But they
were scarcely done before he would turn to Elizabeth, and his eager
feverish look would send her to the telephone to ask Arthur
Chicksands at the War Office if Haig's mid-day telegram was in--or
any fresh news.
On the 20th of March, Chicksands, who had been obliged to go back to
his work, came down again for the night. Desmond lay waiting for
him, and Arthur saw at once that death was much nearer. But the boy
had himself insisted on strychnine and morphia before the visit, and
talked a great deal.
The military news, however, that Chicksands brought him disappointed
him greatly.
'Not _yet_?'--he said miserably--'_not yet_?'--breathing his life
into the words, when Chicksands read him a letter from a staff
officer in the Intelligence Department describing the enormous
German preparations for the offensive, but expressing the view--'It
may be some days more before they risk it!'
'I shall be gone before they begin!' he said, and lay sombre and
frowning on his pillows, till Chicksands had beguiled him by some
letters from men in Desmond's own division which he had taken
special trouble to collect for him.
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