turn, and one
I shall not forget! I have already sold some of the goods ordered with
a view to soldier customers, for they were goods which can be useful
abroad, and I hear a great many parcels will soon be sent out. For that
I shall open a special department!"

To her pleased surprise, he had pressed half a crown on her; and after a
little persuasion she had accepted it. After all, she had a right, under
their old agreement, to a percentage on any profit she brought him! That
news about Major Guthrie had thus procured a very easily earned
half-crown, even more easily earned than the money she had received for
sending off the telegram to Spain. Anna hoped that similar opportunities
of doing Mr. Hegner a good turn would often come her way. But still, she
hated this war, and with the whole of her warm, sentimental German heart
she hoped that Mr. Jervis Blake would soon be back home safe and sound.
He was a rich, generous young gentleman, the very bridegroom for her
beloved Miss Rose.

CHAPTER XVII

Sunday, the 30th of August. But oh, what a different Sunday from that of
a week ago! The morning congregation in Witanbury Cathedral was larger
than it had ever been before, and over every man and woman there hung an
awful pall of suspense, and yes, of fear, as to what the morrow might
bring forth.

Both the post and the Sunday papers were late. They had not even been
delivered by church time, and that added greatly, with some of those who
were gathered there, to the general feeling of anxiety and unease.

In the sermon that he preached that day the Dean struck a stern and
feeling note. He told his hearers that now not only their beloved
country, but each man and woman before him, must have a heart for every
fate. He, the speaker, would not claim any special knowledge, but they
all knew that the situation was very serious. Even so, it would be a
great mistake, and a great wrong, to give way to despair. He would go
further, and say that even despondency was out of place.

Only a day or two ago he had been offered, and he had purchased, the
diary of a citizen of Witanbury written over a hundred years ago, and
from a feeling of natural curiosity he had looked up the entries in the
August of that year. Moved and interested indeed had he been to find
that Witanbury just then had been expecting a descent on the town by
the French, and on one night it was rumoured that a strong force had
actually landed, and was marchi