A chance word might have broken down the last barrier of her will.

But that word was not spoken, and so she was given the opportunity of first consulting her brother.
He laughed when he heard the story.
"A trap to take me, that's all," he pronounced it.

"My dear girl, that stiff-necked martinet knows nothing of forgiveness for a military offence.

Discipline is the god at whose shrine he worships." And he afforded her anecdotes to illustrate and confirm his assertion of Lord Wellington's ruthlessness.

"I tell you," he concluded, "it's nothing but a trap to catch me.