y,
caught her hand and boldly held it.

"Did you catch it?" he asked.

She looked at him uncomprehendingly. "Catch what?"

He laughed. The pressure of his fingers was intimately close. "That
glimpse I promised you," he said.

"Ah!" Understanding dawned in Olga's eyes, and in the same instant she
removed her hand. "No, I'm afraid I didn't. I was thinking of something
else. Good-bye!"

"Oh, I say!" protested Noel, actually crest-fallen for once.

Nick swallowed a chuckle, and clapped him on the shoulder. "Good-night,
minstrel boy! Mind you bring the harp along to my Christmas picnic! We
are not all so unappreciative as Olga."

Noel looked for a second as if he were on the verge of losing his
temper, but the next he changed his mind and laughed.

"You bet I will, old chap!" he said, and wrung Nick's hand with
cordiality.

Nick's chuckle became audible as they drove away. "He can't accuse you
of encouraging him anyhow, Olga _mia_," he remarked. "If you keep it up
at this pace, you'll soon choke him off."

Olga's answer was to draw very close to him, and to utter a great sigh.

"Wherefore?" whispered Nick.

She was silent for a moment, then: "I sometimes wish you were the only
man in the world, Nick," she said, with quivering emphasis.

"Gracious heaven!" said Nick. "Don't make me giddy!"

She laughed a little, but there was a sound of tears behind. "Men are
so silly," she said.

"Abject fools!" said Nick. "There's never more than one worth crying
about."

"What do you mean, Nick?"

"Nothing--nothing!" said Nick. "I was just demonstrating my foolishness,
that's all."

Whereat she laughed again in a somewhat doubtful key, and asked no more.

CHAPTER V

THE EVERLASTING CHAIN

It was a very thoughtful face that met Nick at the breakfast table on
the following morning. But Nick's greeting was as airy as usual. He made
no comments and asked no questions.

The day was Sunday, a perfect day of Indian winter, cloudless and
serene. The tamarisks in the compound waved their pink spikes to the
sun, and in the palm-trees behind them bright-eyed squirrels dodged and
flirted. A line of cypresses bounded the garden, and the sky against
which they stood was an ardent blue.

"What is the programme for to-day?" said Nick, when the meal was nearly
over.

Olga leaned her chin on her hand, and looked across at him. "Shall you
go to church, Nick?"

The cantonments boasted a small church and a visiting ch