startling news she had heard, and Agatha was equally engrossed in
preparing Elfie's trousseau, so that though they were always on the
watch for any news in the papers, they did not mention the subject to
one another, and it was a distinct shock to Agatha to receive a
telegram one morning.

'Captain Hugh Knox alive. Coming home. Break it to his friends.'

Clare was doing some work for Elfie when the telegram arrived. Agatha
hastily consulted Gwen in the study, and then came into the
dining-room, where the two younger girls were sitting.

'Who is the telegram from?' asked Elfie quickly. 'We have so few here
that Clare and I are quite curious about it.'

Agatha sat down, and her hands trembled as she unfolded and refolded
the yellow envelope in her grasp.

'It contains very strange news,' she said slowly 'wonderfully strange,
and I don't quite know how to tell it to you.'

Both Clare and Elfie dropped their work instantly, for they saw her
agitation.

'Not bad news?' exclaimed Clare.

'No; very, very good news for you, Clare.'

Clare's cheeks grew pale at once.

'Oh, Agatha, speak out; don't keep us in suspense any longer!'

And then Agatha said as quietly as she could:

'It is about Hugh, Clare. Can you bear it? He was never killed, after
all, and this is to say that he is coming home.'

Clare did not faint, nor call out, nor did she utter a word. Only the
quick blood rushing to her cheeks, and then as quickly ebbing from
them, showed that she was moved at all. Motionless she sat, staring
out of the window as if she were in a dream. Then at last she spoke.

'Oh, Agatha, I shall never forgive you if it is not true!'

The vehement intensity of her tone drew Agatha to her side at once.
Stooping over her she kissed her. 'My darling Clare, it is true.
Thank God with all your heart that it is so!'

And then in a few minutes a burst of tears relieved the overcharged
brain, and Clare fled to her room, there to thank on her knees for such
unlooked-for joy.

The days that followed were trying ones, but Clare bore them well. She
went to see her lover's family, and it was there in the Yorkshire home
that she met the long-lost one again.

Captain Knox seemed but a shadow of his former self. Fever and
privations had told upon him, and Clare shuddered when she heard his
story. For many months he had been kept captive amongst the native
tribe that had taken him and his comrades by surprise in the bush.