But Frank it was. No trace of disappointment was legible in Eugenia's countenance as she welcomed him rather more cordially than usual, whereas Sydney's manner was preoccupied and almost cold. Frank was tired, however, and very glad to be home again; and not being gifted with the quickest perception in the world, discovered nothing amiss. Eugenia rang for tea for him, and he drew in his chair near the fire, and sat there drinking it in comfortable content, telling them all about his journey and adventures, and what a charming little country parsonage he had been staying at--"The very place for you and me, Sydney, when we get old, and past hard work." And Sydney smiled, without seeming to hear what he was saying. Then a new thought struck Frank. "Oh, by-the-bye," he exclaimed, "did you see Chancellor before he left? He went off quite in a hurry at the end. He told me on Saturday evening he was expecting to go soon, but he thought he would be here through this week. And this evening I got a letter from him from some place or other--Wins--something--his home, I suppose--saying how sorry he was not to have seen me, to say good-bye--some family arrangements, he said, had called him off in a hurry at the last." "I saw a note in his handwriting addressed to papa on the hall-table. It came by this evening's post. No doubt, it was saying the same thing," said Eugenia. She almost overdid it; even Frank looked up, struck by the strange unfamiliar monotone in which she spoke. "But he is coming back again. He is certain to come back again, Frank? Tell me, isn't he quite _certain_ to come back again?" asked Sydney, with a quick, painful eagerness in her voice, as if entreating Frank not to answer no. He stared at her for a moment, he did not understand her. Had he done so, he might have softened the bluntness of his reply, for he was far from callous or hardhearted to suffering in any shape. "How interested you seem in his movements, Sydney. I have always thought you didn't particularly like him. You've changed your opinion rather suddenly, surely? Come back again? No, it is very unlikely indeed that he will ever come back again. The 203rd is sure to leave Bridgenorth before Captain Chancellor's leave is over, and, of course, the Wareborough detachment will go too. The regiment has been quite its time here. Chancellor was aide-de-camp to his cousin, General Conyers, somewhere in Ireland, till he came here--that's how he happened to be so short a time here." "And where will the regiment go to?" inquired Sydney. The words seemed to form themselves mechanically on her lips; a strange feeling came over her that it was really Eugenia, not herself, who was speaking.