'No, James, my boy, no longer. While you were upstairs changing your clothes she told me—breaking down, poor child, as she spoke—that she wished our engagement to be at an end.'
James half rose from the table, his cheeks blanched.
'You don't mean that!' he gasped.
Colonel Carteret nodded. He was staring out of the window, his fine eyes set in a look of pain.
'But this is nonsense!' cried James. 'This is absurd! She—she mustn't be allowed to chop and change like this. I mean to say, it—it isn't fair—'
'Don't think of me, my boy.'
'I'm not—I mean, did she give any reason?'
'Her eyes did.'
'Her eyes did?'
'Her eyes, when she looked at you on the porch, as you stood there—young, heroic—having just saved the life of the dog she loves. It is you who have won that tender heart, my boy.'