review before him.
He had lived always like a gentleman, but always with a certain amount
of rigid self-denial necessitated by his small income. He had few
acquaintances and fewer friends. The luxury of a West-End club had
been denied to him--fencing and long walks were almost his sole
relaxation. All that he had had to hope for was the breaking out of
some small war in any corner of the world, when his sword and military
experience might give him a chance to follow his profession. He was,
if anything, deficient in imagination, but he had humour enough and to
spare. He laughed softly as he donned his carefully-folded and
well-worn dress-coat, and reflected that this was perhaps the last
dinner which he would eat in such garments with companions of his own
choosing. It was surely a strange turn in the wheel of fortune.

CHAPTER VI

"I think your friend the Duke of Reist is a very interesting man,"
Sara Van Decht remarked, "but as a dinner companion he's just a little
depressing. I wonder what father and he will find to talk about."

Ughtred laughed. They had just come out from the restaurant, to find
the great hall almost full. Reist and Mr. Van Decht were sitting a
little apart from them.

"Reist is a very good fellow," Ughtred declared, "but just now he is
not very much in the humour for gaiety. He is passionately attached to
his country, and Theos, alas, is passing through a very anxious time
in her history. No, you must not judge him by his demeanour to-night.
I had much difficulty in persuading him to accept your father's
invitation."

She nodded sympathetically.

"Has he come over to obtain aid from England?" she asked. "From the
papers this morning it seems as though one of the Powers would have to
interfere and straighten things out."

Ughtred looked down with grave, steadfast eyes into the girl's
upturned face. It was time for him to tell her. How ridiculous it
would sound. She would probably laugh at him.

"Reist came to England," he said, "to find me."

She looked at him in mild wonder.

"You! But you are no longer interested in Theos, are you?"

He sighed.

"I have been an exile for many years," he said, "and Theos has come to
mean little else to me save a beautiful memory. Yet I have never
forgotten that she is my native country. I am never likely to forget
it."

"Do you hope ever to return?" she asked.

"I hope to be in Theos within a week," he answered. "I am returning
with Reis