front of the hearth and gazed
into the leaping fire in silence, while Owen opened the letters which
had accumulated during the day.

For a few moments there was no sound save the crackling of paper and the
soft little chatter of the fire. Then Owen crumpled up a letter he held
and flung it from him with something which sounded like an oath.

Toni, roused from her reverie, turned round to face him.

"What's the matter, Owen?"

"Matter enough, I think." His face wore a frown which boded ill for
someone. "Toni, what have you been saying to Miss Loder to make her
write this letter?"

"Saying to Miss Loder?" Every scrap of colour faded from her face, and
Owen, watching, took her pallor for the ashy hue of guilt.

"Yes. You've said something--I don't know what--but I should like to
know at once, without prevarication, just what it is."

"I've said nothing to Miss Loder." Her voice was unsteady--she too had
felt her nerves jarred during this dreadful day.

"Well, you see what she says." He stooped and picked up the letter,
which he handed to Toni. "Read that, and tell me what you make of it."

With fingers as cold as ice, and a memory in her heart of another letter
which had brought her misery, Toni took the sheet, and read, in Miss
Loder's firm, characteristic hand, the letter in which she requested to
be allowed to resign her post.

"I am not taking this step without serious thought," so the letter ran,
"and for some time I determined to remain with you as long as you
honoured me by your acquiescence in the arrangement. But learning, as I
do, from a quite indisputable source, that my presence in your house is
distasteful to Mrs. Rose, I have no option but to ask you to release me
from a position which is not only unpleasant but undignified. If you
will be kind enough to waive the question of notice, I would prefer to
terminate the engagement at once."

Here followed her signature, firm and clear as ever; and then came a
postscript, surely a sign of disturbance on the part of so academic a
scribe.

"I would prefer to dissever all connection with the _Bridge_ at the same
time; but am willing to remain at the office until you find a suitable
person for the post."

Having read the letter Toni let it fall upon her knee, while she gazed
dreamily into the red heart of the fire, her brain working slowly as she
tried to understand the significance of Miss Loder's epistle.

Something in her abstraction appeared to irr