he fever, combined with a natural reserve, kept him from
going much among people, and most of his time was spent alone.

"I wonder who that man is who sat at our table," Nidia Commerell was
saying; for the trio were seated outside trying to converse amid the
cackle and din of one of the livelier parties before referred to.

"He looked awfully gloomy," said Mrs Bateman.

"Did you think so, Susie? Now, I thought he looked nice. Perhaps he
wasn't feeling well."

"He had a look that way, too," said Moseley. "Up-country man perhaps.
Down here to throw off a touch of fever. I've seen them before."

"Poor fellow! That may have accounted for it," said Nidia. "Yes; he's
quite nice-looking."

John Ames, meanwhile, was smoking a solitary pipe on the balcony in
front of his room, and his thoughts continued to run on this new--and to
him, supremely foolish subject. Then he pulled himself together. He
would get on his bicycle and roll down to Muizenberg for a whiff of the
briny.

The afternoon was cloudless and still, and the spin along a smooth and,
for the most part, level road exhilarating. A brisk stroll on the
beach, the rollers tumbling lazily in, and he had brought his mind to
other things--the affairs of his district, and whether the other man who
was temporarily filling his place would be likely to make a mess of them
or not, and how he would pull with Inglefield--whether Madula had
recovered from the sulky mood into which the action of Nanzicele had
thrown him--and half a hundred matters of the sort. And so, having
re-mounted his wheel, and being about halfway homeward again, he could
own himself clear of the foolish vein in which he had set out, when--
there whirled round the bend in the road two bicycles, the riders
whereof were of the ornamental sex; in fact, the very two upon one of
whom his thoughts had been chaotically running.

One quick glance from Nidia Commerell's blue eyes as they shot by, and
John Ames was thrown right back into all that futile vein of meditation
which he had only just succeeded in putting behind him. The offender,
meanwhile, was delivering herself on the subject of him to her companion
in no uncertain terms.

"Susie, that's the man who was sitting at our table. I think we'll get
to know him. He looks nice, and, as he bikes, he'll come in handy as
escort to a pair of unprotected females."

"How do you know he'll appreciate the distinction you propose to confer
upon him?