Page:Milady at Arms (1937).pdf/345

 the other's bent gaze, saw that Lady Holden held a little red shoe!

Lord Holden, who had entered at that moment, snatched the shoe out of his wife's hand and turned almost threateningly to the girl. "To whom—doth—this—belong?" he stammered hoarsely.

"Mine!" answered Sally. She stared from one to the other. "Mine—'when—I was little!"

Lady Holden, at that, uttered a strangled cry.

"Why, my baby! My baby!" she sobbed. And turning, Sally walked straight into her mother's arms.

The story really ends here, don't you think? But one September day a ship stole out of the New York harbor at dawn. The British agents, sent over by His Majesty to offer the colonists new terms and rights only to be spurned by the United Colonies, were returning to England.

Gaily the ocean danced and seemed to smile back at her from beneath the stern, over the railing of which the Lady Constance Holden was pensively gazing.

But Sally was not allowed to dream there alone. Soon a tall, thin figure approached, and, propping his arms upon the railing, Jerry smiled down into her vacant eyes.

"Sally," he began.

Lady Constance held up her hand, then suddenly dimpled.