'Yes, only a year,' said he briskly, and Mrs.Willoughby smiled in spite of herself.
She thought of the new air of alertness which Fielding had worn since his return from Switzerland.

She came back to Drake and held out her hand to him.

'You think very wisely for your friends,' she said.
'It's an inspiriting business to see a community in the making,' he answered; 'especially when there's money to help it to make itself quickly.' He wished her good-bye and moved to the door.

As he opened it he said, 'By the way, is the date of the marriage fixed ?' but without turning towards her.
She said, 'Yes, the 8th of December,' and she saw his shoulders brace, and the weight of his body come backwards from the ball of the foot on to the heel.
'Ah! I shall be in Africa by then,' he said.
It was in fact near upon the end of February that the river-steamer plying between the settlement and the coast of Matanga brought to Drake and Fielding an announcement that the marriage had taken place.

There were letters for both the men, and they carried them out to a grass knoll on the edge of the forest some quarter of a mile away from the little village of tin huts which shone in the sunshine like a tidy kitchen, as Fielding was used to say.