“Ah, Mr. Hardwick!” she said with a sigh, “I see you have discovered my secret, although I had hoped to conceal it even from your alert eyes. I am, indeed, in the situation of _Ralph Rackstraw_ in ‘Pinafore,’ ‘I love, and love, alas! above my station,’ and now that you know half, you may as well know all. It arose out of that unfortunate ball given by the Duchess of Chiselhurst which will haunt me all the rest of my life, I fear,” said Jennie, still without looking up. Mr. Hardwick smothered an ejaculation and was glad that the girl’s eyes were not upon him. There was a pause of a few moments’ duration between them. He took the path which was left open to him, fondly flattering himself that, while he had stumbled inadvertently upon her romance, he had kept his own secret safe. “I--I have no right to intrude on your confidences, Miss Baxter,” he said finally with an effort, “and I hope you will excuse me for--for------” “Oh! I have been sure for some days you knew it,” interrupted the girl, looking up, but not at him. “I have been neglecting my work, I fear, and so you were quite right in speaking.” “No, your work is all right; it wasn’t that exactly--but never mind, we won’t speak of this any more, for I see it embarrasses you.” “Thank you, Mr. Hardwick,” said Jennie, again bending her eyes on the desk before her. The man saw the colour come and go in her cheeks, and thought he had never beheld anyone so entrancing. He rose quickly, without making further attempt at explanation, and left the room. One or two tear drops stained the paper on which the girl was scribbling. She didn’t like giving pain to anyone, but could not hold herself to blame for what had happened. She made up her mind to leave the _Daily Bugle_ and seek employment elsewhere, but next day Mr. Hardwick showed no trace of disappointment, and spoke to her with that curt imperiousness which had heretofore been his custom. “Miss Baxter,” he said, “have you been reading the newspapers with any degree of attention lately?” “Yes, Mr. Hardwick.” “Have you been watching the drift of foreign politics?” “Do you refer to that speech by the Prime Minister of Austria a week or two ago?” “Yes, that is what I have in my mind. As you know, then, it amounted almost to a declaration of war against England--almost, but not quite. It was a case of saying too much or of not saying enough; however, it was not followed up, and the Premier has been as dumb as a graven image ever since. England has many enemies in different parts of the world, but I must confess that this speech by the Austrian Premier came as a surprise. There must have been something hidden, which is not visible from the outside. The Premier is too astute a man not to know exactly what his words meant, and he was under no delusion as to the manner in which England would take them. It is a case, then, of, ‘When I was so quickly done for, I wonder what I was begun for’--that is what all Europe is asking.”