THE BUNDLE OF LETTERS 229 



He dived his hand into the breast pocket of 

 his coat and brought out a small bundle of letters. 

 There were only four letters in the bundle, and 

 they were tied together with a narrow piece of 

 silk ribbon. When the girl saw the silk ribbon 

 she bit her Hp. 



" Look! " said he, sHpping the ribbon off and 

 thrusting it into his pocket. He showed her the 

 first of the letters. It bore the Crowsnest post- 

 mark large as a peimy, clear and legible. 



The three others were the same. 



He put the letters back in his pocket and 

 they resumed their way in silence. You would 

 never have imagined that the last time these two 

 people parted the young man had held the girl 

 in his arms, kissing her Avildly. 



It was the girl who broke silence first. 



" Mr French said last night we were ' done,' 

 and I'm afraid he never spoke a truer word." 



" The only thing I can think of," said Mr 

 Dashwood, " is for me to go over to Ireland and 

 try to talk Giveen over." 



" You don't know him. He's a fool, and a 

 vicious fool at that. You can't talk a man hke 

 that over." 



" Well, we might bribe him." 



" Mr French has no money to bribe him with. 

 All his money is on this race." 



"The City and Suburban is run on the fifteenth," 

 said Mr Dashwood, meditatively. " So we have 

 more than twelve days. Bother! so has this 



