"Yes, lady," he answered soberly. "Dreaming. Some of the ghosts we knew have been coming to me out of the blue grey mists." He fell into step beside her, and they moved towards the house. "Ah! don't," she whispered--"don't! Oh! it's wicked, this war; cruel, damnable." She stopped and faced him, her breast rising and falling quickly. "And we can't follow you, Jim--we women. You go into the unknown." "Yes--yours is the harder part. You can only wait and wonder." "Wait and wonder!" She laughed bitterly. "Hope and pray--while God sleeps." "Hush, lady!" he answered quietly; "for that way there lies no peace. Is Sybil indoors?" "Yes--she's expecting you. Thank goodness you're not going out yet awhile, Jim; the child is fretting herself sick over her brother as it is--and when you go...." "Yes--when I go, what then?" he asked quietly. "Because I'm very nearly fit again, Lady Alice. My arm is nearly all right." "Do you want to go back, Jim?" Her quiet eyes searched his face. "Look at that." They had rounded a corner, and in front of them a man was leaning against a wall talking to the cook. They were in the stage known as walking-out--or is it keeping company? The point is immaterial and uninteresting. But the man, fit and strong, was in a starred trade. He was a forester--or had been since the first rumour of compulsion had startled his poor tremulous spirit. A very fine, but not unique example of the genuine shirker.... "What has he to do with us?" said Jim bitterly. "That thing takes his stand along with the criminals, and the mental degenerates. He's worse than a conscientious objector. And we've got no choice. He reaps the benefits for which he refuses to fight. I don't want to go back to France particularly; every feeling I've got revolts at the idea just at present. I want to be with Sybil, as you know; I want to--oh! God knows! I was mad over the water--it bit into me; I was caught by the fever. It's an amazing thing how it gets hold of one. All the dirt and discomfort, and the boredom and the fright--one would have thought...." He laughed. "I suppose it's the madness in the air. But I'm sane now." "Are you? I wonder for how long. Let's go in and have some tea." The woman led the way indoors; there was silence again save only for the sound of the river. CHAPTER II THE WOMEN AND--THE MEN