s. Otway had thought till within the
last few days--he had long been convinced that they intended to conquer
Europe by force of arms! So strong was this conviction of his that he
had given time, and yes, money too, to the propaganda carried on by Lord
Roberts in favour of National Service.

It was odd that a man whose suspicions of the country which was to her
so dear almost amounted to a monomania, should have become her friend.
But so it was. In fact, Major Guthrie was her only man friend. He
advised her about all the things concerning which men are supposed to
know more than women--such as investments, for instance. Of course she
did not always take his advice, but it was often a comfort to talk
things out with him, and she had come instinctively to turn to him when
in any little trouble. Few days passed without Major Guthrie's calling,
either by chance or in response to a special invitation, at the Trellis
House.

Unfortunately, or was it fortunately? the handsome old mother, for whose
sake Major Guthrie had left the Army three years ago, didn't care for
clerical society. She only liked country people and Londoners. As far as
Mrs. Otway could dislike any one, she disliked Mrs. Guthrie; but the two
ladies seldom had occasion to meet--the Guthries lived in a pretty old
house in Dorycote, a village two miles from Witanbury. Also Mrs. Guthrie
was more or less chair-ridden, and Mrs. Otway had no carriage.

* * * * *

The bells of the cathedral suddenly broke across her troublesome,
disconnected thoughts. Mrs. Otway never heard those chimes without a
wave of remembrance, sometimes very slight, sometimes like to-day quite
strong and insistent, of past joys and sorrows. Those bells were
interwoven with the whole of her wifehood, motherhood, and widowhood;
they had rung for her wedding, they had mustered the tiny congregation
who had been present at Rose's christening; the great bell had tolled
the day her husband had died, and again to bid the kindly folk of
Witanbury to his simple funeral. Some day, perhaps, the bells would ring
a joyful peal in honour of Rose's wedding.

As she walked up the path which leads from the road encircling the Close
to the cathedral, she tried to compose and attune her mind to solemn,
peaceful thoughts.

There was a small congregation, perhaps thirty in all, gathered together
in the choir, but the atmosphere of that tiny gathering of people was
slightly elec