e?
Were any hurt? Oh, Jack, I am so miserable! They speak
of a battle at Wissembourg and one at the Spicheren.
Were the 11th Uhlans there? Try to find out, dear, and
write me _at once_. Don't forget--the _11th Uhlans_. Oh,
Jack, darling! can't you understand?

Your loving sister, DOROTHY."

"Understand? What?" repeated Jack. He read the letter again
carefully.

"I can't see what the mischief is extraordinary in that," he
mused, "unless she's giving me a tip about Sir Thorald; but
no--she can't know anything in that direction. Now what is it
that she has hidden away? Oh, here's a postscript."

He turned the sheet and read:

"My love to aunt and uncle, Jack--don't forget. I am
writing them by this mail. Is the 11th Uhlan Regiment in
Prince Frederick Charles's Army? Be sure to find out.
There is absolutely nothing in the Paris papers about
the 11th Uhlans, and I am astonished. But what can one
expect from Paris journals? I tried to subscribe to the
_Berlin Post_ and the _Hamburger Nachrichten_ and the
_Munich Neueste Nachrichten_, but the horrid creature at
the kiosk said she wouldn't have a German sheet in her
place. I hope the _Herald_ will give particulars of
losses in both armies. Do you think it will? Oh, why on
earth do these two foolish nations fight each other?

"DORRIE.

"P. P. S.--Jack, for my sake, pay attention to what I
ask you and answer every question. And don't forget to
find out all about the 11th Uhlans. D."

"Now, what on earth interests Dorrie in all these battle
statistics?" he wondered; "and what in the name of common-sense
can she find to interest her in the 11th Uhlans? Ricky? Absurd!"

He repeated "absurd" two or three times, but he became more
thoughtful a moment later, and sat smoking and pondering. That
would be a nice muddle if she, the niece of a Frenchman--an
American, too--should fix her affections on a captain of Uhlans
whose regiment he, Jack Marche, would avoid as he would hope to
avoid the black small-pox.

"Absurd," he repeated for the fourth time, and tossed his
cigarette into the open fireplace. And as he rose to go up-stairs
something out on the road by the gate attracted his attention,
and he went to the window.

Three horsemen sat in their saddles on the lawn, lance on thigh,
eyes fixed on him.

They were Uhlans!

XVI

"IN THE HOLLOW OF THY HAND"

For a moment h