ot a soul--no one, at any
rate, against whom he could launch an anathema with any real heart in
it. Than curse vainly and superficially, far better not to curse at
all. He missed Phineas beyond all his conception of the blankness of
bereavement. Like himself, Phineas had found salvation in the army.
Doggie realized how he had striven in his own queer way to redeem the
villainy of his tutorship. No woman could have been more gentle, more
unselfish.

"What the devil am I going to do?" said Doggie.

Meanwhile Phineas, lying in a London hospital with a bullet through
his body, thought much and earnestly of his friend, and one morning
Peggy got a letter.

"DEAR MADAM,--

"Time was when I could not have addressed you without incurring
your not unjustifiable disapproval. But I take the liberty of
doing so now, trusting to your generous acquiescence in the
proposition that the war has purged many offences. If this has
not happened, to some extent, in my case, I do not see how it
has been possible for me to have regained and retained the trust
and friendship of so sensitive and honourable a gentleman as Mr.
Marmaduke Trevor.

"If I ask you to come and see me here, where I am lying severely
wounded, it is not with an intention to solicit a favour for
myself personally--although I'll not deny that the sight of a
kind and familiar face would be a boon to a lonely and
friendless man--but with a deep desire to advance Mr. Trevor's
happiness. Lest you may imagine I am committing an unpardonable
impertinence and thereby totally misunderstand me, I may say
that this happiness can only be achieved by the aid of powerful
friends both in London and Paris.

"It is only because the lad is the one thing dear to me left in
the world, that I venture to intrude on your privacy at such a
time.

"I am, dear Madam,
"Yours very faithfully,
"PHINEAS MCPHAIL."

Peggy came down to breakfast, and having dutifully kissed her parents,
announced her intention of going to London by the eleven o'clock
train.

"Why, how can you, my dear?" asked Mrs. Conover.

"I've nothing particular to do here for the next few days."

"But your father and I have. Neither of us can start off to London at
a moment's notice."

Peggy replied