in a whisper.

'And so are you,' he thought, 'if only I dared say it!'

"Daddy is here," she said suddenly, without looking up. "He's sailing
for Egypt the day after to-morrow. He doesn't like you."

Fort's heart gave a jump. Why did she tell him that, unless--unless she
was just a little on his side?

"I expected that," he said. "I'm a sinner, as you know."

Noel looked up at him. "Sin!" she said, and bent again over her baby.
The word, the tone in which she said it, crouching over her baby, gave
him the thought: 'If it weren't for that little creature, I shouldn't
have a dog's chance.' He said, "I'll go and see your father. Is he in?"

"I think so."

"May I come to-morrow?"

"It's Sunday; and Daddy's last day."

"Ah! Of course." He did not dare look back, to see if her gaze was
following him, but he thought: 'Chance or no chance, I'm going to fight
for her tooth and nail.'

In a room darkened against the evening sun Pierson was sitting on a sofa
reading. The sight of that figure in khaki disconcerted Fort, who had
not realised that there would be this metamorphosis. The narrow face,
clean-shaven now, with its deep-set eyes and compressed lips, looked
more priestly than ever, in spite of this brown garb. He felt his hope
suddenly to be very forlorn indeed. And rushing at the fence, he began
abruptly:

"I've come to ask you, sir, for your permission to marry Noel, if she
will have me."

He had thought Pierson's face gentle; it was not gentle now. "Did you
know I was here, then, Captain Fort?"

"I saw Noel in the garden. I've said nothing to her, of course. But she
told me you were starting to-morrow for Egypt, so I shall have no other
chance."

"I am sorry you have come. It is not for me to judge, but I don't think
you will make Noel happy."

"May I ask you why, sir?"

"Captain Fort, the world's judgment of these things is not mine; but
since you ask me. I will tell you frankly. My cousin Leila has a claim
on you. It is her you should ask to marry you."

"I did ask her; she refused."

"I know. She would not refuse you again if you went out to her."

"I am not free to go out to her; besides, she would refuse. She knows I
don't love her, and never have."

"Never have?"

"No."

"Then why--"

"Because I'm a man, I suppose, and a fool"

"If it was simply, 'because you are a man' as you call it, it is clear
that no principle or faith governs you. And yet you ask me to give you
Noel; my poor