"Ah! How kind, Paul."
"Not so. But I would be kind to you, Belinda," he said quickly and earnestly. "It is for this I would warn you."
"Of what?" she asked.
"Of that flying-man, perhaps."
"Oh!"
"He was asleep when I went into the ward—Herr Lieutenant Gessler, as they call him. So I did not speak to him. But you have a boy across the aisle from the Herr Lieutenant—Ernest Spiegel."
"Yes?"
"That is a poison-tongue!" exclaimed Paul angrily. "I do not know whether to believe him or think him altogether a liar."
"What—what does he say?" asked Belinda. "He gives me much trouble. But, poor boy——"
"Waste no sympathy on him," growled Paul. "He is a treacherous little beast. Whether it be true or not——"