In the light of Cape Town and the practical advice which had been his for the asking, his outfit appeared comically complete.Two thirds of it must be stored in Cape Town; of the other third, one full half must be left with the negro servants at the hotel.His toilet fixtures would have been adequate for a Paris season; his superfluous rugs would have warmed him during a winter on the apex of the North Pole.It was with something between a smile and a sigh that he stowed away the greater part of his waistcoats and neckties, in company with the silver-mounted medicine chest by which his mother had set such store.It was as Carew had said: quinine and tobacco were the main essentials.
Then, for the last time in many months, he arrayed himself in black cloth and fine linen, chose his stick and gloves with care, and, leaving Adderley Street behind him, turned eastward towards the home of the Dents.
He found Ethel on the broad veranda, bordered with flower-boxes and overlooking the garden and the blue waters of Table Bay.Dressed in a thin white gown which, to Weldon's mind, was curiously out of keeping with all his preconceived notions of January weather, she rose and came forward to greet him at the top of the steps.
"At last," she said cordially, while she gave him her hand."I began to fear you had already gone to the front.""Not without seeing you again," he answered, as he followed her back to the bamboo chairs at the shaded western end of the veranda."In fact, I began to be rather afraid I should never see the front at all.""What do you mean?" she asked quickly."Has something happened since I saw you?""A great deal has happened.The thing I referred to was my first sight of British regulars."Her face cleared.
"Oh, is that all?"
"It is a good deal," he assured her, as he sat down."I came out here with all sorts of high notions regarding volunteers.""Well?" she questioned smilingly.
"Well, they have been taken out of me.An untrained man isn't worth much in any line, least of all in the firing line.Still, it would be very ignominious to go back home again."Her eyes swept over his alert, well-groomed figure.
"And when do you start for the front, Trooper Weldon?""How do you know I start at all?"
"How do I know you are sitting opposite me?" she asked lightly.
"Having eyes, I use them."
"And they tell you--?" he responded.
"That you are looking content with life."The laughter died out of his eyes.
"I am," he said gravely; "perfectly content.I am enrolled in the Scottish Horse, and I go tomorrow.""The Scottish Horse?" she asked quickly."Which squadron?""Do you know anything of it?"
"A little," she answered; "but that little is good.Then it is to Maitland that you are going?""Are you omniscient, Miss Dent?"
"No; merely an inquisitive girl who remembers the answers to the questions that she asks.My father, you know, is in the thick of things, and it seems to me I have met half the British army, in the four days I have been at home.""Officers, or Tommies?" he reminded her.
She laughed at the recollection of her former prejudice.
"You told the truth, Mr.Weldon.One of the men I danced with, last season, is riding across Natal in the same squadron with his groom.
