubt. Colonel Dalton spoke abruptly.
“That’s an extraordinary pin you’ve got there, a collection of letters isn’t it? I wonder if by any chance it represents the motto of your own family?”
Nona shook her head and carelessly unclasped the pin. “No,” she answered, “and I have scarcely been able to find out what the letters spell. I wonder if you could tell me.”
The man scarcely glanced at the pin. “The letters are ‘Vinces,’ the Latin for ‘Conquer.’” Then strangely enough Colonel Dalton flushed, a curious brick-red, which is a peculiarity of many Englishmen.
“It’s a remarkable request I wish to make of you, Miss Davis. But would you mind parting with that little pin? It’s an odd fancy of mine, but then every soldier is superstitious and I should like very much to possess it. Possibly because of the meaning of the word, for the word ‘Conquer’ never meant more in the history of the world than it does to an Englishman today.”
But Nona had crimsoned uncomfortably and was clutching at her brooch in a stupid fashion. “I am awfully sorry,” she murmured, “it must seem ungracious of me, but I value the pin very much. You see, it was given me by some one——”
“In this country, or in your own?” Colonel Dalton interrupted.
Again Nona hesitated. Suddenly she had become conscious of the unread letter in her pocket which she had just received from Lady Dorian, and of the hour of their parting and her bestowal of the pin.