se of suffocation. The fuss and worry of the engine died down into
silence, and in a moment there came the sound of a man's feet entering
the compound. Standing motionless, with hands clenched against her
sides, she gazed forth. A tall, straight figure was coming towards her
between the whispering tamarisks. It was not Major Ralston. He walked
with a slouch, and this man's gait was firm and purposeful. He came up
to the verandah-steps with unfaltering determination. He was looking
full at her, and she knew that she stood revealed in the marvellous
Indian moonlight. He mounted the steps with the same absolute
self-assurance that yet held nought of arrogance. His face remained in
shadow, but she did not need to see it. The reason of his coming was
proclaimed in every line, in every calm, unwavering movement.

He came to her, and she waited there in the merciless moonlight; for she
had no choice.

"I have come for you," he said.

The words were brief, but they thrilled her strangely. Her eyes
fluttered and refused to meet his look.

"The Ralstons are taking us," she said.

Her tone was cold, her bearing aloof. She was striving for self-control.
He could not have known of the tumult within her. Yet he smiled. "They
are taking Tommy," he said.

She heard the stubborn note in his voice and suddenly and completely the
power to resist went from her.

She held out her hand to him with a curious gesture of appeal, "Captain
Monck, if I come with you--"

His fingers closed about her own. "If?" he said.

She made a rather piteous attempt to laugh. "Really I don't want to,"
she said.

"Really?" said Monck. He drew a little nearer to her, still holding her
hand. His grasp was firm and strong. "Really?" he said again.

She stood in silence, for she could not give him any answer.

He waited for a moment or two; then, "Stella," he said, "are you afraid
of me?"

She shook her head. Her lips had begun to tremble inexplicably.
"No--no," she said.

"What then?" He spoke with a gentleness that she had never heard from
him before. "Of yourself?"

She turned her face away from him. "I am afraid--of life," she told him
brokenly. "It is like a great Wheel--a vast machinery. I have been
caught in it once--caught and crushed. Oh can't you understand?"

"Yes," he said.

Again for a space he was silent, his hand yet holding hers. There was
subtle comfort in his grasp. It held protection.

"And so you want to run away from it?"