p and friendliness, she
was received politely. After the matter of the Padre was settled, she
demanded to see the child and a quarter of an hour was spent in
baby-worship.

"He's certainly not looking so well as when you brought him from
Darjeeling. Weaker, I should say, poor little chappie! I don't believe
the place agrees with him--or with you, for that matter. You look a good
deal paler. How do you feel?"

"I am quite all right now, only a bit shaken," Joyce said doubtfully.
Possibly she was not conscious how bad she actually was? Mrs. Fox was
not comforting.

"You mustn't run down, you know. The surest safeguard against epidemics
and illnesses peculiar to this miserable climate is never to allow
yourself to run below par."

"But what is one to do? One doesn't deliberately do it."

"No, but you should eat heaps of nourishing things. Drink plenty of
milk, for instance. But never fail to boil it, and never leave it
exposed to the air. Milk is the most dangerous thing you can take, on
account of its susceptibility to germs of every kind; especially enteric
and cholera. It simply asks for germs!"

"And if you keep it covered, it goes bad!" cried Joyce alarmed since it
formed the sole diet of her beloved infant.

"It wouldn't be a bad plan to keep it in the refrigerator in bottles. I
did that all the winter, last year, when I was on milk diet."

"It will turn me grey to keep in mind the many things I must not do out
here!" sighed Joyce.

Mrs. Fox condoled with her out of fellow-feeling and congratulated her
for having given up camping. "If it doesn't suit you or the kid, I don't
see why you should be obliged to do it. Men have to learn not to be
selfish."

Joyce fired up. "Ray is anything but selfish. Sometimes I think it is I
who am selfish; but if it were only myself, I would never say a word. We
have to do our duty by the child."

"Exactly so. I quite see the point of view. Here you have the doctor at
hand. I am told he nursed you like a mother."

Joyce wondered how Mrs. Fox had come to hear of it as, since her return
to the Station, she had seen no callers. "How _ever_ did you know?" she
asked ingenuously.

"Oh, one hears things!" Mrs. Fox blew smoke through her nostrils and
smiled knowingly. "And how do you like him on closer acquaintance?"

Joyce thought he improved on acquaintance. Mrs. Fox annoyed her by that
smile.

"He is an enigma to most, but if I know his type, he is not a little
dangerou