gallant Charlie! Her heart ached for him. His irrepressible gaiety, his
reckless generosity, these had become the attributes of a hero for ever
in her eyes.

After a while her hostess came to her, pale and tearful, to beg her, if
she possibly could, to show herself at the breakfast table. Captain
Fisher had repeatedly asked for her, she said; and he seemed very
uneasy.

Mrs. Langdale rose, washed her face, and made an effort to powder away
the evidence of her grief. Then she went bravely down and faced the
silent crowd in the breakfast room. No one was eating anything. The very
air smote chill and cheerless as she entered. As if he had been lying in
wait for her, Fisher pounced upon her on the threshold.

"I must speak to you for a moment," he said. "Come into the
smoking-room!"

Mrs. Langdale accompanied him without a word.

"How is she?" he demanded, almost before they entered. "How did she take
it?"

There was something about Fisher just then with which Mrs. Langdale was
wholly unacquainted. He was alert, impatient, almost feverish. She
answered him with brevity.

"I think she is stunned by the news."

He began to pace to and fro with heavy restlessness.