t officer was Teddy you will think I am cracked.... But I don't."

She sat staring straight before her for a time after saying this. Then
suddenly she got up and began taking down her hat and coat from the peg
behind the kitchen door. The hanging strap of the coat was twisted and
she struggled with it petulantly until she tore it.

"Where are you going?" cried Cissie.

Letty's voice over her shoulder was the harsh voice of a scolding woman.

"I'm going out--anywhere." She turned, coat in hand. "Can't I go out if
I like?" she asked. "It's a beautiful day.... Mustn't I go out?... I
suppose you think I ought to take in what you have told me in a moment.
Just smile and say '_Indeed!_' ... Abandoned!--while his men retreated!
How jolly! And then not think of it any more.... Besides, I must go out.
You two want to be left together. You want to canoodle. Do it while you
can!"

Then she put on coat and hat, jamming her hat down on her head, and said
something that Cissie did not immediately understand.

"_He'll_ have his turn in the trenches soon enough. Now that he's made
up his mind.... He might have done it sooner...."

She turned her back as though she had forgotten them. She stood for a
moment as though her feet were wooden, not putting her feet as she
usually put her feet. She took slow, wide, unsure steps. She went
out--like something that is mortally injured and still walks--into the
autumnal sunshine. She left the door wide open behind her.

Section 4

And Cissie, with eyes full of distress for her sister, had still to
grasp the fact that Direck was wearing a Canadian uniform....

He stood behind her, ashamed that in such a moment this fact and its
neglect by every one could be so vivid in his mind.

Section 5

Cissie's estimate of her sister's psychology had been just. The reverie
of revenge had not yet taken a grip upon Letty's mind sufficiently
strong to meet the challenge of this conclusive evidence of Teddy's
death. She walked out into a world of sunshine now almost completely
convinced that Teddy was dead, and she knew quite well that her dream of
some dramatic and terrible vindication had gone from her. She knew that
in truth she could do nothing of that sort....

She walked out with a set face and eyes that seemed unseeing, and yet it
was as if some heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders. It was
over; there was no more to hope for and there was nothing more to fear.
She would have be