e,_ not
_here._ Mrs. Ray knows about them. And -- get back here as soon as you
can."

He closed his door again, sat down on the bed and opened the other
letter. His hand shook as he unfolded it. He was so scared and excited
that he could scarcely decipher the angular, girlish penmanship:

* * * * *

"To dear Captain Darragh, our champion and friend--

"It is difficult for me, Monsieur, to express my happiness and my deep
gratitude in the so cold formality of the written page.

"Alas, sir, it will be still more difficult to find words for it when
again I have the happiness of greeting you in proper person.

"Valentine has told you everything, she warns me, and I am, therefore,
somewhat at a loss to know what I should write to you.

"Yes, I know very well what I would write if I dare. It is this: that
I wish you to know -- although it may not pass the censor -- that I am
most impatient to see you, Monsieur. _Not_ because of kindness past,
nor with an unworthy expectation of benefits to come. But because of
friendship, -- _the deepest, sincerest of my_ WHOLE LIFE.

"Is it not modest of a young girl to say this? Yet, surely all the
world which was once _en regle,_ formal, artificial, has been burnt out
of our hearts by this so frightful calamity which has overwhelmed the
world with fire and blood.

"If ever on earth there was a time when we might venture to express
with candour what is hidden within our minds and hearts, it would seem,
Monsieur, that the time is now.

"True, I have known you only for one day and one evening. Yet, what
happened to the world in that brief space of time -- and to us, Monsieur
-- brought _us_ together as though our meeting were but a blessed
reunion after the happy intimacy of many years. ... I speak, Monsieur,
for myself. May I hope that I speak, also, for you?

"With a heart too full to thank you, and with expectations
indescribable -- but with courage, always, for any event, -- I take my
leave of you at the foot of this page. Like death -- I trust -- my
adieu is not the end, but the beginning. It is not farewell; it is a
greeting to him whom I most honour in all the world. ... And would
willingly obey if he shall command. And otherwise -- _all_ else that in
his mind -- and heart -- he might desire.

"THEODORICA."

* * * * *

It was the most beautiful love-letter any man ever received in all the
history of love.

And it had passed the censor.