fear of trouble with the Sepoys here; still, as nothing else
is talked about, one cannot help feeling nervous about it. However, as
things seem settling down now, I hope we shall soon get something else
to talk about."

"I have not seen Mr. Bathurst lately," Mrs. Doolan said presently.

"Nor have we," Isobel said quietly; "it is quite ten days since we saw
him last."

"I suppose he is falling back into his hermit ways," Mrs. Doolan said
carelessly, shooting a keen glance at Isobel, who was leaning over one
of the children.

"He quite emerged from his shell for a bit. Mrs. Hunter was saying she
never saw such a change in a man, but I suppose he has got tired of it.
Captain Forster arrived just in time to fill up the gap. How do you like
him, Isobel?"

"He is amusing," the girl said quietly; "I have never seen anyone quite
like him before; he talks in an easy, pleasant sort of way, and tells
most amusing stories. Then, when he sits down by one he has the knack of
dropping his voice and talking in a confidential sort of way, even when
it is only about the weather. I am always asking myself how much of it
is real, and what there is under the surface."

Mrs. Doolan nodded approval.

"I don't think there is much under the surface, dear, and what there is
is just as well left alone; but there is no doubt he can be delightful
when he chooses, and very few women would not feel flattered by the
attentions of a man who is said to be the handsomest officer in the
Indian army, and who has besides distinguished himself several times as
a particularly dashing officer."

"I don't think handsomeness goes for much in a man," Isobel said
shortly.

Mrs. Doolan laughed.

"Why should it not go for as much as prettiness in a woman? It is no use
being cynical, Isobel; it is part of our nature to admire pretty things,
and as far as I can see an exceptionally handsome man is as legitimate
an object of admiration as a lovely woman."

"Yes, to admire, Mrs. Doolan, but not to like."

"Well, my dear, I don't want to be hurrying you away, but I think you
had better get back before the sun gets any higher. You may say you
don't feel the heat much, but you are looking pale and fagged, and the
less you are out in the sun the better."

Isobel had indeed been having a hard time during those ten days. At
first she had thought of little but what she should do when Bathurst
called. It seemed impossible that she could be exactly the same with