"
Ethel smiled.
"Don't let him stop near you, then," she advised.
"Why not? He is as good as a shield. It is hard on him, though. He
was hit four or five times before Vlaakfontein, and has had one
scratch since."
"What is the trouble? Is he foolhardy?"
"Foolhardy in war, Miss Dent?"
"Yes, just that. There is no sense in taking needless risks."
"But it is mighty hard to draw the line between avoiding needless
risks and funking necessary ones," he answered. "But Carew isn't
reckless. He is plucky, but very level-headed, and he means to take
care of himself, when he can. One can't always, you know. And then
he is wonderfully unlucky."
"You believe in luck, then?"
"Yes, or Fate. What else makes a man move out of the way, just in
time for the bullet to graze his cheek? He doesn't see the bullet
coming; neither does the man who stops it. Both of them are busy
about something else. For the man who escapes it, it is Providence;
for the man who gets killed, it is Fate."
She tried to rouse him from his sudden gravity.
"And for both, it is mere chance."
"If you call it that. Miss Dent--" He hesitated.
"Yes," she assented gravely.
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