out of the awful maelstrom.

Send their good old Anna back to Germany? Why, the idea was unthinkable!
What would she, Mary Otway, what would her daughter, Rose, do without
Anna? Anna had become--Mrs. Otway realised it to-day as she had never
realised it before--the corner-stone of their modest, happy House of
Life.

* * * * *

Miss Forsyth had, however, said one thing which was unfortunately true.
It is strange how often these positive, rather managing people hit the
right nail on the head! The fact that England and Germany were now at
war _would_ sometimes make things a little awkward with regard to poor
old Anna. Something of the kind had, indeed, happened on this very
morning, less than two hours ago. And at the time it had been very
painful, very disagreeable....

Mrs. Otway and her daughter, each opening a newspaper before beginning
breakfast, had looked up, and in awe-struck tones simultaneously
exclaimed, "Why, we are at war!" and "War has been declared!" And then
Mrs. Otway, as was her wont, had fallen into eager, impulsive talk. But
she had to stop abruptly when the dining-room door opened--for it
revealed the short, stumpy figure of Anna, smiling, indeed beaming even
more than usual, as she brought in the coffee she made so well. Mother
and daughter had looked at one another across the table, an unspoken
question in each pair of kind eyes. That question was: _Did poor old
Anna know?_

The answer came with dramatic swiftness, and in the negative. Anna
approached her mistress, still with that curious look of beaming
happiness in her round, fat, plain face, and after she had put down the
coffee-jug she held out her work-worn hand. On it was a pink card, and
in her excitement she broke into eager German.

"The child has come!" she exclaimed. "Look! This is what I have
received, gracious lady," and she put the card on her mistress's plate.

What was written, or rather printed, on that fancy-looking card, ran,
when Englished, as follows:

THE JOYOUS BIRTH OF A LARGE-EYED SUNDAY MAIDEN
IS ANNOUNCED, ULTRA-JUBILANTLY, BY
WILHELM WARSHAUER, SUB-INSPECTOR OF POLICE IN
BERLIN, AND WIFE MINNA, BORN BROCKMANN.

Of course they both congratulated their good old Anna very heartily on
the birth of the little great-niece in Berlin--indeed Rose, jumping up
from the table, had surprised her mother by giving her old nurse a hug.
"I'm so glad, dear Anna! How happy they