feared her guardian had designs on her life.  I can hardly believe that, but I do think that she is far from well, and that it is enough to drive her mad to coop her up like that.  We must get her out somehow or another.  I suppose that her guardian is within his rights, and that it is not a police matter.  You must consider what must be done, and let young Dimsdale know if you think best.  He will want to come down to see her, no doubt, and if Toby were to come too I should not be sorry.

“I should have telegraphed about it, but I could not explain myself sufficiently.  I assure you that the poor girl is in a very bad way, and we can’t be too energetic in what we do.  It was very sad to hear the positive manner in which she declared that her guardian would murder her, though she did not attempt to give any reason why he should commit such a terrible crime.  We saw a horrid one-eyed man at the gate, who appeared to be on guard to prevent any one from coming out or in.  On our way to Bedsworth we met no less a person than the great Mr. Girdlestone himself, and we actually drove so clumsily that we splashed him all over with mud.  Wasn’t that a very sad and unaccountable thing?  I fancy I see Toby smiling over that.

    “Good-bye, my dear lad.  Be as good as you can.  I know you’ve got
     rather out of the way of it, but practice works wonders.

    “Ever yours,

    “LAVINIA SCULLY.”

It happened that on the morning on which this missive came to Kennedy Place, Von Baumser had not gone to the City.  The major had just performed his toilet and was marching up and down with a cigarette in his mouth and the United Service Gazette in his hand, descanting fluently, as is the habit of old soldiers, on the favouritism of the Horse Guards and the deterioration of the service.

“Look at this fellow Carmoichael!” he cried excitedly, slapping the paper with one, hand, while he crumpled it up with the other.  “They’ve made him lieutinant-gineral!  The demndest booby in the regiment, sir!  A fellow who’s seen no service and never heard a shot fired in anger.  They promoted him on the stringth of a sham fight, bedad!  He commanded a definding force operating along the Thames and opposing an invading army that was advancing from Guildford.  Did iver ye hear such infernal nonsense in your life?  And there’s Stares, and Knight, and Underwood, and a dozen more I could mintion, that have volunteered for everything since the Sikh war of ’46, all neglicted, sir—­neglicted!  The British Army is going straight to the divil.”

“Dat’s a very bad look-out for the devil,” said Von Baumser, filling up a cup of coffee.

The major continued to stride angrily about the room.  “That’s why we niver have a satisfactory campaign with a European foe,” he broke out.  “Our success is always half and half, and leads to nothing.  Yet we have the finest raw material and the greatest individual fighting power and divilment of any army in the world.”