aplain who held
one service in it every Sunday.

Nick considered the matter in all its bearings while he stirred his
coffee.

"No," he said finally; "I think I shall stay at home with you this
morning."

"How do you know I am not going?" said Olga.

Nick grinned. "I'm awfully good at guessing, Olga _mia_."

She smiled rather wanly. "Well, I'm not going, as a matter of fact. I
had a stupid sort of night."

Nick nodded. "I shan't take you out to dinner again for a long time."

"It wasn't that," she said. "At least, I don't think so. It was that
song. Why did Noel sing it?"

"For reasons best known to himself," said Nick, taking out his
cigarette-case.

She rose and went round to his side to strike a match for him, but
reaching him she suddenly knelt and clasped her arms about his neck.

"Nick," she whispered, "I'm frightened."

His arm went round her instantly. "What is it, my chicken?"

She held him closely for a while in silence; then, her face hidden, she
told him of the trouble at her heart.

"That song has been haunting me all night long. I feel as if--as
if--someone--were calling me, and I can't quite hear or understand.
Nick, where--where is Violet?"

It had come at last. Once before she had confronted him with that
question, and he had turned it aside. But to-day, he knew that he must
face and answer it.

He laid his cheek against her hair. "Olga darling, I think you know, but
I'll tell you all the same. She has--gone on."

Very gently he spoke the words, and after them there fell a silence
broken only by the scolding of a couple of parroquets in a mimosa-tree
near the verandah.

Nick did not stir. His lips twitched a little above the fair head, and
his yellow face showed many lines; but there was no tension in his
attitude. His pose was alert rather than anxious.

Olga lifted her face at last. She was very white, but fully as composed
as he.

"That," she said slowly, "was the thing I couldn't remember."

He nodded. "It was."

Her hands clasped the front of his coat with nervous force. She looked
him straight in the face.

As of old, the flickering eyes evaded her. They met and passed her over
a dozen times, but imparted nothing.

"Nick," she said, "will you please tell me how it happened? I am strong
enough to bear it now, and indeed--indeed, I must know."

"I have been waiting to tell you," Nick said. "Put on a hat, and we will
go in the garden."

She rose at once. Somehow his