"Gracious, Jack," Frieda exclaimed. "As long as there is nothing the matter with Captain MacDonnell, I wouldn't shed any tears over him. You so seldom cry, it always makes me wretched when you do. I'll bet Jack has never shed any tears over you, Frank." Frieda was not like a kitten in appearance alone. She had also soft little claws with which she scratched a tiny bit now and then. She had been entirely conscious that her brother-in-law considered that she was to blame in a large measure for her trouble with her husband, although he had never said so to her. Yet she had a desire to get a little bit even with him now and then. Frank's face did flush slightly, although he smiled good humoredly. "Oh, I am nothing but a civilian these days and Bryan is a soldier. I can't expect the same interest to be bestowed upon me, even by my own wife." CHAPTER X THE LETTER AS soon as Jack saw Frank's face she realized that something tragic had occurred. She had come down to the train alone to meet him, but said nothing until they had walked away from the little crowd at the station into the gloom of the midwinter afternoon. "It is Bryan," Frank then exclaimed without waiting to be asked. "I had word from the War Office today that he had been mortally wounded." He put his arm about Jack to support her if she should turn faint, but this was not the way Jack received bad news. She stopped for a moment, standing straight, however, with her head up and her shoulders braced. "Are you sure, Frank, there can be no mistake?" she asked slowly. Lord Kent shook his head. "I am afraid not, dear. Bryan was leading a charge out of his trench when a shell hit him. His own men carried him back to a field hospital." [Illustration: HIS OWN MEN CARRIED HIM BACK TO A FIELD HOSPITAL] Jack and Frank then walked slowly on between the winter fields. The grass was still green as it remains almost all the year round in England, but the trees were stripped and bare, and there were no birds in sight, except a few melancholy crows, which in England are called rooks. Jack was recalling the day when she and Captain MacDonnell had taken their last ride together; also the smell of the blossoming hedges and her baby's blue ribbon on his sleeve. Since coming to England as a bride, she and Frank and Bryan had enjoyed a charming friendship. It was to Bryan, Frank had first introduced her, asking that he help to make her less homesick for the ranch and her own people. In those days Frank's sisters were still unmarried and Bryan had been in the habit of spending much of his time at Kent House when he was on leave.