that he should
offer his services to his country, in these times. And I think I
persuaded him that it was better to leave vengeance where it belonged.
He said he couldn't remain here, and he has already left for England.
I am afraid I encouraged him to leave at once. You see, I didn't
understand."

Irene had taken a chair, and for some minutes she sat in silence. "I
don't blame you," she said at length. "You gave him good advice. And
I don't blame him, although he might have been less ready to jump at
conclusions. There remains only one thing for me to do."

"What?" said Edith, after a moment's hesitation.

"Follow him! I shall follow him, and make him understand. If he must
go into battle--with all that that means--he must go in knowing the
truth. You have been very kind, Miss Duncan. You have gone out of
your way to do me a great service, and you have shown more kindness
than I have any right to claim from a stranger. . . . I feel, too, the
call for vengeance," she exclaimed, springing to her feet, "but first I
must find Dave. I shall follow him at once. I shall readily locate
him in some way through the military service. Everything is organized;
they will be able to find his name."

She accompanied her visitor to the door. They shook hands and looked
for a moment in each other's eyes. And then Edith burst away and
hurried down the street.

Irene had searched London for two weeks. The confidence of her earlier
inquiries had diminished with each successive blind trail, which,
promising results at first, led her into a maze of confusion and
disappointment. The organization of the military service commanded
less enthusiasm than she had felt a month before. She saw it
struggling with the apparently impossible; it was as though she, in her
little studio, had been suddenly called upon to paint all the portraits
in the world . . . In some degree she understood the difficulties. In
equal degree she sympathized with those who were striving to overcome
them and she hung on from day to day in her search with a dogged
determination which set its teeth against admitting that the search was
hopeless. Her little store of money was fast dwindling away; she
looked into the face of every man in uniform with a pathetic
earnestness that more than once caused her to be misunderstood.

At last one great fear had settled on her heart. It came upon her
first suddenly on shipboard; she had resolutely thrown it