ch Stella Croyle had used--Harry had feared to become "the
slovenly soldier"--began to take on its meaning.

"On the Somme the shame was wiped out. Led by such men as Harry--well,
you know what happened. Harry Luttrell came home freed at last from an
overwhelming obsession. He looked about him with different eyes, and
there you were! It seems to me a thing perfectly ordained, as so few
things are. I brought him down here just for a pleasant week in the
country--without another thought beyond that. All this week I have been
coming to think of myself as an unconscious agent, who just at the right
time is made to do the right thing. Here was the first possible moment
for Harry Luttrell--and there you were in the path--just as if you
without knowing it, had been set there to wait until he came over the
fields to you."

He turned to her and took her hand in his. He had his sympathies for
Stella Croyle, but her hopes held no positive promise of happiness for
either her or Harry Luttrell--a mere flash and splutter of passion at
the best, with all sorts of sordid disadvantages to follow, quarrels,
the scorn of his equals, the loss of position, the check to advancement
in his profession. Here, on the other hand, was the fitting match.

"It would be a great pity," he said gently, "if anything were now to
interfere."

He stood up and after a moment Joan rose to her feet. There was a tender
smile upon her lips and her eyes were shining. She laid a hand upon his
arm.

"I shall have to get you a wife, Martin," she said, midway between
laughter and tears. "It wouldn't be fair on us if you were to escape."

This was her way of thanking him.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE LONG SLEEP

The amazing incident which cut so sharply into these tangled lives
occurred the next morning at Rackham Park. Some of the house party
straggled down to a late breakfast, others did not descend at all. Harry
Luttrell joined Millie Splay upon the stairs and stopped her before she
entered the breakfast-room.

"I should like to slip away this morning, Lady Splay," he said. "My
servant is packing now."

Millie Splay looked at him in dismay.

"Oh, I am so sorry," she said. "I was hoping that this morning you and
Joan would have something to say to me."

"I did too," replied Harry with a wry smile. "But Joan turned me down
with a bang last night."

Lady Splay plumped herself down on a chair in the hall.

"Oh, she is the most exasperating girl!" s