to
Harwich. I expect they'll have been able to get a boat there all
right----" She stopped suddenly, for her husband had just made a
terrible face at her--a face full of indignation and wrath.

But Miss Haworth did not seem to have noticed anything.

"Oh, well," she said, "perhaps it was a mistake to do that, but I don't
suppose it matters much, one way or the other. I must go now. The
meeting is due to begin, isn't it? And--and Sir Hugh is leaving
to-night. He expects to find his marching orders when he gets back to
town." A little colour came into her charming face; she sighed, but not
very heavily. "War is an awful thing!" she said; "but every soldier, of
course, wants to see _something_ of the fighting. I expect the feeling
is just as strong in France and Germany as it is here."

She shook hands warmly with Mr. and Mrs. Hegner, then she turned and
tripped out into the dimly lighted and solitary Market Square. They
watched her cross the road and take her lover's arm.

"Fool!" said Mr. Hegner harshly. "Pretty, silly fool!" He mimicked what
he thought to be her mincing accents. "Wants to see something of war,
does he? I can tell him he will be satisfied before he has done!" There
was a scowl on his face. "And you"--he turned on his wife
furiously--"what business had you to say that about those young German
men? I was waiting--yes, with curiosity--to hear what else you were
going to tell her--whether you would tell her that I had paid their
fares!"

"Oh, no, Manfred. You know I would never have done that after what you
said to me yesterday."

"Take it from me now, once for all," he said fiercely, "that you say
nothing--_nothing_, mark you--about this cursed, blasted war--this war
which, if we are not very careful, is going to make us poor, to bring us
to the gutter, to the workhouse, you and I!"

And then Hegner's brow cleared as if by enchantment, for the first of
their visitors were coming through from the back of the shop.

It was the manager of a big boot factory and his wife. They were both
German-born, and the man had obtained his present excellent position
owing to the good offices of Mr. Hegner. Taking his friend's wise
advice, he had become naturalised a year ago. But a nephew, who had
joined him in business, had not followed his example, and he had been
one of the young men who had been speeded off to Harwich, through Mr.
Hegner's exertions, early that morning.

While Mrs. Hegner tried to make hers