"'It is never any good to try to say out a farewell, Lettice. If one had years to say it in, there would always be something left unsaid. Partings are always sudden, whether we are snatched from each other as if by pirates in the dead of night, or watch the lessening sail till it becomes a speck in the horizon. The last step is always a plunge into a gulf. But, Lettice,' he added, lowering his voice, 'death itself is not really a gulf, only to those on this edge of it. Do not tell my Mother I came back. If she asks you anything about it, tell her I never went away with a lighter heart. For I see less and less what the end will be, or what to wish for, and I am content more and more to make the day's march, and leave the conduct of the campaign to God.' "And he rode off, looking like a prince, and I watched him till he disappeared behind the trees. He looked back once again and waved his plumed hat to me, and then galloped out of sight in a moment. "I crept back by a side-door near the stable, that my Mother might not see me; and Cæsar, Harry's dog, made a dismal whining, and crouched and fawned on me, so that it went to my heart not to be able to grant him what he asked for so plainly in his poor dumb way, and set him free to follow Harry. "_June_ 14, _Ten o'clock at night_.--Some men who came from the North this evening, say there has been fighting towards the North-west, somewhere on the borders of Northamptonshire and Leicestershire The roar of the guns began early in the day, and then there was sharp interrupted firing, which went on till the afternoon, when it seemed gradually to cease. "All day it has been going on. All this quiet summer day. My Father there, perhaps, and Harry certainly. And nothing to be heard until to-morrow. "My Mother will not seek rest to-night. I see the lamp in her oratory-window. And far off across the fields, another light in the gable of old Netherby, where Olive Drayton used to sleep. It is some comfort to think we are watching together. Olive is so good. And she will be sure to remember us. "_June_ 20.--We heard before the morrow. The next morning, when the dawn began to break again, a horseman galloped hastily up to the door. I was in my mother's room; we were both dressed. We had neither of us slept. I looked out. It was Roger Drayton. My Mother sat up on the bed, when I had persuaded her to rest. "'I will go down and ask,' I said. "'We will go together, Lettice,' said she. "Then came a cry from one of the maids. "'Perhaps it is poor Margery,' I said. For Margery had come to stay with us since we returned. It comforted us to keep together, all of us who had kindred at the field. "My Mother shook her head. "She knelt down one moment, and drew me down beside her, by the bedside, heart against heart, and murmured,-- "'Thy will, not mine! Oh, help us to say it. For His sake who said it first.' "Then she rose, and with a firm step went down into the hall with me.