s. Sitting, friendly and at ease over
the fire, they discussed human idiosyncrasies--a pet subject with him.

Then, suddenly, she looked him in the eyes;--and he was aware of her
again, in the old disturbing way.

Yet she was merely remarking, with a small sigh, "You can't think how
refreshing it is to get a little real talk sometimes with a cultivated
man who is neither a soldier nor a civilian. Even in a big station,
we're so boxed in with 'shop' and personalities. The men are luckier.
They can escape now and then; shake off the women as one shakes off
burrs----!"

Another glance here; half sceptical, wholly captivating.

"It's easier said than done," admitted Roy, recalling his own partial
failure.

"Charming of you to confess it! Dare I confess that I've found the Hall
and the tennis rather flat these few days--without imperilling your
phenomenal modesty?"

"I think you dare." It was he who looked full at her now. "My modesty
badly needs bucking up--this evening."

Her feigned surprise was delicately done. "What a shame! Who's been
snubbing you? Our clever M.B.?"

"Not at all. You've got the initials wrong."

"_Did_ it hurt your feelings--as much as all that?" She dropped the
flimsy pretence and her eyes proffered apology.

"Well--you invited me."

"And mother invited Mr Hayes! The fact is--he's been rather in evidence
these few days. And one can't flick _him_ off like an ordinary mortal.
He's a 'coming man'!" She folded hands and lips and looked deliciously
demure. "All the same--it _was_ unkind. You were so unhappy at dinner. I
could feel it all that way off. Be magnanimous and come for a ride
to-morrow--do."

And Roy--the detached, the disillusioned--accepted with alacrity.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 19: Washerman.]

[Footnote 20: Dusters.]

[Footnote 21: Gardener.]

[Footnote 22: Bad characters.]

CHAPTER IV.

"For every power, a man pays toll in a corresponding weakness; and
probably the artist pays heaviest of all."--M.P. WILLCOCKS.

It was the morning of the great Gymkhana, to be followed by the
Bachelors' Ball. For Lahore's unfailing social energy was not yet spent;
though Depot troops had gone to the Hills, and the leave season was
open, releasing a fortunate few; leaving the rest to fretful or stoical
endurance of the stealthy, stoking-up process of a Punjab hot-weather.
And the true inwardness of those three words must be burned into body
and brain, season after s