Then when at last Elizabeth
had gone off to telephone some final orders to Captain Dell at
Fallerton for the morning Pamela and Arthur were left alone.
He came over to where she sat, and drew a chair beside her.
'Poor child!' he said, under his breath--'poor child!'
She lifted her eyes, swimming in tears.
'Isn't it marvellous, how she's thought of everything--done
everything?'
Elizabeth had not been in his mind, but he understood the _amende_
offered and was deeply touched.
'Yes, she's a wonderful creature. Let her care for you, Pamela, dear
Pamela!'
He lifted her hand to his lips, and put his arm round her. She leant
against him, and he gently kissed her cheek. So Love came to them,
but in its most tragic dress, veiled and dumb, with haggard eyes of
grief.
Then Pamela tried to tell him all that she herself had understood of
the gallant deed, the bit of 'observation work' in the course of
which Desmond had received his wound. He had gone out with another
subaltern, a sergeant, and a telephonist, creeping by night over No
Man's Land to a large shell-hole, close upon an old crater where a
German outpost of some thirty men had found shelter.
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