The engagement was instantly broken off, and Freda, I am sure, felt nothing but relief.

She went abroad for some time, however, and we did not see her till long after Lawrence had been comfortably married to 1,500 pounds a year and a middle-aged widow, who had long been a hero-worshipper, and who, I am told, never allowed any visitor to leave the house without making some allusion to the memorable battle of Saspataras Hill and her Lawrence's gallant action.
For the two years following after the Major's death, Derrick and I, as I mentioned before, shared the rooms in Montague Street.

For me, owing to the trouble I spoke of, they were years of maddening suspense and pain; but what pleasure I did manage to enjoy came entirely through the success of my friend's books and from his companionship.

It was odd that from the care of his father he should immediately pass on to the care of one who had made such a disastrous mistake as I had made.

But I feel the less compunction at the thought of the amount of sympathy I called for at that time, because I notice that the giving of sympathy is a necessity for Derrick, and that when the troubles of other folk do not immediately thrust themselves into his life he carefully hunts them up.