'Give her this ring,' he pulls it off his finger, 'and you'll see Maddie Barnes gets the old horse, won't you? Poor old Rainbow! I know she'll take care of him; and a promise is a promise.'
'All right. He's the property of the Government now, you know; but I'll square it somehow. The General won't object under the circumstances.'
Then he shuts his eyes for a bit. After a while he calls out—
'Dick! Dick Marston.'
'I'm here,' says I.
'If you ever leave this, tell Aileen that her name was the last word I spoke—the very last. She foresaw this day; she told me so. I've had a queer feeling too, this week back. Well, it's over now. I don't know that I'm sorry, except for others. I say, Morringer, do you remember the last pigeon match you and I shot in, at Hurlingham?'
'Why, good God!' says Sir Ferdinand, bending down, and looking into his face. 'It can't be; yes, by Jove, it is——'
He spoke some name I couldn't catch, but Starlight put a finger on his lips, and whispers—
'You won't tell, will you? Say you won't?'
The other nodded.