'
Dering is equally dogged. 'I don't hold much with evening primroses,
sir; but I was out and about at four; there was no thunderstorm.'
The Colonel still thinks that there was a thunderstorm, but he wants to
placate Dering. 'I suppose I just thought there was one. Perhaps it was
some thunderstorm of long ago that I heard. They do come back, you
know.'
Heavily, 'Do they, sir?'
'I am glad to see you moving about in the garden, Dering, with
everything just as usual.'
There is a cautious slyness about this, as if the Colonel was fishing
for information; but it is too clever for Dering, who is going with a
'Thank you, sir.'
'No, don't go.' The old man lowers his voice and makes a confession
reluctantly, 'I am--a little troubled, Dering.'
Dering knows that his master has a wandering mind, and he answers
nicely, 'Everything be all right, sir.'
'I'm glad of that,' the Colonel says with relief. 'It is pleasant to see
that you have come back, Dering. Why did you go away for such a long
time?'
'Me, sir?' Dering is a little aggrieved. 'I haven't had a day off since
Christmas.
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