observed impersonally.

He was watching her, she knew; and over her face there ran a great wave
of colour. She was furiously aware of it even before she saw his faint
smile. Desperately she sought to turn the subject.

"Why didn't you come back to us when the tiger was dead?" she said. "Why
didn't you let Noel tell me you were there?"

She caught the old glint of mockery in his eyes as he made reply. "As
you have foreseen, fair lady," he observed, "one answer will suffice for
both questions. It was not my turn just then. Moreover, you knew I was
there."

"I wasn't absolutely sure," she protested quickly. "I thought it
probable that I had made a mistake."

"Didn't you expect to see me?" he asked her coolly.

She stared at him. "How could I? I never dreamed of your being in
India."

He passed the question by. "And yet you were the only person in India
whom I took the trouble to inform of my arrival."

Her eyes widened. "What can you mean?"

"Didn't you get a message from me this morning?" he asked.

"From you?" she said incredulously.

"I sent you a message," said Max.

Her hand leaped suddenly in his. So that was the explanation! She began
to tremble. "I--didn't understand," she said piteously.

She wished he would turn his eyes from her face, but he kept them fixed
upon her. "I wonder who got the credit for it," he said.

She turned from his scrutiny in quivering silence. But her hand
remained in his.

He took her gently by the shoulder. "Olga, tell me!" he said.

"I didn't know it came from you," she whispered.

"Why not? I wrote a line with it."

"Yes, but--but--"

"But--" said Max, with quiet insistence.

She tried to laugh. "It was very absurd of me. The initials weren't very
clear. I thought they were--someone else's."

"Noel's?" he said.

She nodded.

There was a brief silence, during which she dared not look round. Then
he spoke, his voice drily humorous. "I suppose you thanked him for it
then?"

"No, I didn't," she said. "At least--at least--I was vexed, but I didn't
want to hurt his feelings."

"No?" said Max, in the same cynical tone.

Her hand slipped free at last. She spoke more firmly. "I told him I
couldn't accept it."

"Poor Noel!" observed Max. He took his hand from her shoulder also, and
she knew that he thrust it into his pocket. "And what did he say to
that?"

She hesitated. "Well, of course he--he explained--that he hadn't sent
it."

"And you believed him?"