sea shallows on a day of
light cloud--more green than blue; yet with just enough of the sky's
own colour to lend the charm of a constant variability, that
harmonised admirably with her iridescent changes of mood.

Honor Meredith, who understood her curious mingling of charm and
unsatisfactoriness better than any one else in the world, noted her
afresh, inwardly and outwardly, with the result that she desired more
than ever to know the man who had been hardy enough to place his
life's happiness in the hollow of Evelyn's clinging, incompetent
hands.

At this juncture Mrs Desmond sank on to a low stool beside her, set
her own cup and plate unceremoniously on the carpet, and laid a
caressing hand upon her knee.

"It _does_ feel like old times," she said. "And I so badly want to
show you to Theo."

The young simplicity of the words brought a very soft light into
Honor's eyes.

"I promised John I would go down just in order to be 'shown to Theo,'"
she answered smiling. "But you must put off showing me to the rest
till another day. I'm a little tired: and I can't keep my mind off
John for very long just now."

"You still love him better than any one in the world, then?"

"Isn't the fact of my coming here to stay two years sufficient proof
of that?"

"The very greatest proof imaginable!" Mrs Desmond flung out her hands
with a pretty, characteristic gesture. "I'm only wondering if you know
what you've let yourself in for? I thought India was a lovely placed
_till_ I came here. Theo warned me it wouldn't be a bit like Pindi or
Lahore. But that didn't seem to matter, so long as I had him. Only I
am so seldom _able_ to have him! The regiment swamps _every_thing. The
men are always in uniform, and always at it; and the aggravating part
is that they actually like that better than anything."

Honor laid her hand over the one that rested on her knee. She saw both
sides of the picture with equal vividness.

"What a dire calamity!" she said gently. "I am afraid that on the
Frontier, if a man is keen, his wife is bound to stand second; and if
only she will accept the fact, it must surely be happier for both in
the long-run."

Mrs Desmond looked up at her with pathetic eyes.

"But I don't _want_ to accept the fact. I want to be first always: and
I ought to be. It's easy enough for _you_ to talk, because you haven't
a notion how nice Theo is! When you've married a man like that, and
buried yourself in a howling wilderness