"The butler had told me that the ladies were there," he wrote.

"Upon my word it put me out of breath climbing that little flight of stairs.

But it was in fact the end of a long journey.

It is curious that my feeling then should remind me, as it does, of moments when I have been close up to the enemy, within his lines, and lying hard against the ground in some thicket while British soldiers were tramping so near I could feel the ground shake.

In the room I saw Lady Hare and Doctor Franklin standing side by side.