is happy
here."

The unexpected attack struck Honor into momentary silence. Desmond was
fatally quick to perceive the shadow of hesitation, transient as a
breath upon glass; and when she would have spoken he silenced her with
a peremptory hand.

"Don't perjure yourself, Honor. Your eyes have told me all I wanted to
know."

Distress gave her a courage that surprised herself.

"Indeed they have done nothing of the kind! You ask a direct question,
and you are bound in fairness to hear my answer. The life here is
still very new to Evelyn, and she has not quite found her footing
yet;--that is all. I have had it from her own lips that the place
matters very little to her so long as she is--with you; and you go too
far in saying that she is not happy here."

But her words did not carry conviction. He was still under the
influence of his wife's curious aloofness since the night of the
fire.

"You're trying to let me down gently, Honor," he said, with a rather
cheerless smile. "And you may as well save yourself the trouble.
Only--this is where you must _not_ misunderstand me, please,--no
shadow of blame attaches to Ladybird if she isn't happy. I had no
right to bring her up to this part of the world, knowing it as I did;
and I've no right to keep her here. That's the position, in a
nutshell."

"Do you mean you ought to--send her away?"

"No--_take_ her away."

Honor started visibly.

"But--surely--that's impossible?"

"I think not," he said, in a matter-of-fact tone that distressed her
more keenly than any display of emotion. "It's merely a question of
facing facts. If I had money enough, I could throw up the Army and
take her home. But, as matters stand, I can only do the next best
thing, and give up--the Frontier, by exchanging into a down-country
regiment."

"_The Frontier...!_ Theo! Do you realise what you are saying?"

"Perfectly."

"Oh, but it's folly--worse than folly! To give up what you have worked
for all these years--the men who worship you--your friends, the
regiment----"

"They would survive the loss. I don't flatter myself I'm
indispensable. Besides, this isn't a question of me or my friends. I
am thinking of Ladybird."

The coolness of his tone, and the set determination of his mouth,
chilled her fervour like a draught of cold air.

"Oh, if only Major Wyndham were here!" she murmured desperately.

"Thank God he is not! And if he were, it would make no difference. I
shouldn't dream of di