gram giving us the news arrived at Les Dalles in the
middle of the afternoon, and such a scramble as we had to get over to
Havre in time for the night boat! I can't tell you how we felt, for it
was one of those shocks so awful that you don't feel anything. At least
I didn't feel anything, though I can't say the same of your father. He,
poor lamb, has felt it terribly, so sensitive as he is, and so easily
upset. Well, we managed to get to Havre in time, and had a fair
crossing. We reached London about ten in the morning, and of course had
no notion of where Archie and Ena were. So we drove to their bankers,
and, as luck would have it, found they were in London on their way
between Cornwall and the north.

"Once we'd learned that, we came straight to this hotel, and sent up our
cards. After that we waited. Waited! I should say so. Your father got
crosser and crosser, threatening to go away without breaking the news at
all. We knew they thought we'd come to make trouble about old scores,
and were discussing whether or not to see us. When word came at last
that we were to be shown up your father was in such a state that I had
to leave him in the public parlor and go and face it alone.

"I wonder if you've ever had the experience of being ushered into a room
where you could see you weren't wanted? I don't suppose so. I never had
it before, and I hope I never shall again. It was one of those chintzy
English sitting-rooms with flowers in every corner. I shall never see
Shirley poppies again without thinking of poor Claude. Archie was
standing in the middle of the floor, looking more the gentleman than
ever, but no Ena!

"'I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Bessie,' he said, with that frigid
sympathy of his which to me is always like iced water down the spine.
'Is there anything I can do for you?'

"We were facing each other, with a round table between us. 'No, Archie,'
I said. 'I didn't come on my account, but on yours.'

"I can see him still--the way he stood--with a queer little upward flash
of the eyebrows. 'Indeed?'

"'Yes. I had a cablegram yesterday afternoon--from Lois.' I gave him
time to take that in. 'We came over at once--Len and I.'

"I had scarcely said this when my heart leaped into my mouth, for Ena
cried out from behind the door leading into the bedroom, where I felt
sure she was: 'It's about Claude!' It was the strangest sound I ever
heard--the kind of sound she might have made if she saw something
fa