hink I shall do just as well if you will kindly give me the
particulars. Let us come over here and sit down; then we shan't be
disturbed."

Mrs. Otway looked up gratefully into the kind face of the woman speaking
to her. It was a comfort to know that she was going to tell her private
concerns to a stranger, and not to the sister of an acquaintance living
at Witanbury.

The few meagre facts were soon told, and then she gave her own name and
address as the person to whom the particulars, if any came through, were
to be forwarded.

"I'll see that the inquiries are sent on to Geneva to-night. But you
mustn't be disappointed if you get no news for a while. Sometimes news
is a very long time coming through, especially if the prisoner was
wounded, and is still in hospital." The stranger added, with real
sympathy in her voice, "I'm afraid you're very anxious, Mrs. Otway. I
suppose Major Guthrie is your brother?"

And then the other answered quietly, "No, he's not my brother. Major
Guthrie and I are engaged to be married."

The kind, sweet face, itself a sad and anxious face, changed a
little--it became even fuller of sympathy than it had been before. "You
must try and keep up courage," she exclaimed. "And remember one
thing--if Major Guthrie was really severely wounded, he's probably being
very well looked after." She waited a moment, and then went on, "In any
case, you haven't the anguish of knowing that he's in perpetual danger;
my boy is out there, so I know what it feels like to realize that."

There was a moment of silence, and then, "I wonder," said Mrs. Otway,
"if you would mind having the inquiries telegraphed to-night?" She
opened her bag. "I brought a five-pound note----"

But the other shook her head. "Oh, no. You needn't pay anything," she
said. "We're always quite willing to telegraph if there's any good
reason for doing so. But you know it's very important that the name
should be correctly spelt, and the particulars rightly transmitted.
That's why it's really better to write. But of course I'll ask them to
telegraph to you at once if they get any news here on a day or at a time
I happen to be away."

Together they walked to the door of the great room, and the woman whose
name she was not to know for a long time, and who was the first human
being to whom she had told her secret, pressed her hand warmly.

Quietly Mrs. Otway walked through into the gallery, and then she burst
out crying like a child. It wa