"But it was fine of Delancy to stand by him--fine, fine! His father is perfectly furious, but, Duane, it _was_ fine! "And now, dear, about Scott. It will amuse you, and perhaps horrify you, if I tell you that he has not turned a hair. "Not that he doesn't care; not that he is not more or less mortified. But he blames nobody except himself; and he's laying plans quite cheerfully for a career on a small income that really does not require the austerity and frugality he imagines. "One thing is certain; the town house is to be sold. My income is not sufficient to maintain it and Roya-Neh, and live as we do, and have anything left. I don't yet know how far my fortune is involved, but I have a very unpleasant premonition that there is going to be much less left than anybody believes, and that ultimately we ought to sell Roya-Neh. "However, it is far too early to speculate; besides, this family has done enough speculating for one generation. "Dear, you ask about myself. I am not one bit worried, sad, or apprehensive. I am _better_, Duane. Do you understand? All this has developed a set of steadier nerves in me than I have had since I was a child. "A new and curiously keen enjoyment has been slowly growing in me--a happiness in physical and violent effort. I've a devilish horse to ride; and I love it! I've climbed all over the Gilded Dome and Lynx Peak after the biggest and shaggiest boar you ever saw. Oh, Duane! I came on him just at the edge of evening, and he winded me and went thundering down the Westgate ravine, and I fired too quickly. "But I'm after him almost every day with old Miller, and my arms and legs are getting so strong, and my flesh so firm, and actually I'm becoming almost plump in the face! Don't you care for that kind of a girl? "Dear, do you think I've passed the danger mark? Tell me honestly--not what you want to think, but what you do believe. I don't know whether I have passed it yet. I feel, somehow, whichever side of it I am on, that the danger mark is not very far away from me. I've got to get farther away. The house in town is open. Mrs. Farren, Hilda, and Nellie are there if we run into town. "Kathleen is so happy for me. I've told her about the red cross. She is too sweet to Scott; she seems to think he really grieves deeply over the loss of his private fortune. What a dear she is! She is willing to marry him now; but Scott strikes attitudes and declares she shall have a man whose name stands for an achievement--meaning, of course, the Seagrave process for the extermination of the Rose-beetle. "Duane, I am quite unaccountably happy to-day. Nothing seems to threaten. But don't stop loving me."