ook after his
house; and a poor widow is as a rule only too pleased to meet with some
one who will marry her, especially if the some one be better off than
herself. But on any betrayal of sentiment between two people past early
youth Anna had very scant mercy.

She had also noticed lately, with mingled regret and contempt, that Mrs.
Otway now had a few grey threads in her fair, curling hair. If the
gracious lady were not careful, she would look quite old and ugly by the
time Major Guthrie came back!

* * * * *

At intervals, indeed every few days, Rose received a short, and of
course read-by-the-censor letter from Jervis Blake. He had missed the
first onrush of the German Army and the Great Retreat, for he had been
what they called "in reserve," kept for nearly three full weeks close to
the French port where he had landed. Then there came a long, trying
silence, till a letter written by his mother to Mrs. Otway revealed the
fact that he was at last in the fighting-line, on the river Aisne.

"You have always been so kind to my dear boy that I know you will be
interested to learn that lately he has been in one or two very dangerous
'scraps,' as they seem to be called. They are not supposed to tell one
anything in their letters, and Jervis as a matter of fact no longer even
writes postcards. But my husband knows exactly where he is, and we can
but hope and pray, from day to day, that he is safe."

It was on the very day that Mrs. Otway read to Rose this letter from
Lady Blake that there arrived at the Trellis House a telegram signed
Robert Allen: "Have ascertained that Major Guthrie is alive and prisoner
in Germany. Letter follows."

But when the letter came it told tantalisingly little, for it merely
conveyed the fact that the name of Major Guthrie had come through in a
list of wounded prisoners supplied to the Geneva Red Cross. There was no
clue as to where he was, or as to his condition, and Mr. Allen ended
with the words: "I am trying to get in touch with the American Embassy
in Berlin. I am told that it is the best, in fact the only, medium for
getting authentic news of wounded prisoners."

"The gracious lady sees that I was right. Never did I believe the Major
to be dead! Officers are always behind their soldiers. They are in the
safe place." Such were the words, uttered of course in German, with
which Anna greeted the great news.

As Mrs. Otway turned away, and silently left t