She could not afford much time over useless tears. Quickly she bathed her face and went downstairs. The General thought what good form she was in as she chatted and laughed and joked with him through lunch, but the Admiral always surmised the truth when his niece was unusually animated and his quick eyes detected the signs of trouble in her face. When lunch was over, the General went off to the smoking-room with his pipe. Adrienne stood at the window for a moment or two, looking out upon the sunny garden, and the Admiral joined her and, laying a hand on her shoulder, said: "You're not fretting over going to France, are you, my dear?" Adrienne slipped her hand into his arm caressingly. "I'm trying not to think about it," she said; "why do you have such sharp eyes, Uncle Derrick?" "I hate to see you worried," was his quick response. "It's only—you know the old trouble—Godfrey has been coming to close quarters again, and it's no good—I can't give him what he wants. And I hate making him unhappy." The Admiral did not speak. "You want me to marry him, I know," she went on in a low breathless tone; "but I'm terrified of taking such an unalterable step, feeling as I do—or rather not feeling as he deserves I should. Sometimes I think I have no heart. It's cold and dead as far as he is concerned. I don't say I don't like him. I do very much—but I like him as a friend or brother, and nothing more." "Well, my dear child, don't fret about it. You know your own business best. He's an out-and-out good sort; but if he doesn't appeal to you, don't for goodness' sake force yourself against your instinct. Perhaps it will be just as well for you to be away from him for a bit. Personally I think you see too much of each other." "I think perhaps we do. But I have really made him understand to-day that I cannot give him the love he ought to have. He won't ask me again, I feel sure." Then after a moment's silence she said: "Don't say anything to Uncle Tom, will you? You and I have a few secrets together, and this must be one of them. Now I must go and write to this stepcousin of mine. But he is no relation really, is he? Don't you think his letter rather dictatorial?" The Admiral smiled. "He goes straight to the point and keeps to it. He's been very good to Cecily." Adrienne went to her private sitting-room. It was upstairs next to her bedroom, and was very daintily furnished. Old-fashioned chintz curtains and chintz-covered couch and chairs brightened up the grey walls and the soft grey carpet underfoot. A canary in a cage was singing lustily as she entered the room. A bright fire was in the grate, and big blue and white china bowls of daffodils and narcissus stood on the writing-table and on the wide window-sills. Adrienne went over to her writing-table by the window and wrote as follows: "DEAR COUNT DE BEAUDESSERT,—