By six o'clock Katrine and her chaperon were safely housed in the hotel, appreciating as they had never done before the blessings of _terra firma_. The next morning their baggage was restored to them, practically undamaged, and what was to Katrine most important of all, a letter arrived from Jim Blair. She sat alone in her room holding the unopened envelope in her hand, gaining courage for the ordeal of reading the loving words. Strange how deep a hold this unknown man had taken of her affections! Bedford she loved with the stored-up passion of her life, but even Bedford himself had not been able to lessen her tenderness towards the man who had come into her life at the moment when she needed him most, and brought solace to her sore heart. It was cruelly hard to be obliged to bring pain and disappointment to so generous a lover. She flinched and coloured at the thought of her own conduct as viewed from the outside--just the weak, commonplace story of the pretty girl who starts on a voyage which is to bring her to a waiting lover, meets another man _en route_, and is false to her tryst,--but it was typical of Katrine's conception of the character of her unknown lover, that through all her troubled thoughts the conviction remained that Jim would understand,--that however he might suffer he would neither be bitter nor unjust. She sighed, and bracing herself resolutely, tore open the envelope. The blood rushed to her face as she read the opening words: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "My Own Katrine, "No! I am not breaking my truce. This little breathing space between the sea voyage and the start up-country doesn't count in the scheme. It's a No-man's land, of which this man would be a fool if he didn't take possession forthwith!