r a visit
of indefinite duration. In these trying and critical times my
daughter-in-law's place is in the ancestral home of her deceased
husband."

Aunt Millicent, delighted with the purport of her mission, went up to
Lowbridge and extended the invitation, and, with all the eloquence at
her command, urged its acceptance. But Sarah Butler was unyielding and
would not come. She had been wounded too deeply in years gone by.

So spring came, and blade, leaf and flower sprang into beautiful and
rejoicing existence. No one had ever before seen the orchard trees so
superbly laden with blossoms. No one had ever before seen a brighter
promise of a more bountiful season. And the country was still at
peace, enriching herself with a mintage coined of blood and sorrow
abroad, though drifting aimlessly and ever closer to the verge of
war.

There was a time early in July when, for two weeks, no letter came
from Pen. The suspense was almost unbearable. For days Colonel Butler
haunted the post-office. His self-assurance left him, his confident
and convincing voice grew weak, a haunting fear of what news might
come was with him night and day.

At last he received a letter from abroad. It was from Pen, addressed
in his own hand-writing. The colonel himself took it from his box at
the post-office in the presence of a crowd of his neighbors and
friends awaiting the distribution of their mail. It was scrawled in
pencil on paper that had never been intended to be used for
correspondence purposes.

Pen had just learned, he wrote, that the messenger who carried a
former letter from the trenches for him had been killed en route by an
exploding shell, and the contents of his mail pouch scattered and
destroyed. Moreover he had been very busy. Fighting had been brisk,
there had been a good many casualties in his company, but he himself,
save for some superficial wounds received on the Fourth of July, was
unhurt and reasonably well.

"I am sorry to report, however," the letter continued, "that my
comrade, Aleck Sands, has been severely wounded. We were engaged
in a brisk assault on the enemy's lines on the Fourth of July, and
captured some of their trenches. During the engagement Aleck
received a bayonet wound in the shoulder, and a badly battered
knee. I was able to help him off the field and to an ambulance. I
believe he is somewhere now in a hospital not far to the rear of
us. I mean to see him soon if I c