Ethne's recapture of her youth pointed inevitably to that
conclusion. She treasured the feather because it was no longer a symbol
of cowardice but a symbol of cowardice atoned.
But Harry Feversham had not returned, he still slunk in the world's
by-ways. Willoughby, then, was not the only man who had brought the
accusation; there were others--two others. One of the two Durrance had
long since identified. When Durrance had suggested that Harry might be
taken to Omdurman, Ethne had at once replied, "Colonel Trench is in
Omdurman." She needed no explanation of Harry's disappearance from Wadi
Halfa into the southern Soudan. It was deliberate; he had gone out to be
captured, to be taken to Omdurman. Moreover, Ethne had spoken of the
untrustworthiness of the go-between, and there again had helped Durrance
in his conjectures. There was some obligation upon Feversham to come to
Trench's help. Suppose that Feversham had laid his plans of rescue, and
had ventured out into the desert that he might be his own go-between. It
followed that a second feather had been sent to Ramelton, and that
Trench had sent it.
To-night Durrance was able to join Major Castleton to Trench and
Willoughby.
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