"Come in, Treves."
John entered and found Lady Rachel standing near his Chief's desk. Her face was white, her nose unromantically red; she had been crying. On Dacent Smith's desk lay a letter in Lady Rachel's handwriting.
DEAR BOB, it ran, I have had a sudden breakdown in health. The doctors inform me I am to go to Pitt Lunan Hydro for at least four months. I may not even be well enough to return to town even then. Forgive me, Bob, for not being able to say good-bye, but I am obliged to hurry away at once.
Your devoted wife,
RACHEL.
As John entered the room Lady Rachel Marvin folded this letter, placed it in an envelope, and, still standing, addressed it to her husband, "Lieutenant-Commander Marvin, H.M.S. ——, Southampton." She closed the envelope and accepted a stamp from Dacent Smith.
Dacent Smith broke the long silence that followed.
"Treves," said he, "Lady Rachel leaves Euston for Scotland to-night by the seven o'clock train."
"I don't want to go to Scotland!" intervened Lady Rachel petulantly. "I dislike hydros intensely; I think them absolutely detestable places!"
Dacent Smith watched her for a moment with unrelenting eyes, then spoke in a tone there was no mistaking.