rchway to watch against any possible ruse of the foe-for, Bank Holiday or no Bank Holiday, he was taking

ar, held out a letter in

s I said to myself 'What a good job if that poor fella's luck should be here at last, and this

her here nor in Canada," answered Nicky-Nan. "Is th

of argyment, and each married and had six again. Why, damme, by that time there's not a quarter in Europe where a rich chap deceased mayn't be croppin' up and leavin' you his money, for no better reason than that you're a Nanjivell. That always seemed to me one of the advantages of good birth. For my part," the postman continued, "my father and mother never spoke of such matters, though she was a Col

an stretched out a hand, but dr

ay take an' keep it.

n' the pleasure she'd take in it, you'd never believe. I've often thought how funny she must be feelin' it up there-the good soul-with everything of the best in lighting an' water, an' no rates at all-or that's how I read the last chapter o' Revelations. . . . Yes, only three letters of my own, that have handed so many to other people, with births, marriages, an' deaths, shipwrecks an' legacies an' lovin' letters from every port in the world. Telegrams too-I'd dearly like to get a telegram of my own. . . . But Government be a terrible stickle

ere, hold hard a moment-Is it in Pam

Lippity-Libby's feeli

told you!" he proteste

is cle

loops. The writin's sloped backwards too, with a rake on it, same as was fash'nable on some o'

the thing-I'll risk

" The words "Naval Reservist" underlined gave him a tremor. But it was too late to draw back. He broke open

tisn' s

s." Suddenly he slapped his thigh. "There now! O' course- why, what a

E

of two, an' both females. It lay between 'em, and I was for old Ann' Bunney-she bein' well known for a witch. But now that can't be, for the woman's gone to Satan t

ky-Nan, frowning over the letter,

to read it to

Nicky-Nan curtly. "But I'd

she is- she'll work out another woman that writes 'nonymous. Like a stoat in a burrow she will, specially if she happens to take in washin' same as my lost Sarah did. She was shown a 'nonymous letter with 'Only charitable to warn' in it. Dang me, if she didn' go straight an' turn up a complaint about 'One chemise torn in wash,' an' s

sitting-room, and there spelled it through painfully,

y, 2/

Nanj

was naterally concerned to-day at your not taking your place along with the other men that went off to fight for their country. I am given to understa

y, you are Abel to Fight thats how I look at it. I would let you to know the Public doe

reached me that until the present sistem came in and put a stop

as Lord Nelson said

I think so bad of

t to the Custom Hou

warn

ll-W

nace of it. At the first perusal his mind was engaged with the mechanical task of deciphering the scr

orld (none, maybe-he did not care how many or how few, anyway), he was aware of one only enemy-Pamphlett. He held this tenement which Pamphlett openly coveted: but what besides had he that any on

the last paragraph but one, his heart stood

hristendom force a man to go to the War with a growth under his thigh as big as your fist? Damn the War!-he'd scarcely given a thought to it (being so worried with other matters) until last night. He hadn't a notion, at this moment, what it was all about. But anyhow that stuff about "want of pluck" was silly nonsense,-almost too silly to vex a man. He would have gone fast enough had he been able. In truth, Nicky-

wo other men, had conspired with a knavish Chief Officer of Coastguard to put a fraudulent trick on the Government. It was the Chief Officer who actually played the trick, entering them up as having served a course w

, he had fulfilled his obligations regularly enough-until the year before last, by which time his leg really disabled him. It had fortuned, however, that one afternoon on the Quay, loafing around less on the chance of a job (for odd jobs are scarce at Polpier) than to wile away time, he had en

red, "Hullo! what's wrong wi

dded, "I was thinkin' to consult you, sir. I be due

s whiffing for a moment to reach forward and feel Nicky's knee professionally, outside

no mistake. If I could onl

said the Doctor, and turned his

ibbled the certificate on a leaf torn from his note-book. Having with this

ost it. You're clearly not fit for serv

forgotten to date. After a week it came back with an official note drawing

from Mrs Penhaligon, and wrote the date qu

elped him. Word came to him by a chance wind that the staff of the Coastguard had been shifted, over at Troy. Also (though

t in his pocket; an

ich (though accurate) should by rights have been filled in by the Doctor, felt none at all in adding a slig

y! Everything said and done, his leg was worse. Any doctor aliv

fight for the pension which alone

d salved his conscience; and his

e saw every bandage of false pretence, all his unguents of c

k-one who knew and could

oken squally, with intervals of sunshine. A fierce gust came howling up the little river

as though it were a