A TERKIBLE DISASTER 51 years. It must be a gradual advance, and even then, if the Khalifa is beaten, it must be a considerable time before matters are thoroughly settled. There will be many civil posts open to those who, like yourself, are well acquainted with the language of the country, and if you can obtain one of these you may well remain there until you come of age. You can then obtain a few months’ leave of absence and go to England. My second reason is, that although my hope that your father is still alive has almost died out, it is just possible that he is, like Keufeld and some others, a prisoner in the Khalifa’s hands, or possibly living as an Arab cultivator near El Obeid. Many prisoners will be taken, and from some of these we may learn such details of the battle as may clear us of the darkness that hangs over your father’s fate. “ When you do go home, Gregory, you had best go first to your father’s brother. His address is on a paper in the envelope. He was heir to a peerage, and has, perhaps, now come into it. I have no reasons for supposing that he sided with his father against yours. The brothers were not bad friends, although they saw little of each other, for your father after he left Oxford was for the most part away from England until a year before his marriage, and at that time your uncle was in America, having gone out with two or three others on a hunting expedition among the Rocky Mountains.

There is therefore no reason for supposing that he will receive you otherwise than kindly when once he is sure that you are his nephew. He may, indeed, for aught I know, have made efforts to discover your father after he returned from abroad.”

“I would rather leave them alone altogether, Mother,” Gregory said passionately.

That you cannot do, my boy. Your father was anxious that you should be at least recognized, and afterwards bear your proper name. You will not be going as a beggar, and there will be nothing humiliating. As to your grandfather, he may not even be alive. It is seldom that I see an Eng-