s cabin, pleading the effects of
cramp and exhaustion, and emerged only when it was dark, to drop into a
deck chair behind a windlass, and brood upon his sins, staring out upon
the moonlit sea.

Here Kitty came to him with healing, and here we take our leave of them
for the present, feeling perfectly sure that Jack was not likely to
damage his chances of reconciliation by any further confessions,--not
even concerning his latest and maddest adventure. Confession may be good
for the soul, but Jack had learned that there are circumstances when it
is better to be silent.

CHAPTER XXIII

TEMPORISINGS

While Jack counted the days to the arrival of the ship at Bombay, and
Joyce lived in anticipation of the reunion with her husband; while Honor
watched for the coming of Joyce and an end to an impossible situation in
Darjeeling; while Dalton played at friendship with the girl he adored,
since to desire more was like asking for the moon; and while Tommy was
breaking his heart with disappointment, and tormenting the Government of
Bengal for permission to join the Indian Army reserve, instead of
continuing to serve that Government by safe-guarding his District, it
seemed almost inconceivable that thousands of miles away, the destinies
of nations were in the melting pot, and the map of Europe in process of
re-making.

Immense armies were in training; miracles of organisation were taking
place within the British Empire. Always the greatest Naval Power, she
was rapidly becoming, also, a great Military Power.

The grand old army of "Contemptibles" was covering itself with
imperishable glory; Indian and Colonial troops were mobilising for the
assistance of the Motherland. In all parts of the world the clarion cry
was sounded--"To arms!"

The War was the absorbing topic in all the cities of the world.

But at little Muktiarbad and similar rural districts, the placid
monotony of daily life was barely stirred.

There was "a war on," of course, they said in the bazaars. India was
involved--that, also, was a matter of course. The fighting sons of India
could not be left out of such a fateful occasion as a war which called
for loyalty and support. But it was an impersonal matter to native
Muktiarbad. Doubtless, one of these wise dispensations of the Almighty,
that helped to thin out the too rapidly increasing population of the
world! It had no bearing on the lives and fortunes of the cultivator and
the shop-keeper, save, t