g from the tea-tray that
David had placed for her so comfortingly close to the fire. Every moment
that passed was an added torture. It was dark, it was late. The
conviction was growing in her heart that when they came at last, they
would bring with them only her husband's dead body.

She rose and went to the open door. Where was his spirit now, she
wondered? Had he leapt ahead of that empty, travelling shell? Was he
already close--close--his arm entwined in hers? She covered her face
with her hands. "Oh, Piers, I can't go on alone," she sobbed. "If you are
dead--I must die too!"

And then, as though in obedience to a voice that had spoken within her,
she raised her head again and gazed forth. The rain had drifted away.
Through scudding clouds of darkness there shone, serene and splendid, a
single star. Her heart gave a great throb, and was still.

"The Star of Hope!" she murmured wonderingly. "The Star of Hope!"

And in that moment inexplicably yet convincingly she knew that her
prayers that had seemed so fruitless had been heard, and that an answer
was very near at hand....

There came the sound of a horn from the direction of the lodge. They
were coming.

She turned her head and looked down the dark avenue. But she was no
longer agitated or distressed by fear. She knew not what might be in
store for her, but somehow, mystically, she had been endued with strength
to meet it unafraid.

She heard the soft buzz of a high-powered car, and presently two lights
appeared at the further end. They came towards her swiftly, almost
silently. It was like the swoop of an immense bird. And then in the
strong glare shed forth by the hall-lamps she saw the huge body of an
ambulance-car, and a Red Cross flared symbolic in the light.

The car came to a stand immediately before her, and for a few moments
nothing happened. And still she was not afraid. Still she was as it were
guided and sustained and lifted above all turmoil. She seemed to stand on
a mountain-top, above the seething misery that had for so long possessed
her. She was braced to look upon even Death unshaken, undismayed.

Steadily she moved. She went down to the car. Old David was behind her.
He came forward and opened the door with fumbling, quivering hands. She
had time to notice his agitation and to be sorry for him.

Then a voice came to her from within, and a great throb went through her
of thankfulness, of relief, of joy unspeakable.

"Victor, you old ass