"Yes; we're twins. He's the clever one. That's why he's at Chatham now--in the Engineers. It was all I could do to scramble into the Hussars." And he laughed reminiscently at the scramble, and then told her about it. "And which of you is the elder? Even in twins one of you must come first." "That's funny now. Lord Deseret was asking me that the first time we met, and I couldn't tell him. We've really never troubled about it, you see, or thought about it at all until a very short time ago. I suppose it was the fellows at school wanting to know which was the elder that set us thinking about it. We asked old Mrs. Lee--she keeps house for us at Carne, you know--and Mr. Eager----" "Who is Mr. Eager?" "Oh, he's a splendid fellow. He's curate at Wyvveloe, and he's done everything for us, he and Gracie "--and madame noted the softened inflection as he said the word. "And who is Gracie?" "Mr. Eager's sister. They call her 'the Little Lady' in Wyvveloe." "Is she pretty?" "Oh, she's lovely, and as good and sweet as can be." "You're in love with her, I suppose." "Yes, I am," said Jim, colouring up, "and I'm not ashamed of it." "And what about Jack?" "He's in love with her, too." "That's rather awkward, isn't it? What does Miss Gracie say to it all?" "Oh, she was terribly upset. You see she had never thought of us like that. It was after the dance at Sir George Herapath's that we found it out----" "She had a low dress on, I suppose--bare arms and shoulders, and you had never seen her so before." "Yes," he said, surprised at such acumen, "I suppose that was it. We all used to bathe together and run about the sands. But that night she seemed to grow up all of a sudden--and so did we." "And what does her brother say to it--and your grandfather?" "We're to say nothing more about it for a year. You see, this war is coming on and you never can tell----" "War is horror," she said, with a shudder. "I have seen fighting in Spain and in the streets of Paris. It is terrible. You may neither of you come back alive. If only one comes, then, I suppose----" "Yes, that would settle it all." "And you do not remember your mother?" she asked, after a pause. "We never knew her," he said thoughtfully, bethinking him suddenly of Lord Deseret and that curious saying of his. "She died when we were born, and nobody has told us about her. Old Mrs. Lee must remember her, but she would never tell us, and Sir Denzil--well, you can't ask him about anything--at least, not to get any good from it." "He has been good to you both?" "Oh yes, in his way. But if it hadn't been for Mr. Eager----. We were growing up just little savages, running wild In the sand-hills, you know. And then he came, and it has made all the difference in the world to us." "You owe him much, then?" "Everything! Him and Gracie."