One of the 28th | Page 5

that it
would be wrong to do so. The idea that the money might come from

Herbert Penfold had once or twice occurred to her, only to be at once
dismissed, for had she really believed that it came from him she could
not, even for Ralph's sake, have accepted it. He had, as she believed,
quarreled with her altogether without cause, her letters had been
unanswered, and she considered the quarrel to have been simply a
pretext upon the part of Herbert to break off an engagement of which
he was tired. Words dropped, apparently by accident, by Herbert's
sisters had, before the misunderstanding commenced, favored this idea,
and although she had really loved him her disposition was too spirited
to allow her to take the steps she otherwise might have done to set
herself right with him.
At any rate she had no ground whatever for believing that Herbert, after
the breach of the engagement, entertained any such feelings toward her
as would have led him to come forward to assist her in any way after
she had become the wife of another; and so for twelve years she had
continued to receive her quarterly income. She had established herself
in a pretty little house near Dover, where several old friends of her
father resided, and where she had plenty of pleasant society among the
officers of the regiments stationed there. Although far from rivaling
Portsmouth or Plymouth in life and bustle, Dover was a busy town
during the time of the great war. The garrison was a large one, the
channel cruisers often anchored under the guns of the castle, and from
the top of the hills upon a clear day for months a keen lookout was kept
for the appearance from the port of Boulogne of the expedition
Napoleon had gathered there for the invasion of England.
The white sails of the English cruisers as they sailed up or down the
channel were clearly visible, and occasionally a privateer could be seen
making its way westward with a prize it had picked up off Texel.
Military and naval matters were the sole topics of conversation, and by
the time he was fifteen Ralph had fully determined to follow in his
grandfather's footsteps and to become a soldier. Having passed almost
all her life among military men Mrs. Conway had offered no objections
to his wishes, and as several of her father's old friends had promised to
use their influence on his behalf, there was little doubt that he would be
enabled to procure a commission as soon as he reached the regulation

age.
It was not often that the postman called at Mrs. Conway's with letters;
for postage was expensive, and the people in those days only wrote
when they had something particular to say. Mrs. Conway had just made
breakfast when Ralph came in with a letter in his hand.
"Here is a letter for you, mother; but please don't open it until you have
given me my breakfast. I am very late now, and shall barely have time
to get through with it and be there before the gates close."
"Your porridge is quite ready for you, Ralph; so if you are late it will be
your own fault not mine. The eggs will be in before you have eaten it.
However, I won't open the letter until you have gone, because you will
only waste time by asking questions about it."
Ralph began his bread and milk, and Mrs. Conway, stretching out her
hand, took the letter he had laid beside his plate, and turning it over
glanced at the direction to ascertain from which of her few
correspondents it came. For a moment she looked puzzled, then, with a
little start, she laid it down by the side of her plate. She had recognized
the handwriting once so familiar to her.
"What is it, mother? You look quite startled. Who is it from?"
"It is from no one you know, Ralph. I think it is from a person I have
not heard from for some years. At any rate it will keep until you are off
to school."
"It's nothing unpleasant, I hope, mother. Your color has quite gone, and
you look downright pale."
"What should be the matter, you silly boy?" Mrs. Conway said, with an
attempt to smile. "What could there be unpleasant in a letter from a
person I have not heard from for years? There, go on with your
breakfast. I expect you will hear some news when you get down into
the town, for the guns in the castle have been firing, and I suppose there
is news of a victory. They said yesterday that a great battle was

expected to be fought against Napoleon somewhere near Leipzig."
"Yes; I