embers, he reappeared at the Club. He was
impatient to meet Honor again and to exact from her lips renewed
assurances of her unchanged feelings and good faith, for he was restless
and unable to accept the astounding truth, being suspicious of his good
fortune and distrustful of circumstances.

On the whole, the meeting was unsatisfactory on account of the lack of
opportunity for a _tete-a-tete_. Constant interruptions owing to Honor's
popularity, had the effect of driving him into his accustomed aloofness
of manner tinged with aggressiveness towards offending persons. Tommy's
persistent claims on Honor's comradeship were particularly aggravating,
and not to be borne.

"I shall wring his neck if he butts in again," Dalton muttered
viciously.

"We have known each other since we were children," Honor put in as a
softener.

"I can't stick it here for another minute," he said with a suppressed
curse. "Let's get out of this!"

To Honor, it was joy to be with him even in the midst of a company of
others. Her satisfaction lay in the knowledge that she was beloved and
his whispered endearments gave her bliss. His voice at her ear was the
sweetest music she had ever heard when it said, "Honey!" or
"Sweetheart!" and asked her to repeat that she loved him. "You know I
do," she once answered. Thereupon their eyes met for a brief moment and
her senses swooned under the intensity of his gaze. In that fraction of
time he had, by suggestion, kissed her with such passion and longing--as
at the _jhil_--that her breath fluttered in a sob, her eyes were
blinded. He was teaching her to want him even as he wanted her till she
was thrilled at the strength of their love. It was glorious that they
were both young, with so many years of their lives before them in which
to grow nearer to each other. "And they twain shall be one flesh,"
seemed the most blessed psychological miracle that her virgin mind could
conceive.

"Where shall we go?" she answered indulging his demand to take her away
from the Club.

"We can go for a spin in my car."

"It is so dark!"

"Do you mind?" His voice sounded hurt, and Honor, who was sensitive to
its inflection, immediately yielded. She feared venomous tongues, but,
the most deadly of them all being absent--Mrs. Fox having taken up her
abode in Calcutta while her case was pending--she was reassured.

"Mother dear, I am going for a little run in Captain Dalton's car, if
you don't mind," she called softly