.." and
they both laughed gaily.

In a more serious mood, however, she asked him presently, "I suppose
it has been rather a disappointment?... This coming out to Rhodesia to
make a fortune!"

"Why do you think so?"

"O, well, lots of reasons. You haven't come within sight of the
fortune, for one thing; and you've still got packing-case furniture
and live in huts. And you eat a lot of bully beef, now don't you?"

"We do."

"But that isn't what you came for?"

"Still"--meditatively--"it's not a small thing to be in a country
where a fortune may be won any day. It is that, of course, which keeps
us going. It is better anyhow than a stool and one hundred and fifty
pounds a year in England."

"Are you sure?" And she watched him with keen eyes.

He coloured slightly, but answered with firmness:

"Quite."

"But not better than something else, perhaps?"

He saw that her interest was kindly and genuine, and suddenly drawn to
expand he told her simply:

"It's the isolation that hurts. Day after day, day after day, just
this hollow and these kopjes, and never anyone to speak to except each
other. We send for the mail once a week, but sometimes very little
comes by it; and we get nothing fresh to read except a weekly
Rhodesian paper. That is a gold mine to us for just one evening; but
for all the rest there is nothing. Lionel is studying French, and I do
a little also, but it palls after a time badly."

"I should think so. It sounds as dry as dead bones."

They were sitting upon a rocky knoll, and Diana had her hands clasped
round her drawn-up knees, presenting a very attractive picture. "I'm
not a true Imperialist at heart," she informed him. "I hate gush and
talk and heroics, but between you and me I think an awful lot of you
men making your solitary fight in the wilderness. It's always a lot
easier to put up with discomforts when you know your next-door
neighbour is jolly uncomfortable too. Of course, most people don't say
so, but that's because they are conventional, and fondly try to
persuade themselves, very unselfish also; but when they are honest
they know quite well a misfortune is lightened when several others are
in the same box. That's why, on a wet day, I console myself sitting at
the window and watching folks struggling with drenched umbrellas and
bedraggled skirts. It's so good to be safe inside."

He waited with amused eyes.

"And, of course, the trouble for you is just sitting down here among