Brandon of the Engineers

An hour or two after Clare reached home, Lance and Dick Brandon entered

the house and were met by Kenwardine in the hall. He wore a velvet jacket

over his evening clothes and Dick noticed a wine-stain on the breast. He

was thin, but his figure was athletic, although his hair was turning gray

and there were wrinkles about his eyes.

"Very glad to see your cousin," he said to Lance, and turned to Dick with

a smile. "Soldiers have a particular claim on our hospitality, but my

house is open to anybody of cheerful frame of mind. One must relax now

and then in times like these."

"That's why I brought Dick," Lance replied. "He believes in tension. But

I wonder whether your notion of relaxing is getting lax?"

"There's a difference, though it's sometimes rather fine," Kenwardine

answered with a twinkle. "But come in and amuse yourselves as you like.

If you want a drink, you know where to find it."

They played a game of billiards and then went into another room, where

Dick lost a sovereign to Kenwardine. After that, he sat in a corner,

smoking and languidly looking about, for he had been hard at work since

early morning. Two or three subaltern officers from a neighboring camp

stood by the table, besides several other men whose sunburned faces

indicated a country life. The carpets and furniture were getting shabby,

but the room was large and handsome, with well-molded cornices and

paneled ceiling. The play was not high and the men were quiet, but the

room was filled with cigar smoke and there was a smell of liquor. Dick

did not object to drink and gambling in moderation, though it was seldom

that he indulged in either. He found no satisfaction in that sort of

thing, and he now felt that some of Kenwardine's friends would do better

to join the new armies than to waste their time as they were doing.

At last Kenwardine threw down the cards.

"I think we have had enough for a time," he said. "Shall we go into the

music-room, for a change?"

Dick followed the others, and looked up with surprise when Clare came in.

Lance had spoken of a pretty girl, but she was not the type Dick had

expected. She wore a very plain white dress, with touches of blue that

emphasized her delicate coloring. Her hair was a warm yellow with deeper

tones, her features were regular and well-defined, and Dick liked the

level glance of her clear, blue eyes. He thought they rested on him

curiously for a moment. She had Kenwardine's slender, well-balanced

figure, and her movements were graceful, but Dick's strongest impression

was that she was out of place. Though perfectly at ease, she did not fit

into her environment: she had a freshness that did not harmonize with

cigar smoke and the smell of drink.