locked that her rings bruised their delicate surface.

"I am thinking of the Boy's mother as well as himself, you see," her
husband urged with increasing gentleness; "he is her only son, and she
is wrapped up in him; and I know from experience what that means."

She lifted her head and faced him.

"You think a great deal too much about--those sort of stray people,
Theo, and it's rather hard on me. Why am _I_ to be made uncomfortable
on account of Mrs Denvil, when I've never even met her in my life?"

"If you can't see that for yourself, Ladybird, I'm afraid I can't tell
you. I've no taste for preaching sermons."

"It would be rather a mercy if you had no taste for acting them
either," she retorted, with a little laugh that failed to take the
edge off her words. "_I_ don't much like them in any form. How are you
going to cut down expenses?"

"Chiefly in ways that need not concern you. But to start with, I'm
afraid I must take you and Honor down with me on the third of next
month. I can do nothing while I am crippled by a double establishment.
You'll barely miss four weeks up here, and the heat is over earlier in
Kohat than in the Punjab. Paul gets his leave when mine is up, and he
will spend it here with the Boy, so as to take the last month of rent
off my hands."

"So you've _settled_ it all without saying a word to _me_?"

"Yes. I had to fix things up before I left. It's a pity the difficulty
includes Honor, but I don't think she'll mind when I tell her why."

"Oh dear, no; _Honor_ won't mind. I believe she's happier in
Kohat,--but----"

"But _you_ are _not_?" he broke out abruptly, leaning forward and
searching her face with anxious eyes.

The vehement question startled her.

"I never said _that_, Theo--and it isn't true. Only--I do hate the
ugliness and the heat, and September's the loveliest month of all up
here."

"Doesn't it make things any easier to feel you are helping the Boy by
giving up these few weeks of enjoyment?"

"No--it doesn't. Not a bit."

Desmond frowned.

"Try and fancy yourself in a strait like that, Evelyn, and the
thundering relief it would be to get out of it."

His words stabbed her unwittingly.

"I'm not good at fancying things, and I'm not good at cutting down
expenses either--I was never taught. I hope you don't do these
uncomfortable sort of things often, Theo. It seems to me you're too
much inclined to rush in and help people without stopping to think
of--of other p