in the very act of losing my temper. That's all."

Presently, when Louise was ascending the stairs with Mrs. Bond, the girl
asked:

"Why was Hugh so put out? What has Mrs. Spicer been saying about him?"

"Only that he was a shirker during the war. And, naturally, he is highly
indignant."

"He has a right to be. He did splendidly. His record shows that,"
declared the girl.

"I urged him to take no notice of the insults. The Spicer woman has a
very venomous tongue, my dear! She is a vicar's widow!"

And then they separated to their respective rooms.

Half an hour later Hugh Henfrey retired, but he found sleep impossible;
so he got up and sat at the open window, gazing across to the dim
outlines of the Surrey hills, picturesque and undulating beneath the
stars.

Who could have called him on the telephone? It was a woman, but the
voice might have been that of a female telephone operator. Or yet--it
might have been that of Dorise! She knew that he was at Shapley and
looked it up in the telephone directory. If that were the explanation,
then she certainly would not give away the secret of his hiding-place.

Still he was haunted by a great dread the whole of that night. The
Sparrow had told him he had acted foolishly in leaving his place of
concealment in Kensington. The Sparrow was his firm friend, and in
future he intended to obey the little old man's orders implicitly--as so
many others did.

Next morning he came down to breakfast before the ladies, and beside his
plate he found a letter--addressed to him openly. He had not received
one addressed in his real name for many months. Sight of it caused his
heart to bound in anxiety, but when he read it he stood rooted to the
spot.

Those lines which he read staggered him; the room seemed to revolve, and
he re-read them, scarce believing his own eyes.

He realized in that instant that a great blow had fallen upon him, and
that all was now hopeless. The sunshine of his life, had in that single
instant, been blotted out!

TWENTY-FIRST CHAPTER

THE MAN WITH MANY NAMES

At the moment he had read the letter Mrs. Bond entered the room.

"Hallo! You're down early," she remarked. "And already had your letters,
I see! They don't generally come so early. The postman has to walk over
from Puttenham."

Then she took up her own and carelessly placed them aside. They
consisted mostly of circulars and the accounts of Guildford tradesmen.

"Yes," he said, "I was d