didn't much care for that. But she can't have been reading more than
five minutes when there came the telegram."

Howse held up his hand, for it was here that he again came on the scene.

"The minute the messenger boy handed me the envelope," he exclaimed, "I
says to myself, 'That's bad news--bad news of the Major!' I sorely felt
tempted to open it. But there! I knew if I did so it would anger Mrs.
Guthrie. She was a lady, ma'am, who always knew her own mind. It wasn't
even addressed 'Guthrie,' you see, but 'Mrs. Guthrie,' as plain as plain
could be. The boy 'ad brought it to the front door, and as we was having
our supper I didn't want to disturb Ponting. So I just walked along to
Mrs. Guthrie's bedroom, and knocked. She calls out, 'Come in!' And I
answers, 'There's a telegram for you, ma'am. Would you like me to send
Ponting in with it?' And she calls out, 'No, Howse. Bring it in
yourself.'

"I shall never forget seeing her open it, poor old lady. She did it
quite deliberate-like; then, after just reading it over, she looked up
straight at me. 'I know you'll be sorry to hear, Howse, as how Major
Guthrie is wounded and missing,' she said, and then, 'I need not tell
you, who are an old soldier, Howse, that such are the fortunes of war.'
Those, ma'am, were her exact words. Of course I explained how sorry I
was, and I did my very best to hide from her how bad I took the news to
be. 'I think I would like to be alone now, Howse,' she says, 'just for a
little while.' And then, 'We must hope for better news in the morning.'
I asked her, 'Would you like me to send Ponting up to you, ma'am?' But
she shook her head: 'No, Howse, I would rather be by myself. I will ring
when I require Ponting. I do not feel as if I should care to go to bed
just yet,' she says quite firmly.

"Well, ma'am, we had of course to obey her orders, but we all felt very
uncomfortable. And as a matter of fact in about half an hour Ponting did
make an excuse to go into the room"--he looked at the woman by his side.
"You just tell Mrs. Otway what happened," he said, in a tone of command.

Ponting meekly obeyed.

"I just opened the door very quietly, and Mrs. Guthrie did not turn
round. Without being at all deaf, my mistress had got a little hard of
hearing, lately. I went a step forward, and then I saw that she was
reading the Bible. I was very much surprised, madam, for it was the
first time I had ever seen her do such a thing--though of course there