"Isn't it cold?" said Marian, shivering. "Still, I wouldn't have missed it for anything."
Lucy did not answer, for her eyes were fixed on a postal which the mailman had dropped, as he always did whatever he brought, on the post at the foot of the stairs. It was addressed to her, but—and this made Lucy stare at it with bated breath—it was addressed in her own writing. Incredulous, she pulled off her glove and picked it up. The writing on the other side was strange—far neater and smaller than Dick Harding's, but at the bottom was the familiar R. H.
"Marian!" she burst out, in a rush of bewildered joy, "it's from him! Mr. Harding! Oh, I can't wait!"
She dropped down on the lowest step of the stairs and Marian collapsed into an eager heap beside her, as she bent over the card and read:
"Dear Captain Lucy: Are you surprised, or did the dispatches saying I'm not 'missing' any longer get ahead of this? I cabled my family in the Islands to-day, and in my old coat I found this card and remembered my promise. I am pretty well knocked up still, but nothing to worry over. I was picked up wounded after the rumpus, by some women, and taken to a French farmhouse. Nobody knew where I was, until I got better and told the good people who took care of me to send word to our lines. Before that happened the country around was heavily bombarded, and no one dared stir from the house that sheltered me. I am in a big hospital now, being fed and petted like a pussy-cat. My nurse says there's no more room to write, so good-bye. Best wishes for Bob's luck in the Flying Corps. R. H."
"Oh, Lucy, how wonderful!" cried Marian, her blue eyes shining, and her cheeks pink with excitement and delight. "To think he should have remembered you right off, and let you know he was safe!"
Lucy's heart was beating joyfully and hard, and for a moment she could scarcely speak, but when she did it was to say with sober earnestness:
"If I ever get down-hearted again, Marian, just remind me of this. I never thought I'd see or hear from him again!"
Pride in her old friend's constancy was not the greatest part of her happiness just then, but it did have a share in it when Major Gordon came in a few hours later with official confirmation of Mr. Harding's safety.