the place, and the thought of her isolation came upon him now like a
fiery torture.

It was the fiercest temptation he had ever known. Till that day his
regimental duties had always been placed first with rigorous
determination. Now for the first time he found himself torn by
conflicting ties. The craving for news of her possessed him like a
burning thirst. Yet he knew that some hours must elapse before he could
honestly consider himself free to go.

He called an orderly at last, finding the suspense unendurable, and gave
him a scribbled line to carry to his wife.

"Is all well, sweetheart? Send back word by bearer," he wrote, and told
the man not to return without an answer.

The orderly departed, and for a while Merryon devoted himself to the
matter in hand, and crushed his anxiety into the background. But at the
end of an hour he was chafing in a fever of impatience. What delayed the
fellow? In Heaven's name, why was he so long?

Ghastly possibilities arose in his mind, fears unspeakable that he dared
not face. He forced himself to attend to business, but the suspense was
becoming intolerable. He began to realize that he could not stand it
much longer.

He was nearing desperation when the colonel came unexpectedly upon the
scene, unshaven and haggard as he was himself, but firm as a rock in the
face of adversity.