Presently he looked up with a smile:
"I have read it and I understand it. Would you be kind enough to give me the packet which Monsieur Halkett writes that he has left for me?"
"Please read first what is written on the envelope of this letter," said Sister Eila very calmly.
He turned over the envelope, read the inscription in Latin, smiled as he read it.
"Rather an ominous message, is it not, Sister?"
"Do you think so?"
He glanced sharply to right and left, then, still smiling, he read aloud:
"Thou shalt go, thou shalt not return, thou shalt die in battle——"
He turned his head with a jerk and gazed down the road as though suddenly startled; at the same instant Sister Eila snatched the letter from his fingers, sprang inside the house, and slammed the door.
As she bolted it, he threw his weight against it for a moment, then turned and ran for the meadow where the aëroplane stood.