He turned round quickly and came to her, taking both her hands. Looking into her eyes he could not fail to see the light in them; it dazzled but did not blind; it opened his to what was hidden behind the electric flashes in hers. For a few moments there was silence. Then he said:
"I am come to say goodbye, Eve, my old playmate, my best friend."
His voice was well under control, no tremor, but it vibrated and played on her heart-strings. She was agitated; she had been counting on this parting, thinking what might happen, re-changing many things.
"We leave to-morrow, or the next day. I go to London to-night. I cannot tell you our destination, but I can guess it."
Still she did not speak, and he went on:
"We shall give a good account of ourselves, the Sherwoods. Many of us will not return, but something tells me I shall come through it all and live."
"How I shall miss you!" she said. "It will be in fear and trembling I open the paper each morning and scan the lists. But you are doing right; no man can hang back at such a moment. You are glad to be in uniform again?"
"Indeed I am. I feel as though I had never been out of it," he answered.
"You look splendid," she said.
"This morning you are at your best," he replied.