Frank's face did flush slightly, although he smiled good humoredly. "Oh, I am nothing but a civilian these days and Bryan is a soldier. I can't expect the same interest to be bestowed upon me, even by my own wife." [127] [127] CHAPTER X She had come down to the train alone to meet him, but said nothing until they had walked away from the little crowd at the station into the gloom of the midwinter afternoon. "It is Bryan," Frank then exclaimed without waiting to be asked. "I had word from the War Office today that he had been mortally wounded." He put his arm about Jack to support her if she should turn faint, but this was not the way Jack received bad news. She stopped for a moment, standing straight, however, with her head up and her shoulders braced. "Are you sure, Frank, there can be no mistake?" she asked slowly. Lord Kent shook his head. "I am afraid not, dear. Bryan was leading[128] a charge out of his trench when a shell hit him. His own men carried him back to a field hospital." [128] His Own Men Carried Him Back to a Field Hospital Jack and Frank then walked slowly on between the winter fields. The grass was still green as it remains almost all the year round in England, but the trees were stripped and bare, and there were no birds in sight, except a few melancholy crows, which in England are called rooks. Jack was recalling the day when she and Captain MacDonnell had taken their last ride together; also the smell of the blossoming hedges and her baby's blue ribbon on his sleeve. Since coming to England as a bride, she and Frank and Bryan had enjoyed a charming friendship. It was to Bryan, Frank had first introduced her,
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