For the next few days, although, as I was told, I was by no means a bad case, I knew what it was to be a shattered mass of nerves. A man with a limb shot away, or who has had shrapnel or bullets taken from his body, can laugh and be gay,--I have seen that again and again. But one suffering from shell shock goes through agonies untold. I am not going to _try_ to describe it, but I shall never forget what I suffered. As soon as I was fit, I was moved to another hospital nearer the base, and there, as fortune would have it, I met Edgecumbe's colonel. By this time I was able to think coherently, and my spells of nerves were becoming rarer and less violent. 'Yes, my boy, you are a case for home,' said Colonel Gray. 'You are a lucky beggar to get out of it so well. I was talking with your C.O. yesterday; you are going back to England at once. I won't tell you what else he told me about you; your nerves are not strong enough.' 'There's nothing wrong, is there?' Colonel Gray laughed. 'No, it's all the other way. Don't your ears tingle?' 'Not a tingle,' I said. 'But what about Edgecumbe?' 'He's a friend of yours, isn't he?' asked the colonel. 'Yes,' I replied. 'Who is he?' 'I don't know,--I wish I did.' 'He's a wonderful chap. I've had my eye on him for a long time, and I haven't been able to make him out. What really aroused my interest in him was the way--but of course you know all about that, you were in that show. I never laughed so much in my life as when those Boches were brought in. Of course you know he's to get his decoration? It couldn't be helped after that Springfield affair.' As it happened, however, I did not cross to England for several days, but stayed at a base hospital until, in the opinion of the M.O., I was fit to be removed. Meanwhile the carnage went on, and the great battle of the Somme developed according to the plans we had made, although there were some drawbacks. At length the day came when I was to go back to England, and no sooner had I stepped on board the boat than, to my delight, I saw Edgecumbe. 'I _am_ glad to see you!' I cried. 'Thank you, sir.' 'Got it bad?' 'A mere nothing, sir. Just a bruised arm. In a few days I shall be as right as ever.' It was a beautiful day, and as it happened the boat was not crowded. I looked for a quiet spot where we could talk. 'You didn't finish telling me your story when we met last,' I said presently. 'I want to hear it badly.' 'I want you to hear it,' was his reply, and I noted that bright look in his eyes which had so struck me before. CHAPTER XIII EDGECUMBE'S MADNESS 'After all, it's nothing that one can talk much about,' he continued. 'I've become a Christian, that's all. But it's changed everything, _everything_!' 'How?' 'I find it difficult to tell you, sir; but after I'd got back from the Y.M.C.A. meeting I got hold of a New Testament, and for days I did nothing but read it. You see it was a new book to me.'