-shod over the sensibilities of honest bearers like himself!
[Transcriber's note: The "a" in "_jat_" is an a-macron, Unicode U+0101.]

And, in truth, the Bohemian and cosmopolitan elements in Quita made her
airily contemptuous of trifles, of the petty point of view, the 'local'
attitude of mind often found in isolated Indian stations, more
especially among the women. And setting aside Honor and Frank, the
half-dozen officers' wives belonging to the Infantry Regiments were for
the most part colourless average types of femininity such as Quita was
something too ready to despise.

But the woman element had never played a large part in her life; and it
was to the men she turned instinctively for mental companionship; for
the larger outlook, the saner grasp of things big and small. She drew
them by a natural magnetism; and held them by a talent for comradeship
which never degenerated into familiarity or freedom. The four Battery
subalterns, headed by Richardson, surrendered at discretion. And there
were others also; notably George Rivers, Desmond's subaltern, a
promising Lothario with a profile, a tenor voice, and an unimpeachable
taste in ties and waistcoats. But Quita gave the preference to
Eldred's brother officers; and to their open delight made them free of
the house. One or more of them dined with her at least three nights
a-week; and her instantaneous gravitation to Max Richardson had already
resulted in an informal friendship equally delightful for both.

Lenox accepted these developments without comment, yet not without
inward regret. For he craved the restfulness of quiet evenings alone
with his wife, after a hard day's work: and indeed saw more than enough
of his subalterns--always excepting Dick--on the parade-ground and in
the orderly room every morning. Very soon he took to excusing himself
early, on these convivial evenings, with the result that before long
the old habit of working at night had him in its clutches once again,
the charm of it heightened by months of abstinence. For a while he
held out against it; but the quiet within and without, the certainty of
freedom from interruption, the lucidity of thought that brains of a
certain order seem only able to arrive at in the small hours, were
powerful advocates for surrender; and little by little habit conquered.
He smoked more and slept less; and the quality of his work improved in
great strides.

But Quita objected strongly to this barefaced re