ing!" Noel followed
him into the study, and sat down. "I know already, Daddy." Pierson was
more dismayed by this stoicism than he would have been by any natural out
burst. He stood, timidly stroking her hair, murmuring to her what he had
said to Gratian, and to so many others in these days: "There is no death;
look forward to seeing him again; God is merciful" And he marvelled at
the calmness of that pale face--so young.

"You are very brave, my child!" he said.

"There's nothing else to be, is there?"

"Isn't there anything I can do for you, Nollie?"

"No, Daddy."

"When did you see it?"

"Last night." She had already known for twenty-four hours without
telling him!

"Have you prayed, my darling?"

"No."

"Try, Nollie!"

"No."

"Ah, try!"

"It would be ridiculous, Daddy; you don't know."

Grievously upset and bewildered, Pierson moved away from her, and said:

"You look dreadfully tired. Would you like a hot bath, and your dinner
in bed?"

"I'd like some tea; that's all." And she went out.

When he had seen that the tea had gone up to her, he too went out; and,
moved by a longing for woman's help, took a cab to Leila's flat.

III

On leaving the concert Leila and Jimmy Fort had secured a taxi; a vehicle
which, at night, in wartime, has certain advantages for those who desire
to become better acquainted. Vibration, sufficient noise, darkness, are
guaranteed; and all that is lacking for the furtherance of emotion is the
scent of honeysuckle and roses, or even of the white flowering creeper
which on the stoep at High Constantia had smelled so much sweeter than
petrol.

When Leila found herself with Fort in that loneliness to which she had
been looking forward, she was overcome by an access of nervous silence.
She had been passing through a strange time for weeks past. Every night
she examined her sensations without quite understanding them as yet.
When a woman comes to her age, the world-force is liable to take
possession, saying:

"You were young, you were beautiful, you still have beauty, you are not,
cannot be, old. Cling to youth, cling to beauty; take all you can get,
before your face gets lines and your hair grey; it is impossible that you
have been loved for the last time."

To see Jimmy Fort at the concert, talking to Noel, had brought this
emotion to a head. She was not of a grudging nature, and could genuinely
admire Noel, but the idea that Jimmy Fort might also