om, in two great strides, to follow her. But at the door
he paused; turned, and came slowly back.

He stood on the hearthrug, with bent head; rigid, motionless.

Suddenly he lifted his eyes to Lord Ingleby's portrait.

"Curse you!" he said through clenched teeth, and beat his fists upon the
marble mantelpiece. "Curse your explosives! And curse your inventions!
And curse you for taking her first!" Then he dropped into a chair, and
buried his face in his hands. "Oh, God forgive me!" he whispered,
brokenly. "But there is a limit to what a man can bear."

He scarcely noticed the entrance of the footman who brought tea. But when
a lighter step paused at the door, he lifted a haggard face, expecting to
see Myra.

A quiet woman entered, simply dressed in black merino. Her white linen
collar and cuffs gave her the look of a hospital nurse. Her dark hair,
neatly parted, was smoothly coiled around her head. She came in,
deferentially; yet with a quiet dignity of manner.

"I have come to pour your tea, my lord," she said. "Lady Ingleby is not
well, and fears she must remain in her room. She asks me to give you
these papers."

Then the Earl of Airth and Monteith rose to his feet, and held out his
hand.

"I think you must be Mrs. O'Mara," he said. "I am glad to meet you, and
it is kind of you to give me tea. I have heard of you before; and I
believe I saw you yesterday, on the steps of your pretty house, as I
drove up the avenue. Will you allow me to tell you how often, when we
stood shoulder to shoulder in times of difficulty and danger, I had
reason to respect and admire the brave comrade I knew as Sergeant
O'Mara?"

* * * * *

Before quitting Shenstone, Jim Airth sat at Myra's davenport and wrote a
letter, leaving it with Mrs. O'Mara to place in Lady Ingleby's hands as
soon as he had gone.

"I do not wonder you felt unable to see me again. Forgive me for all the
grief I have caused, and am causing, you. I shall go abroad as soon as
may be; but am obliged to remain in town until I have completed work
which I am under contract with my publishers to finish. It will take a
month, at most.

"If you want me, Myra--I mean if you _need_ me--I could come at any
moment. A wire to my Club would always find me.

"May I know how you are?
"Wholly yours,