e. Where did you get all your
information?"

"From Captain Frazer." Her rising color belied her unconcerned tone.

"You have seen him, then?"

"Yes. He is usually very good about calling, whenever he comes to
Cape Town."

"And is he well?"

"Absolutely. Also quite enthusiastic over his troopers and the work
they did at Vlaakfontein."

"Were--many--"

She understood.

"Not very many; but several were wounded. Worst of all, one or two
of the wounded ones were shot by the Boers. Mr. Carew told me that
he left a dozen of your men in the hospital at Krugersdorp."

"Carew? Have you seen him, too, Miss Dent?"

"Didn't you know he was here?"

He stared at her in blank amazement.

"Here in Johannesburg?"

"Here in this hospital."

"In what shape?"

"Hilarious in his mind, and with a foot that is coming out right in
course of time. Didn't Alice tell you?"

"No."

"Strange. She took me to see him, this morning, on my way here,
because he was such a promising patient. She was quite surprised to
find we were old acquaintances."

"Oh," Weldon said slowly. "I begin to see. Miss Mellen had never met
Carew, so she had no idea we were friends. What a curious snarl it
all is!"

"The hand of Fate is in it," Ethel assented idly.

"Do you believe in Fate, too?"

"Surely. Why not?"

"Nothing, only your cousin said you didn't."

The girl frowned.

"Alice doesn't know all my mental processes," she said a little
severely.

"She didn't pretend to. We were speaking of Fate, yesterday, of the
way certain events in one's life seem absolutely inevitable; at
least, I was. Then the conversation worked around to you, and Miss
Mellen suggested that you usually rose superior to Fate," Weldon
explained at some length.

Once again, Ethel felt the note of finality in his tone. For an
instant, she shut her lips. Then she reverted to the main question.

"How do you mean inevitable?"

"As if you chose your path, and then found that, for always, it had
been the only thing for you to do. That's not so clear, I know; but
I can't put it much better."

"For instance?"

"For instance, my coming out here when I did. I was interested in
the war; but there was no real question of my coming, until the
month I sailed. Then, all of a sudden, I seemed to know why it was
that I had spent my life on horseback. They told me in England that
the real war was over. When I landed at Cape Town, I found out that
the one thing needed was