good as his word, for, when Jack visited him for a medical
opinion on his run-down health, he was ready with the certificate which
was to obtain six months' leave for him in Europe.

And while the young man waited on tenterhooks for sanction to leave
India, and the routine of station-life continued as usual, the doctor
awoke to the fact of his own increasing unpopularity with the natives of
Panipara. Joyce Meredith had once tried to warn him, at which he had
been considerably amused. After that, the arrival on the scene of a
surveyor and the taking in hand of preliminary measures, showed that the
Government were seriously considering the drainage scheme; hence
personal hostilities against the author of it became active, and the
gravity of his position was forced upon him.

The villagers scowled whenever he passed and repassed in his journeys
about the District, and offered him open insolence in lonely places;
while, on one occasion, a large mob had gathered to waylay the car, but
had melted away at sight of Honor beside him. They had recognised the
daughter of the senior police official, and were afraid,--or had caught
sight of shot guns in the car; whereupon, discretion had prevailed.

Recognising symptoms as dangerous, Dalton refrained from taking Honor
motoring with him, and had given up their joint expeditions to the
_jhil_, at which Mrs. Bright was well pleased. Captain Dalton had,
apparently, not proposed to Honor, and it was high time that he ceased
making her conspicuous by his attentions. She had expected something to
come of them but, so far, the only result was gossip and chaff on the
part of ladies when they met at the Club, which was excessively
annoying.

Didn't Honor see that matters were going a bit too far? Was it prudent
for a young girl to get herself talked about--especially with a young
man who had already caused plenty of gossip in the Station? Honor
allowed that she had, perhaps, been a little unwise not to have
considered the opinion of the neighbours, but her dear mother need not
make herself anxious, as she and Captain Dalton understood each other
perfectly.

That being the case, Mrs. Bright was consoled; for what is an
"understanding" between a man and a maid, if not an unofficial
engagement? Like most mothers, Mrs. Bright was anxious, at heart, to see
her daughter happily settled in life; and the doctor, though not a
wealthy man or popular, was, at least, a rising one in his profession,