Soon James appeared, and shook hands with his uncle.
'You're looking younger than ever, Uncle William. You make me feel quite old.'
'Oh, I never age, bless you! Why, I was talking to my old friend, Lady Green, the other day--she was a Miss Lake, you know--and she said to me: 'Upon my word, Major Forsyth, you're wonderful. I believe you've found the secret of perpetual youth.' 'The fact is,' I said, 'I never let myself grow old. If you once give way to it, you're done.' 'How do you manage it?' she said. 'Madam,' I answered, 'it's the simplest thing in the world. I keep regular hours, and I wear flannel next to my skin.''
'Come, come, Uncle William,' said James, with a smile. 'You didn't mention your underlinen to a lady!'
'Upon my word, I'm telling you exactly what I said.'
'You're very free in your conversation.'
'Well, you know, I find the women expect it from me. Of course, I never go beyond the line.'
Then Major Forsyth talked of the fashions, and of his clothes, of the scandal of the day, and the ancestry of the persons concerned, of the war.
'You can say what you like,' he remarked, 'but my opinion is that Roberts is vastly overrated. I met at the club the other day a man whose first cousin has served under Roberts in India--his first cousin, mind you, so it's good authority--and this chap told me, in strict confidence, of course, that his first cousin had no opinion of Roberts. That's what a man says who has actually served under him.'
'It is certainly conclusive,' said James. 'I wonder your friend's first cousin didn't go to the War Office and protest against Bobs being sent out.'
'What's the good of going to the War Office? They're all corrupt and incompetent there. If I had my way, I'd make a clean sweep of them. Talking of red-tape, I'll just give you an instance. Now, this is a fact. It was told me by the brother-in-law of the uncle of the man it happened to.'
Major Forsyth told his story at great length, finishing up with the assertion that if the army wasn't going to the dogs, he didn't know what going to the dogs meant.
James, meanwhile, catching the glances which passed between his mother and Colonel Parsons, understood that they were thinking of the great subject upon which Uncle William was to be consulted. Half scornfully he gave them their opportunity.
'I'm going for a stroll,' he said, 'through Groombridge. I shan't be back till dinner-time.'
'How lucky!' remarked Colonel Parsons naively, when James had gone. 'We wanted to talk with you privately, William. You're a man of the world.'
'I think there's not much that I don't know,' replied the Major, shooting his linen.
'Tell him, Frances.'
Mrs. Parsons, accustomed to the part of spokeswoman, gave her tale, interrupted now and again by a long whistle with which the Major signified his shrewdness, or by an energetic nod which meant that the difficulty was nothing to him.
'You're quite right,' he said at last; 'one has to look upon these things from the point of view of the man of the world.'
'We knew you'd be able to help us,' said Colonel Parsons.
'Of course! I shall settle the whole thing in five minutes. You leave it to me.'
'I told you he would, Frances,' cried the Colonel, with a happy smile. 'You think that James ought to marry the girl, don't you?'
'Certainly. Whatever his feelings are, he must act as a gentleman and an officer. Just you let me talk it over with him. He has great respect for all I say; I've noticed that already.'
Mrs. Parsons looked at her brother doubtfully.
'We haven't known what to do,' she murmured. 'We've prayed for guidance, haven't we, Richmond? We're anxious not to be hard on the boy, but we must be just.'
'Leave it to me,' repeated Uncle William. 'I'm a man of the world, and I'm thoroughly at home in matters of this sort.'
* * *
According to the little plan which, in his subtlety, Major Forsyth had suggested, Mrs. Parsons, soon after dinner, fetched the backgammon board.
'Shall we have our usual game, Richmond?'
Colonel Parsons looked significantly at his brother-in-law.
'If William doesn't mind?'
'No, no, of course not! I'll have a little chat with Jamie.'
The players sat down at the corner of the table, and rather nervously began to set out the men. James stood by the window, silent as ever, looking at the day that was a-dying, with a milk-blue sky and tenuous clouds, copper and gold. Major Forsyth took a chair opposite him, and pulled his moustache.
'Well, Jamie, my boy, what is all this nonsense I hear about you and Mary Clibborn?'
Colonel Parsons started at the expected question, and stole a hurried look at his son. His wife noisily shook the dice-box and threw the dice on the board.
'Nine!' she said.
James turned to look at his uncle, noting a little contemptuously the change of his costume, and its extravagant
