pedant's den with
sorrowing hearts communed while Justine Delande directed the packing
of her slender belongings. There was a new spirit of revolt stirring in
Nadine Johnstone's breast, and her face glowed with the resentment of an
outraged heart. When all was ready for Justine's flitting, the heiress
of a million pounds finished a little memorandum, which she calmly
explained to the Swiss preceptress. The sense of her future rights
stirred her like a bugle blast, and with clear eyes, she looked beyond
the three years toward Freedom.

"It rests with you, Justine, as to whether I am left friendless for
three years of a gloomy captivity. First you are to telegraph to Major
Harry Hardwicke, Royal Engineers, Delhi, and if you receive no reply,
then telegraph to General Willoughby for the Major's address. When at
Granville, and, not before, send this letter to Major Hardwicke at the
'Junior United Service Club, London'." The beautiful girl was blushing
rosy red as the sympathetic Swiss folded her to her breast. "Then, when
you get to Paris, go to No. 9 Rue Berlioz, and leave this letter there
for Madame Berthe Louison. Go yourself. Trust no one. When you have
conferred with dear Euphrosyne, you can send all your letters to Madame
Louison at Paris under cover. She will find out a safe way to get
them to me--even if she has to send her man, Jules, over here. He is
quick-witted, and he will find a way to reach me."

There was a dawning wonder in Justine's eyes.

"Who is this strange Madame Louison? Can you trust her?"

"Ah! Justine!" murmured Nadine, "She is only one who loves me, for
love's own sake, but I know I can trust her. She knows something of my
mother's past life--something that I do not know. This old tyrant
will now try to cut me off from all the outside world. He has had some
strange power given to him by the father who was only my father in name.

"I will obey you. I swear it!" cried Justine. "And old Simpson will
probably be coming on soon. He loves you. He will serve you."

"Yes," joyously exclaimed Nadine, with a glowing face. "And he adores
Major Hardwicke, whose father saved his life at Lucknow. There is one
dawning hope. You are not to write one word till you hear from me. I
know that Madame Louison will manage to send Jules to me in some safe
disguise," she proudly cried, "and remember--I shall not be always a
poor prisoner with her hands tied. The day of my deliverance comes. When
I am twenty-one, I