ut.

"I must get them to tell it me one of these days." The twinkle in his eye
was not to be repressed. "It would save such a deal of trouble to believe
there was only one Noah, and only one Ark, don't you know?"

Her motherly bosom panted.

"_My_ children shall _never_ believe anything else!"

He was grave and sympathetic, though a muscle in his thin cheek twitched.

"I believe the toy Ark of our happy childish memories is built, if not of
gopher-wood, at least upon the lines laid down in Scripture. Has Hammy
ever tried to get his to float? Mine invariably used to sink--straight to
the bottom of the bath. Perhaps that continually-recurrent catastrophe had
something to do with the sapping of my infant faith, or the establishment
of a sinking-fund of doubt regarding the veracity of the Noachian
reporter?"

She leaned towards him, her placid grey eyes dilating with pity for this
man.

"You ought to come and sit under our minister Mr. Oddris, on Sundays. Pray
do. He would convince you if anybody could. Such an eloquent, able,
well-informed man, and so _truly pious_ and _brave_!"

The laugh perforce escaped him. The convincing Apostle Oddris had called
on him at official headquarters that day, to inquire whether, as the said
Oddris's wife and children were going to the Women's Laager, his place as
a husband and father was not by their side? Being informed that
able-bodied male beings were not included in the list of the defenceless,
he had become importunate in the matter of at least a bomb-proof shelter
to be erected in his back-yard.

"I had rather sit under Hammy and hear about Noah, with Berta on the other
knee."

Her heart went out wholly to him.... 'Out of the mouths of babes.' ...
Wasn't _that_ one of the texts with promise?...

"You love children?"

"Bless the little beggars!" he said heartily, "they're the jolliest
company in the world."

She leaned towards him, palpitating between her shyness of the Commander
of the Garrison and her womanly curiosity to know more about the man.

"Hammond--the Mayor has told me--I hope it is not indiscreet to mention
it--that the first thing you did, on joining your regiment in India as a
young subaltern, was to gather all the European children in cantonments
together and march them through the place, playing 'The Girl I Left Behind
Me' on the flute."

His brow grew black as thunder. The utterance came, terse and sharp.

"Ma'am, you have been gravely misinformed