'This,' he murmured,' is to our fuller alliance.'
She drank with him, although she seemed a little puzzled.
'Listen, dear,' he went on, 'there is just one little thing I'd like to say to you to-night. You and I have helped one another at times, but there has always been a certain reserve. I told you months ago that I was for America above all things, and America only. To-day I feel differently. I have been a witness--you and I together--of foul and brutal murder. I have seen women drowned, have heard their shrieks. America may keep the peace with Germany. It may be in the interests of the highest diplomacy that she should. As for me, I am at war with Germany. I am your ally.'
'Then there is some good,' she whispered, 'which has come out of that great and abominable evil.'
'A very small good,' he said, 'but it may count. Tell me, do you know who that fair, almost sandy young man is, sitting at the table with Félanie and her friends?'
'Of course,' she answered. 'That is Lenwade, the great flying man.'
She dropped her voice suddenly. The young man had risen from his chair, and, in the act of passing down the room to speak to some acquaintances, paused before their table. He bowed to Suzanne and held out his hand to Lavendale. They were old acquaintances and spoke for some time on indifferent subjects.
'What have you been doing with yourself lately?' Lavendale inquired.
'Not much flying,' the other confessed. 'I have been down giving lessons and breaking in a lot of the youngsters, but I can't stick it myself as I used to. Plays the devil with your nerves.'
'Rubbish!' Lavendale laughed. 'You haven't a nerve in your body.'
'Haven't I?' the other replied. 'I remember the time when I could say that. I'd give anything to be at the front now if I felt equal to it, or if my doctor would let me.'
Lavendale smiled, and glanced around to be sure that his neighbours were not listening.
'What were you doing at Ypres the week before last, then?' he asked, dropping his voice a little.
Lenwade for a moment was silent, then he shrugged his shoulders.
'You must have mistaken me for some one else,' he declared. 'Good-night!'
He took his leave a little abruptly. Lavendale watched him disappear. Then he glanced towards his companion. His face had become graver.