"Good-bye all," and with a silent shake of the hand he took up his
bundle and stick and went out, leaving his brothers, who had not
been told of his intentions, speechless with astonishment.



Chapter 2.

Frank Mallet, after he had visited all his tenants, drove to Sir
John Greendale's.

"We have got the route," he said, as he entered; "and I leave this
evening. I had a note from the Adjutant this morning saying that
will be soon enough, so you see I have time to come over and say
goodbye comfortably."

"I do not think goodbyes are ever comfortable," Lady Greendale
said. "One may get through some more comfortably than others, but
that is all that can be said for the best of them."

"I call them hateful," Bertha put in. "Downright hateful, Captain
Mallett--especially when anyone is going away to fight."

"They are not pleasant, I admit," Frank Mallett agreed; "and I
ought to have said as comfortably as may be. I think perhaps those
who go feel it less than those who stay. They are excited about
their going; they have lots to think about and to do; and the idea
that they may not come back again scarcely occurs to them at the
time, although they would admit its possibility or even its