lied, with a little grimace. "However,
don't let us talk about our troubles any more," she continued, with an
effort at a lighter tone. "You'll find some cigarettes on that table,
Mr. Harrison. I can't think where Nora is. I expect she has persuaded
some one to take her out trophy-hunting to Dutchman's Common."

"The road all the way is like a circus," the young soldier observed,
"and there isn't a thing to be seen when you get there. The naval airmen
were all over the place at daybreak, and Captain Griffiths wasn't
far behind them. You didn't leave much for the sightseers, sir," he
concluded, turning to his neighbour.

"As Commandant of the place," Captain Griffiths replied, "I naturally
had to have the Common searched. With the exception of the observation
car, however, I think that I am betraying no confidences in telling you
that we discovered nothing of interest."

"Do you suppose that the Zeppelin was in difficulties, as she was flying
so low?" Helen enquired.

"It is a perfectly reasonable hypothesis," the Commandant assented. "Two
patrol boats were sent out early this morning, in search of her. An old
man whom I saw at Waburne declares that she passed like a long, black
cloud, just over his head, and that he was almost deafened by the noise
of the engines. Personally, I cannot believe that they would come down
so low unless she was in some trouble."

The door of the comfortable library in which they were seated was
suddenly thrown open. An exceedingly alert-looking young lady, very
much befreckled, and as yet unemancipated from the long plaits of the
schoolroom, came in like a whirlwind. In her hand she carried a man's
Homburg hat, which she waved aloft in triumph.

"Come in, Arthur," she shouted to a young subaltern who was hovering
in the background. "Look what I've got, Helen! A trophy! Just look, Mr.
Harrison and Captain Griffiths! I found it in a bush, not twenty yards
from where the observation car came down."

Helen turned the hat around in amused bewilderment.

"But, my dear child," she exclaimed, "this is nothing but an ordinary
hat! People who travel in Zeppelins don't wear things like that. How
do you do, Mr. Somerfield?" she added, smiling at the young man who had
followed Nora into the room.

"Don't they!" the latter retorted, with an air of superior knowledge.
"Just look here!"

She turned down the lining and showed it to them. "What do you make of
that?" she asked triumphantly.

Hele