y Vandyke's. It's mine now, because Diana gave it to
me, with a lot of other things they cared nothing about, for our Belgian
men. They didn't know God was delivering them into my hands--and your
hands. For I give this to you to do with as you will. It is the coat
Major Vandyke wore the night at El Paso when he was in temporary
command. He wore it when his orderly, Johnson, brought him the message
you wrote on a leaf out of your notebook--the message he swore never
reached him."

As I spoke I held out the coat in both hands, with the inside toward
Eagle, so that he could see for himself the hole I had made in the
lining, and perhaps draw his own conclusions. I saw his eyes fix
themselves on the long, tell-tale slit and the colour rush up to his
forehead.

"Who tore that slit in the lining?" he asked sharply.

"I tore it to-night!"

"Peggy!... You found something?"

"Yes! It had slipped through a ripped place down between the cloth and
the lining."

"Good God! _The message?_"

"The message! Here it is." And from the bosom of my low dress I pulled
the folded bit of khaki-yellow paper, warm from my heart. He took it
from me. Our fingers touched, and his were cold as ice.

I stood still while he opened the paper and read the words which were of
as great importance in his life now as when he wrote them. They had
power to make all the difference to him and to another man between
honour and dishonour.

For a long minute he was silent and motionless, reading or thinking.
Then he looked up abruptly, and his eyes blazed into mine.

"Peggy!" he said in a level, monotonous tone which I knew hid deep
feeling. "Do you realize what this means to me?"

"Yes," I answered. "I realize fully. I've dreamed of a moment like this
for you. I've lived for it, for weeks and months that seem like years."

"And that it should come to me from you!"

"I hoped--I prayed."

"Tell me what happened."

I told him, only leaving out the part about Diana, how she had come home
and guessed the secret I had found and tried to rob me. To mention that,
I thought, might seem as if I were trying to boast of what I had done.
Then, when I had explained how I dashed out of the house, leaving
everything but the coat, which would be invaluable as proof, I hurried
on, lest he should ask questions I didn't wish to answer.

"What has become of the notebook?" I wanted to know. "I hope you've got
it?"

"Better than that," Eagle said. "If I'd had it i