Sister Eila had gone to the front door; Magda and Linette stood behind her. And they saw the aëroplane alight in the meadow and a hooded figure, masked in glass and leather, step out, turn its goblin head toward the inn, then start rapidly toward them across the fields.
He was a tall thin man, and as he crossed the highroad and came toward them, he lifted the glass and leather mask and drew it back above his closely-fitting hood.
When he saluted Sister Eila’s habit, he came to a full halt and his heels clicked together. Then he spoke in French, pleasantly, perfectly:
"Mr. Halkett, if you please, Sister. Is he still residing here?"
"Oh, I am sorry. Was not Monsieur Halkett expecting a messenger?"
"Have you a message for Monsieur Halkett?"
The airman twisted his pointed, blond mustache:
"I expected that Monsieur Halkett would have a packet for me. Did he leave none?"
"I thank you. If I may be permitted to remain here——" He had kept continually glancing up and down the road while speaking; and it was evident that he preferred to remain where he could watch the highway both ways.
So Sister Eila brought the letter to him, and he bowed again with tight-waisted ceremony, pocketed it, and asked again for the packet.
"Wait, if you please," she said. "The letter was to be read in my presence."
"A thousand pardons! I had not understood——"
He drew the sheets of paper from the unsealed envelope, glanced sharply up and down the highroad, then unfolded the letter.
Sister Eila’s eyes were fixed on his face, but his features exhibited no emotion whatever.
Every few moments he looked up and down the road, then bent his pleasantly expressionless face again over the sheets in his gloved hands.
"I have read it and I understand it. Would you be kind enough to give me the packet which Monsieur Halkett writes that he has left for me?"
"Please read first what is written on the envelope of this letter," said Sister Eila very calmly.
He turned over the envelope, read the inscription in Latin, smiled as he read it.
"Rather an ominous message, is it not, Sister?"
He glanced sharply to right and left, then, still smiling, he read aloud:
"Thou shalt go, thou shalt _not_ return, thou shalt die in battle——"
He turned his head with a jerk and gazed down the road as though suddenly startled; at the same instant Sister Eila snatched the letter from his fingers, sprang inside the house, and slammed the door.