The Messenger

ening in the element ruled by Britannia. Only the stern discretion of the Admiralty prevented detailed knowledge. Maintenance of this self-denying ordinance on the part of the aut

him!) was crumpling up the

ncliffe. The fact that the two young soldiers were granted leave beca

Neil, to the taller, elder soldier with the ugly, honest face. The father's gaze rested longest the

uired anxiously f

au and the Goeben." Sir William gla

e. "I mean about the gre

of the fleet ar

ted Lady McIntyre. "But that's no

afraid th

write!" A rush of tears blurred the blueness of her eyes. Evidently the presence of the other sons only emphasized for th

y dear," said Si

ce. In truth, the reverberation of

chair at Miss Greta's other side. "You were tel

of my life," expression that he was coming to know. He mad

is well,

away fears for her sailor. "Nan," she explained to Napier, "very kindly agre

cost Miss Greta to be away when official news was arriving hot and hot. She

same blackbird-over-the-hedge action, she was out of the car and coming into the hall. "Yes, I did all the commissions, and in about half the time you said. Oh

you look as if it

she found a singular thing to say to a captain of the Black Watch and a young gentleman who h

lder sons turned away their eyes. Bo

iers weari

lts," said Sir William

ictures. But these soldiers had on the funn

d Colin, slowly. "They'l

't any silver left in Scotland. And in your town there isn't even copper. I hope you don't mind; I had to take st

rsed the news. Like the khaki aprons, a "temp

le scraps of paper!" L

change them for

circulating," warned Sir Wi

any more-that's

ave asked Miss

, and Nan

table when I went up to the inn

it out for h

e back of the settle. "What a pity!" she said

ar Greta

e now. To a poor person in desperate straits-A

e vanishing "ch" like a ghost of the

ousness of Miss Greta's foreignness was growing. Her slight burring of the "r" had never sounded so marked as it did to-day. For all her long residence in the States, Miss Greta was far more German than anybod

tyre said half aside to Nan, "if you'd m

ough a sudden bewilderment of compunction which fell like

not dreadful for me." She smiled a little fiercely,-to Napier's

hree sons for a stroll, Lady McIntyr

yes looked round more helpless than ever. "He says Greta tried to pump him about army matters, and he's sorry he didn't warn Neil! He's going to. Colin said,-oh, in the unkindest way! 'That woman ought to go home!' 'Home?' I said, 'why, this is Greta's hom

Grant has got back. We s

e in every lineament, a kind of all-enfolding affection in

looked

ed?" And after he'd come in and greeted the others, "Aren't they well, your father and mother?" she persisted ge

al tomfoolery-the-the indecent way people were jubilating over the greatest disaster in history. This is the kind of fierce test that people go d

was in the act of getting up, when Julian broke out moodily, "And the way people alrea

in other countries. He spoke of ill-treatment in Germany and Austria of retiring ambassadors and even of neutrals. He turned to

an began; but Napier picked him u

f we needed the more, that war brutaliz

desparingly. "Aromatic vinegar," s

tion, intended to indicate some pressing business overdue. He went up the stairs two steps at a time. And yet the pace wasn't quick enough to please him. Away, he must get away. Julian had been pitying Colin and Neil, "pawns in the great game." Napier knew now that he envied them. Oh, that he too might go and fight! He walked to an

on of the great crisis, he wasn't going to be asked to) stay here in Scotl

cigarettes and trying to read his novel. A light, rattling sound made him turn r

ith a handful of coarse

t n

f the footmen beginning to l

to-morrow, too," he be

at was t

" He was threading a way through the shru

he fact is,"-he smiled as he made the co

happier place than most mortals." Napier

ith an eager, "What

in to the blindest sh

d the grievance closest to hand. "She wouldn't let me

let you

es

was in love

he wouldn't, would she,

, whether they were courted or evaded. The question stuck in hi

d of thing. But,"-he turned trustfully to

y mean the sort of disapproval that's putting me into other people's black books-abou

our view. As to i

w. I've talked war till I'm sick. I thought I

at I don't understand women." In his quandary Napier wondered aloud whe

People I've known since I was a baby I b

Those Pforzheims now; I'm persuaded they got hold of the Kirklamont newspapers and kept them b

n he turned his head w

seem to have forgotten your

n's friend carrying on a doubtful love affair-But that's all pettiness. The awful actualit

ad been brought to the surface, and wha

would at any time make Julian Grant forget his own interest

en to Gull I

or picnicking," Jul

uality-he had noticed it before-a something in Julian's frankness which put astuteness out of countenance, something that made suspicion seem not only vulgar but melodramatic. Napier felt obliged to throw a dash o

ned a little. "I had no notio

must get some one else. And set afoot a new crop of rum

nd hold an inquisition on

Of course I don't expect you to find anyt