ia Jane's party was a complete success. There were no
disappointments at Pegwell Bay. Everything was good, everyone was
merry, the shrimps more than came up to everyone's expectation.

The meal was nearly finished, and it was drawing near the time for the
omnibus to start back to Ramsgate, when Mademoiselle suddenly drew a
letter from her pocket.

"Stupid animal that I am!" she exclaimed, "I have till this moment
forgotten to give you this, Adolphe. It arrived after you left this
morning. My head is turned, it appears, by going to fetes."

She smiled at the little girls as she handed the letter to her brother,
and he put on his spectacles and opened it. Susan watched him. It was
a thin foreign envelope, and the letter inside it was short, but it
seemed to puzzle him a great deal. He held it out at arm's length,
frowned at it, and gave it an impatient tap with one finger. Then he
took off his glasses, rubbed them, put them on, and read it again, after
which he rose suddenly, and leaning across the table, stretched the
letter out to his sister, and said in a strange excited voice:

"Read Delphine--read, my sister."

Delphine was not long in doing so, one swift glance was enough, and
next, to the children's surprise, she rushed from her place to Adolphe's
side, threw her arms round his neck, kissed him a great many times, and
burst into a torrent of tears. What could be the matter? What dreadful
misfortune could have happened? Susan and Sophia Jane looked at each
other in alarm. A moment before all had been happiness and gaiety, and
now both Monsieur and his sister appeared to have lost all control over
themselves, and were giving way to the most heartfelt distress. Some
terrible news must have been contained in that letter. They stood at a
little distance from the table, clasping each other's hands, uttering
broken French sentences, and lifting their eyes to the sky, while tears
rolled unrestrained down their faces. "If any one else saw them," said
Susan to herself, "they would think they were mad," and she looked with
some anxiety towards the inn door. There was no one in sight
fortunately, and soon, a little subdued but still in a strange excited
state, the brother and sister advanced hand in hand to the table. The
odd part of it was that Mademoiselle was now actually laughing though
her eyes were wet with tears.

"Forgive us, my children," she said, "it relieves the heart to weep.
Trouble we have