He had never himself seen any signs of strangeness or depression in Aubrey before the Easter of 1915, when they met in Paris, for the first time after the battle of Neuve Chapelle, in which Mannering had lost his dearest friend, one Freddy Vivian, of the Worcesters.

During the winter they had met fairly often in the neighbourhood of Ypres, and Aubrey was then the same eager, impulsive fellow that Chicksands had known at Eton and Cambridge, bubbling over with the exploits of his battalion, and adored by his own men.

In April, in a raid near Festubert, Mannering was badly wounded.

But the change in him was already evident when they were in Paris together.

Chicksands could only suppose it represented the mental and nervous depression caused by Vivian's death, and would pass away.