ung myself face downwards
on the bed. In my agony I bit a large piece out of my pillow. The blood
flowed forward and backward over me in waves, and I burst every now and
then into a passion of weeping.

By and by I began to feel more serene. I decided that it was my duty to
obey my father. My heart leapt within me at the thought of doing my
duty, and to calm myself I put on my hat and wandered into the glen. It
was very silent in the glen. There was no sound but the rustling of the
leaves overhead, the popping of the insects underfoot, the sneezing of
the cattle, the whistling of the pigs, the coughing of the field-mice,
the roaring of the rabbits, and the deep organ-song of the sea.

But suddenly, above all these noises, I heard a voice which sent the
blood ebbing and flowing in my heart and caused the back of my neck to
quiver with ecstasy.

"Nell!" it said.

It was the voice of my old comrade, Andrew Spinnaker, who had played
with me in our childhood's days, and whom I had not seen now for eight
years.

"Andrew!" I cried, as I turned round. "What are you doing here?"

"I am just off to discover the South Pole," he said. "My shipmates are
waiting for me to command the expedition."

I noticed then for the first time that he was dressed in a seal-skin cap
and a pair of sleeping-bags.

"Nell," he went on, "before I go, tell me you love me."

My heart fluttered like a captured bird; my knees trembled like a
drunken spider's; my throat was stifled like a stifled throat. A huge
wave of something or other surged over me and told me that the great
mystery of the world had happened to me.

I was in love.

I was in love with Andrew Spinnaker.

"Andrew," I cried, falling on his startled chin, "I love you." All the
back of my neck thrilled with joy.

But my joy was shortlived. No sooner had I become aware that I loved
Andrew Spinnaker than my conscience told me I had no right to do so. I
was going to marry Lord Wurzel, and to love another than my husband was
sin. I shook Andrew off my lips.

"I love you," I said, "but I cannot marry you. I am marrying Lord
Wurzel."

"That beast?" cried Andrew, in the impetuous sailor fashion which so
endeared him to his shipmates. "When I come back I will thrash him as I
would thrash a vicious ape."

"When will that be?"

"In about two months," said my darling boy. "This is going to be a very
quick expedition."

"Alas, that will be my wedding day," I said with a low sob l