"Don't expect me to tell.It has something to do with a staff; but whether he carries it, or becudgels recruits with it, I have no idea at all.""He hasn't left the Scottish Horse?"
"In fact; but not in name.Your regiment is still in the Transvaal;but he keeps a sort of vicarious connection with it.Please don't expect me to grasp military details, Mr.Weldon.I merely repeat the facts, parrot fashion; you must interpret them to suit yourself."He laughed again.Already, in that one morning, he appeared to have taken a long stride towards the regaining of his old self.
"You are a perfect gazette, Miss Dent, the first bit of news that has crept inside this place.Where did you get all your information?""From Captain Frazer." Her rising color belied her unconcerned tone.
"You have seen him, then?"
"Yes.He is usually very good about calling, whenever he comes to Cape Town.""And is he well?"
"Absolutely.Also quite enthusiastic over his troopers and the work they did at Vlaakfontein.""Were--many--"
She understood.
"Not very many; but several were wounded.Worst of all, one or two of the wounded ones were shot by the Boers.Mr.Carew told me that he left a dozen of your men in the hospital at Krugersdorp.""Carew? Have you seen him, too, Miss Dent?""Didn't you know he was here?"
He stared at her in blank amazement.
"Here in Johannesburg?"
"Here in this hospital."
"In what shape?"
"Hilarious in his mind, and with a foot that is coming out right in course of time.Didn't Alice tell you?""No."
"Strange.She took me to see him, this morning, on my way here, because he was such a promising patient.She was quite surprised to find we were old acquaintances.""Oh," Weldon said slowly."I begin to see.Miss Mellen had never met Carew, so she had no idea we were friends.What a curious snarl it all is!""The hand of Fate is in it," Ethel assented idly.
"Do you believe in Fate, too?"
"Surely.Why not?"
"Nothing, only your cousin said you didn't."The girl frowned.
"Alice doesn't know all my mental processes," she said a little severely.
"She didn't pretend to.We were speaking of Fate, yesterday, of the way certain events in one's life seem absolutely inevitable; at least, I was.Then the conversation worked around to you, and Miss Mellen suggested that you usually rose superior to Fate," Weldon explained at some length.
Once again, Ethel felt the note of finality in his tone.For an instant, she shut her lips.Then she reverted to the main question.
"How do you mean inevitable?"
"As if you chose your path, and then found that, for always, it had been the only thing for you to do.That's not so clear, I know; but I can't put it much better.""For instance?"
"For instance, my coming out here when I did.I was interested in the war; but there was no real question of my coming, until the month I sailed.Then, all of a sudden, I seemed to know why it was that I had spent my life on horseback.They told me in England that the real war was over.When I landed at Cape Town, I found out that the one thing needed was a man who could ride, and shoot straight.
From the day I sailed from home, until now, I have been like an actor walking through a part that some one else has written for him.
I have chosen nothing; it all has been inevitable."She rose to her feet, and stood leaning on the back of her chair.
"In that case, Mr.Weldon, you must include our meeting in your scheme of things," she said, with a smile.
His answering smile met her smile with perfect frankness.
"I sometimes wonder if that wasn't the most inevitable part of it all."
