ion which had pleased
them both.

"Will we have a cake just like this when we're married, Noel?" she asked
seductively, casting an affectionate glance towards the empty plate.

"Oh, rather!" said Noel. "Several storeys high, big enough to last a
whole year."

"Oh, Noel!" she murmured ecstatically.

And, "Oh, Noel!" said her mother, suddenly coming up behind them.

The chief bridesmaid laughed roguishly over Noel's shoulder. "I like
weddin's," she said.

Noel set her down and rose. "My dear Mrs. Musgrave, I've been hunting
for you everywhere. Have you had any tea?"

She smiled at him with amused reproof. A very sweet smile had Mrs.
Musgrave, but it was never very mirthful. She had lost all her mirth
with her youth. Though she could not have been much over thirty, her
hair was silver white.

"I was only in the next room," she said. "Yes, thank you; the padre gave
me tea. We must be going. Peggy and I. Will left some time ago, directly
after the bride and bridegroom."

"Ah, Will is a paragon of industry. I believe he thinks more of that
beastly old reservoir of his than of the whole population of Sharapura
put together. But surely you needn't go yet? Don't!" pleaded Noel, with
his most persuasive smile.

"No, don't let's, Mummy!" begged the child, clinging to her hero's hand.
"Noel and me, we're goin' to be married, we are."

"So we are," said Noel. "And we're going to church on the Rajah's state
elephant, and we're going to make him trumpet all the way there and all
the way back. I hope we are not springing it on you too suddenly," he
added, with a laugh. "It's the usual thing, isn't it, for the best man
to marry the chief bridesmaid?"

"I should say it depended a little on their respective ages," smiled
Mrs. Musgrave. "Are you going to find my 'rickshaw? It is later than I
thought, and I am expecting visitors."

"Ah, I know," said Noel. "Captain and Mrs. Nick of Wara, isn't it?"

"Not Mrs. Nick," she corrected him. "I wish it had been. She is my
greatest friend. But she can't leave England because of their child."

"There's a lady of some description coming in his train," asserted Noel.
"I have it on unimpeachable authority."

"Yes, she is his niece. I knew her as a child, a giddy little
thing--rather like Nick himself."

"Mrs. Musgrave! Is that how you describe one of our most celebrated
heroes? Nick Ratcliffe--the one and only--the most romantic specimen of
our modern British chivalry--beloved of