is devoured by girls of Mavis' age and habit of thought. She argued
how it would be criminally selfish of her to presume on his boyish
attachment of the old days, which might lead him to believe that it
was a duty for him to extend to his old-time playmate the lifelong
protection of marriage.

Her lack of personal vanity was such that it never once occurred to
her that she was eminently desirable in his eyes; that he wished for
nothing better than for her to bestow herself, together with her
affections, upon him for lifelong appreciation. She resolved to
stifle her inclinations in order that the man's career should not
suffer from legal companionship with a portionless, friendless girl.

Her unselfish resolutions faltered somewhat when, in resuming the
weary search for chances of employment in the advertising columns of
the newspapers, she came across the following, which was every day
repeated for the remainder of the week:--

"To M...s, who foolishly lost herself in the fog on the night of
last Thursday. She is earnestly urged to write to me, care of Taylor
& Wintle, 43 Lincoln's Inn Fields. Do not let foolish scruples delay
you from letting me hear from you."

She had got as far as writing a reply, but could never quite bring
herself to post it.

A miserable Sunday had urged her to send it to its destination; the
chance purchase of a Sunday paper decided the letter's, and,
incidentally, her own fate. In it she read how, owing to threatened
disturbance on the Indian frontier, Sir Archibald Windebank, D.S.O.,