outside, and just escaped by the skin of my teeth. Did the Saadat,
as a matter of discipline, have me shot for cowardice? Cousin
Hylda, my heart was in my mouth as I heard them yelling behind me--
and I never enjoyed a dinner so much in my life. Would the Saadat
have run from them? Say, he'd have stayed and saved his life too.
Well, give my love to the girls!

Your affectionate cousin,

Tom LACEY.

P.S.-There's no use writing to me. The letter service is bad. Send
a few thousand men by military parcel-post, prepaid, with some red
seals--majors and colonels from Aldershot will do. They'll give the
step to the Gyppies. T.


Hylda closed her eyes. A fever had passed from her veins. Here lay her
duty before her--the redemption of the pledge she had made. Whatever her
own sorrow, there was work before her; a supreme effort must be made for
another. Even now it might be too late. She must have strength for what
she meant to do. She put the room in darkness, and resolutely banished
thought from her mind.

The sun had been up for hours before she waked. Eglington had gone to
the Foreign Office. The morning papers were full of sensational reports
concerning Claridge Pasha and the Soudan. A Times leader sternly
admonished the Government.