“I’ve got to get up.” Then, softening at her aunt’s horror, “Poor Auntie! I must have been a nuisance. But I’m all right now. Can’t you see? Who was it?” “Oh, Mrs. Gedge. Laura, don’t be ridiculous! Cover yourself up! They’re in such trouble. They can’t hold Robin. And he was to have been ordained. I’m as patriotic as any one, but I do _not_ see——But it takes hold of the men somehow. I remember your father——Extraordinary! People you’d never dream——Now wouldn’t you call Justin Cloud the last person——?” She checked herself. “Oh, Laura, I didn’t mean to tell you—not yet—the doctor——Now, Laura, I will not have you getting up!” But Laura, hanging on to the edge of the dressing-table, was tugging feebly at a drawer. “I must. I must be well. There must be things to do. D’you think I can lie here——? When did you hear?” Aunt Adela was resigned. “Well, if you must, I’ll get you a dressing-gown. Of course, Dr. Bradley has said all along that if you could only make the effort——” Laura swayed where she stood. “I’m all right. When did you hear?” “About Justin? I knew you’d be upset. Not that he’ll get out. Everybody says it can’t last six months. But I wonder he hasn’t written. I had such a nice note from Mrs. Cloud, apologizing for not seeing me when I called. She was at home for a few days—getting things together. She is going to town for the present to be near him, till he knows where he’s training. And her love to you. H.A.C. I wonder if he’ll get a commission? But you’ll be hearing from Justin himself in a day or two, I expect. Would you like some hot water?” She bustled out of the room. Laura, bent and flushed over the task of putting on stockings, for the grasshopper was still a burden for all her high-handedness, wondered how she was to convey to Aunt Adela that there would be no letters from Justin. And from that passed dully to the knowledge that if she had been patient, if she, wise in her own eyes, had not chosen to force the issue, there would have still been ‘letters’ in her life. And who, pray, was she to have doubted Justin? “H.A.C.—the first week!” This was the man that she would have ruled and schooled!... “A shock—that’s what he wants—a shock.” ... her own words were a bitter taste in her mouth. For now it had come, the shock, the real thing—no crazy schoolgirl artifice—and she was justified to her own undoing. “A private—the first week!” Justified—thank God she was justified. But there would be no letters from Justin. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XXXI