in spite of his
many failures, his services will now be welcomed by a grateful country.
I didn't like to make the obvious answer----"

"And what is the obvious answer?" asked Rose, wrenching her hand away
from his. She told herself that she hated the feel of James's cold, hard
hand.

"That we must be jolly short of officers if they're already writing
round to those boys! But then, of course"--he lowered his voice, though
there was no one there to hear, "we are short--short of everything,
worse luck!"

But that was the only thing Cousin James said of any interest, and it
did not specially interest Rose. She did not connect this sinister
little piece of information with the matter that filled her heart for
the moment to the exclusion of everything else. It was not Jervis who
was short of anything--only Jervis's (and her) country.

After Mrs. Otway had come down and joined them, though James talked a
great deal, he yet said very little, and as the evening went on, his
kind hostess could not help feeling that the War had not improved James
Hayley. He seemed more supercilious, more dogmatic than usual, and at
one moment he threatened to offend her gravely by an unfortunate
allusion to her good old Anna's nationality.

By that time they were sitting out in the garden, enjoying the excellent
coffee Anna made so well, and as it was rather chilly, Rose had run into
the house to get her mother a shawl.

"I never realised how very German your maid is," he observed suddenly.
"It made me feel quite uncomfortable while we were talking at dinner! Do
you intend to keep her?"

"Yes, of course I do." Mrs. Otway felt hurt and angry. "I shouldn't
dream of sending her away! Anna has lived in England over twenty years,
and her only child is married to an Englishman." She waited a moment,
and as he said nothing, she went on: "My good old Anna is devoted to
England, though of course she loves her Fatherland too."

"I should have thought the two loves quite incompatible at the present
time," he objected drily.

Mrs. Otway flushed in the half darkness. "_I_ find them quite
compatible, James," she exclaimed. "Of course I'm sorry that the
military party should triumph in Germany--that, we all must feel, and
probably many Germans do too. But, after all, you may hate the sin and
love the sinner!"

"Will you feel the same when Germans have killed Englishmen?" he asked
idly. He was watching the door through which Rose had vanished a few