ly.

"Do you think that we are going away?"

"You must," he answered, sadly. "Theos may be no safe place for you in
forty-eight hours even."

She pressed his arm lightly.

"Dear," she said, "you are foolish. If ever I am to be anything to you
and these people what would they think of me if I ran away when evil
times came? But wait! You must hear what father says. He knows nothing
of this."

They found him in the room he called his study. He looked up from his
desk as they entered.

"Father," Sara said, "the King wants us to leave to-morrow morning. In
forty-eight hours he says the city may be in danger."

Mr. Van Decht wheeled round in his recently imported American chair,
and puffed vigorously at his cigar.

"I wasn't reckoning upon leaving just yet," he remarked, quietly.
"Were you, Sara?"

"No!"

Ughtred looked from one to the other.

"I am afraid you don't quite understand the situation, Mr. Van Decht.
I do not think it probable of course, but it is possible that the city
may be surrounded in less than a week."

Mr. Van Decht nodded.

"I guess it isn't quite so bad as that," he answered. "In any case,
I'd like you to understand this. We've had a pretty good time here,
and we haven't any idea of scuttling out just because things aren't
exactly booming. I've a tidy idea of engineering, and I think I can
show you a wrinkle or two in trench-making. Then there's another
thing--you'll allow a man's a right to do what he pleases with his own
money?"

"Why, I suppose so," Ughtred answered.

"Well, I'm not given to bragging," Mr. Van Decht continued, "but I
reckon I'm one of the richest men in the States. Accordingly, as I'm
sort of a resident here I claim the right to help the war fund. I've
put a million to your credit at the Credit Lyonnaise, and if more's
wanted--there's plenty. I don't want any thanks; I don't mind telling
you that I'd give a lot more to see those low-down skunks get the
whipping they deserve."

Ughtred was for a moment speechless. It was Sara who replied for him.

"We are very much obliged, father," she said, smiling at him. "You
don't mind, do you?"

He looked from one to the other. He did not affect any surprise, but
his face was grave.

"Sara has promised that some day if we are spared she will be my
wife," Ughtred said, simply. "I hope that you will consent."

Mr. Van Decht nodded thoughtfully.

"I had an idea," he said, hesitatingly, "that you would be not exactly
a