ark to the salad in front of her.

"But have you no ties?" asked Mrs. Wilder.

"None that hold me," said Benham. "I'm one of those unfortunates who
needn't do anything at all. I'm independent. You see my riddles. East
and west and north and south, it's all my way for the taking. There's
not an indication."

"If I were you," said Amanda, and reflected. Then she half turned
herself to him. "I should go first to India," she said, "and I should
shoot, one, two, three, yes, three tigers. And then I would see
Farukhabad Sikri--I was reading in a book about it yesterday--where the
jungle grows in the palaces; and then I would go right up the Himalayas,
and then, then I would have a walking tour in Japan, and then I would
sail in a sailing ship down to Borneo and Java and set myself up as a
Ranee--... And then I would think what I would do next."

"All alone, Amanda?" asked Mrs. Wilder.

"Only when I shoot tigers. You and mother should certainly come to
Japan."

"But Mr. Benham perhaps doesn't intend to shoot tigers, Amanda?" said
Amanda's mother.

"Not at once. My way will be a little different. I think I shall go
first through Germany. And then down to Constantinople. And then I've
some idea of getting across Asia Minor and Persia to India. That would
take some time. One must ride."

"Asia Minor ought to be fun," said Amanda. "But I should prefer India
because of the tigers. It would be so jolly to begin with the tigers
right away."

"It is the towns and governments and peoples I want to see rather than
tigers," said Benham. "Tigers if they are in the programme. But I want
to find out about--other things."

"Don't you think there's something to be found out at home?" said the
elder cousin, blushing very brightly and speaking with the effort of one
who speaks for conscience' sake.

"Betty's a Socialist," Amanda said to Benham with a suspicion of
apology.

"Well, we're all rather that," Mrs. Wilder protested.

"If you are free, if you are independent, then don't you owe something
to the workers?" Betty went on, getting graver and redder with each
word.

"It's just because of that," said Benham, "that I am going round the
world."

3

He was as free with these odd people as if he had been talking to
Prothero. They were--alert. And he had been alone and silent and full of
thinking for two clear days. He tried to explain why he found Socialism
at once obvious and inadequate....

Presently the supper t