to the sister, and let her wreak her wrath on me. It's not
fair that you should be blamed."

"Oh, I am not afraid of any wrath, I assure you. She's a charming girl,
and as sweet as Mamzelle herself. I have asked her to come down to-
morrow and see for herself that there is no harm done. I thought that
was the best way out of the difficulty; and please don't blame yourself
too much. It was an accident, and we must just be very, very thankful
that you were all preserved from harm."

The next morning the Captain took himself off for a long walk,
ostensibly to call on some friends, in reality to avoid meeting the
visitor from town; for though a man may boldly acknowledge his
responsibility and offer to bear the blame, he has an instinctive
shrinking from the society of females in distress, and will walk a very
long distance in order to avoid anything like a scene.

It seemed the height of bad fortune that this particular visitor should
arrive in the afternoon, instead of the morning, and that he should
stumble into the library almost immediately after she had arrived. She
was seated on an ottoman with her back towards him, but Mrs Wallace's
quick exclamation took away any chance of retreating unseen.

"Why, here he is!" she cried. "This is the culprit, or the hero,
whichever you choose to call him. Come and tell your own story, Dick.
This is Mademoiselle's sister, Miss O'Shaughnessy."

But he had recognised her already. She had turned her head as Mrs
Wallace spoke, and beneath the curving brim of the hat he had seen the
face which had been enshrined in his heart for three long years, the
sweet face which had brought to him at once the greatest joy and the
bitterest sorrow of his life! He stood still in the middle of the room,
staring at her as if suddenly turned to stone, and Bridgie rose to her
feet, the pretty colour fading out of her cheeks, her lips a-tremble
with emotion.

Mrs Wallace looked from one to the other, and with a woman's intuition
divined something very nearly approaching the truth. Dick was quite
changed from his old happy self--everyone had noticed it, and speculated
as to the cause. In his last furlough he had stayed some time in
Ireland. Could it be--could it possibly be--

"You have met before?" she said quickly. "That is very nice. You know
each other, and can talk over yesterday's adventure without my help.
Will you excuse me if I leave you for a few moments, while I give some