He had, as she believed, quarreled with her altogether without cause, her letters had been unanswered, and she considered the quarrel to have been simply a pretext upon the part of Herbert to break off an engagement of which he was tired.  Words dropped, apparently by accident, by Herbert’s sisters had, before the misunderstanding commenced, favored this idea, and although she had really loved him her disposition was too spirited to allow her to take the steps she otherwise might have done to set herself right with him.

At any rate she had no ground whatever for believing that Herbert, after the breach of the engagement, entertained any such feelings toward her as would have led him to come forward to assist her in any way after she had become the wife of another; and so for twelve years she had continued to receive her quarterly income.  She had established herself in a pretty little house near Dover, where several old friends of her father resided, and where she had plenty of pleasant society among the officers of the regiments stationed there.  Although far from rivaling Portsmouth or Plymouth in life and bustle, Dover was a busy town during the time of the great war.  The garrison was a large one, the channel cruisers often anchored under the guns of the castle, and from the top of the hills upon a clear day for months a keen lookout was kept for the appearance from the port of Boulogne of the expedition Napoleon had gathered there for the invasion of England.

The white sails of the English cruisers as they sailed up or down the channel were clearly visible, and occasionally a privateer could be seen making its way westward with a prize it had picked up off Texel.  Military and naval matters were the sole topics of conversation, and by the time he was fifteen Ralph had fully determined to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and to become a soldier.  Having passed almost all her life among military men Mrs. Conway had offered no objections to his wishes, and as several of her father’s old friends had promised to use their influence on his behalf, there was little doubt that he would be enabled to procure a commission as soon as he reached the regulation age.

It was not often that the postman called at Mrs. Conway’s with letters; for postage was expensive, and the people in those days only wrote when they had something particular to say.  Mrs. Conway had just made breakfast when Ralph came in with a letter in his hand.

“Here is a letter for you, mother; but please don’t open it until you have given me my breakfast.  I am very late now, and shall barely have time to get through with it and be there before the gates close.”

“Your porridge is quite ready for you, Ralph; so if you are late it will be your own fault not mine.  The eggs will be in before you have eaten it.  However, I won’t open the letter until you have gone, because you will only waste time by asking questions about it.”