y, the little ambulance party set
out for Kohat--thirty cavalry and twenty infantry, with six swaying
doolies in their midst. And among all the occupants of those
comfortless conveyances, Harry Denvil was the only one for whom that
journey was not a prolonged torment of pain and unrest.

CHAPTER XXIII.

YOU GO ALONE.

"It is poor work beating butterflies with a cart-rope."
--LUCAS MALET.

On the morning of that eventful 17th of March, Evelyn and Honor left
the bungalow directly after breakfast, bent upon such shopping as
Kohat could afford.

The nearest approach to shops, in the accepted sense of the word, were
the open stalls in the native city. But there could be no question of
exploring these; and the manifold needs of Western womanhood were
inadequately met by the regimental go-downs attached to each corps in
the cantonment. These consisted of spacious buildings, shelved from
floor to ceiling, and stocked with a fine medley of human
requirements, ranging from bone buttons to champagne, from quinine and
chlorodyne to rolls of silk for evening gowns. A new consignment from
"down-country" came up every month or so; and it was quite one of the
events of life in Kohat to go the round of the go-downs as soon as
possible after the arrival of these, so as to secure the pick of the
market while the goods were fresh and the choice comparatively varied.
Herein lay ample scope for those small spites and jealousies that are
more than bread and meat to women of a certain type.

Evelyn had actually sent for gloves and shoes by this means, from a
cheap Calcutta firm, instead of despatching an order to Simla regally
regardless of cost. They by no means satisfied her fastidious taste;
but she felt exalted to a superhuman pitch of virtue as she bore them
home in her dandy.

"I don't believe Theo will like these shoes one bit!" she remarked
with a satisfied laugh to Honor who rode beside her. "He will tell me
to order the next ones from Simla straight away, and I shall be ever
so dutiful and obey him without any fuss--shan't I, you grave, wise
Honor?"

"I should be an inhuman monster if I could keep grave and wise in your
company!" Honor answered, laughing back at her. "You will go on buying
expensive shoes to the end of the chapter, if that's what you are
driving at. Why have your spirits gone up with such a run this
morning?"

"I don't know. It's nice enough that