XI

THE AWAKENING

The sun was already high when Audrey awoke. She started up, refreshed in
body and mind. Her first thought was of her husband. No doubt he had
gone out long before. He always rose early, even when off duty.

Then she remembered Phil, and her face contracted as all the trouble of
the night before rushed back upon her. Was he still living? she
wondered.

She stretched out her hand to ring for her _ayah_. But as she did so her
eyes fell upon a table by her side and she caught sight of an envelope
lying there. She picked it up.

It was addressed to herself in her husband's handwriting, and, with a
sharp sense of anxiety, she tore it open. The note it contained was
characteristically brief:

I hope by the time you read this to have procured young Turner's
release, if he still lives--at no very great cost, I beg you to
believe. I desire the letter that you will find on my
writing-table to be sent at once to the colonel. There is also
a note for Mrs. Raleigh which I want you to deliver yourself.
God bless you, Audrey.

E.T.

Audrey looked up from the letter with startled eyes and white cheeks.
What did it mean? What had he been doing in the night while she slept?
How was it possible for him to have saved Phil?

Trembling, she sprang from her bed and began to dress. Possibly the note
to Mrs. Raleigh might explain the mystery. She would ride round with it
at once.

She went into Tudor's room before starting and found the letter for the
colonel. It was addressed and sealed. She gave it to a _syce_ with
orders to deliver it into the colonel's own hands without delay.

Then, still quivering with an apprehension she would not own, she
mounted and rode away to the surgeon's bungalow.

Mrs. Raleigh received her with some surprise.

"Ah, come in!" she said kindly. "I'm delighted to see you, dear; but,
sure, you are riding very late. And is there anything the matter?"

"Yes," gasped Audrey breathlessly. "I mean no, I hope not. My husband
has--has gone to try to save Phil Turner; and--and he left a note for
you, which I was to deliver. He went away in the night, but he--of
course he'll--be back--soon!"

Her voice faltered and died away. There was a look on Mrs. Raleigh's
face, hidden as it were behind her smile, that struck terror to Audrey's
heart. She thrust out the letter in an anguish of unconcealed suspense.

"Read it! Read it!" she implored, "and te