IV. ESPECIALLY WOMEN 30

V. AN EXPURGATED EDITION 39

VI. GENIUS OF CHARACTER 46

VII. BRIGHT EYES OF DANGER 55

VIII. STICK TO THE FRONTIER 66

IX. WE'LL JUST FORGET 80

X. A SQUARE BARGAIN 94

XI. YOU DON'T KNOW DESMOND 108

XII. NOW IT'S DIFFERENT 119

XIII. IT ISN'T FAIR 129

XIV. I SIMPLY INSIST 140

XV. GOOD ENOUGH, ISN'T IT? 151

XVI. SIGNED AND SEALED 156

BOOK II.

XVII. YOU WANT TO GO! 167

XVIII. LOVE THAT IS LIFE! 177

XIX. IT'S NOT MAJOR WYNDHAM 182

XX. THE DEVIL'S PECULIARITY? 196

XXI. I AM YOURS 207

XXII. THE CHEAPER MAN 213

XXIII. YOU GO ALONE 228

XXIV. I WANT LADYBIRD 234

XXV. THE MOONLIGHT SONATA 242

XXVI. STAND TO YOUR GUNS 249

XXVII. THE EXECRABLE UNKNOWN 259

XXVIII. YOU SHALL NOT--! 265

XXIX. THE UTTERMOST FARTHING 274

XXX. SHE SHALL UNDERSTAND 285

XXXI. THE LOSS OF ALL 298

XXXII. EVEN TO THE UTMOST 303

XXXIII. THE ONE BIG THING 313

XXXIV. C'ETAIT MA VIE 319

AFTERMATH 323

BOOK I.

"If we impinge, never so lightly, on the life of a fellow-mortal,
the touch of our personality, like the ripple of a stone cast
into a pond, widens and widens, in unending circles, through the
aeons, till the far-off gods themselves cannot tell where action
ceases."--KIPLING.

Captain Desmond, V.C.

CHAPTER I.

JUDGE FOR YOURSELF.

"Do we move ourselves, or are moved by an Unseen Hand at
a game?"--TENNYSON.

Honor Meredith folded her arms upon the window-ledge of the carriage
and looked out into the night: a night of strange, unearthly beauty.

The full moon hung low in the west like a lamp. A chequered mantle of
light and shadow lay over the mountain-barrier of India's
north-western frontier, and o