The Kingdom of the Blind [18]
like Granet, a keen soldier and one of the best, doing all he can for us on land but a bit worried about our submarine danger. Why shouldn't I try and reassure him, eh?--let him see that we've a few little things up our sleeves?"
"That sounds all right, Ralph," Thomson agreed, "but you're departing from a principle, and I wouldn't do it. It isn't a personal risk you're running, or a personal secret you're sharing with others. It may sound absurd under the present circumstances, I know, but--"
Granet laughed lightly. His arm fell upon the young sailor's shoulder.
"Perhaps Thomson's right, Conyers," he intervened. "You keep your old scheme at the back of your head. We'll know all about it when the history of the war's written. There's always the thousand to one chance, you know. I might get brain fever in a German hospital and begin to babble. Tear it up, old fellow."
There was a moment's silence. Geraldine turned to Thomson.
"Hugh," she protested, "don't you think you're carrying principle almost too far? It's so fearfully interesting for us when Ralph's at sea, and we wait day by day for news from him, to understand a little what he's doing."
"I think you're a horrid nuisance, Major Thomson," Olive grumbled. "We'd just reached the exciting part."
"I am sorry," Thomson said, "but I think, Ralph, you had better do what Captain Granet suggested."
The young man shrugged his shoulders, his face was a little sulky. He took the plan up and tore it into pieces.
"If you weren't my prospective brother-in-law, you know, Thomson," he exclaimed, "I should call your interference damned cheek! After all, you know, you're only a civilian, and you can't be expected to understand these things."
Thomson was silent for a moment. He read in the others' faces their sympathy with the young sailor's complaint. He moved towards the door.
"I am sorry," he said simply. "Good night, everybody!"
They all wished him good-night--nobody stirred. He walked slowing into the front hall, waited for a moment and then accepted his coat and hat from a servant. Lady Conyers waved to him from the staircase.
"Where's Geraldine?" she asked.
Thomson turned away.
"They are all in the smoking-room, Lady Conyers," he said. "Good night!"
CHAPTER VIII
In a way, their meeting the next morning was fortuitous enough, yet it had also its significance for both of them. Geraldine's greeting was almost studiously formal.
"You are not going to scold me for my memory, are you?" Captain Granet asked, looking down at her with a faintly humorous uplifting of the eyebrows. "I must have exercise, you know."
"I don't even remember telling you that I came into the Park in the mornings," Geraldine replied.
"You didn't--that is to say you didn't mention the Park particularly," he admitted. "You told me you always took these five dogs out for a walk directly after breakfast, and for the rest I used my intelligence."
"I might have gone into Regent's Park or St. James' Park," she reminded him.
"In which case," he observed, "I should have walked up and down until I had had enough of it, and then gone away in a bad temper."
"Don't be foolish," she laughed. "I decline absolutely to believe that you had a single thought of me when you turned in here. Do you mind if I say that I prefer not to believe it?"
He accepted the reproof gracefully.
"Well, since we do happen to have met," he suggested, "might I walk with you a little way? You see," he went on, "it's rather dull hobbling along here all alone."
"Of course you may, if you like," she assented, glancing sympathetically at his stick. "How is your leg getting on?"
"It's better--getting on finely. So far as my leg is concerned, I believe I shall be fit to go out again within ten days. It's my arm that bothers me a little. One of the nerves, the doctor said, must be wrong. I can only just lift it. You've no idea," he went on, "how a game leg and a trussed-up arm interfere with the little round of one's daily life. I can't ride, can't
"That sounds all right, Ralph," Thomson agreed, "but you're departing from a principle, and I wouldn't do it. It isn't a personal risk you're running, or a personal secret you're sharing with others. It may sound absurd under the present circumstances, I know, but--"
Granet laughed lightly. His arm fell upon the young sailor's shoulder.
"Perhaps Thomson's right, Conyers," he intervened. "You keep your old scheme at the back of your head. We'll know all about it when the history of the war's written. There's always the thousand to one chance, you know. I might get brain fever in a German hospital and begin to babble. Tear it up, old fellow."
There was a moment's silence. Geraldine turned to Thomson.
"Hugh," she protested, "don't you think you're carrying principle almost too far? It's so fearfully interesting for us when Ralph's at sea, and we wait day by day for news from him, to understand a little what he's doing."
"I think you're a horrid nuisance, Major Thomson," Olive grumbled. "We'd just reached the exciting part."
"I am sorry," Thomson said, "but I think, Ralph, you had better do what Captain Granet suggested."
The young man shrugged his shoulders, his face was a little sulky. He took the plan up and tore it into pieces.
"If you weren't my prospective brother-in-law, you know, Thomson," he exclaimed, "I should call your interference damned cheek! After all, you know, you're only a civilian, and you can't be expected to understand these things."
Thomson was silent for a moment. He read in the others' faces their sympathy with the young sailor's complaint. He moved towards the door.
"I am sorry," he said simply. "Good night, everybody!"
They all wished him good-night--nobody stirred. He walked slowing into the front hall, waited for a moment and then accepted his coat and hat from a servant. Lady Conyers waved to him from the staircase.
"Where's Geraldine?" she asked.
Thomson turned away.
"They are all in the smoking-room, Lady Conyers," he said. "Good night!"
CHAPTER VIII
In a way, their meeting the next morning was fortuitous enough, yet it had also its significance for both of them. Geraldine's greeting was almost studiously formal.
"You are not going to scold me for my memory, are you?" Captain Granet asked, looking down at her with a faintly humorous uplifting of the eyebrows. "I must have exercise, you know."
"I don't even remember telling you that I came into the Park in the mornings," Geraldine replied.
"You didn't--that is to say you didn't mention the Park particularly," he admitted. "You told me you always took these five dogs out for a walk directly after breakfast, and for the rest I used my intelligence."
"I might have gone into Regent's Park or St. James' Park," she reminded him.
"In which case," he observed, "I should have walked up and down until I had had enough of it, and then gone away in a bad temper."
"Don't be foolish," she laughed. "I decline absolutely to believe that you had a single thought of me when you turned in here. Do you mind if I say that I prefer not to believe it?"
He accepted the reproof gracefully.
"Well, since we do happen to have met," he suggested, "might I walk with you a little way? You see," he went on, "it's rather dull hobbling along here all alone."
"Of course you may, if you like," she assented, glancing sympathetically at his stick. "How is your leg getting on?"
"It's better--getting on finely. So far as my leg is concerned, I believe I shall be fit to go out again within ten days. It's my arm that bothers me a little. One of the nerves, the doctor said, must be wrong. I can only just lift it. You've no idea," he went on, "how a game leg and a trussed-up arm interfere with the little round of one's daily life. I can't ride, can't