Chapter XIV

Had it not been for the contents of the envelope
which she kept in the right-hand drawer of her
writing-table, and which she sometimes took out surreptitiously,
when neither her daughter nor old Anna
were about, Mrs. Otway, as those early August days
slipped by, might well have thought her farewell interview
with Major Guthrie a dream.

For one thing there was nothing, positively nothing,
in any of the daily papers over which she wasted so
much time each morning, concerning the despatch of
an Expeditionary Force to the Continent! Could Major
Guthrie have been mistaken?

Once, when with the Dean, she got very near the
subject. In fact, she ventured to say a word expressive
of her belief that British troops _were_ to be sent to
France. But he snubbed her with a sharpness very
unlike his urbane self. "Nonsense!" he cried. "There
isn't the slightest thought of such a thing. Any small
force we could send to the Continent would be useless --
in fact, only in the way!"

"Then why does Lord Kitchener ask for a hundred
thousand men?"

"For home defence," said the Dean quickly, "only
for home defence, Mrs. Otway. The War Office is
said to regard it as within the bounds of possibility
that England may be invaded. But I fancy the Kaiser
is far too truly attached to his mother's country to
think of doing anything _really_ to injure us! I am

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v?