.

." "We have come with the order about which we have corresponded." "For that poor fellow Raoul ?" The Commandant nodded gaily and smiled; and Dorothea, who had been watching his face, felt the load dissolve and roll off her heart, as a pile of snow slides from a bough in the sunshine.

"He is better, I am glad to report--out of bed and fairly convalescent indeed.

But I hope my message did not alarm you needlessly.

It was touch-and-go with him for twenty-four hours; still, he was bettering when I wrote.