"It was not hers, to give. All that is hers, was his." "I see. Which of them did you know first?" "I have known Lady Ingleby all my life," said Myra, truthfully; "and I have known Lord Ingleby since his marriage." "Ah. Then he became your friend, because he married her?" Myra laughed. "Yes," she said. "I suppose so." "What's the joke?" "Only that it struck me as an amusing way of putting it; but it is undoubtedly true." "Have they any children?" Myra's voice shook slightly. "No, none. Why do you ask?" "Well, in the campaign, I often shared Lord Ingleby's tent; and he used to talk in his sleep." "Yes?" "There was one name he often called and repeated." Lady Ingleby's heart stood still. "Yes?" she said, hardly breathing. "It was 'Peter'," continued Jim Airth. "The night before he was killed, he kept turning in his sleep and saying: 'Peter! Hullo, little Peter! Come here!' I thought perhaps he had a little son named Peter." "He had no son," said Lady Ingleby, controlling her voice with effort. "Peter was a dog of which he was very fond. Was that the only name he spoke?" "The only one I ever heard," replied Jim Airth. Then suddenly Lady Ingleby clasped both hands round his arm. "Jim," she whispered, brokenly, "Not once have you spoken my name. It was a bargain. We were to be old and intimate friends. I seem to have been calling you 'Jim' all my life! But you have not yet called me 'Myra,' Let me hear it now, please." Jim Airth laid his big hand over both of hers. "I can't," he said. "Hush! I can't. Not up here--it means too much. Wait until we get back to earth again. Then--Oh, I say! Can't you help?" This kind of emotion was an unknown quantity to Lady Ingleby. So was the wild beating of her own heart. But she knew the situation called for tact, and was not tactful speech always her special forte? "Jim," she said, "are you not frightfully hungry? I should be; only I had an enormous tea before coming out. Would you like to hear what I had for tea? No. I am afraid it would make you feel worse. I suppose dinner at the inn was over, long ago. I wonder what variation of fried fish they had, and whether Miss Susannah choked over a fish-bone, and had to be requested to leave the room. Oh, do you remember that evening? You looked so dismayed and alarmed, I quite thought you were going to the rescue! I wonder what time it is?" "We can soon tell that," said Jim Airth, cheerfully. He dived into his pocket, produced a matchbox which he had long been fingering turn about with his pipe and tobacco-pouch, struck a light, and looked at his watch. Myra saw the lean brown face, in the weird flare of the match. She also saw the horrid depth so close to them, which she had almost forgotten. A sense of dizziness came over her. She longed to cling to his arm; but he had drawn it resolutely away.