le. The girls always
surmised that he must be a conscientious objector. They felt that it
would be a terrible disgrace to own a relative who refused to defend his
country. They were sorry for Chrissie, but it did not make them disposed
to be any more friendly towards her.

To Marjorie the news about Larry came as a shock. It was the first
casualty in the family. She now realized the grim horror of the war in a
way that she had not done before. All that day she went about with the
sense of a dark shadow haunting her. Next morning, however, the bulletin
was better. The operation had been entirely successful, and the patient,
though weak, was likely to recover.

"The doctor gives me very good hopes," wrote Mrs. Anderson. "Larry is
having the best of skilled nursing, so we feel that everything possible
is being done for him."

With a great weight off her mind, Marjorie handed the letter to Dona,
and hurried off to look for Winifrede to tell her the good news. As she
was not in the quadrangle, Marjorie went into the library on the chance
of finding her there. The room was empty, though Miss Duckworth had just
been in to put up fresh notices. Almost automatically Marjorie strolled
up, and began to read them. A Roll of Honour was kept at Brackenfield,
where the names of relations of past and present girls were recorded. It
was rewritten every week, so as to keep it up to date. She knew that
Larry would be mentioned in this last list. Thank God that it was only
among the wounded. The "killed" came first.

ADAMS, Captain N. H., 4th Staffordshires (fiance of Dorothy
Craig).

HUNT, Captain J. C., Welsh Borderers (brother of Sophy Hunt).

JACKSON, Lieut. P., 3rd Lancashires (husband of Mabel Irving).

KEARY, Private P. L., Irish Brigade (brother of Eileen Keary).

PRESTON, Private H., West Yorks (brother of Kathleen and Joyce
Preston).

Marjorie stopped suddenly. Private Preston--the humorous dark-eyed young
soldier whose acquaintance she had made in the train, and renewed in the
Red Cross Hospital. Surely it could not be he! Alas! it was only too
plain. She knew he was the brother of Kathleen and Joyce Preston, for he
had himself mentioned that his sisters used to be at Brackenfield. Also
he was certainly in the West Yorkshire regiment. This bright, strong,
clever, capable young life sacrificed! Marjorie felt as if she had
received a personal blow. Oh, the war was cruel--cruel! Death was
pick