It was characteristic of her that she had written no word of sympathy when she heard of his father's death, and now, when a letter did come, it contained no allusion to Hyacinth's affairs.

She told him with evident delight that she had enlisted no less than ten recruits for the Boer army.

She had collected sufficient money to equip them and pay their travelling expenses.

It was arranged that they were to proceed to Paris, and there join a body of volunteers organized by a French officer, a certain Pierre de Villeneuve, about whom Miss Goold was enthusiastic.

She was in communication with an Irishman who seemed likely to be a suitable captain for her little band, and she wanted Hyacinth back in Dublin to help her.
'You know,' she wrote, 'the people I have round me here.