“When I saw him last he was well, I am sure he was well.”
“How long ago, sir, when—”
“May I be pardoned for asking the name of my pretty inquisitor?”
“It is Helen Preston. I am from Dunvegan.”
“He loved a Helen.”
Again the scarlet flush came. The colonel noticed her eyes light for the first time.
“I must go, sir. Can you not tell me where to find him?”
“Yes, I know where you will find him,” he said, smiling tenderly. “Heaven will not be far from where you find him.”
Helen returned his smile trustingly.
“Perhaps Mrs. Adams, his landlady, has heard something of him. I will send Joe to her house,” Colonel Masters continued, looking, not at the girl, but at the flag he held in his hand. Helen insisted on accompanying Joe, for her impatience could not brook delay in her loving search.