which he ardently
pressed for a meeting. It was the first of several, full of strange
talk about some approaching crisis, in which the forebodings of the
prophet were mingled with the solicitude of a lover.

'The storm is about to break,' he wrote, 'and I cannot think only of my
own fate. I have something to tell you which vitally concerns yourself.
You say you are in Lombardy. The Chiavagno valley is within easy reach,
and at its head is the inn of Santa Chiara, to which I come on the
morning of March 19th. Meet me there even if only for half an hour, I
implore you. We have already shared hopes and confidences, and I would
now share with you a knowledge which I alone in Europe possess. You
have the heart of a lion, my lady, worthy of what I can bring you.'

Wake was summoned from the _Croce Rossa_ unit with which he was working
at Vicenza, and the plan arranged by Blenkiron was faithfully carried
out. Four officers of the Alpini, in the rough dress of peasants of the
hills, met them in Chiavagno on the morning of the 18th. It was
arranged that the hostess of Santa Chiara should go on a visit to her
sister's son, leaving the inn, now in the shuttered quiet of
wintertime, under the charge of two ancient servants. The hour of
Ivery's coming on the 19th had been fixed by him for noon, and that
morning Mary would drive up the valley, while Wake and the Alpini went
inconspicuously by other routes so as to be in station around the place
before midday.

But on the evening of the 18th at the Hotel of the Four Kings in
Chiavagno Mary received another message. It was from me and told her
that I was crossing the Staub at midnight and would be at the inn
before dawn. It begged her to meet me there, to meet me alone without
the others, because I had that to say to her which must be said before
Ivery's coming. I have seen the letter. It was written in a hand which
I could not have distinguished from my own scrawl. It was not exactly
what I would myself have written, but there were phrases in it which to
Mary's mind could have come only from me. Oh, I admit it was cunningly
done, especially the love-making, which was just the kind of stammering
thing which I would have achieved if I had tried to put my feelings on
paper. Anyhow, Mary had no doubt of its genuineness. She slipped off
after dinner, hired a carriage with two broken-winded screws and set
off up the valley. She left a line for Wake telling him to follow
according to the