iASURy j 
 ICER^ I 
 OING ^ 
 
 I. ^ 
 
••e.'J V 
 
 
 4 
 
 CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARIES 
 
 ITHACA, N. Y. 14853 
 
 John M, Echols 
 Gjlleaion on Southeast Asia 
 JOHN M, DUN LffiRA^Y' 
 
Cornell University Library 
 PR 6023.O97T7 
 
 The treasury-officer's wooing / 
 
 3 1924 011 127 531 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924011127531 
 
THE 
 
 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 
 

The Treasury-Officer's 
 Wooing 
 
 BY 
 
 CECIL _LOWIS 
 
 Honton 
 MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited 
 
 NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 1899 
 
 All -n'g-hts rese7i<ed 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 For those endowed with the true genius 
 for unsociabiHty there are few places 
 better suited for the free cuhivation of 
 that absorbing art than the head- 
 quarters of some of the more outlying 
 subdivisions of Upper Burmah ; and 
 it may safely be said that there were, 
 in the year of grace 1890, few who 
 availed themselves of the facilities for 
 seclusion afforded them in the interior 
 of that newly annexed province more 
 strenuously than did Rupert Waring, 
 Assistant-Commissioner, late of the Bur- 
 mah Police, whom fate, working through 
 the medium of a paternal Government, 
 had deposited two years prior to the 
 
 6 
 
2 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 events to be narrated on these pages, at 
 Minmyo, a village on the river Chind- 
 win, not far from the Manipur frontier. 
 Whatever may have been said in 
 favour of this station (and that it had 
 its compensations no one with an eye 
 for beauty could deny), there had never 
 been found a man with the hardihood 
 to describe it as a delectable place of 
 sojourn for individuals of a gregarious 
 habit. Time was when there were 
 three Europeans at Minmyo, when 
 lawn-tennis was not unknown, and the 
 skippers of the stern-wheelers used to 
 regulate their runs so as to form the 
 fourth at the weekly rubber in the 
 miniature Subdivisional mess. But that 
 was in the good old days immediately 
 after the annexation, before quiet had 
 been established throughout the greater 
 part of the country, and while the 
 gorges of the Chindwin still re-echoed 
 to the bugle-call of regular troops. In 
 process of time, when the bitterness of 
 
I TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 3 
 
 the British incursion had faded some- 
 what from the minds of the people of 
 the land, and the odds in favour of a 
 white man's being riddled with thumb- 
 lengths of telegraph-wire if he showed 
 himself unattended five miles from 
 home, had dwindled to near the vanish- 
 ing point, the Military were withdrawn 
 from Minmyo, the tennis-court retired 
 under a rank growth of weeds, and 
 eventually the English Police-Inspector, 
 the last companion in exile left to the 
 Assistant-Commissioner, was replaced by 
 a Burman head-constable with a redundant 
 corporation and a character to retrieve. 
 A fortnight after this transfer of officers 
 had been effected, the Assistant-Com- 
 missioner attempted to commit suicide, 
 fortunately without success (for he was 
 ever an indifferent marksman)^ and must 
 needs thenAjroceed to the headquarters 
 of the district to report) the matter, and 
 to assure the Deputy-Commissioner that 
 nothing on earth would persuade him 
 
4 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 to live another day by himself in such 
 a ' desolate God-forsaken hole ' as Min- 
 myo. His statement was ridiculed, but 
 he stood firm, threatening resignation 
 and defying the wrath of the powers 
 that were ; and Waring, who, at this 
 juncture, had just left the Police for the 
 Commission and was eating his heart 
 out as Assistant-Magistrate in one of the 
 seaport towns of Lower Burmah, had 
 no difficulty in getting his urgent re- 
 quest to be sent to Minmyo granted. 
 Thus it was that our friend was the 
 sole European occupant of the stock- 
 aded fort at Minmyo on a certain day 
 towards the end of November when he 
 received by the weekly runner from 
 headquarters a communication which 
 may be looked upon as the first link 
 in a (for him, memorable) chain of 
 events. 
 
 The letter in question met his eye 
 as he entered his office that morning 
 at the commencement of his day's 
 
I TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 5 
 
 work. In itself it was a very unin- 
 teresting-looking document, and the 
 sight of it, as it lay on his table amid 
 a heap of official missives, elicited from 
 Waring nothing more than a petulant 
 grunt. For what is known as a ' demi- 
 official,' or ' d-o,' from his Deputy-Com- 
 missioner ordinarily meant an enum- 
 eration of matters to which he was 
 expected to devote his ' immediate per- 
 sonal attention ' at his Subdivisional 
 headquarters ; and, with the cold 
 weather in, our recluse was pining to 
 quit the isolation of Minmyo for the 
 still greater solitude of camp-life, and 
 by no means appreciated the idea of 
 having to defer his exodus merely to 
 conduct some unprofitable enquiry or 
 frame some futile report. 
 
 To the casual observer the Assistant- 
 Commissioner did not present the ap- 
 pearance of the unsociable individual 
 he was popularly supposed to be. In 
 his eyes, as they wandered round the 
 
6 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 bleak, dusty office, there was a kindly 
 lustre, and his mouth, when it relaxed, 
 as it did when he gazed away from the 
 papers before him towards the blue 
 river and the rustling tree-tops, had a 
 lurking gleam of good fellowship in the 
 corners. It was only when his head — 
 a close-cropped, determined head — was 
 bent over his work, when his brow was 
 contracted and his lips compressed under 
 his straggling moustache, that he seemed 
 to justify the imputation of unsocia- 
 bility. He certainly was frowning 
 gloomily enough this morning when, 
 after reading his other correspondence, 
 he picked up his chiefs letter, and, if 
 anything, the furrows on his forehead 
 deepened after he had grasped its con- 
 tents. They were as follows : — 
 
 Tatkin, 21 St November. 
 
 My dear Waring — The Commissioner 
 thinks that, as you have not yet passed in Treasury, 
 it would be best for you to come in to headquarters 
 for a month or two to learn Treasury work. Stevens 
 
I TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 7 
 
 will relieve you at Minmyo on Wednesday next. 
 You had better come on down here as soon as 
 possible after you have made over charge. Formal 
 orders transferring you and Stevens will issue later, 
 but please act in anticipation of them. I am sorry 
 that you should have to turn out of Minmyo, where 
 I know you are very happy, but, as you know, you've 
 got to get the Treasury business through. I hardly 
 think you will go back to Minmyo before your leave 
 is due. — Yours sincerely, J. B. Smart. 
 
 For a long time after he had gathered 
 the substance of the letter Waring sat 
 staring fixedly at the sheet he held in 
 his hand ; then he looked up and away, 
 and for a further space allowed his eyes 
 to rest on the view that was visible from 
 below the flap of bamboo matting which 
 served as a shelter and screen to the 
 window, and now stood propped open 
 at a convenient angle by a pole. Finally 
 he rose, and, walking to the window, 
 looked out, as though to take in to 
 its utmost limits the prospect which 
 stretched before his eyes. Certainly 
 the ' God - forsaken hole ' was, if a 
 
8 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 dungeon, a beautiful one. Far below, 
 between the silver - grey trunks of the 
 trees that clothed the hill on which the 
 fort was built, glimpses could be caught 
 of the thatched roofs and carved gables 
 of Minmyo, dotted here and there 
 amid the dark verdure that fringed the 
 river's edge. On one side of the village 
 was a broad expanse of rice-land, green 
 and even as a billiard-table, bounded on 
 the east by a thick belt of jungle, lifting 
 tier on tier, in thicker and ever thicker 
 masses, up the rising ground behind. 
 Between the cultivated level and the 
 jungle a row of snow-white pagodas 
 gleamed, and hard by a smooth sheet 
 of water gave back the azure of the 
 November sky overhead. On the other 
 side flowed the waters of the Chindwin, 
 and beyond the steep sandy bank and 
 tufted grass of the further shore the 
 plain rolled away westward, with never 
 a break, to the foot of the distant hills, 
 a rugged blue chain, crested all along, 
 
I TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 9 
 
 like a summer sea, with breakers of 
 fleecy cloud. A narrow path, which 
 showed here and there through the 
 undergrowth on the hillside at his 
 feet, marked the line of communication 
 between the fort and the village below. 
 Here it traversed the high river-bank 
 near the landing - stage of the fort ; 
 further down it crossed a rough wooden 
 bridge that spanned a little winding 
 tributary of the main stream ; and anon 
 it disappeared through the stockade of 
 teak logs into the village precincts. A 
 very ordinary path it was, leading to 
 a very ordinary Burmese hamlet, alto- 
 gether a scene possessing no features 
 that were not of common occurrence in 
 the Province, but one which would have 
 stirred to its depths the soul of many a 
 man less open to Nature's appeals than 
 Waring. To the hermit of Minmyo 
 every detail of the landscape was as 
 well known and as well loved as a two 
 years' residence in the place could render 
 
10 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 it. Who so well as he could tell where 
 exactly the different villages of his 
 charge, — their presence barely indicated 
 by the shimmer of a pagoda, or the 
 sparkle on the roof of a monastery — 
 nestled on the plain ? Where it was 
 •that the high-sterned boats and bamboo 
 rafts lay by his own village in the dry 
 weather, and where they clustered 
 during the rains ? In what directions 
 the best snipe-grounds stretched, and at 
 precisely what spot, far down on the 
 river, the weekly steamer from civilisa- 
 tion below was first to be looked for, 
 a black speck crawling on the shining 
 water ? For him, as for the sage of 
 Weissnichtwo, it was true sublimity to 
 dwell on high and from his watch-tower 
 in the fort, as from the attic of the 
 Wahagasse, to see a portion, at least, of 
 the ' placid life-circulation ' of his own 
 Subdivision. Here alone he was really 
 happy. 
 
 And now he was to leave all this 
 
I TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ii 
 
 behind him, in all probability never to 
 return. His successor, Stevens, a young 
 civilian with a soul that soared above 
 meagre arithmetical details, had, he 
 knew well, not been successful as a 
 Treasury -Officer ; and our exile felt 
 pretty sure that, once down at Tatkin, 
 some pretext or other would be found 
 for keeping him at District head- 
 quarters till he went on leave in 
 March. As the certainty that he was 
 shortly to bid a long farewell to his 
 first independent charge grew slowly 
 upon him, he found himself wondering 
 whether among his predecessors there 
 had been a single one who had truly 
 regretted leaving Minmyo for good. 
 Not one, he was sure, and yet for him, 
 though none of his friends would have 
 believed it, the parting from the place, 
 where in solitude he had mused away 
 so many happy hours, was tinged with 
 real regret. In Minmyo he had found 
 those restful tranquil surroundings that 
 
12 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 elsewhere he had ever looked for in 
 vain ; and as he stood there, gazing 
 over the sunlit prospect, the idea of 
 Tatkin and semi -civilisation seemed 
 anything but alluring. Tatkin meant 
 polo and lawn-tennis and whist, and to 
 these he had no objection ; but it also 
 meant the distracting presence of two 
 ladies, if not three (for he remembered 
 now that Smart, or one of the other 
 men, had got a sister stopping with 
 him), and from the thought of female 
 society Waring recoiled with all the 
 horror of a celibate recluse. ' If it were 
 not for the women,' he said to himself, 
 ' it would not be so bad.' But as it 
 was, it really was rather hard having 
 to turn out like this. 
 
 But there was no use repining. 
 The work of the day had to be done, 
 whether this was to be his last week 
 in Minmyo or not. He collected him- 
 self with an effort, and, withdrawing 
 his gaze from the distant hill -tops. 
 
I TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 13 
 
 brought his eyes and mind to bear on 
 his more immediate surroundings. He 
 moved to another window and looked 
 out into the fort-enclosure. Near the 
 court-house, in the centre of the sunny 
 open space that lay between it and 
 the stockade, squatted three despondent 
 Burmans handcuffed, with leg- irons 
 round their dusty ankles. Behind 
 them, in the protecting shade of the 
 bamboo barracks, lounged two Sikh 
 policemen with fixed bayonets, chatting 
 in a husky undertone, while a third 
 stood at ease beside them, half in and 
 half out of the sun, with a white, 
 watchful eye on the three prisoners. 
 As they observed the gaze of the 
 Assistant - Commissioner fixed upon 
 them, the guard stood to attention 
 with that deprecating air of self-con- 
 sciousness that always characterises a 
 native of India when he suddenly finds 
 himself the object of a European's 
 interest. Waring turned to his head- 
 
14 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 clerk, a thin, hollow-cheeked Arakanese, 
 who had entered the office and now 
 stood by his side with a bundle of 
 papers for signature. 
 
 'Are those the Gyobin dacoits out 
 there ? ' he asked, indicating with a 
 finger the three delinquents who hung 
 their heads before the Magistrate's re- 
 gard and fidgeted with their fetters, 
 
 ' Yes, your Honour. Your Honour 
 fixed to-day for the case.' 
 
 ' Have all the witnesses come ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, your Honour ; only two not 
 yet arrived.' 
 
 ' Where are they ? Why haven't 
 they come ? They had summonses to 
 attend and give evidence, hadn't they ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, your Honour ; but Gyobin 
 headman reports that he was unable 
 to find them this morning at the time he 
 collected the witnesses. He considers 
 that, through fear, they have run away.' 
 
 ' Oh, he considers so, does he ? 
 Well, send him straight back to 
 
I TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 15 
 
 Gyobin and tell him that if he doesn't 
 turn up with those witnesses some time 
 this afternoon, he will have to look out 
 for squalls. Trot out those that are 
 here. I will try the case to-day.' 
 
 ' But, your Honour,' pleaded the 
 clerk, ' it is ten miles to Gyobin 
 and ' 
 
 ' All the more reason that he should 
 start directly,' rejoined the stern 
 Assistant - Commissioner. 'Tell him 
 what I said ; ' and ten minutes later 
 the prisoners had been marched into 
 the office, the headman of Gyobin had 
 left at a hurried double for his village, 
 and Waring had forgotten all about his 
 impending transfer from Minmyo in 
 the task of eliciting facts, relevant and 
 irrelevant, from an exceedingly agitated 
 but stubborn Burmese dame, the prin- 
 cipal witness in the dacoity case he was 
 committing to Sessions, who was mak- 
 ing a gallant effort to reconcile her 
 instant recognition of the prisoners as 
 
i6 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. i 
 
 three of the men who had pulled her 
 hair and taken her rupees, with the 
 damaging fact that (according to her 
 own and her husband's admission) she 
 had kept her face glued to the bamboo 
 flooring and had never once dared to 
 look up at the dacoits during their 
 unwelcome visit. 
 
 Ten days later Waring had left 
 Minmyo for good. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 The sun had set in a crimson halo of 
 cloud, and polo was just over at Tatkin. 
 The players were lying in the long arm- 
 chairs that thrice a week fringed the 
 margin of the polo-ground, discussing 
 the good points of their own and the 
 bad of their companion's play, while 
 they regalea themselves with whisky 
 and soda - water and cheroots, and 
 Waring, with his booted feet almost 
 on a level with his head and an irre- 
 proachable Trichinopoly cigar between 
 his teeth, had for the past five minutes 
 been assuring himself that existence at 
 Tatkin was, after all, likely to be a 
 good deal more tolerable than he had 
 expected. He had arrived about noon 
 
1 8 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 of the same day, and it must therefore 
 be admitted that his prospective appre- 
 ciation of the good things that a just 
 and discerning providence had in store 
 for him at the District headquarters 
 was based more on a consciousness of 
 the merits that were to earn their due 
 reward than on any actual personal ex- 
 perience ; but this fact did not render 
 him any the less certain that it would 
 require no very great effort to enable 
 him to enjoy himself at Tatkin reason- 
 ably well. His duties, so far, had 
 consisted in reporting his arrival to 
 the Deputy - Commissioner, who, in 
 the throes of his monthly statements, 
 seemed to Waring to grudge the ten 
 minutes' interview that the fitness of 
 things required of him, and hurried 
 on impatiently to his final exhortation, 
 which was to proceed to the Treasury 
 as early as possible and try to get some 
 order into the chaos that Stevens had, 
 with a thoughtful perception of the 
 
II TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 19 
 
 weakness of new brooms for hard work, 
 left behind him. It was to his pre- 
 decessor at Tatkin and his successor at 
 Minmyo that Waring's thoughts had 
 now wandered, and his musings evi- 
 dently aroused humorous memories, for 
 a gleam of laughter that passed across 
 his face, as he lay back silent in his 
 chair, attracted the attention of Mullin- 
 tosh, the Policeman, who was reclining 
 next to him, his rubicund face shining 
 with a steady radiancy through the fast 
 gathering twilight. 
 
 ' Now then. Grumpy,' the latter 
 asked, heaving his huge body slowly 
 round in his chair, ' what are you 
 laughing at ? Keeping your jokes to 
 yourself as usual, I see. Minmyo 
 doesn't seem to have loosened that 
 tongue of yours.' 
 
 * I was thinking,' said Waring, with 
 his eyes fixed on the western glow, 
 ' of Stevens's face as I left him standing 
 on the bank at Minmyo this morning. 
 
20 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 Poor beggar, he was just the picture of 
 misery. 'Pon my soul, I really thought 
 he was going to cry ; he looked so 
 utterly desolate and lost perched up 
 there on the bank under the police- 
 station in the middle of the crowd of 
 jabbering Burmans.' 
 
 ' Ah, to be sure,' said Mullintosh. 
 ' Welsh told me all about it when I 
 came down to the boat to meet you. 
 Did you hear that, you chaps .? ' he 
 continued, turning to his neighbours. 
 ' It must have been the rarest fun. 
 " When shall I see you again, skipper .?" 
 shouts out young Stevens as they were 
 putting off from the bank. " Next 
 week, I suppose." " Don't you be too 
 bloomin' sure, my son," bellows Welsh 
 back. " Snags between here and Tat- 
 kin are terrible bad, as you know, and 
 that Minywa crossing is filling up as 
 fast as fast. May do another run or 
 two with luck before the water falls, 
 but don't you fret your gizzard if you 
 
n TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 21 
 
 don't see me for another six months." 
 " Great Scott ! " shouts Stevens, staring 
 like a stuck pig out of the boat. 
 " You're not going to leave me here 
 all the cold weather by myself ! " 
 " That's about the size of it," yells 
 Welsh, just as they got out of hearing ; 
 I never saw^ the old sinner so pleased in 
 my life before. He swears he could see 
 Stevens's white face on the bank when 
 they turned the corner three miles down 
 the river.' 
 
 ' We shall have him down here 
 overland before the month is over,' said 
 Sparrow, the Engineer, ' on his knees 
 to Smart praying to be taken away. 
 It'll be a case of Trumble over again, 
 you see. How you managed to stand 
 it so long, Waring, I can't imagine. 
 They really ought to send another 
 European up there.' 
 
 ' So they're going to,' observed 
 Smart, the Deputy-Commissioner, from 
 the depths of his chair. ' I spoke about 
 
22 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 it the other day to Colonel Davys, and 
 he said he'd see that a European In- 
 spector was posted there without delay. 
 Stevens knew that right enough, for I 
 told him before he left. Friend Welsh 
 must have been romancing.' 
 
 ' A European Inspector, dear me, to 
 think of that ! Nice society for you 
 when you go back, Waring,' said 
 Heriot, the Forest - Officer, gazing 
 serenely at the sky through his single 
 eye-glass. He was a gaunt man, with 
 a clean-cut, regular face and a sprink- 
 ling of grey in his dark hair. ' To 
 think of that ! ' he repeated softly. 
 ' Double dummy whenever you feel so 
 inclined, and somebody to argue with 
 and confute when you have one of your 
 loquacious seizures on. You will like 
 that, dear boy, won't you ? ' 
 
 ' You bet,' grunted the unsociable 
 one, whose love of a rubber was as 
 much a byword as his taciturnity, 
 and a chorus of laughter was going 
 
II TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 23 
 
 round the chairs when the ladies of 
 the Station appeared on the scene and 
 brought the men to their feet. At 
 their approach the habitual whist- 
 players detached themselves from the 
 throng and edged away, murmur- 
 ing confidentially, to the club-house. 
 Waring observed the manoeuvre and 
 for a moment was tempted to fly with 
 these kindred spirits ; but, as he 
 wavered, the consciousness came over 
 him that some notable act was ex- 
 pected of him on his first day at 
 Tatkin, and he decided to stop and 
 face the fiery ordeal, which he reflected 
 would have to be undergone in any 
 case, sooner or later. Two of the 
 three newcomers he knew. Of Mrs. 
 Sparrow, a large husky lady several 
 years older than her gentle spouse, he 
 preserved a vivid recollection ; and his 
 acquaintance with Mrs. Jones, a cheer- 
 ful, black-eyed daughter of the country, 
 who had recently been led to the altar 
 
24 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 by a serious young Inspector of Police, 
 was of several years' standing. The 
 third lady he had never seen before, 
 but even had he not just learned that 
 Smart's sister was staying with him, 
 he would have had no difficulty in 
 recognising her by the likeness she 
 bore to her brother, who had just 
 tramped solemnly off at the head of 
 the whist -players. She had not his 
 exceedingly retrousse nose, but the eyes 
 and mouth (which were not Smart's 
 worst features) were, as Waring had 
 leisure during the next few minutes 
 to observe, identical in brother and 
 sister ; and the way in which she 
 carried her neat little, well-poised head, 
 on which Smart's ruddy locks were 
 reproduced in a chastened shade of 
 auburn, reminded him to the life of 
 the sturdy Deputy- Commissioner. It 
 seemed to Waring, as he took her 
 slowly in, that this was certainly a 
 personable young woman, and the 
 
II TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 25 
 
 general impression conveyed by her 
 dainty exterior was quite in keeping 
 with the other unexpectedly pleasur- 
 able sensations he had been experi- 
 encing since his arrival in Tatkin. He 
 felt inclined to attribute his feelings, so 
 far as Miss Smart was concerned, to his 
 protracted absence from the softening 
 influence of feminine intercourse ; but 
 at the same time he could not blind 
 himself to the fact that the other ladies 
 of the Station were in his eyes every 
 whit as uninteresting, and appealed to 
 him as little, as when he had seen them 
 last, two or three months before ; and 
 this knowledge so impressed him that 
 he took the earliest opportunity of ask- 
 ing Mrs. Jones, near whom he found 
 himself standing, to introduce him to 
 the Deputy-Commissioner's sister. 
 
 ' Fancy your wanting to be intro- 
 duced to anybody, Mr. Waring ; this 
 is something quite new,' giggled the 
 dusky lady. However she performed 
 
26 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 the ceremony of introduction readily 
 enough. ' Miss Smart,' she said. ' Let 
 me introduce to you Mr. Waring, the 
 gentleman who has just arrived from 
 Minmyo.' 
 
 Miss Smart looked with a shy 
 kindly smile towards the gentleman 
 who had just arrived from Minmyo. 
 She was sitting between Mullintosh and 
 Heriot, listening with a meek resigna- 
 tion to the Police -Officer's vociferous 
 utterances, and seemed glad enough of 
 a diversion. 
 
 ' How do you do, Mr. Waring ? ' 
 she said. ' Won't you come and sit 
 down here ? ' and she pointed to an 
 unoccupied seat opposite her. ' You 
 arrived this morning, I believe, didn't 
 you .? You must find this a great 
 change after Minmyo.' 
 
 ' A very great change,' said Waring, 
 taking the proffered chair ; ' and a very 
 pleasant one,' he added. A minute 
 before the poor recluse had felt fountains 
 
II TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 27 
 
 of small talk spouting up within him, 
 but now that he was placed in the 
 sight of all beholders near the Deputy- 
 Commissioner's sister, every conceivable 
 topic of conversation faded treacherously 
 from his mind, and, to his dismay, he 
 found himself staring hard at his boots 
 with never a word to say, and with 
 a terrible tingling perception that the 
 assembled company, marvelling at this 
 unparalleled outburst of sociability on 
 his part, were hanging on his lips. 
 Through all, however, asserted itself a 
 feeling that he could not possibly be 
 less in his element than Heriot, who 
 had hitherto been, like himself, con- 
 sistent in his strict avoidance of ladies' 
 society. It was a relief to him to 
 find that Mullintosh was quite pre- 
 pared to carry on the thread of con- 
 versation. 
 
 ' Don't you believe him. Miss Smart,' 
 the Policeman was exclaiming. ' He 
 would go back to Minmyo to-morrow 
 
28 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 if he could. He's going to get a grant 
 of land and settle down there when he 
 retires.' 
 
 ' Is it such a delightful place, then .? ' 
 asked Miss Smart. 
 
 ' Oh, it's not so bad when you're 
 there,' said Waring, still regarding his 
 boots ; ' wonderfully pretty and pic- 
 turesque and all that, and not so very 
 unhealthy at this time of year, but 
 lonely of course.' 
 
 ' I've never been there,' observed 
 the Deputy-Commissioner's sister. ' Of 
 course I haven't had time yet to do 
 more than see one or two places near 
 here ; but Jack promised to take me 
 to Minmyo during the cold weather. 
 I should so much like to see how 
 Mr. Stevens gets on up there. I can't 
 imagine him by himself, poor young 
 man, in a lonely District.' 
 
 ' Subdivision,' corrected Mrs. Jones. 
 
 * Oh, Subdivision, is it ? I never 
 can distinguish between Districts and 
 
ir TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 29 
 
 Subdivisions and Divisions. They all 
 seem much the same to me.' 
 
 ' They're all different names for 
 exactly the same thing really,' said 
 Mullintosh. ' You pays your money 
 and you takes your choice. You'll 
 have to go up with the Deputy-Com- 
 missioner Sahib and cheer Stevens up. 
 Miss Smart. He's terribly dow^n in his 
 luck, whatever your brother may say to 
 the contrary.' 
 
 ' I should love to see the place,' said 
 the young lady addressed. 
 
 ' Well, Miss Smart,' drawled Heriot, 
 'if I were you, and intended visiting 
 Minmyo, I should send our poor young 
 man timely notice, so that if, like some 
 of his predecessors, he has designs on 
 his own life, he may stay his hand till 
 after you have been there.' 
 
 ' What do you mean ? Don't be 
 horrid ! You don't really mean to 
 say ' 
 
 ' I mean to say,' said Heriot, fixing 
 
30 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 his eye-glass with bland deliberation, 
 ' that the last man at Minmyo tried to 
 — well — in fact, tried to make two 
 young men happy.' 
 
 ' What two young men ? ' 
 
 ' The men below him in the grada- 
 tion list. It was his first year ; there 
 were only two.' 
 
 ' You mean that he tried to commit 
 suicide ? ' 
 
 ' Exactly, but failed. Nice young 
 man he was too, but never could 
 succeed in anything he put his hand to. 
 He's Treasury- Officer in Tenasserim 
 somewhere now.' 
 
 ' I don't believe you,' exclaimed 
 Ethel. ' Is that true, Mr. Waring ? ' 
 she added, addressing the new arrival. 
 ' I never know when Mr. Heriot is 
 speaking the truth.' 
 
 ' Perfectly true,' Waring made 
 answer. 
 
 ' But — weren't you the last ? I 
 mean — it wasn't you, was it ? ' 
 
II TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 31 
 
 ' Of course it was,' put in the 
 irrepressible Mullintosh. ' You can 
 see the white scar under his chin still 
 where he tried to cut his throat,' 
 and he pointed with a tragic gesture 
 towards Waring, while Heriot lay 
 back in his chair and polished his eye- 
 glass deprecatingly. He was a trifle 
 short-sighted and the joke was lost 
 upon him. 
 
 ' Nonsense ! ' exclaimed Ethel ; 
 ' that's the mark of Mr. Waring's chin- 
 strap, where the sun hasn't burnt him. 
 What do you all mean .? ' 
 
 ' It was my predecessor,' said 
 Waring ; ' a young chap fresh out from 
 home. The solitude preyed on his 
 mind, and ' 
 
 Miss Smart gave a little shudder. 
 ' Don't talk about it, please,' she said. 
 ' But you say he didn't succeed .? ' 
 
 ' No, he failed.' 
 
 ' How dreadful ! ' 
 
 ' Quite true,' said Heriot solemnly. 
 
32 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' Really, when one considers that 
 Trumble was an able-bodied man, and 
 had a second-class dispensary and a 
 whole battery of small arms at his 
 disposal, dreadful is the only word one 
 can use. One begins to despair of ' 
 
 ' Reminds one of the old story about 
 the duel between the Englishman and 
 the Frenchman,' said Mullintosh. 
 ' You've heard it, I suppose. Miss 
 Smart ? The one who threw lowest 
 with the dice was to blow out his 
 brains ; Frenchman loses, — goes out of 
 
 room, — sound of shot heard you 
 
 must know the story ; Frenchman 
 comes back, presently and apologises. 
 " Pardon," he says ; " I have had ze 
 misfortune to miss myself." ' 
 
 ' You've no right to joke about so 
 serious a matter,' exclaimed Miss Smart. 
 ' It's very wrong, Mr. Heriot,' and she 
 turned indignantly to the individual 
 named, who, with his eye - glass 
 focussed and his head slightly on one 
 
11 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 33 
 
 side, was carefully scrutinising an 
 imaginary crack in his polo-stick. 
 
 ' My dear Miss Smart,' he replied, 
 ' far be it from me to joke about 
 anything so serious. I am as concerned 
 as you are yourself at Mr. Mullintosh's 
 flippancy.' 
 
 ' Oh, you are quite incorrigible ; you 
 can talk nothing but nonsense to-day,' 
 cried the girl, rising as in desperation, 
 though her mouth twitched indulgently. 
 ' Mrs. Sparrow, do you feel inclined 
 to come to the club and look at the 
 papers ? ' 
 
 And they all with one accord rose 
 and wandered slowly towards the 
 rickety bamboo shanty that did duty 
 as a club at Tatkin. As they fared 
 over the hard sun-dried turf Waring 
 felt his arm grasped by Mullintosh, and 
 the two fell back into the rear of the 
 party. 
 
 ' Easy on, old man,' exclaimed the 
 Policeman. ' I'm as stiff as a poker 
 
 D 
 
34 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 after the polo, and that old wound in 
 my leg is bothering me again. I can't 
 walk as fast as these young things ; give 
 me an arm, will you ? ' 
 
 They dropped behind, and presently 
 Mullintosh thrust his red face up to 
 Waring's. ' Do you see 'em ? ' he 
 asked with a chuckle, indicating by 
 a motion of his head Miss Smart, who, 
 despite her invitation to Mrs. Sparrow, 
 was walking apart both from that lady 
 and the rest of the little company, with 
 Heriot by her side. 
 
 ' Yes,' said Waring. 
 
 ' Come out, hasn't he, since you saw 
 him last ? ' 
 
 ' Perhaps.' 
 
 ' Sweet on him as she can be,' 
 pursued the Policeman inconsequently. 
 
 ' Is she ? ' 
 
 ' Yes ; you must have noticed it. 
 Lazy sarcastic beast, doesn't care, a bit 
 for her, I can see. Funny, for she's 
 not a bad 'un, take her all round.' 
 
II TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 35 
 
 ' Ah ! ' said Waring. 
 ' Not a little bit. Funny go, 
 altogether.' 
 
 ' Oh ! ' said Waring. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 It generally surprises the reflective 
 traveller, for whose information life 
 up-country has been exhaustively 
 summed up in Rangoon as an exist- 
 ence wholly devoid of material com- 
 forts, to learn, on penetrating north- 
 ward, what degrees of up-countriness 
 there are, and how much everything, 
 even in the more remote and out- 
 landish tracts of Upper Burmah, goes 
 by comparison. This knowledge is 
 anything but new to the residents of 
 the interior. Those who have sat on 
 a camp-stool and eaten off the lid of 
 an office-box for a month together, 
 understand what it is to look upon a 
 table, even when guiltless of a cloth. 
 
Ill TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 37 
 
 as almost a luxury, and an easy chair, 
 though of the roughest, as savouring 
 of voluptuousness ; but even for the 
 habitual dweller in the wilderness the 
 ample variation in the standards of 
 comfort up-country brings with it at 
 times a sort of mild surprise. Fastidi- 
 ous lowlanders, fresh from the delights 
 and dissipations of Rangoon, were wont 
 to scoff not a little at the sight of the 
 unkempt exterior of the Tatkin club ; 
 yet it seemed to Waring, even while 
 he clambered the rickety stair to the 
 verandah and saw the undulations of 
 the floor quiver before him, that the 
 building was an amazingly respectable 
 erection, and he could only marvel now 
 that he should ever have regarded it so 
 slightingly as he did on his first arrival 
 from Lower Burmah. Mullintosh still 
 hung heavily on his arm as he followed 
 on the skirts of the little party from the 
 polo-ground, and, when the club was 
 reached, was not long in guiding his 
 
38 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 footsteps to the bar, behind which two 
 dingy Madrassis in faded raiment flitted 
 to and fro, sustaining with whisky and 
 soda-water and dubious cocktails the 
 male portion of the community. The 
 tropical night had set swiftly in, and 
 the whitewashed walls, lit up but 
 meagrely by a poor half-dozen lamps, 
 were yet bright and enticing after the 
 outer gloom. Those of the men who 
 were not playing whist were for the 
 most part grouped in the proximity of 
 the bar, engaged in desultory talk. 
 Beyond them, in the little reading- 
 room, the ladies, with a few of their 
 immediate followers, might have been 
 seen gathered round a wooden table 
 littered with a wealth of periodicals, 
 for the most part illustrated, of ancient 
 date. At these a casual glance was 
 from time to time thrown ; but here, 
 snatches of conversation, rather more 
 subdued, though in nowise less ani- 
 mated than in the quarter monopolised 
 
Ill TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 39 
 
 by the men, was a sign to the initiated 
 that the weekly mail, with its budget 
 of newspapers, had not yet arrived. 
 Heriot was there, still at Miss Smart's 
 elbow, and the recollection of Mullin- 
 tosh's words, as they were on their way 
 to the club, invested Waring's gaze in 
 the direction of the couple in the 
 reading - room with newly - awakened 
 interest. To the average observer it 
 would certainly have seemed as though 
 what the Policeman had said about the 
 girl was true. She was sitting at the 
 table, playing listlessly with the leaves 
 of The Graphic^ on which her gaze was 
 bent ; but though her eyes were on the 
 printed page her mind was elsewhere, 
 for at each fresh remark of Heriot's 
 there was a light on her face, brighter 
 than any that the lamps could cast. 
 Even Waring, unskilled as he was to 
 read the subtle language of the lip and 
 eye, could see that every word that 
 issued from the mouth of the keen- 
 
40 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 faced man who sat, tenderly stroking 
 his riding-boots, at her side was more 
 to Miss Smart than she would probably 
 have cared to confess. Whether or not 
 Heriot justified the strictures indulged 
 in by Mullintosh in his regard it was 
 impossible for Waring to say. It was 
 clear that though he made no effort to 
 cultivate it, he did not dislike the girl's 
 society ; but beyond this nothing could 
 have been divined of his feelings and 
 thoughts by a judge far more astute 
 than the new arrival from Minmyo. 
 Waring's essay to plumb the depths of 
 the Forest-OfEcer's impassive face failed 
 utterly, and as he turned his puzzled 
 gaze away he caught Mullintosh's eye, 
 which was momentarily obscured by a 
 wink of profound comprehension. The 
 burly Policeman had seated himself at 
 a small round table close to the bar 
 with a long tumbler in front of him, 
 and had also been looking at the enig- 
 matic pair. He raised his glass to 
 
Ill TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 41 
 
 Waring as a gleam of intelligence shot 
 across the latter's face, and as he re- 
 placed it empty on the table, winked 
 again with even more meaning than 
 before. 
 
 The Treasury- Officer turned away, 
 with an involuntary smile, to Sparrow, 
 and at the request of that admirable 
 officer plunged into a description of the 
 state of the Minmyo village bridge, 
 which had been built a few years be- 
 fore by local labour and at an absurdly 
 low rate under the supervision of the 
 headman, and had, in the opinion of 
 pitying experts, been in a parlous con- 
 dition for the past six months. The 
 Executive Engineer, who had a fine 
 professional contempt for the structure, 
 and would only refer to it in com- 
 passionate ' demi-officials ' and in casual 
 conversation at the club, had had the 
 materials for a noble Departmental 
 bridge on his hands for nearly a year, 
 and was a trifle perturbed to learn from 
 
42 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 Waring what vitality the existing erec- 
 tion still possessed. Disappointed in 
 this regard, he soon guided the con- 
 versation with unofficial directness to 
 other more promising non-Departmental 
 works in the Subdivision, and presently 
 Waring found that the first rubber was 
 over and that Smart had joined them 
 from the whist-room. 
 
 'Dine with us to-night. Waring, 
 will you ? ' said the Deputy-Commis- 
 sioner. ' Eight o'clock sharp,' and his 
 invitation having been accepted with 
 almost equal brevity, he passed on 
 briskly into the reading-room, and in 
 a minute or two had gathered his sister 
 to him and departed, a sturdy, strenu- 
 ous figure, into the darkness. 
 
 Heriot rose languidly as his fair com- 
 panion was swept away and approached 
 the bar, after a deliberate survey through 
 his glass of the company assembled. He 
 stopped in front of Waring and looked 
 at him for a moment in silence. ' Have 
 
Ill TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 43 
 
 another drink, Waring ? ' he said pre- 
 sently. ' No ? Well, come and dress 
 for dinner, then.' 
 
 ' I'm dining at Smart's this evening,' 
 replied Waring. 
 
 ' I know ; I heard Smart say so. 
 I'm dining there myself to-night, and 
 I was told to see that you were not 
 late.' 
 
 ' Why should they think I was going 
 to be late ? ' 
 
 ' I told them you would be. I said 
 you hadn't unpacked or settled down 
 yet.' 
 
 ' I like your cheek. My boy is un- 
 packing now ; I shall be ready as soon 
 as you are, you see. Come along.' 
 
 * Where are you sneaking off to. 
 Waring ? ' exclaimed Mullintosh as the 
 two, on their way to the door, passed 
 him at his table. 
 
 ' I'm off to dress for dinner.' 
 
 ' Rubbish ! You've heaps of time 
 still. Dinner's not till a quarter past 
 
44 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 eight. You must have another gin and 
 bitters before you go.' 
 
 ' I'm dining with Smart,' explained 
 Waring. 
 
 ' Oh, you are, are you ? Then go, 
 my son, in peace, and try and behave 
 yourself. Is Heriot dining there too ? ' 
 
 ' Yes.' 
 
 ' You don't say so ! No fun for you 
 then. Take care of him, and don't let 
 him stop too long.' 
 
 ' Fine delicately - minded individual 
 that,' observed Heriot grimly as the 
 two stepped out of the club, and no 
 further word was spoken until they 
 reached the Civil Mess, which housed 
 under its sombre shingled roof nearly 
 the whole of the bachelor portion of 
 the little community. 
 
 It has been asserted, by those in 
 India who are qualified to form an 
 opinion, that a transfer from one Station 
 to another is ordinarily as disastrous, 
 from a pecuniary point of view, as a 
 
ni TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 45 
 
 fire ; and in the case of married officers, 
 and of those of the unmarried to whom 
 real comfort is essential, there is a good 
 deal of truth in the assertion. For the 
 average bachelor in the East, however, 
 a move does not usually have so calami- 
 tous an effect. Certainly there was 
 nothing in Waring's rooms to show that 
 his transfer was at all likely to prejudice 
 him financially. His quarters in the 
 Civil Mess consisted of two rooms, an 
 office in front, and a bedroom behind. 
 In the former stood a solid teak-wood 
 table, covered with a gaudy native cloth, 
 two of a trio of rickety, unvarnished, 
 cane-bottomed chairs, a rattan lounge, 
 and a bookcase. The centre of the 
 back room was occupied by a camp- 
 bedstead, decked with well-patched mos- 
 quito-curtains and flanked by the third 
 of the chairs, equally with the others 
 in an advanced state of decrepitude. 
 The blank teak face of one of the bed- 
 room walls was partly hidden by a jail- 
 
46 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 made wardrobe, and close to this 
 straddled a collapsible washing-stand. 
 Beyond this the quarters were bare of 
 furniture. The bed, washing-stand, and 
 lounge Waring had brought with him 
 from Minmyo, and they had formed a 
 mo4,est load for the single able-bodied 
 cooly who had carried them up from 
 the steamer. The balance of the fit- 
 tings he had purchased for the sum of 
 thirty rupees from Stevens, to whom 
 he had made over all his non-portable 
 belongings at Minmyo for a sum slightly 
 in excess of the above. 
 
 A smoky wall-lamp was burning in 
 the bedroom when Waring entered, to 
 find his boy, a sleek shifty Madrassi, 
 resplendent in a scarlet and gold puggree, 
 emptying his boxes of their contents, 
 already knee-deep in a welter of kharki 
 clothing, flannel shirts, cigars, enamelled 
 ironware and books, from which some 
 kind genius had prompted him to extract 
 the wherewithal to array his master for 
 
Ill TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 47 
 
 dinner ; and in a reasonably short space 
 of time Waring was ready. 
 
 On strolling round to Heriot's 
 quarters in order to show that his un- 
 packing had not interfered with his 
 dressing, he found the owner lying at 
 full length on his camp - bed, l^eing 
 shampooed by one of his Burman boys, 
 while the other was languidly inserting 
 a set of gold studs in a white shirt, 
 stopping every now and then to indulge 
 in a furtive puff at a fat white cheroot 
 that lay on the floor beside him. 
 
 ' Not time to start yet,' observed 
 Heriot, slowly opening his eyes as War- 
 ing bore down upon him from his office. 
 ' Ten minutes more and I'll be ready. 
 That'll do, Shwe Hlaw. Now then, 
 Po San, give me that shirt, if you've 
 quite finished pawing it about. Throw 
 that cheroot away, you fool ; you'll be 
 dirtying the front. Sit down. Waring ; 
 I'll be ready in a moment.' 
 
 Waring did not sit down, but prowled 
 
48 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 silently about the room with his hands 
 in his waistcoat pockets (he was not 
 used to waistcoats) while Heriot's toilet 
 was being completed, glancing now at 
 the two Burmans as they struggled with 
 their master's raiment, now at the nick- 
 nacks that decorated the walls and tables. 
 There was an air of comfort about the 
 room which contrasted strongly with 
 the bareness he had left behind him at 
 the farther end of the mess-house. The 
 furniture was better in quality than what 
 is ordinarily met with in bachelors' 
 quarters in Upper Burmah. There 
 were dhurries on the plank floor and a 
 picture or two on the walls ; a trophy 
 of red - tufted Chin spears hung near 
 the door, which was draped with a 
 brilliant green and yellow Indian purdah, 
 and the dressing-table and a writing- 
 table near the window were covered 
 with photographs of young men and 
 maidens, the latter preponderating. It 
 was before one of these last that Waring 
 
Ill TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 49 
 
 stopped, after a short perambulation, to 
 give vent to the first remark that he had 
 vouchsafed since he entered the room. 
 Heriot's head was in his shirt when 
 Waring spoke, his arms were working 
 convulsively, and he had to have the 
 question repeated to him after he had 
 emerged rustling. 
 
 ' I asked you who that was,' said War- 
 ing. He pointed, as he spoke, to the 
 portrait which had attracted his atten- 
 tion. It was the photograph of a deli- 
 cately-featured girl with fine eyes, a weak 
 mouth, and an exquisite neck, which 
 showed to advantage against a dark back- 
 ground and a still darker evening-dress. 
 
 Heriot wrestled awhile in silence 
 with a stubborn neck- stud. 'It is a 
 Miss Dudley Devant,' he said presently. 
 ' Po San, my white tie. How often 
 have I told you, you yellow - faced 
 baboon, that you're not to keep your 
 private store of pice in my collar-box ? 
 Take them away.' 
 
 E 
 
so TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' Dudley Devant,' said Waring mus- 
 ingly ; ' where have I heard that name 
 recently ? ' But Heriot made no attempt 
 to help him, and he was left to ransack 
 the recesses of his memory in vain. It 
 could hardly, he pondered, have been 
 mentioned to him at Minmyo. He had 
 seen no one there to speak of, for 
 months, and he could recall the details 
 of all the conversations he had had 
 there in which the name of the girl 
 with the long white neck could possibly 
 have occurred. Nor had any one re- 
 ferred to it in his presence since his 
 arrival at Tatkin. And yet for all that 
 before his eyes stood the words Dudley 
 Devant, Muriel — No — Millicent Dudley 
 Devant. He was certain now that he 
 had seen them before, — seen them, not 
 heard them. It might have been in a 
 newspaper ; it must have been, — and 
 yet 
 
 Heriot slipped into his coat, and the 
 two descended the steps and strolled 
 
Ill TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 51 
 
 across to where the lights of the Deputy- 
 Commissioner's bungalow shone in the 
 distance. The air was warm and still ; 
 the new moon was setting dreamily 
 down behind the dark line of western 
 hills, and the whole atmosphere throbbed 
 with the melody of the cicadas. One 
 of Heriot's Burman boys was plodding 
 in front of them along the dusty track 
 swinging a hurricane-lantern, the light 
 from which shone fitfully on the black 
 and white of their evening - dress, 
 assumed in Miss Smart's honour. 
 
 ' Not Millicent Dudley Devant,' said 
 Waring suddenly, 
 
 ' To be sure,' said Heriot ; and then 
 after a pause he added, ' How the devil 
 did you know .? ' 
 
 But Waring could not enlighten 
 him. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 They were four at dinner that evening 
 at the Smarts'. To Waring the meal was, 
 after his soHtary, ill-prepared repasts at 
 Minmyo, nothing short of a revelation. 
 The spotless cloth (such a cloth as he had 
 not seen for months) shone in his eyes 
 like driven snow ; the silver Burmese 
 bowl that did duty as a centre-piece 
 glittered with all the splendour of a 
 cloudless moon ; and even the atrocious 
 decorations perpetrated by the Indian 
 servants, a magenta and orange pattern 
 of sprinkled flower petals that sprawled 
 across the table, failed to dissipate the 
 glamour that had been cast for him over 
 the whole dining-room. He took the 
 Deputy- Commissioner's sister in, and. 
 
IV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 53 
 
 as the guest of the evening, found him- 
 self the somewhat embarrassed object 
 of a good deal of kindly attention at 
 the hands of his host and hostess. He 
 was not long in perceiving that Heriot 
 was already quite at home in the house, 
 exhibiting a surprising readiness to be 
 looked upon as a friend of the family, 
 and, as such, to partially efface himself 
 for the time being. Neither the Forest- 
 Officer nor Smart spoke much ; they 
 were content to let the lion's share of 
 the conversation go to Ethel, who had 
 been apprised of her guest's peculiarities 
 and did her best to draw him out of 
 his shell and interest him. It cannot 
 be said that the conversation during 
 dinner was intrinsically interesting or 
 elevating ; in Tatkin it never soared 
 very high, and perhaps the Tatkinites 
 were not altogether to blame, poor folk, 
 for their poverty of topics. Englishmen 
 in the East are often found fault with 
 for caring nothing about what is going 
 
54 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 forward in their mother -country, and 
 for thinking and talking of nothing but 
 their own petty occupations and amuse- 
 ments ; and the censure is too often 
 justly deserved. Yet no one who has 
 not lived up-country in India or Burmah 
 can form an idea of the constant effort 
 it is for those who, for six days out of 
 the seven, are utterly cut off from the 
 outside world, to keep alive an interest 
 in matters that lie, be it ever so little, 
 beyond their daily, mechanical round. 
 A want of catholic sympathy with the 
 affairs of mankind at large has been 
 known to exist even in individuals who 
 are brought in daily touch with the 
 broader things of life ; and it is perhaps 
 hardly to be wondered at that they 
 should grow narrow and self- centred 
 who are reminded but once in every 
 week, by the English mail, that there 
 is a living acting world outside the 
 limits of their own little official one. 
 It is with regret that I have to record 
 
IV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 55 
 
 that the talk at the Smarts' dinner- 
 table on the evening in question was 
 lamentably provincial and ephemeral, 
 and that not a subject was touched upon 
 that would not have bored a stranger 
 unacquainted with the speaker's circle ; 
 yet, after all, the defects of the new 
 tennis-court and the question of organis- 
 ing a Tatkin ' week ' were topics as 
 harmless, and possibly as instructive, as 
 the majority of those that must, a few 
 hours later, have engaged the attention 
 of the enlightened guests at British 
 dinner-tables. 
 
 The stream of conversation flowed 
 on in the same strictly local channels 
 after the cloth had been cleared and the 
 three men were sitting smoking round 
 the board, guiltless now of orange and 
 magenta ; while Ethel, who, by special 
 request, had not quitted them for the 
 solitary drawing-room, was initiating her 
 guests into the mysteries of coffee- 
 making, with practical illustrations 
 
56 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 given with the aid of a block -tin 
 coffee-pot. 
 
 ' I always like making my own 
 coffee,' she explained, after the beverage 
 had been brewed, and had found favour 
 on the palate even of the fastidious 
 Heriot. ' These native servants are 
 wonderfully clever,' she added, ' but 
 there is one thing I find they cannot 
 manage to do properly, and that is, to 
 make coffee. They always put in too 
 little coffee, and pour the water in too 
 quickly. Lots of coffee and really 
 boiling water poured on drop by drop, 
 — that's the secret. My brother is 
 very particular about his coffee, you 
 know, so I always see to it myself 
 
 ' And send me out on expeditions 
 with it,' groaned Smart. 
 
 ' What ? Oh yes, — I suppose you 
 have not heard, Mr. Waring. It was 
 just as I was making coffee after dinner 
 the other day that we heard about the 
 big dacoity at — at ' 
 
IV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 57 
 
 ' Thayetbin,' put in Smart. 
 
 ' Thayetbin, was it ? I daresay. 
 Well, Jack wanted to be off after the 
 dacoits immediately, and I was deter- 
 mined that he should not miss his 
 coffee ; so I filled his flask with some 
 freshly made and slipped it into his 
 pocket, just as he was jumping on to 
 his pony. He was terribly cross about 
 it when he came home.' 
 
 ' Naturally,' said Smart, blowing a 
 long white cloud and knocking his 
 ashes into his plate. ' Mullintosh and 
 I were out after the beasts the whole 
 night. About four in the morning, 
 when we were on our way home, I 
 suddenly remembered my flask. " By 
 Jove," said I, " now for a nip to keep 
 the cold out," so out it came.' 
 
 ' The cold ? ' asked Heriot, striking 
 a match. 
 
 ' The flask of course, — out it came, 
 and I slowed down my pony, so as to 
 have a good suck. Heavens ! I can 
 
58 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 feel the shiver now that ran down my 
 back at the first mouthful.' 
 
 ' It was much better for you than 
 whisky,' laughed his sister. 
 
 ' Infinitely,' added Heriot who was 
 lighting a cigarette. ' Most thoughtful 
 of you. Miss Smart, to prevent them 
 coming home unduly elated. I re- 
 member now, — they captured a prisoner 
 that night, and were horribly pleased 
 with themselves when they got back. 
 If that flask had contained whisky, I'm 
 sure they'd have been insufferable.' 
 
 ' You think so, do you ? ' said Smart. 
 ' Well, I was insuff^erable enough, at the 
 time, I can assure you. I wasn't happy 
 till I had made Mullintosh, who was 
 riding just behind me, take some.' 
 
 ' You never gave any to Mr. 
 Mullintosh, Jack .? ' exclaimed the 
 sister. 
 
 ' I did, and you should have seen 
 his face. " What is this infernal filth .? " 
 he said spluttering. " Cold coffee," I 
 
IV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 59 
 
 said. " It's all my sister allows me." 
 " God help you ! " said he.' 
 
 ' You're romancing, my dear boy ; 
 you've never told me that before,' 
 exclaimed Ethel, reddening suddenly at 
 the last words. ' I daresay he was 
 disappointed, but I'm certain he said 
 nothing of the kind.' 
 
 ' Of course he is romancing, Miss 
 Smart,' said Heriot. ' I cannot con- 
 ceive an individual so high-principled 
 and refined as Mr. Mullintosh making 
 use of so offensive an expression. I 
 feel sure that what he said was more 
 delicately-worded.' 
 
 ' Indeed it was not,' chuckled Smart, 
 in a way that seemed to Waring ex- 
 cessively irritating. ' What's more, he 
 wanted to administer doses of what 
 was left to the prisoner we had got, 
 till he told us who his companions 
 were, but I wouldn't let him. I told 
 him that, as Deputy-Commissioner, I 
 was bound to set my face against the 
 
6o TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 extortion of confessions by anything of 
 the nature of torture.' 
 
 ' This is the first time I've heard 
 this elaborate version of the story, Mr. 
 Waring,' pleaded Ethel, turning a some- 
 what flushed face to the new arrival 
 from Minmyo. ' I hope you won't 
 believe all my brother says.' 
 
 She seemed a good deal more put 
 out at her brother's words than Waring 
 would have expected her to be, and he 
 really felt quite sorry for her. ' I 
 certainly will not,' he said. He was 
 forced to admit that, with a heightened 
 colour, his hostess was adorable, and for 
 a moment he found it in his heart, — he 
 knew not rightly why — to envy Heriot 
 the hold he had so clearly gained on 
 Ethel's fancy. 
 
 ' I never do believe half your 
 brother says. He is one of the most 
 reckless perverters of the truth I've 
 ever met,' added Heriot ; and, though 
 he had not been addressed, his gra- 
 
IV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 6i 
 
 tuitous assurance earned from Miss 
 Smart the guerdon of a sweeter smile 
 than any that had been bestowed upon 
 Waring. 
 
 ' I always take coffee out in camp 
 with me,' said the latter solemnly, 
 after a short pause, during which the 
 sight of Ethel's still perturbed face 
 impressed him with a vague idea that 
 it was desirable that the conversation 
 should be changed. ' It goes much 
 better with tinned milk, than tea, you 
 know.' 
 
 ' I expect it does,' observed Ethel ; 
 and it seemed to Waring in the im- 
 pressive silence that followed that his 
 remark had been rather inconsequent. 
 However he had created a diversion, 
 and Ethel seemed grateful to him for 
 it, which after all was the most 
 important thing. ' That was the time 
 you got that man from Bo Chet's gang, 
 wasn't it ? ' he continued. 
 
 ' Yes,' said Smart. ' That is, we 
 
62 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 had every reason to believe that the 
 dacoity was committed by Bo Chet's 
 gang, though our prisoner never let 
 on. Nobody but that lot vi^ould have 
 had the impudence to do w^hat the 
 chaps at Thayetbin did.' 
 
 ' What w^as that .? ' asked Waring. 
 ' I haven't heard anything of the details 
 of the case.' 
 
 ' Why, one of the jokers, a man 
 whom the others called Shwe Myaing, 
 seems to have prodded an old woman 
 to death with a spear ; more for the 
 fun of hearing her squeal than anything 
 else, so at any rate the headman of the 
 village, whom they had tied up and 
 who saw it all, said.' 
 
 ' Shwe Myaing ! ' exclaimed Waring ; 
 ' I think I know the beggar — a lanky, 
 ugly brute. I had him up for receiving 
 stolen property last year, and gave him 
 three months.' 
 
 ' I know,' continued Smart ; ' it 
 ought to have been six. I very nearly 
 
IV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 63 
 
 called for the case in revision. Well, 
 he did for her any way, and before 
 they decamped they shifted her body 
 into a squatting position in the corner 
 of the dacoited house, shoved a big 
 cheroot into her mouth, and left her 
 with a cheeky note stuck between her 
 fingers, scrawled in pencil and addressed 
 to me, if you please.' 
 
 ' By Jove, what incarnate fiends they 
 can be when they like ! ' ejaculated 
 Waring. 
 
 ' Isn't it awful ? ' cried Ethel. ' One 
 can hardly believe that they are human, 
 when one hears what they do when 
 their blood is up. What did they 
 say in the note. Jack ? You've never 
 told me.' 
 
 ' And I never intend to tell you, my 
 child,' returned Smart. ' Come, shall 
 we go into the drawing-room .? It's 
 cooler there.' 
 
 So to the drawing-room they re- 
 paired — a comical little drawing-room. 
 
64 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 full of Japanese fans, China matting, 
 and cane chairs tempered to the limbs 
 of the tired polo -player by means of 
 gay-coloured, silk cushions. Here the 
 punkahs swung with a more generous 
 sweep, and here it was that, at 
 Waring's earnest request, Ethel per- 
 formed on the piano that had accom- 
 panied her from Rangoon, and rendered 
 herself more than ever bewitching to 
 the recluse from Minmyo. It was 
 only a moderately good piano ; it had 
 not been tuned for some time, and 
 many gifted amateurs would have 
 refused point-blank to sit down to it ; 
 but it was the first of its kind in 
 Tatkin, and to Waring, who had a 
 fair musical ear and could distinguish 
 bad playing from good, it seemed to 
 emit, under his hostess's small white 
 hands, tones that were positively 
 divine. The only instruments of 
 music there had been in Tatkin on 
 the occasion of his last visit were a 
 
IV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 65 
 
 banjo and a disreputable kind of 
 hurdy-gurdy styled an Ariston, which, 
 except as an incentive to manslaughter, 
 failed utterly to justify its boldly 
 superlative title ; and in the intervals 
 between two of Mendelssohn's Lieder 
 Ohne JVorte, Miss Smart was diverted 
 by a description of ho"/ Waring had 
 spent the better part of the first day 
 of one of his previous visits to head- 
 quarters in his bedroom, wheedling 
 discordant sounds out of the vitil=: of 
 the latter instrument till the Station 
 called aloud for mercy. 
 
 ' You must be fond of music, Mr. 
 Waring,' laughed Ethel, after the story 
 had been retailed by Heriot from his 
 seat in the verandah. ' It takes a lot 
 to make a musical-box go down.' 
 
 ' I'm very fond of it indeed,' said 
 Waring, ' though I must confess that 
 I know very little about it ; and I 
 must tell you that, as regards the 
 musical-box, it was literally the first 
 
 F 
 
66 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 note of anything like English music 
 that I had heard for months. I simply 
 sat and drank the tunes in. Your play- 
 ing now is a treat such as I haven't had 
 for years.' 
 
 ' Well, I'm going to give you 
 a good dose now^,' said the girl. 
 ' Would you like another of the 
 Lieder, or shall I play you something 
 of Chopin .? ' 
 
 ' Oh, another of the Lieder, please ; 
 as many more as you like. Do let's 
 have the one with the little twiddle in 
 the high notes — that's it, I think — 
 yes, the Gondollied. I don't read 
 music, but I know the look of the 
 pieces I like.' 
 
 She played him the Gondollied and 
 another and then another, and Waring 
 would have liked to ask her for yet 
 another, but he could see she was 
 getting tired and restless ; and some 
 intuitive faculty, which he seemed to 
 have developed in the last few hours. 
 
IV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 67 
 
 told him that, do what she would, — and 
 she strove to keep her attention fixed, — 
 it was with difficulty that Ethel could 
 prevent her mind from wandering 
 away from Mendelssohn and him to 
 the verandah, where Heriot's tall, not 
 ungraceful, form lounged in a chair 
 beside the Deputy-Commissioner. She 
 gave something like a sigh of relief 
 when eventually she led the way to 
 the verandah. Waring seated himself 
 beside his superior officer, and presently 
 found himself wondering why it should 
 concern him that an absurdly short 
 space of time had elapsed before Ethel 
 Smart and Heriot were absorbed in 
 earnest conversation at some little 
 distance from him. Smart reclined in 
 a chair at his side, unbuttoned as to 
 his waistcoat, at peace with himself 
 and the world, and took the oppor- 
 tunity of improving the occasion by 
 adding somewhat to the short sketch 
 of the duties of a Treasury - Officer, 
 
68 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 which he had himself cut abruptly 
 short in the earlier part of the day ; 
 but though Waring professed to listen, 
 and, from time to time, as occasion 
 and the pauses in his host's discourse 
 offered, threw in a comprehensive 
 grunt, his attention was centred on 
 the couple at the farther end of the 
 verandah, who, seated close to each 
 other, were deep in a low - voiced 
 colloquy. 
 
 The night was far advanced when 
 the two guests eventually rose to go, 
 — so advanced, in fact, that after the 
 farewells had been spoken, and they 
 were descending the verandah steps, 
 Ethel Smart called out to Heriot : 
 ' You mustn't mind if I'm a little late 
 to-morrow morning. We have been 
 very dissipated to-night, and I may 
 oversleep myself.' 
 
 ' I can wait,' returned Heriot, and 
 then he added : ' in any case I shall 
 be here by half-past six,' 
 
IV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 69 
 
 They were going out riding together 
 the next morning. So much was 
 clear, and, as Waring stalked home- 
 ward behind the sleepy lantern-bearer, 
 he remembered and was able to endorse 
 Mullintosh's words. Without doubt 
 Heriot had ' come out ' since he had 
 seen him last. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 Despite his dissipation at the Smarts', 
 Waring was at the Treasury early on 
 the following morning, and, as a reward 
 for his zeal, was privileged, before he 
 left again for the mess, with a sight of 
 the riders returning from their morning 
 canter. He was deep in dusty, damp- 
 stained registers in the accountant's den, 
 interrogating the meek, nervous Eurasian, 
 whose special domain he had invaded, 
 when his attention was attracted by the 
 sound of the Treasury guard turning 
 out, and from his seat he observed 
 Ethel Smart and her cavalier walking 
 their ponies across the short cut that 
 traversed the Court-house compound 
 and led past the Treasury and the 
 
V TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 71 
 
 Military Police lines to the Deputy- 
 Commissioner's bungalow. Ethel rode 
 a few yards in advance of Heriot, erect 
 and smiling on her Burman pony, clad 
 in a serviceable habit of khaki drill, her 
 little face, fanned to a sunny warmth 
 by the crisp morning air, peeping out 
 from under her neat white sun-helmet. 
 Heriot, who had lighted the inevitable 
 cigarette, brought up the rear in digni- 
 fied silence on a well-shaped country- 
 bred. The two passed the office door 
 without noticing the industrious worker 
 within, but halted a little farther on. 
 Waring heard Heriot addressing the 
 havildar'^ of the guard and the havildar 
 replying, and a moment later was aware 
 of that functionary saluting before him, 
 with the intimation that Hayet Sahib 
 had sent saalams. Picking up his hat 
 he emerged from the office door, and 
 found the riders seated on their ponies 
 opposite the guard. 
 
 1 A native sergeant. 
 
72 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' Well, you are energetic, Mr. War- 
 ing ! ' cried the girl, as he appeared in 
 the sunshine before them. ' I would 
 not believe Mr. Heriot when he said 
 that it was your pony that was being 
 led up and down outside, and that you 
 were hard at work already.' 
 
 • So we had a little bet on the sub- 
 ject,' said Heriot, taking up the tale, 
 ' and we had you fetched out to see 
 who was right. Well,' he added, as 
 Ethel put in an indignant disclaimer, 
 ' we also, I must admit, wanted your 
 opinion in another little matter at 
 which we are, I grieve to say, at 
 variance. Miss Smart thinks her pony 
 is going a little lame, and I think not. 
 Do you consider there's anything the 
 matter with it .? ' 
 
 ' He has certainly got rather a funny 
 action,' said Waring, after watching the 
 movements of the pony, a sullen-looking 
 dun, with a round, restless eye, ' but I 
 doubt very much whether he is lame. 
 
V TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 73 
 
 Where did you get the beast from, 
 Miss Smart ? I seem to know the 
 look of him. He's not your own, 
 is he ? ' 
 
 ' No, he's not mine ; Captain Pym 
 lent him to me. He's one of the Mili- 
 tary Police ponies that the troopers 
 ride when they play polo.' 
 
 ' Ah, now I know the beggar,' said 
 Waring. ' I was pretty sure I'd seen 
 him before. He's all right, — nothing 
 the matter with him ; it's only his 
 action ; I've noticed it before. But 
 surely, Miss Smart, Captain Pym doesn't 
 know you are riding this beast ? ' 
 
 ' He said I might have one, and this 
 is the one the subadar'^ sent round. 
 Why shouldn't he know ? ' 
 
 ' Well, so far as I recollect, this 
 chap has a very bad name for bolting. 
 When I was down here last he very 
 nearly did for a military policeman. 
 Yes, I'm pretty sure it was this one ; 
 
 1 A native captain. 
 
74 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 I should recognise those hind legs any- 
 where.' 
 
 'Why, he's been going beautifully, 
 Mr. Waring,' exclaimed the girl ; ' he's 
 been as quiet as a lamb, and as willing 
 as can be. His paces are not all that 
 can be desired, it is true, but I'm used 
 to Burmans by this time, and it's only 
 very seldom that one notices that curious 
 kind of limp he has. In fact, I don't 
 see how I can do better till I get a 
 pony of my own, as I hope to do very 
 shortly.' 
 
 ' There's no accounting for tempers ; 
 you may have got him on one of his 
 good days,' said Waring dubiously, 
 dropping back into the shade of the 
 Court-house. 'Don't you know the 
 beast, Heriot ? ' 
 
 ' No,' replied Heriot, watching a 
 ring of smoke curl up against the red 
 shingles of the Treasury roof. ' I don't 
 think it matters much,' he- added after 
 a few reflective puffs, while Waring 
 
V TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 75 
 
 still looked askance at Ethel's mount 
 and the girl bent to stroke the pony's 
 bristly neck. ' It'll only be for a day 
 or two more at most, and after all he's 
 got lots of room to stretch his legs in 
 if he wants to,' and he swept his chin 
 round towards the wide expanse of open 
 ground that lay behind and on two sides 
 of the Station. ' You're sure you're not 
 mistaken about the brute ? ' 
 
 ' Certain,' asserted Waring. 
 
 Heriot gathered up his reins. ' I'll 
 lend you a pony to-morrow. Miss 
 Smart,' he said. 
 
 ' I am not sure that I shall ride to- 
 morrow,' said Ethel. ' In fact, now 
 that I come to think of it, I'm sure 
 I can't.' 
 
 ' Well, shall we say the day after ? 
 You must give me the pleasure of 
 another ride,' continued Heriot. 
 
 ' Very well, but I'm not going to 
 ride your pony. I'm going to ride this 
 one.' 
 
76 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' You had much better not, Miss 
 Smart,' put in Waring, but Miss Smart 
 did not hear him. She was gazing full 
 at Heriot. ' I'm going to ride this one,' 
 she replied, ' to show you you were 
 wrong when you said I was nervous.' 
 
 ' Nervous ! I accuse you of ner- 
 vousness .? Heaven forbid ! ' 
 
 ' Yes, you did though. You said I 
 was afraid to give him his head, so I'm 
 going to ride him the day after to- 
 morrow on a plain snaffle and let him 
 have lots of rein.' 
 
 Heriot gazed back at her, the dawn 
 of a smile trembling under his mous- 
 tache. ' Very well, please yourself, 
 Miss Smart,' he made reply. ' Let us 
 hope you will have an opportunity of 
 distinguishing yourself 
 
 ' Let us hope not,' said Waring. 
 The words were uttered under his 
 breath, but it would have made no 
 difference if they had been spoken 
 aloud. Ethel had no ears for any one 
 
V TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 77 
 
 but Heriot, who with a ' Well, Miss 
 Smart, I suppose you are going to 
 indulge in the luxury of a breakfast,' 
 roused his pony with a jog of his spur 
 and led the way towards the Deputy- 
 Commissioner's bungalow. 
 
 Waring watched the couple move 
 on in silence. ' I'll speak to Pym ; 
 he will know whether the brute is 
 safe or not,' he ejaculated mentally, 
 as he returned slowly to his registers. 
 He was presently to all appearance 
 immersed in accounts, but, if the truth 
 be told, it was some time before the 
 vision of a well-favoured young woman, 
 sitting blithe and radiant in the morn- 
 ing sunlight, ceased to hover before his 
 mind's eye, to the no slight detriment 
 of his official duties. And in the train 
 of this vision came many thoughts. It 
 seemed clear to him that, putting it on 
 its lowest footing, Heriot was not in- 
 different to Ethel Smart, in view of 
 which the placid disregard of her safety 
 
78 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 he had just exhibited appeared posi- 
 tively incomprehensible. It was not 
 for him, he reflected, an uninterested 
 spectator, to look with too critical an 
 eye on his friend's conduct towards a 
 girl who doubtless admired him and 
 was ready to put up with a good deal 
 at his hands. It was not his place to 
 condemn. Yet, while he made this 
 admission, he could not deny himself 
 the pleasure of imagining how much 
 more solicitous his care would have 
 been had he, and not Heriot, been the 
 favoured mortal to whose escort Ethel 
 had entrusted herself; and through all 
 he felt that he would have given a 
 very considerable sum to have a definite 
 reply to a certain question he found 
 himself putting with irksome iteration 
 to an imaginary interlocutor. He was 
 no more able that morning than he 
 had been the day before to explain 
 why Miss Smart should be the object 
 of livelier interest to him than any 
 
V TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 79 
 
 other lady of his acquaintance ; and he 
 had not dreamed of speculating what 
 he should think, say, or do, supposing 
 he were to learn that the Forest-Officer 
 did not, and never would, care a rap 
 for the Deputy -Commissioner's sister. 
 Still, for all that, the plaguey oft- 
 recurring question, ' Is he really as 
 fond of her as she is of him ? ' tingled 
 as persistently in his ears as though 
 all his future course of action had 
 to take its shape from the answer 
 given. 
 
 The echo of the same question was 
 still ringing through his brain as he 
 sat, on the afternoon of the same day, 
 under Mrs. Jones's wheezy punkah^ 
 awaiting in stolid patience the arrival 
 of that lady in her drawing - room. 
 He had been making a round, or more 
 properly the round of calls, for a visit 
 to one of the ladies of the Station 
 meant, for the newcomer who had any 
 regard for his peace of mind, a visit to 
 
8o TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 all. Mrs. Sparrow and Miss Smart had 
 not been at home, and, in his state of 
 vague restlessness, he was only too glad 
 to find that Mrs. Jones was ready and 
 willing, when appropriately attired, to 
 receive him. His gratitude, in fact, 
 was such that he almost forgave her 
 the dreary quarter of an hour he was 
 kept waiting in the little drawing- 
 room, with nothing to do but to ex- 
 amine the portraits of Mrs. Jones's 
 black -haired relatives and to listen to 
 the rustle of raiment in the all too 
 adjacent bedroom, where the dark 
 little lady was adorning herself for the 
 critical eye of her visitor. When she 
 did at last emerge, wafted out on the 
 wings of a marvellous semi - oriental 
 mixture of perfumes, and stirring the 
 moribund punkah with her shrill voice 
 to renewed animation, she did not re- 
 quire much leading to drift into a 
 discussion of the matter that lay nearest 
 to Waring's heart, and to enlarge on it 
 
V TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 8i 
 
 over her tea-tray till her hearer felt that 
 the inquisitiveness that had led him to 
 broach this particular subject had been 
 nothing short of indecent. 
 
 ' Dear me, yes ; he is really very 
 attentive to her, — and she — oh, any 
 one can see it — she is positively de- 
 voted to him. A nice girl ? Oh yes, 
 very, quite charming, a particularly 
 nice girl. You take sugar, don't you ? 
 I'm so sorry we have no lump -sugar. 
 It's a great nuisance the boat being so 
 late this week ; we are expecting such 
 a great lot of stores from Rangoon, but 
 now they haven't come. Yes, she is 
 really charming. Perhaps just a little 
 tiny bit too fond of letting everybody 
 know she is the Deputy-Commissioner's 
 sister ; but after all, she is so young 
 that it is only natural, and I daresay 
 she will get over it in time. You 
 haven't noticed it, Mr. Waring ? Well, 
 I daresay not ; you have not been long 
 enough in the place to notice it, I 
 
 G 
 
82 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 expect. No, I will not say anything 
 against her ; she is nice and sweet, and 
 we are the very best of friends. She has 
 been to tea several times, and we have 
 got on very well ; but now she sees so 
 much of Mr. Heriot that she has no 
 time to give to old friends. What do 
 you say ? Engaged ? Oh dear no, I 
 do not think so, not yet ; perhaps soon 
 they will be, but I think it is too early 
 yet. Besides, sometimes they do not 
 see each other for several days ; I know 
 that, for — look, from my back verandah 
 I can see nearly all that happens in the 
 Smarts' bungalow, and — do you know ? 
 — up to yesterday Mr. Heriot had not 
 been to the house for, — oh, for ever so 
 long. Do eat some of these biscuits ; 
 I think you will like them. No, I am 
 sure that they are not engaged, and of 
 course it will depend upon Mr. Heriot 
 whether they ever are. Yes, you are 
 right, Mr. Waring, he will be very 
 lucky to get her, for she is a nice girl 
 
V TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 83 
 
 and has always been a great friend of 
 mine.' 
 
 ' So you really think she is fond of 
 him ? ' said Waring. 
 
 ' Oh, very, — I think she is devoted 
 to him.' 
 
 ' And you think he is devoted to 
 her ? ' he continued, inwardly disgusted 
 with himself for being cursed with a 
 restless curiosity that drove him to 
 stoop to such crude interrogatories ; 
 for after all, as he asked himself again 
 and again, why, in Heaven's name, 
 should it matter to him whether Heriot 
 did or did not have any affection for 
 Ethel Smart ? 
 
 Mrs. Jones indulged in a dubious 
 shrug, and rolled her black eyes ex- 
 pressively. ' I really don't think he 
 knows whether he really cares for 
 her or not,' she said. ' Sometimes he 
 seems to like her very much, and then 
 again at other times he seems to think 
 nothing of her, and is as rude to her 
 
84 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 as he can be. Still, I think he is 
 generally glad enough to be in her 
 company, don't you ? ' 
 
 ' He certainly seems so.' 
 
 ' Yes, and so long as he is with her 
 I really believe that he does not think 
 it worth the trouble to consider whether 
 he cares for her enough to marry her. 
 Oh, you men are all the same ! ' 
 
 Mrs. Jones's view was certainly the 
 one that would have appealed as cor- 
 rect to the ordinary observer of Heriot's 
 conduct. Waring's knowledge of the 
 Forest-Ojfficer's temperament was, how- 
 ever, more extensive than his hostess's. 
 ' I am not so sure of that,' he said. 
 ' I have an idea that Mr. Heriot knows 
 his own mind well enough.' 
 
 ' And you would very much like to 
 know what that mind is, I have no 
 doubt,' exclaimed Mrs. Jones roguishly. 
 ' Ah well, Mr. Waring, you mustn't 
 break your heart if he does make up his 
 mind and finds he does care for her.' 
 
V TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 85 
 
 And this delicate sally made War- 
 ing realise that for his ill-advised in- 
 quisitiveness he deserved even more 
 than he had received at Mrs. Jones's 
 hands. 
 
 It was not till late that evening 
 that he heard that Pym, the Battalion- 
 Commandant, had gone out in camp, 
 not to return for several days, and that 
 till then he could get no information 
 about Ethel's pony except from the 
 Military Police subadar. That same 
 evening he learned that Miss Smart 
 would be delighted if he would accom- 
 pany her and Heriot on the ride they 
 intended taking on the next morning 
 but one. Why his presence was wanted, 
 it was not given to him to understand, 
 but, though at first he hesitated, he 
 eventually accepted the invitation. 
 Whether he were de trop or not, he 
 could, he reflected, at any rate help 
 to look after Ethel. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 ' Wait till I get my lease renewed,' 
 exclaimed Ma Tin Gyi, glaring after 
 Mrs. Jones's white sun-hat, as it bobbed 
 away briskly, amid a medley of bright 
 head-coverings, down the central aisle 
 of the bazaar. ' Wait till I get my 
 lease renewed, then, if ever I sell her so 
 much as an onion below the market- 
 rate, may I die a violent death ! ' 
 
 Mrs. Jones had just finished her 
 daily visitation, and the bazaar was 
 beginning to breathe more freely, to 
 feel for its cheroot, and to look about 
 it a little. 
 
 The secret that enabled Mrs. Jones, 
 despite the meagreness of Mr. Jones's 
 pay, to preserve a financial equilibrium, 
 
VI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 87 
 
 and at times even to emerge at the 
 end of a month with a few rupees on 
 the credit side of her domestic account, 
 was twofold. In the first place, this 
 excellent lady, like the good house- 
 wife that she was, made a point of 
 rising every day at six and of per- 
 sonally visiting the bazaar, thereby 
 acquiring an exhaustive knowledge of 
 the actual market-price as opposed to 
 the fancy-price that would have been 
 charged her had she been content to 
 leave her catering to a servant. In 
 the second place, she had discovered 
 that there existed a rate, just a trifle 
 lower than the market-rate, at which, 
 as spouse of the police-officer in special 
 charge of the bazaar, she could, by 
 dint of judicious haggling, purchase 
 what she wanted from the more sub- 
 missive of the stall -holders. As a 
 result of this combination of energy 
 and shrewdness, she could (as she did) 
 boast with truth that her daily expenses 
 
88 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 cost her on the average very Kttle more 
 than the difference between the amount 
 Miss Smart paid for hers and the 
 amount she would have had to pay 
 had she been learned in market-rates 
 and done her shopping herself. She 
 had been fully justifying that vaunt on 
 the morning following the day of 
 Waring's visit to her, and Ma Tin 
 Gyi, the occupier of the extremely 
 popular fruit and vegetable stall at 
 the corner by the entrance, had been 
 learning this, not by any means for 
 the first time, to her cost. She was 
 an elderly lady, this Ma Tin Gyi, 
 whose ample body, clad in a loose, dirty 
 white jacket and a flaring petticoat of 
 pink, crossed tartan -wise with black, 
 looked absurdly large below the face 
 which surmounted it — a flat, brown, 
 shiny face on which small-pox had left 
 its baleful impress — a face all mouth, 
 nostrils, and forehead, with the sparse 
 hair drawn tightly back from it and 
 
VI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 89 
 
 twisted aloft into a dumpy grizzled 
 knot. She sat there, surrounded by 
 her pumpkins and pummeloes, that 
 morning and gazed with no very 
 loving look after Mrs. Jones's retreating 
 figure. She was really rather put out ; 
 but, with all the buoyancy of her race, 
 she refused to brood for any length of 
 time over her wrongs, and, as her eye 
 caught that of a middle-aged Burman 
 who had approached her stall, she in- 
 continently displayed two rows of red 
 betel -stained teeth and relieved her 
 mind with a strident guffaw. 
 
 The newcomer lowered the two oil- 
 tins he was carrying, slung at each 
 end of a bamboo yoke, and, with an 
 answering grin, being a man of few 
 words, squatted silently down near 
 the stall. He tucked in a stray end 
 of the well-worn yellow silk head- 
 kerchief which hung down limply over 
 one ear, and drawing from the folds 
 of his waist-cloth the stump of a white 
 
90 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 cheroot, held out his hand for the 
 cigar that Ma Tin Gyi had laid aside 
 on the floor of the stall, the better to 
 do battle with the Inspector's lady, 
 and had now picked up again. It 
 was almost out, and he had to blow 
 on the ash for some little time before 
 he could get a glow sufficient to light 
 his own cheroot ; but the business of 
 kindling was finished at length, and the 
 two, facing each other, puffed for a 
 while in silence. 
 
 The woman was the first to speak. 
 ' She only gave me an anna for plan- 
 tains, Ko Tu,' she said, with a turn 
 of her head in the direction in which 
 Mrs. Jones had disappeared. 
 
 ' For how many bunches ? ' asked 
 Ko Tu, municipal water-carrier. 
 
 ■• Three.' 
 
 Ko Tu clicked his tongue despond- 
 ently. ' Amale ! ' he ejaculated, and 
 sucked more vigorously at his cheroot. 
 
 ' How can I live,' exclaimed Ma 
 
VI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 91 
 
 Tin Gyi testily, ' if I only get one 
 anna for three bunches of plantains ? 
 Three bunches, and nanthabus, too ! ' 
 
 Ko Tu made no attempt to reply to 
 a question which was manifestly un- 
 answerable. ' When does the lease 
 of your stall expire ? ' he asked, going, 
 like a wise man, to the root of the 
 matter without delay. 
 
 ' In T^bodwe ; she knows it, and 
 that's why she comes to me. Formerly 
 she always bought her vegetables from 
 Ma Kin, — everything save brinjals;^ 
 no one in the market has brinjals like 
 mine ; but Ma Kin has just had a 
 renewal of her lease for a year, and 
 will not sell to her below the market- 
 rate, so now she gets everything 
 from me.' 
 
 Ko Tu grunted sympathetically and 
 watched while Ma Tin Gyi rummaged 
 among her wares. After a little 
 
 1 A vegetable somewhat similar to that known in 
 the West Indies as the egg-plant. 
 
92 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 search she pulled out two plantains, 
 which she solemnly handed to him, 
 and he as solemnly received and began 
 eating. 
 
 Two tall Sikhs of the Military 
 Police lounged up to the stall, in 
 scarlet puggree and white undress, 
 large-boned, handsome men, with well- 
 shaped faces and gleaming teeth. 
 One of them wished to purchase a 
 pumpkin, and for the next few 
 minutes Ma Tin Gyi's energies were 
 taken from her cheroot and devoted 
 to haggling with the warrior, as he 
 stood, weighing his purchase carefully 
 in his hand, under a running fire of 
 chaff from a brace of festive lance- 
 corporals of the Battalion's Goorkha 
 company, who were investing in 
 earthenware pots at an adjacent stall. 
 The bargain was struck with the usual 
 amount of good-humoured banter on 
 each side, and the Sikhs sauntered 
 complacently onward, having got their 
 
VI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 93 
 
 pumpkin, be it said, at a price a fraction 
 higher than that at which Mrs. Jones 
 would have obtained it. 
 
 ' Ah, these kalas,' ^ said Ma Tin 
 Gyi, with a compassionate shrug as she 
 tossed the coppers into her lacquer- 
 work betel-box and resumed her 
 cheroot, ' they are all the same ; they 
 hate parting with their pice.' There 
 was no rancour in her voice. The 
 Military Police were her best customers, 
 and she was not afraid of them, for 
 their domain lay outside the Magis- 
 trate's courts, and they could tell no 
 nasty tales when the question of the 
 renewal of bazaar-leases came up before 
 the Municipal Committee ; yet she 
 could not refrain from an allusion to 
 that one of their weaknesses of which 
 she had daily experience. 
 
 'They are better than the Civil 
 Police, though,' said Ko Tu, with his 
 
 1 Foreigners ; anybody except a Siamese or a China- 
 man is a kala to a Burman. 
 
94 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 mouth full of plantain, and his memory 
 of the last occasion on which the Town 
 Sergeant had got him fined for a breach 
 of the Opium Act. 
 
 'The Civil Police— I should think 
 so ! The Civil Police are worse than 
 Bo Chet,' exclaimed Ma Tin Gyi, who 
 also had painful recollections of her 
 own. She broke off short, for one of 
 that force in ^/^fl/^/ jacket and striped red 
 waistcloth had approached the stall — 
 a round-faced young man with a thick 
 neck and a few straggling black hairs 
 on his upper lip. He was on duty in 
 the bazaar that morning — a person to be 
 looked to and conciliated. 
 
 ' What are you eating ? ' he enquired 
 cheerfully of Ko Tu, after a prodigious 
 yawn and a rapid glance round the 
 bazaar to make sure that there was no 
 superior officer near. 
 
 ' Plantains,' replied the laconic 
 water-carrier, who had begun peeling 
 his second. 
 
VI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 95 
 
 The policeman hitched up his striped 
 red cloth reflectively and squatted 
 alongside of Ko Tu. The latter broke 
 his second plantain in half and, with- 
 out a word, handed one half to the 
 guardian of the peace. Both munched 
 in silence, stopping at intervals to 
 show their teeth with a guttural 
 laugh at some fresh witticism of the 
 Goorkhas, who had passed on to Ma 
 Tin Gyi's stall and were poking fun at 
 the portly lady, while they selected 
 their purchases. 
 
 ' Where is Bo Chet now, Shwe 
 Zin .? ' enquired Ma Tin Gyi of the 
 constable when the Goorkhas had 
 passed on chuckling, and she was free 
 for another puff and a word or two 
 of gossip. 
 
 ' I do not know,' said the policeman 
 rather sullenly. ' They say he is fed 
 by Ko Waik of Thonze,' 
 
 'Why, there's a police-station on 
 Thonze,' exclaimed Ma Tin Gyi. 
 
96 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ■• Why doesn't the Thonze sergeant 
 catch him and earn the Government 
 reward ? ' 
 
 ' The Thonze sergeant is afraid,' 
 sneered Shwe Zin. ' Is not Bo Chet's 
 wife niece to Ko Waik ? No one can 
 do what displeases Ko Waik at 
 Thonze.' 
 
 ' His niece has been deported to 
 Sagaing, all the same,' laughed Ma 
 Tin Gyi. The policeman made no 
 reply. 
 
 ' I hear Maun Shaung is very ill,' 
 put in Ko Tu, who had risen, and was 
 slowly adjusting his water-tins. 
 
 ■■ He is,' said Shwe Zin. 
 
 ' If he dies,' said Ma Tin Gyi, 
 ■• who will be Myothugyi of Thonze .? 
 What do you think, Shwe Zin ? ' 
 
 Shwe Zin dug thoughtfully in the 
 earth with the tip of his sword and 
 laughed. ' Ko Waik is very powerful,' 
 he said. He was not going to commit 
 himself. 
 
VI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 97 
 
 ' I have heard that Maung Myo 
 wishes to be Myothugyi,' said the 
 woman. ' If Maung Shaung dies, 
 will he not tell the Government about 
 Ko Waik and Bo Chet, and prevent his 
 being appointed ? ' 
 
 ' He cannot,' said Shwe Zin. ' He 
 is not strong enough to hurt Ko Waik ; 
 Ko Waik has too much authority. 
 Maung Myo has tried to injure him, 
 but what is the good ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, what is the good ? You may 
 throw a jujube-seed at Mount Myinmo, 
 but it won't budge for that,' said Ko 
 Tu, shouldering his tins. ' But you 
 are a Thonze man, Shwe Zin ; why 
 don't you try and get the reward ? ' 
 
 Shwe Zin gazed sheepishly at the 
 point of his sword. ' I am afraid,' 
 he said naively, and Ko Tu ambled 
 off laughing. 
 
 ' What would you do with the 
 reward if you got it, Shwe Zin ? ' 
 enquired Ma Tin Gyi, arranging the 
 
 H 
 
98 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 papayas ^ on her stall to the best 
 advantage. 
 
 ' I should give a pwe^ ^ said Shwe 
 Zin, ' a pwe at Thonze. I should get 
 actors from Mandalay, as the Myook 
 did when the Chief Commissioner 
 came last Tawthalin. I am going 
 back to Thonze soon,' he added. 
 
 ' When .? ' asked Ma Tin Gyi. 
 
 ' On the tenth waxing. My time 
 at headquarters will be up and I shall 
 return, and perhaps, — who knows ? — 
 perhaps I shall catch Bo Chet. It will 
 be a lovely pwe.^ 
 
 The stream of life flowing past the 
 stall was bright and unceasing. The 
 burly, black -moustached Burman in a 
 gorgeous pink silk pahso^ at whose 
 approach Shwe Zin rose demurely to 
 his feet, was the Myook, or Native 
 
 1 A kind of fruit. 
 
 2 Any show or entertainment, but usually of a 
 theatrical icind. 
 
 3 A long scarf worn round the waist with something 
 of the effect of a kilt. 
 
VI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 99 
 
 Magistrate, on his way to a Municipal 
 meeting. Not far behind the local 
 magnate came one of the most influ- 
 ential of the Municipal Commissioners, 
 Ah Shein, the proprietor of the one 
 licensed liquor-shop in the town, a 
 little shrivelled, bright-eyed Chinaman 
 in a large-brimmed pith sun-hat and 
 voluminous dark-blue trousers. Yonder 
 was a group of Shans from the Northern 
 hills, gaping wide-eyed amid the bustle 
 of the bazaar, and with them a Kachin 
 or two fresh from the far-off jade- 
 mines. There swaggered a Mussulman 
 havildar of Military Police, resplendent 
 in a green velvet waistcoat laced with 
 gold, hobnobbing with the serang, or 
 boatswain, of the Government steamer, 
 which was visible, through the bazaar- 
 door, smoking under the high river- 
 bank. A thin-lipped, sharp -featured 
 Chittagonian was the latter, with a 
 white, conical, open-work linen cap on 
 his closely -shaved head, and his neck 
 
100 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 swathed in a gaudy woollen comforter, 
 for the morning air was crisp. A 
 crowd of lascars from one of the river- 
 steamers followed on the footsteps of 
 the serang, and before they had fully 
 passed Shwe Zin shot into the air 
 again and saluted guiltily, for round 
 the corner swung Mullintosh, the 
 District Superintendent of Police, with 
 a couple of .Inspectors striding behind 
 him, and brought up at Ma Tin Gyi's 
 stall. 
 
 ' Well, Ma Gyi,' he exclaimed, 
 gazing big and rubicund at the old 
 lady. ' When will those cheroots be 
 ready .? Have you told that woman to 
 hurry up with them ? ' 
 
 Ma Tin Gyi's hands went together, 
 and she leered over the tips of her 
 fingers at the District Superintendent. 
 She was one of the few native women 
 in Tatkin who was not in her heart 
 frightened of the Europeans. ' They 
 will be ready to-morrow, Thakin,' she 
 
VI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING loi 
 
 answered. ' They would have been 
 ready by this time, only Ma Chin 
 has not been able to help. She is the 
 best cigar-roller in the village.' 
 
 ' Who is Ma Chin ? Why can't 
 she help .? Has she got fever ? ' 
 
 ' She has gone to Sagaing, Thakin.' 
 ^ The devil she has ! What for .? ' 
 ' In accordance with the orders of 
 Government,' said Ma Tin Gyi, de- 
 livering herself of the Government 
 with great unction. ' She went with 
 the other relations of Bo Chet.' 
 
 ' What a nuisance ! ' exclaimed 
 Mullintosh disgustedly. ' Why didn't 
 you tell me that before, Ma Gyi .? I 
 should never have sent up her name for 
 deportation to Sagaing if I had known. 
 How is she related to Bo Chet ? ' 
 
 He addressed the senior Inspector, 
 who referred to his junior, who in his 
 turn asked the question of Shwe Zin, 
 who replied that the lady alluded to 
 was daughter of Bo Chet's elder sister. 
 
102 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 and was promptly called a jungle-dog 
 by his superior officer for standing on 
 one leg while replying. It was a sad 
 fact that Shwe Zin had not profited as 
 much as he should have by his course 
 of training at headquarters. 
 
 ' Make a note of her name, Po 
 Thet,' said Mullintosh to the senior 
 Inspector. ' We must remember to 
 get her back as soon as we can. 
 There will be no difficulty. We are 
 not going to lose the best cigar-roller 
 in Tatkin if I can help it. Mind, Ma 
 Gyi, I must have those cheroots to- 
 morrow.' And he swept off to the 
 police-station as rapidly as he had 
 come, with the Inspector ever bustling 
 behind him. 
 
 ' I never knew Ma Chin was a good 
 cigar-roller,' observed Shwe Zin, when 
 Mullintosh and his myrmidons had 
 disappeared, and he could re-seat him- 
 self with impunity and nibble at another 
 of Ma Tin Gyi's plantains. 
 
VI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 103 
 
 *■ No more she is,' returned the 
 vendor of garden-produce, with a sus- 
 picion of contempt in her voice for the 
 pohceman's obtuseness. ' She is a very 
 poor workwoman, but I want her 
 back in Tatkin. She owes me four 
 annas for tomatoes, and she was deported 
 before she could pay. I shall make her 
 give me eight annas, when she comes 
 back, for this.' 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 The fact that, while two is company, 
 three is none, can nowhere be more 
 pitilessly demonstrated than on horse- 
 back, when one of the three concerned 
 is a lady and always able, by virtue of 
 her side-saddle, to turn her back on one 
 of her two attendant cavaliers without 
 offence. Such was the galling discovery 
 that Waring made during the ride 
 that he took in company with Ethel 
 and Heriot three days after his arrival 
 in Tatkin. As he jogged along on his 
 wiry Burman pony (an ex-racer with a 
 remarkable turn of speed), he had ample 
 leisure to wonder why, in the name of 
 fortune, he had been asked, and with 
 such a show of graciousness, to join the 
 
VII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 105 
 
 couple who rode together, now in front 
 of, now behind, and now beside him, 
 as the exigencies of the path permitted, 
 but at all times, it seemed, equally ob- 
 livious of his presence except on the 
 rare occasions when Ethel, realising 
 with a sudden pang of conscience that 
 she and Heriot were not alone, addressed 
 a fugitive remark to him which only 
 served to render his isolation all the 
 more pronounced. Had he been more 
 versed in the ways and wiles of woman- 
 kind he would, without hesitation, have 
 characterised Miss Smart's action as an 
 attempt, and an unsuccessful one, to play 
 him off against Heriot ; and, in so 
 doing, he would have fallen into griev- 
 ous error, for, as is frequently the case 
 with large-hearted young women, it was 
 a multiplicity of motives, many of them 
 far more disinterested than her female 
 friends would have given her credit for, 
 which had urged the Deputy-Commis- 
 sioner's sister to invite the recluse of 
 
io6 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 Minmyo to form the superfluous third 
 at her riding-party. As it was, how- 
 ever, Waring, to whom the workings 
 of the feminine mind were a sealed 
 book, made no attempt to assign reasons 
 for what Miss Smart had been pleased 
 to do ; he only marvelled that he should 
 be where he was, and resolved that, as 
 he was there, he would not be deterred 
 from carrying out the main object of 
 his ride, which was to see that no harm 
 came to Ethel on her pony. 
 
 It was not till the ride was drawing 
 to a close, and the roofs of Tatkin had 
 risen once more into sight, that Waring 
 began to feel himself drawn into the 
 current of talk that had been rippling 
 around him. Ethel and Heriot had 
 for some little time been engaged in an 
 animated discussion as to the possibility 
 of starting golf in the Station, and the 
 chances the game (which had just been 
 introduced into Upper Burmah) had of 
 being patronised ; and their taciturn 
 
VII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 107 
 
 companion was now appealed to, first 
 for his views on these weighty ques- 
 tions, and afterwards for his decision as 
 to which of the many favourable sites 
 in the vicinity would be best suited for 
 the links. 
 
 ' I should think one could get some 
 very decent links about where we are 
 now,' he observed in answer to the 
 latter question. They had halted for 
 a moment to consider the lie of the 
 land, and Waring's opinion was hazarded 
 with some diffidence, for his conception 
 of the requirements of the royal and 
 ancient game was, like that of the ma- 
 jority of Upper Burmans at that time, 
 decidedly hazy. 
 
 ' Too far from the Station ' was 
 Heriot's pronouncement. ' No one 
 would take the trouble to come out 
 here for a game.' 
 
 ' You mean you wouldn't, I suppose, 
 Mr. Heriot,' laughed Ethel, shaking a 
 sunny head at the Forest-Officer. ' I'm 
 
io8 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 sure any person who was really keen on 
 the game would be only too glad to 
 come and play here. It's not really so 
 very far, is it, Mr. Waring .? ' 
 
 ' No, not very ; but there are heaps 
 of places where one could start ladies' 
 links on the jail-side very much nearer 
 than this, if that would do,' said War- 
 ing, who had seen the ladies' links at 
 Rangoon and felt that here at any rate 
 he was on tolerably safe ground. ' But I 
 don't think,' he added, ' that there are any 
 
 bunkers there, though of course ' 
 
 and at that point he stopped, for it 
 suddenly came over him that perhaps 
 ladies' links did not require what he 
 vaguely conceived to be an essential of 
 the game. 
 
 ' Oh, never mind the bunkers ; we'll 
 do without bunkers,' exclaimed Ethel 
 cheerfully. ' It will make it so much 
 easier.' 
 
 ' Or look upon the jail as one,' said 
 Heriot. ' Very well, let's make a be- 
 
VII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 109 
 
 ginning with ladies' links close to the 
 Station, so that no stumbling-block may 
 be put in the way of the weaker 
 brethren, — those who are not so keen 
 as Miss Smart — in which category, by 
 the way, you would appear to include 
 me. Miss Smart.' 
 
 ' That I certainly do,' replied the 
 girl. 
 
 ' What makes you think I'm not 
 keen on golf ? ' 
 
 ' I can't imagine you keen on any- 
 thing in this wide world ; can you, Mr. 
 Waring .? ' 
 
 ' I've seen him keen enough on polo 
 at times,' said Waring the cautious. 
 
 ' He certainly plays hard enough 
 when once he's started,' admitted Ethel ; 
 ' but I wouldn't call him an enthusiastic 
 player, Mr. Waring, would you ? ' 
 
 ' How do you know how I play ? ' 
 interposed Heriot. ' You're never on 
 the ground till near the end of the last 
 chucker.' 
 
no TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' Oh, Mr. Heriot, how can you ? 
 I've been round often and often just 
 after you have begun. It vv^as only the 
 day before yesterday that I v^^as late. I 
 know^ the play of all of you by this 
 time.' 
 
 ' Do you really ! then how do you 
 think Waring plays ? They say he 
 funks terribly.' 
 
 ' Mr. Waring plays very nicely,' 
 answered Ethel, with a smile at the 
 individual referred to ; ' better than 
 you, I should think. But, do you know, 
 I don't think either of you play so well 
 as Captain Pym.' 
 
 ' Oh, Pym's an exceptional player,' 
 exclaimed Waring. ' You won't find a 
 man that can come near Pym in Upper 
 Burmah.' 
 
 ' To us poor mortals Captain Pym's 
 play is a revelation,' said Heriot. ' But 
 to return to golf ; you haven't told me 
 yet why you think I'm not keen on 
 golf 
 
VII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING iii 
 
 ' I've told you I don't think you can 
 be keen on anything,' replied Ethel. 
 ' You seem to have no enthusiasm, no 
 zeal of any kind, — unless it is for smok- 
 ing cigarettes.' 
 
 ' You are giving me a shocking char- 
 acter, Miss Smart,' returned Heriot, 
 w^ho had drawn out his silver case and 
 was feeling for his match-box. ' You 
 are quite wrong, all the same, though. 
 I'm not demonstrative, like that shallow 
 chap Waring there, but I have my feel- 
 ings. I can live in the future as well 
 as in the present. I assure you I am 
 looking forward with the keenest de- 
 light to solacing my declining years 
 with golf. I can imagine myself, a 
 dear old gentleman of seventy or there- 
 abouts, being wheeled down to the links 
 in my bath-chair and doddering round 
 with some octogenarian crony whom 
 I fondly think I can give points to. 
 But I will not — no, I will not consent 
 to be dragged out three miles from the 
 
112 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 Station in the heat of a tropical after- 
 noon when I can get my game nearer 
 home.' 
 
 ' Three miles ! You surely don't 
 call this three miles from the Station ? 
 Why, I don't think it's more than one,' 
 cried Ethel. ' I do believe I could 
 canter home in five minutes from here ; 
 in fact, I'm sure I could. Come along, 
 Mr. Waring, we'll try. You can follow 
 when you've finished lighting your 
 cigarette, Mr. Heriot.' 
 
 She turned her pony's head home- 
 wards and darted off^ ; Waring swung 
 round after her, and Heriot was left by 
 the roadside in a gathering cloud of 
 blue tobacco-smoke. He was lighting 
 his cigarette very leisurely ; he, at any 
 rate, was not going to exert himself 
 unnecessarily. 
 
 It was a matter of a few seconds for 
 Waring's swift little pony to catch up 
 Ethel's mount, which was pounding 
 along with neck extended and ears 
 
VII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 113 
 
 well back, and for a moment his bay 
 forged ahead. A cry from Ethel, ' Oh, 
 please don't go so fast,' caused him to 
 tighten his rein, and he had already 
 changed his pace from a canter to a 
 trot when his companion's pony clat- 
 tered past him at a hand-gallop, and, 
 before he had fully realised the situa- 
 tion, steed and rider were some twenty 
 or thirty yards in front of him. Through 
 the dust he could see that Ethel was in 
 difBculties ; she was sitting back, saw- 
 ing with both hands at her pony's 
 mouth, but the defiant wagging of the 
 dun's neck showed that it had no inten- 
 tion of knuckling under to a plain 
 snaffle. The beast was completely out 
 of the girl's control, and Waring could 
 see that it was bolting straight for the 
 station and its stable. He caught a 
 flashing glimpse of a white face turned 
 back to him as he dug the spurs into 
 his pony's side, and even while he rose 
 to its first startled forward leap, there 
 I 
 
114 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 crossed his mind, like an uncomfortable 
 dream, the recollection of an accident 
 that had happened to a native police- 
 man, a few months back, under circum- 
 stances like the present. The excite- 
 ment of the chase stirred his blood, but 
 through all the angry throbbing of his 
 brain he could only think how vividly 
 the pale face that he had for a brief 
 second seen conjured up the memory of 
 another face, — the face at the end of 
 the long limp body he had once helped 
 to lift up from where it had fallen below 
 the low stable-eaves, the skull fractured 
 against the woodwork, a sickening, un- 
 recognisable mass. 
 
 He was almost level with her by 
 the time they had reached the knot of 
 native huts outside the Civil Lines, 
 where the inhabitants scuttled nimbly 
 to left and right ; but the sound of his 
 pony's hoofs behind stirred the dun 
 to redoubled effort, and for a hundred 
 yards or so it nearly succeeded in shak- 
 
VII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 115 
 
 ing its pursuer off. In the end, how- 
 ever, blood and training told ; the bay 
 drew up hand over hand, and as they 
 flew past the Court-house, one of the 
 outermost buildings of the Station, 
 Waring leaned forward and outward in 
 his saddle and had the satisfaction of 
 feeling the fingers of his right hand 
 clutch and tighten round the dun's 
 bridle. They were close to the Mili- 
 tary Police Lines by this time, and a 
 second later they were racing along 
 between the bamboo palisades of the 
 Station compounds. Already the long 
 row of low-roofed stables loomed ahead 
 of them. For the twinkling of an eye 
 Waring raised his head to see the 
 course they were taking. It was all he 
 dared allow himself, the next moment 
 he was straining at the dun's head 
 and with his left hand trying to pull 
 his own pony in, but on neither of the 
 steeds, now galloping neck to neck, was 
 any effect produced. The bay was by 
 
ii6 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 this time as excited as Ethel's pony, 
 and with one hand Waring was quite 
 unable to hold it back. They were 
 only fifty yards off the stables now, 
 and a few more strides would sweep 
 them under a labyrinth of treacherous 
 overhanging eaves. There was no time 
 to warn Ethel of the risk she ran. Only 
 one course was left open to Waring. 
 Letting go with his left hand of his 
 own reins, he made one clutch with it 
 at the dun's mane and slid off his own 
 pony. In a moment he was swept off 
 his feet by the onward rush of Ethel's 
 mount, but he clung desperately on. 
 The pony almost fell, recovered itself, 
 plunged forward, stopped with a jerk, 
 and Waring found himself standing at its 
 head, hatless, with torn riding-breeches, 
 and dredged from head to foot with a 
 thick layer of dust, while half a dozen 
 tall Sikh policemen clustered round, 
 zealous in their offers to help to hold 
 the pony and assist Ethel to dismount. 
 
VII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 117 
 
 She sprang to the ground and faced 
 him, a little pale, it is true, but with a 
 smile that showed she had not realised 
 a tithe of the risk she had run. ' Good 
 gracious, Mr. Waring, you are in a 
 state ! ' she exclaimed. ' I am so very 
 sorry. I do hope you are not hurt, — 
 your poor clothes ! ' 
 
 ' Oh, I'm not hurt, thanks,' he 
 replied. His first act, after being 
 assured of Ethel's safety, was to signal 
 to two of the policemen to lead the 
 panting ponies to the stables, his next 
 to pull out his handkerchief and to begin 
 dusting himself aimlessly. ' No more 
 are you, I hope,' he added, looking up 
 between the flicks at her. ' It was a 
 nasty jar and must have- shaken you up 
 a good deal. You'd better let one of 
 these men bring you out a chair to sit 
 down upon.' 
 
 ' No, thanks ; I'm not in the least 
 shaken, only a little frightened. It's 
 not nice being bolted with like that. 
 
ii8 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 What a horrid brute ! You were quite 
 right, Mr. Waring ; Captain Pym had 
 no business to lend me such a bolter. 
 But whatever made you jump off your 
 pony .? I'm sure mine would have 
 stopped almost directly.' 
 
 ' Perhaps ; I wanted to make quite 
 sure, though,' said Waring, gruffly 
 working with his handkerchief at his 
 left shoulder-blade. Though still rather 
 dazed, he had his wits sufficiently about 
 him to see the necessity of keeping from 
 her how great her danger had been ; 
 and he felt devoutly thankful that her 
 knowledge of the languages of India 
 was slight when he perceived that one 
 of the policemen who remained loiter- 
 ing about after the ponies had been led 
 away, had taken upon himself to recall 
 to memory the almost parallel case of 
 the lamented Bugwan Singh, and to 
 point out to his companions, with much 
 circumstance, the spot where that luck- 
 less Asiatic's cranium had left its im- 
 
VII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 119 
 
 press on the stable -eaves a few yards 
 from where the runaway had been 
 brought to a standstill. 
 
 ' You'd better come along to the 
 house, Miss Smart,' he said, catching 
 Ethel's eye fixed with interest on the 
 speaker as he stood and gesticulated 
 under the low roof. ' You really must 
 be a bit shaken. I'm afraid you will 
 feel the reaction directly.' 
 
 ' I don't think I'm nearly as much 
 shaken as you are,' she made reply. 
 ' At any rate,' she added, with a nerv- 
 ous little laugh, ' I'm not in such a 
 terrible mess. I really must dust you 
 a little more. There, that's very much 
 better,' she continued after a deft appli- 
 cation of her choijory ^ to the back of his 
 jacket. ' Are they fetching your hat, 
 by the way ? Ah yes, I see, here it 
 comes. It's very bad for you to be 
 standing bareheaded in the sun ; put 
 
 1 Chowry, a fly-flapper, usually made of the tail of 
 the Thibetan yak. 
 
120 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 my handkerchief over your head till the 
 man gets here with your hat. Here 
 comes Mr. Heriot at last.' 
 
 The Forest-Officer approached with 
 his usual unruffled composure. He 
 must have seen from a distance the 
 fast -gathering crowd collected round 
 his two dismounted companions, but 
 there was nothing to show that he 
 had stirred his pony out of the de- 
 liberate trot which experience had 
 taught him was not incompatible with 
 the thorough enjoyment of a cigarette. 
 He gazed at Waring without emotion. 
 ' Had a spill, old man .? ' he enquired. 
 ' What has Waring been doing, Miss 
 Smart — trying acrobatic feats on his 
 pony ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, it's nothing,' said Waring 
 curtly ; and Ethel added, ' Poor man, 
 he's made himself in a horrid mess 
 jumping off his pony to stop mine ! 
 It bolted, you know.' 
 
 ' Ah,' said Heriot, gazing round him 
 
VII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 121 
 
 through his scrupulously adjusted eye- 
 glass, ' very near the stables, — looks as 
 if you had both been trying to emulate 
 the example of Bugwan Singh of pious 
 memory.' 
 
 ' Tell me, who is Bugwan Singh ? ' 
 cried Ethel. ' Every one seems to be 
 speaking of Bugwan Singh. That tall 
 man over there in a red puggree has 
 been doing nothing the last few minutes 
 but talk about a Bugwan Singh.' 
 
 ' Bugwan Singh was a Military 
 Policeman,' said Heriot, ignoring War- 
 ing's warning glance, ' and once upon 
 a time poor Bugwan Singh's pony 
 bolted with him ; it's a way Burman 
 ponies have sometimes, as you know. 
 Miss Smart. This one took him under 
 the eaves just there, — do you see? — 
 where your friend in the red puggree is 
 standing. Nasty things to ride under, 
 are these low overhanging eaves. It 
 was a sad case, — skull smashed to 
 smithereens, — that's the worst of being 
 
122 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING vii 
 
 six-foot-four. Ask Waring ; he knows 
 all about it. Helped to gather up the 
 fragments that remained, didn't you, 
 Waring .? Is anything the matter with 
 you. Miss Smart ? ' 
 
 ' I'm more shaken than I thought I 
 was,' murmured Ethel. She had turned 
 a more ghastly white and clutched at 
 Waring's sleeve for a moment. ' Let 
 us get home as quickly as possible,' 
 she said. ' Thanks. You were quite 
 right again, Mr. Waring ; I'm begin- 
 ning to feel the reaction.' 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 It was not till the excitement of the 
 chase had to some extent worn off that 
 Waring made the discovery that he had 
 strained the thumb of his right hand 
 rather severely. He first became aware 
 of the injury in the Smarts' verandah, 
 into which cool retreat the Deputy- 
 Commissioner insisted on conducting 
 him, on his arrival with Ethel, in order 
 that he might take something to steady 
 his nerves and fortify his system before 
 returning to his quarters at the mess. 
 Ethel had there, much to Waring's dis- 
 may, waxed eloquent over what she 
 was pleased to look upon as her rescue ; 
 and her brother was clearly impressed 
 with the imminence of the risk which 
 
124 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 his sister had run, and did his best, in 
 his own rough, off- hand manner, to 
 convey to Waring a sense of his obliga- 
 tions. He had sundry brief suggestions 
 to make for the treatment of the 
 wounded thumb, and urged Waring 
 repeatedly to have the strain attended 
 to by the Civil Surgeon without delay ; 
 he even went to the length of applying, 
 clumsily enough, some special embroca- 
 tion of his own. But nothing that 
 Smart could do afforded Waring such 
 relief as did the pressure of his sister's 
 palms on the aching joint. She finished 
 rubbing-in the embrocation, and bound 
 the thumb up, using her own handker- 
 chief as a temporary bandage ; and the 
 while she made all fast and firm her 
 patient was at a loss whether to marvel 
 most at the ungainliness of his own fist, 
 as it lay partially disabled between her 
 hands, or at the whiteness and dexterity 
 of the girl's fingers as they secured the 
 spotless cambric round that brown and 
 
VIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 125 
 
 awkward member. Smart's last in- 
 junction, shouted after him from the 
 head of the steps, was to be careful to 
 lie up for the day, and not on any 
 account to use his hand working. 
 Thus it was that the first of the 
 glorious, sleepy mid - day hours that 
 separate eleven o'clock breakfast from 
 afternoon tea found the obedient 
 Treasury -Officer, not sitting thankless 
 at the receipt of custom, but extended 
 — in strict compliance with the last of 
 the Deputy - Commissioner's orders — 
 in a long arm - chair, in the shaded 
 depths of the mess verandah, with 
 nothing to do but to smoke, to gaze 
 at his injured hand, and to congratu- 
 late himself on not having followed 
 Smart's suggestions in their entirety. 
 His thumb had not yet been inspected 
 by the Civil Surgeon, and he was in 
 consequence still privileged to wear the 
 handkerchief that Ethel's fair hands 
 had bound round it. It was a busi- 
 
126 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ness-like handkerchief, not an ineffec- 
 tual square of lace, and it was folded 
 about his hand in an exceedingly 
 business-like way — quite, as Miss Smart 
 had been careful to explain, in accord- 
 ance with the best traditions of the St. 
 John's Ambulance Association. War- 
 ing followed its course with his eye 
 again and again round his thumb and 
 wrist down to the point where there 
 was a perhaps rather unprofessional 
 knot, and an end sticking bravely out, 
 on which the letters E.S. stood worked 
 in white silk. The end had been spread 
 wide to show the monogram at its 
 plainest, so that, as Ethel had jocosely 
 observed, while wrestling with that final 
 knot, he might remember to whom he 
 had to return the handkerchief. 
 
 As if he were likely to forget ! As 
 if he could, for a moment, keep her out 
 of his thoughts ! As he lay there in 
 the drowsy noonday stillness, with no 
 sound to break in upon his meditations 
 
VIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 127 
 
 but the twittering of the sparrows amid 
 the rafters overhead and the muffled 
 chatter of the native servants in their 
 quarters behind the mess, his memory 
 was free to rove at will over all the 
 incidents of the last four days, from 
 the hour of his first meeting with Ethel, 
 down to the inspired moment when, 
 sitting with his hand in hers, dimly 
 conscious of the grateful pressure of her 
 fingers, he realised, with a half fearful 
 rapture, that the final episode of the 
 morning's ride had, as it were, broken 
 something down between them and 
 brought her wonderfully close to him. 
 And as he pondered on what those 
 four days had brought forth, an inward 
 voice seemed to tell him that it had 
 not come upon him suddenly, this 
 living, throbbing reality that set his 
 brain a-whirl. Almost ever since he 
 had first seen her there had been lurk- 
 ing in his heart, as yet unrecognised, 
 an indefinable germ -like something, 
 
128 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 which had needed but the magic, vivi- 
 fying touch of sympathy to burst forth 
 into fullest, noblest life — unmistakable, 
 all-assertive. One touch was all that 
 was required, and it had come that 
 morning from Ethel's hands. A strange 
 power of love had with that touch 
 sprung into being, and his dull, 
 bachelor's heart was to - day beating 
 to a new measure. He might, if he 
 had not been so blind, have known 
 that it was coming. 
 
 And, ah, the mockery of it all ! 
 For, following relentlessly on the full 
 conception of his new-born passion, 
 came the knowledge of its utter hope- 
 lessness. The bright vision of smiling 
 eyes and of deft white fingers plying 
 round his injured hand faded as he 
 remembered how Heriot's complacent 
 disregard of her sudden weakness that 
 morning had appeared to affect Ethel, 
 and how her fair face had clouded 
 when, without a word of sympathy or 
 
VIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 129 
 
 concern, he rode steadily away. She 
 would never have looked like that if 
 she had not, in spite of all, cared for 
 him still. Of that Waring was con- 
 vinced ; and he needed no prophet to 
 tell him that unless something occurred 
 to alter the girl's feelings towards 
 Heriot it would be sheer waste of 
 time for another man to strive to win 
 her love. 
 
 The thought of the imperturbable 
 Forest- Officer roused him. He rose 
 suddenly from his seat, took two or 
 three rapid, impatient turns up and 
 down, stood for awhile irresolute, 
 and then sat down listlessly at his 
 writing-table, which had been brought 
 out into the verandah. He felt he 
 must do something to take his thoughts 
 away from Ethel and Heriot. He 
 pulled open one of the drawers ; it was 
 full of old letters, their serried ranks 
 reminding him importunately that his 
 home-correspondence had of late fallen 
 
 K 
 
130 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 sadly into arrears. Almost involuntarily 
 he picked up a pen and drew a sheet 
 of paper towards him with the intention 
 of beginning a letter to his mother, but 
 the pain that followed on the first 
 stroke he made reminded him that he 
 was to do no writing for a day or two. 
 Still, though the pen was forbidden 
 him, there was no reason, he thought, 
 why he should not distract his mind by 
 reading some of his old letters. They 
 would probably serve better even than 
 a novel to carry him out of himself. 
 He sank back presently in his easy 
 chair with a thick bundle on the table 
 beside him. 
 
 Waring was not given to reading 
 his letters from home with any great 
 degree of care, and it not infrequently 
 occurred that, in the reperusal of his 
 correspondence, he happened, with a 
 feeling akin to surprise, on items of 
 news which at the time had created 
 no permanent impression on his mind, 
 
VIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 131 
 
 and had in the interval been practically 
 forgotten. The present scrutiny did 
 not prove an exception to the rule. 
 Before he had skimmed through half a 
 score of the letters, drawn at random 
 from the heap at his elbow, he had 
 been reminded of as many facts, not a 
 few of some little interest to himself, 
 which, now that he saw them again 
 in black and white, he recollected, but 
 which had, up till then, to all intents 
 and purposes slipped his memory. He 
 was not, therefore, surprised when, in 
 the middle of a letter written to him 
 by his mother some three months 
 before, he came suddenly upon a name 
 he had been puzzling his head over 
 at intervals during the previous forty- 
 eight hours. It had conveyed nothing 
 to him at the time he first read it, 
 but, regarded in the light of subsequent 
 events, it was now fraught with meaning, 
 and the connection in which it was 
 referred to by his mother was so 
 
132 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 decidedly interesting that he sat bolt 
 upright in his chair, with a sudden jerk 
 and a subdued whistle, to re-read the 
 passage in which it occurred. 
 
 Gertrude came back yesterday from Ventnor, 
 where, as you know, she has been stopping with 
 the Prices. The sea air seems to have done her a 
 great deal of good. She has asked me to tell you 
 that while at the Prices she met a girl, Millicent 
 Dudley Devant, who is engaged to an officer in the 
 Forest Department in Burmah. She has forgotten 
 the name, but I daresay you may have met the man 
 and heard of his engagement, so the news that 
 Gertrude knows his fiancee may be of interest to 
 you. Gertrude seems to have made great friends 
 with the girl, who, she says, is charming. 
 
 That was all. It came back to 
 Waring now. He recollected how, as 
 he read, he had marvelled that his 
 mother should, after all these years, 
 still cherish the fond belief that every- 
 body in Burmah was intimately ac- 
 quainted with, and deeply interested in, 
 everybody else in the country, and how 
 at the same time he had made up his 
 
VIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 133 
 
 mind that, of the half-dozen Forest- 
 Officers he knew, the happy man 
 alluded to in the letter was certainly 
 not Heriot, whom he had always con- 
 ceived to be as resolute a woman-hater 
 as himself. Beyond this he had not at 
 the time given the matter a thought. 
 Now, however, the prominence given 
 to a certain photograph in Heriot's 
 room, coupled with its owner's un- 
 expected development into a lady's 
 man of the most pronounced type, put 
 an altogether different complexion on 
 the passage that Waring had read. 
 The memory of Heriot's writing-table, 
 as he had seen it last, strewn with three, 
 if not four, letters exhibiting to all 
 beholders the Ventnor post - mark, 
 floated before his eyes. In the face 
 of all that he had seen and now knew, 
 he could not believe that the man who 
 was engaged to his sister's charming 
 acquaintance was other than the Forest- 
 Officer of Tatkin. It could not well 
 
134 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 be anyone else. The growing certainty 
 that Heriot was that favoured mortal 
 sent a pleasurable glow through 
 Waring's frame, and under its sooth- 
 ing influence he found himself gradu- 
 ally readjusting his mental vision, till, 
 before he knew it, he was again in that 
 seraphic state out of which the shadow 
 of his rival had just scared him. There 
 was some chance for him with Miss 
 Smart after all. If it was a fact that 
 he was already plighted to Miss Dudley 
 Devant, his friend could not, he thought, 
 continue to persist in paying court to 
 Ethel Smart. Even if he did, Ethel 
 must of necessity learn in some way, 
 and at some not very distant date, that 
 the Forest - Officer's affections were 
 already engaged, and ought surely to 
 be prepared then to recognise in 
 its proper light the devotion of other 
 less brilliant but more single-hearted 
 admirers. In any case Waring felt 
 that the last few minutes had served to 
 
VIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 135 
 
 clear his own field of action of some of 
 its obstacles. He had something, at 
 any rate, to go upon. 
 
 But, he went on a moment later 
 to reflect, was it absolutely certain 
 that Heriot was engaged ? Might not 
 there be even now some mistake, or, 
 even supposing Heriot to be the man 
 referred to in the letter, might not 
 something have happened to put an 
 end to the engagement ? As he slowly 
 pondered on the Forest-Officer's doings 
 during the past few days, he could 
 really imagine that they bore out one 
 or other of the last two suppositions. 
 Heriot was not the man to go out of 
 his way to indulge in a mere empty 
 flirtation. Waring's knowledge of his 
 character was at best but superficial, 
 yet it was profound enough to force 
 upon him the conviction that his friend 
 was not merely playing with Ethel 
 Smart. He had kept his eyes open, 
 and felt intuitively that the Forest- 
 
136 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 Officer, under his cloak of idle non- 
 chalance and even of occasional studied 
 neglect, was bringing a grim earnestness 
 to bear upon the business he had in 
 hand — an earnestness which suggested 
 some definite motive ; and the question 
 for the thoughtful Treasury - Officer 
 was, What could that motive be ? It 
 was altogether a perplexing matter, 
 and for the better part of that hot 
 afternoon Waring lay in his chair 
 with his eyes on the roof above, 
 marshalling facts and striving to 
 find some solution of a problem that 
 seemed to present a fresh difficulty 
 from whichever point of view it was 
 looked at. 
 
 About four o'clock the object of 
 his puzzled thoughts mounted the 
 verandah steps, strolled towards Waring, 
 sank into a chair near him, and shouted 
 for his tea. He looked so insuff'erably 
 clean and complacent that Waring 
 longed for an oppurtunity to ruffle his 
 
VIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 137 
 
 composure, and felt that he could go 
 to any lengths, even to a reference to 
 Miss Dudley Devant, to effect this 
 end. 
 
 It took some little time for Heriot 
 to bring his glass to bear upon Waring. 
 ' What's the matter with your hand ? ' 
 he asked. 
 
 ' Strained my thumb this morning 
 stopping Miss Smart's pony,' returned 
 his companion. 
 
 ' Ah, to be sure,' murmured the 
 Forest-Officer ; ' I had almost forgotten. 
 No other casualties, I trust.' He gazed 
 critically at the bandage on Waring's 
 hand as he spoke. It seemed as though 
 he had observed the monogram on 
 the handkerchief, and was trying to 
 decipher the letters from where he sat. 
 Waring made no attempt to conceal 
 the end ; he only trusted that the 
 handkerchief would be identified. But 
 if Heriot recognised the bandage he 
 did not show that he had done so. 
 
138 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 and presently leant back in his chair, 
 yawning. 
 
 There was silence for a minute or 
 two. Then Heriot shifted his legs 
 slowly, and called again to his boy for 
 tea. Almost immediately after this 
 Waring, who had made a sudden 
 resolution, found himself addressing his 
 uncommunicative neighbour. ' You re- 
 member the photograph I noticed in 
 your room the other day, — Miss 
 Devant's ? ' His words came slowly 
 and with a little effort, for he was not 
 sure how Heriot would take what he 
 was going to say. 
 
 ' I do.' 
 
 ' I thought then that I'd seen or 
 heard the name before, but couldn't 
 remember where.' 
 
 'Ah.' 
 
 ' Well, I've found out since where 
 I had come across the name ; it was 
 in a letter. My sister appears to 
 have met Miss Devant at Ventnor 
 
VIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 139 
 
 last summer,' — Heriot was silent and 
 Waring continued in a dry monotone 
 — ' and to have heard about her engage- 
 ment.' 
 
 Still no word came from Heriot. 
 He was leaning back in his chair 
 with his eyebrows' raised, apparently 
 interested in nothing but the fact 
 that his boy was slowly approaching 
 across the verandah with his tea. 
 The tray was deposited on a 
 small table by Heriot's side ; there 
 was a rattle of tea-cups, and the servant 
 withdrew. Heriot picked up a lump 
 of sugar and gazed at it reflectively. 
 ' Yes,' he said in a tone as of en- 
 couragement, but without looking up 
 at Waring. 
 
 ' About her engagement to, — to you,' 
 continued Waring. 
 
 Heriot lifted the milk -jug with 
 measured deliberation and poured out 
 a small quantity of milk into his cup ; 
 he was always very particular about 
 
140 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING viii 
 
 putting the milk in before the tea. 
 ' You don't say so ! To think of that ! ' 
 he said impassively. ' How small the 
 world is.' 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 About a month had elapsed since 
 the events chronicled in the preceding 
 chapter. The festive season of Christ- 
 mas had come, and was passing amid 
 most commendable efforts at gaiety on 
 the part of the residents of Tatkin and 
 of the surrounding district, and sunrise 
 on the first day of the new year found 
 Waring seated over his early breakfast 
 of tea and toast, taking stock of the 
 achievements of the past twelve months, 
 and speculating, in no very roseate 
 humour, as to what the coming twelve 
 had in store for him. It was a cold 
 morning. The sun had not yet dissi- 
 pated the night mists which brooded 
 white and dank over the Station, and 
 
142 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 Waring was sufficiently chilly to be 
 glad to take refuge in the grateful folds 
 of a thick dressing-gown, an article of 
 attire he but rarely wore. It was barely 
 half-past six, and, considering the ex- 
 cesses of the last few days, he was not 
 without a feeling of complacency at 
 being up and doing so early. The 
 festivities at the Smarts', where the 
 whole Station had collected the night 
 before to see the old year out, had been 
 continued until the new year was 
 several hours old, and it seemed to 
 Waring as though he had hardly closed 
 his eyes between the sheets, before the 
 sound of some one moving in heavy boots 
 about a room near his roused him by its 
 persistency, and he had himself risen 
 and called down the dim verandah for 
 his early tea. 
 
 As now he sat by his table, plunged 
 in a profound reverie, the steps of the 
 unseen wearer of the boots resounded 
 in the verandah, and from his chair he 
 
IX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 143 
 
 saw Heriot stalking past the curtain, 
 dressed in riding -costume. The foot- 
 steps descended the stair, and, after a 
 short interval. Waring heard the clatter 
 of a pony's hoofs, muffled by the mist, 
 die away in the distance. He did not 
 need to be told with what object Heriot 
 had left the mess. It was the same, he 
 could assure himself, as that with which 
 he had ridden out the last two morn- 
 ings. The Forest - Officer had, with- 
 out a word of previous intimation, left 
 Tatkin for camp a couple of days after 
 his ride with Ethel and Waring, and 
 had not reappeared at headquarters till 
 the afternoon of Christmas Eve. He 
 had taken an unobtrusive part in the 
 Christmas festivities, had competed in- 
 gloriously in the lawn-tennis tournament, 
 and had played, but without distinguish- 
 ing himself, in the great polo-match, in 
 which Tatkin, thanks to Pym's super- 
 fine play, had inflicted a terrible defeat 
 on the champions of Thayetchaung. 
 
144 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 For the rest, he had been as assiduous 
 as before in his attentions to the 
 Deputy-Commissioner's sister, and had 
 succeeded in filling Waring's mind 
 with a vague sense of depression and 
 disgust. 
 
 The latter's suit had progressed but 
 lamely while Heriot was absent in 
 camp, Ethel had been kindness itself 
 to him during the past four weeks, had 
 from time to time accepted the offer 
 of his escort on morning rides, had 
 asked him on several occasions to tea, 
 and had invariably treated him with 
 the most friendly graciousness ; but it 
 was the old story. Her kindness was, 
 he could feel, dictated more by gratitude 
 for what he had done than by any 
 tender sentiment, and he was certain 
 that her heart was, through all, with 
 the wanderer in camp who had so un- 
 expectedly deserted her. Hence it was 
 that he had not availed himself as freely 
 of the opportunities offered him as he 
 
IX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 145 
 
 might have, and had as yet gained no 
 inkling of whether Ethel was even 
 aware of Heriot's engagement to Miss 
 Dudley Devant. He himself, proud 
 soul, could not find it in him to breathe 
 a word of that matter to any one. If 
 there was really an engagement, Heriot's 
 behaviour in the past had shown that 
 he had no desire that its existence 
 should be generally known ; and for 
 his own part he was not the one 
 to babble mischievously, even when 
 silence was to his own disadvantage, 
 though at the same time he had to 
 confess that he would have been greatly 
 relieved to learn that the news had 
 been communicated to Ethel otherwise 
 than through himself. How, more- 
 over, he asked himself again and again, 
 could he in any way refer to the matter 
 when he himself was not absolutely 
 certain that Heriot was pledged to his 
 sister's friend ? The Forest - Officer 
 had made no attempt to deny that he 
 
 L 
 
146 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 was engaged. He had not tried to con- 
 tinue the dialogue with which the last 
 chapter terminated, yet he had shown 
 no anxiety to have the subject changed, 
 and it was left to Waring, at the close 
 of the pause that followed Heriot's final 
 remark, to break the awkward silence 
 by starting a new topic of conversation. 
 It would have seemed to any one who 
 had been listening as though it were 
 immaterial to Heriot whether the rela- 
 tions in which he stood to a young 
 woman in the Isle of Wight were known 
 or not, though Waring felt almost certain 
 that this was not the case, and it was 
 partly the very fact that Heriot was, 
 so to say, at his mercy, and did not 
 expect him to deny himself the rare 
 pleasure of publishing abroad what 
 he had learnt, that tied his stubborn 
 tongue. 
 
 As he passed Heriot's conduct in 
 review, this misty new year's morning, 
 he decided, as he had often decided 
 
IX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 147 
 
 before, that the only explanation of 
 which it admitted was that the engage- 
 ment no longer existed. That this was 
 so had become a sort of conviction with 
 him. It alone, it seemed to him, could 
 account for the significant fact that 
 Heriot, since his return from camp, 
 had continued to haunt Ethel with the 
 same persistent determination he had 
 exhibited before Christmas. It would 
 be exactly like him. Waring thought, 
 to allow everybody to suppose that he 
 was plighted to Miss Dudley Devant 
 when in reality he was nothing of the 
 sort, merely in order to encourage 
 others to entertain hopes which he 
 knew would be vain. But then, might 
 he not do the same in any case, even 
 though — ah ! another idea had suddenly 
 gained hold of the thinker as he turned 
 over in his mind the vagaries that 
 Heriot's peculiar temperament might 
 lead him into. Might not the engage- 
 ment still hold good, and might not 
 
148 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 Heriot's whole action in behaving as he 
 did towards Ethel have been prompted 
 solely by a desire to irritate and dis- 
 hearten himself, or, for the matter of 
 that, any one else who ventured to 
 cherish hopes with regard to Miss 
 Smart ? The idea had occurred to 
 him vaguely before, and now it struck 
 Waring as strange that he should not 
 have thought seriously of it till then. 
 The more he remembered of the Forest- 
 Officer and his peculiarities, the more 
 he realized how very possible it was 
 that that perverse personage was, after 
 all, still engaged, and had been sus- 
 tained, in that earnestness of purpose 
 which characterised his attitude towards 
 Ethel, by nothing higher than the pros- 
 pect of exasperating some lovelorn 
 individual (like himself) who would 
 willingly have worshipped at her shrine. 
 That must be the explanation, and 
 if so, what a fool the fellow must 
 think him for hanging back when he 
 
IX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 149 
 
 knew so much. Yes, he had been a 
 precious fool not to have thought of it 
 before. At all events, if this was the 
 solution of the difficulty, his own course, 
 he reflected, would be clear enough. 
 Our friend had quite made up his mind 
 by this time that, if Heriot had, and 
 could have, no serious intentions to- 
 wards the Deputy-Commissioner's sister, 
 he himself would, so soon as all doubts 
 as to the Forest -Officer's engagement 
 were set at rest, make his unflagging 
 devotion show how terribly settled his 
 own resolves were. And there was no 
 time to be lost ; if anything was to be 
 done it would have to be done without 
 delay. It was already January, and he 
 had applied for, and expected to get, 
 his leave early in March. He felt that 
 he could not quit Tatkin without hav- 
 ing made some definite attempt to come 
 to an understanding with Miss Smart, 
 — for who could say whether he would 
 be again posted to Tatkin on his return. 
 
150 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 or whether he would ever have another 
 opportunity of meeting Ethel in Bur- 
 mah ? And, before he could make a 
 real beginning, much , had to be done 
 in the way of clearing the ground. 
 
 In this strain he mused till the sun, 
 which had risen high above the palms, 
 scattered the last shreds of the morning 
 mist and sent a strong, hot shaft of light 
 across the verandah to his feet. With 
 the sudden burst of sunshine he awoke 
 from his reverie, to find Heriot creaking 
 up the steps, brown and jubilant, from 
 his morning ride. The breakfast-hour 
 was near, and after breakfast the duties 
 of the day were to commence. There 
 were to be sports for the Police, Civil 
 and Military, that afternoon, and the 
 morning was to be devoted by himself 
 and the Battalion Commandant to put- 
 ting the ground in order and arranging 
 a programme of events. That evening 
 the Station was to be entertained at 
 dinner by the bachelors at the Civil 
 
IX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 151 
 
 mess, and, as mess-secretary, the respon- 
 sibility for the successful issue of the 
 feast rested on his shoulders. His work 
 was cut out for him. It was time for 
 him to get out of the dressing-gown, 
 that already felt too warm, and bathe 
 and dress. 
 
 He was sitting that evening, tired 
 out, resting, as best he could, in the 
 interval between the sports and dinner, 
 when a bundle of letters was brought 
 to him by a phlegmatic chuprassie. It 
 was the English mail, just arrived. In 
 order to take the bundle into his hand 
 he had to put down an opened note 
 that had been brought to him a few 
 minutes before. It was from Ethel, 
 and contained a pressing invitation to 
 join in an expedition that she and her 
 brother intended making a few days 
 later to a pagoda of some interest 
 several miles out of Tatkin. Heriot 
 was to be one of the party. They were 
 
152 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 to sleep a night in the rest-house, the 
 writer said ; camp-furniture would have 
 to be provided, and a hope w^as ex- 
 pressed that the journey would prove 
 a great success. Waring had been 
 debating how to answer this missive 
 when he was interrupted by the arrival 
 of the mail. If Heriot had not been 
 going, he would have had no hesitation 
 in accepting. Now that his plan of 
 action was generally outlined, he could 
 not but acknowledge that the expedition 
 would afford him exactly the oppor- 
 tunities he desired for clearing the 
 ground. But the prospect of Heriot's 
 presence made him pause. His frame 
 of mind was not so hopeful as it had 
 been in the morning. If the future 
 were to be judged of by the past, the 
 Forest - Officer would certainly act 
 towards Ethel during the excursion as 
 though he were absolutely free ; and, 
 look at it what way he would, Waring 
 could not yet bring himself to the point 
 
IX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 153 
 
 of letting Miss Smart know all he 
 knew, or suspected. If only he had 
 a certainty to go upon he might have 
 felt compelled, in fairness to Ethel, to 
 let the fact of the engagement be 
 known ; but so strangely was his nature 
 compounded that, in the absence of full 
 knowledge, he shrank from speaking to 
 the girl on a subject that touched him 
 so nearly, as he would have shrunk 
 from some mean, underhand action ; 
 and he felt certain that, so long as Ethel 
 was ignorant of Heriot's engagement, 
 his own presence on the expedition 
 would be as little appreciated by her 
 as it had appeared to be on a certain 
 memorable ride. He would only be 
 in the way. And yet, — things had 
 altered since that ride. She knew him, 
 liked him, better now than then, and 
 perhaps Heriot would himself tell her 
 of his engagement ; he must see that 
 this sort of thing could not go on for 
 ever. He decided on the whole to 
 
154 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 suspend judgment till he had looked 
 at the letters that had just been put into 
 his hand. 
 
 They were not all for him. His 
 share consisted of a letter from his 
 sister and a Punch, both of which he 
 put aside to read at his leisure. For 
 Mullintosh there was a Sporting Times 
 and what looked like a tradesman's 
 bill ; for Pym a couple of post-cards, 
 and for Heriot a letter on thick paper, 
 the superscription in a jerky, feminine 
 hand. Waring glanced at the post- 
 mark on the last, as he handed the 
 bundle back to the chuprassie, and read 
 the word Ventnor. 
 
 That settled him. It was a small 
 matter, but in certain dubious moods 
 small matters often influence us far 
 more effectually than great. The 
 sight of the envelope bearing that 
 tell-tale legend, which seemed to come 
 like a living voice of protest from afar, 
 clamouring to be heard, sent a fresh 
 
IX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 155 
 
 wave of feeling over him. How it 
 
 was he could not say, but it seemed to 
 
 him as though after this Heriot must 
 
 let Ethel know exactly in what light 
 
 he was to be looked upon. Some 
 
 instinct told him that something must 
 
 happen during the excursion to the 
 
 pagoda, that things must come to a 
 
 head, and that all would in the 
 
 end be made clear. He felt a sudden 
 
 determination that there should be — that 
 
 he would make a way out of all this 
 
 heart - breaking tangle. If all went 
 
 right the next few days ought to see 
 
 a finish of the business, so far as Heriot 
 
 was concerned. He would do his best 
 
 to see that they did ; and then, — then, 
 
 if his supposition was correct, and 
 
 Heriot had only been putting him on 
 
 the rack for his own private delectation, 
 
 he would be free to press his own suit, 
 
 uninterrupted ; and where, he asked 
 
 himself gleefully, would there be more 
 
 freedom and less fear of interruption 
 
156 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 than on the projected expedition ? 
 Sanguine, confiding youth ! He sat 
 down forthwith and incontinently- 
 penned a reply to Ethel, accepting her 
 invitation. Then he set to and dressed 
 for dinner with a feeling that the 
 ground was being cleared for him. 
 
 Heriot was given the letter from 
 Ventnor shortly after it had left 
 Waring's hands. It was not a long 
 epistle. It took him barely two 
 minutes to read, for he skimmed it 
 rapidly, as though he knew beforehand 
 pretty well what the writer was going 
 to say. For all that, however, it 
 deserved more than the cursory in- 
 spection that Heriot gave it, for there 
 was a deal of emotion concentrated 
 into its three pages of straggling, girlish 
 writing. It ended with the following 
 words : — 
 
 I know I ought to have written last week, but 
 I couldn't realize it at first or believe it was true, 
 and I couldn't somehow write till after it was too 
 
IX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 157 
 
 late to catch the mail. I don't realize it yet, though 
 I suppose I ought to have known what was coming 
 by your last few letters. Still, I suppose you know 
 best, and if you can't care for me any more, I 
 suppose the only thing to be done is to think no 
 more of each other. But it does seem hard, — so 
 hard. 
 
 This rather pathetic document was 
 signed Millicent Dudley Devant, and, 
 had he been privileged to see them, 
 its contents would no doubt have 
 furnished Waring with food for much 
 thoughtful comment. But at the 
 moment he was too busily engaged on 
 a letter of his own to think of what 
 the contents of Heriot's might be. 
 
 Heriot was not profoundly moved 
 by his correspondent's outburst of grief. 
 He shrugged his shoulders once or 
 twice as he read, but to all appearances 
 he was affected less by the general tone 
 of the letter than by one or two ortho- 
 graphic errors that he noticed and 
 scored under with his finger-nail as he 
 read. He stroked his moustache 
 
158 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ix 
 
 pensively when the perusal was com- 
 pleted ; then he placed the letter in 
 his pocket and whistled softly to himself 
 as he polished his eyeglass, and as he 
 whistled an observer might have seen 
 that his face brightened a little. 
 The observer, had he been acquainted 
 with the facts of the case, might well 
 have surmised that, now that he was 
 off with the old love, the susceptible 
 Forest - Officer was calculating what 
 magnificent opportunities for con- 
 summating fresh conquests would be 
 afforded by the approaching picnic to 
 the Thonze pagoda. He would not 
 have been very far wrong if he had. 
 
 It was a coincidence, but, as he 
 dressed for dinner, Heriot too was 
 thinking how nicely the ground was 
 being cleared for him. 
 
 Truly, with all this in the air, the 
 expedition to the pagoda promised to 
 be fruitful of situations that might 
 prove interesting. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 MiNYWA was neither a large nor a 
 conspicuous village. On a dark night, 
 after lights were out, you might, if you 
 came from Tatkin and the west, have 
 walked through poor little Minywa 
 without knowing it. Dense bamboo 
 jungle pressed close in upon it on the 
 sunset side as well as on the north and 
 south ; you stepped at one breath from 
 the jungle - path eastward into the 
 village - street, and there was nothing 
 to mark where the one ended and the 
 other began. The growth on either 
 hand fell back a little, it is true, just 
 before the turn that landed you in front 
 of the first of the mat-hovels ; but that 
 was only what was to be expected, for 
 
i6o TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 there was a steady downward trend 
 in the path, and it was evident that 
 the end of the long ridge had come, 
 and that there was a slope to the river, 
 on which it was natural that there 
 should be patches of clearer ground. 
 The village boasted of no stockade ; 
 nothing divided the road from the 
 habitations on each side. A few 
 hundred steps carried you past the ten 
 or twelve low thatched huts, which 
 seemed anxious to shrink away from 
 observation, into the protecting shelter 
 of the feathery green ; and going east- 
 ward, if it were dusk and you were not 
 on the lookout, you were half down 
 the slope before you realised that it 
 was not a mere clearing you had come 
 through, and that there was nothing 
 now save a narrow belt of open ground 
 between you and the next interminable 
 wilderness of bamboo - stems. Down 
 the slope the bamboo - clumps stood 
 thinner ; then came the stretch of level 
 
X TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING i6i 
 
 rice -land, — the sole reason for the 
 hamlet's existence — and then the river 
 under the trees at the farther side, 
 with jungle beyond, and ever more 
 jungle along the crests, as far as the eye 
 could reach. There was not another 
 village, that way, for thirty miles. 
 
 The stream was, for Burmah, a very 
 insignificant little trickle. At Minywa 
 the channel was narrow, some twenty 
 yards across : the banks, though low, 
 were steep and the trees nearly met 
 overhead ; but even in the rains the 
 water at the ford was never more 
 than waist-deep. On the day early in 
 January with which we are for the 
 moment concerned, it was a good deal 
 lower ; in fact, in the deepest part it 
 did not reach the knees of a Burman 
 who was splashing leisurely across it 
 from the east towards the village. The 
 forenoon was well advanced, and though 
 the morning had been cold, the sun 
 was by this time high and hot, and the 
 
 M 
 
i62 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 cool water lapped so refreshingly round 
 the walker's dusty shins that he did not 
 hurry across. He was a long, lean 
 individual with sheepish, good-natured 
 eyes and a large mouth, its proportions 
 accentuated rather than hidden by a 
 scanty black moustache. He had 
 neither jacket nor head- covering, his 
 glossy hair being carelessly knotted at 
 the crown ; over his shoulder hung a 
 red Shan tasselled bag and a coarse 
 blue and white cloth, that earlier in 
 the morning he had worn wrapped 
 round the upper part of his body, while 
 his waist was encircled by a width of 
 material of almost the same pattern ; 
 this he had tucked up as high as 
 possible before entering the stream, 
 though the precaution was almost un- 
 necessary, for the ripples did not reach 
 anywhere near the lowest flourish of 
 the blue tattooed pattern that extended 
 downward from his waist to his knees. 
 He gave a grunt and a final kick with 
 
X TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 163 
 
 each foot in the limpid flow as he 
 reached the farther side, then, tucking 
 his knife into his waistcloth behind, so 
 as to leave his hands free, he scrambled 
 up the bank and emerged upon the 
 paddy-plain. 
 
 There was more to be seen of 
 Minywa from the east than from the 
 west. The flattened, cowering thatch- 
 roofs seemed, from here, as from above, 
 fearful of obtruding themselves on the 
 gaze ; but, standing on the rice-fields, 
 one could see something that was not 
 visible from the jungle-path, — a line of 
 plantain -tufts stretching away to the 
 right of the village, with the pagoda 
 and monastery {kyaung) posted at its 
 farther extremity. There was no over- 
 looking the monastery, the pride and 
 glory of Minywa, that towered with 
 its quaint sharp gables and carved 
 projections over the bamboo -clumps. 
 It had been built many years before, 
 when Minywa was much larger than 
 
1 64 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 it is now, by an old resident, a con- 
 scientious timber -contractor, who, on 
 retiring from business, had made the 
 pious resolve that the particular act of 
 merit, which was to ensure him after 
 death a creditable transmigration, should 
 be outwardly as imposing as the trans- 
 actions by which he had amassed his 
 wealth were shady, and, in pursuance 
 of that resolve, had raised a pile that 
 was for long the talk of the country- 
 side. Kyaungtaga Tun Waing had 
 died several years ago, in the earnest 
 expectation of starting a fresh existence, 
 if not as a monk, at any rate (and 
 the alternative would perhaps, on the 
 whole, be more satisfactory) as a suc- 
 cessful owner of saw -mills with a 
 large connection. His own residence, 
 built half-way between the village and 
 the monastery, had fallen to pieces : 
 his children had migrated elsewhere ; 
 and there was nothing left now to 
 testify to his unique knowledge of all 
 
X TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 165 
 
 matters connected with timber but the 
 old kyaung itself, which still stood erect 
 on its mighty teak-wood posts and 
 had a wonderful capacity for subsisting, 
 and indeed thriving, on a minimum of 
 repairs. The toothless old gentleman 
 who had been installed, as presiding 
 monk, when the monastery was built, 
 had long since, like his patron, gone 
 the way of all flesh, and U Ananda 
 reigned in his stead. Now U Ananda 
 was a gaingdauk, or archdeacon of the 
 Burmese Buddhist church, subordinate 
 in spiritual matters to no one but the 
 thathanabaing, or archbishop, and to 
 his own gaing-6k, or bishop, neither of 
 whom exercised any control to speak 
 of over him. He was fairly shrewd, 
 moderately respected, and very much 
 feared ; so that, all things considered, 
 he was somewhat of a power in the 
 land, for though he had been a steady 
 opponent of British rule on its first 
 introduction, and had acquired a name 
 
1 66 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 for his devotion to the old cause, he had 
 since then had the good sense to learn, 
 earlier than some, that kicking against 
 the pricks was not the most profitable 
 or healthful form of exercise, and had 
 at times even been of assistance to the 
 authorities. So skilfully indeed had he 
 played his cards hitherto, that, v^hile 
 secretly know^n to the people of the 
 Chindwin as inclined to sympathise 
 with the disaffected, he had given the 
 Government no shadow of an excuse 
 for turning him out of his monastery ; 
 and if the truth is to be told, he figured 
 in the Deputy -Commissioner's reports 
 as ' an ex- firebrand who has been 
 gradually won over by British tolerance 
 to a right way of thinking.' 
 
 But U Ananda had not yet been so 
 fully won over as Smart and his pre- 
 decessors imagined ; and nothing could 
 have shown this more clearly than the 
 fact that our long Burman friend, after 
 crossing the belt of rice -land, where 
 
X TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 167 
 
 the yellow paddy -stubble bristled on 
 the hard-baked clay, instead of making 
 straight for the village, branched off up 
 a path to the right and bent his steps 
 to where the topmost spire of the 
 monastery rose above the plantains. 
 So far he had met no one since ford- 
 ing the stream, save a pair of village 
 maidens laden with red earthenware 
 pots who were strolling, one behind 
 the other, down to the river to draw 
 water and bathe, and these he had 
 passed with the briefest of salutations. 
 The couple had eyed him askance as he 
 approached,, edging to the farther side 
 of the path, as though uncertain what 
 to make of him ; but his answer to 
 their question, — ' Where are you going 
 to, Shwe Myaing .? ' — though curt, was 
 friendly, and they passed on and were 
 soon talking and tittering (not, it must 
 be confessed, very musically) behind 
 him. Shwe Myaing knew pretty well 
 what they were chattering about, and 
 
i68 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 the knowledge that he had of late be- 
 come an object of such interest to his 
 fellow -villagers was by no means dis- 
 pleasing to his vanity. He also knew 
 why it was that a small brown boy, 
 with big eyes and a shaven poll, whom 
 he caught up on his way to the 
 monastery, gave a sudden exclamation 
 of terror and showed a disposition to 
 drop his lacquer -work bowl and bolt 
 into the jungle when he saw who it 
 was that was standing by him. It 
 needed but a laugh and a word or 
 two, however, to completely reassure 
 the urchin, and he was presently patter- 
 ing along in the tall man's wake and 
 answering his questions in a voice that 
 quavered, but from lack of breath and 
 not from fear ; for, after all, little Po 
 Lu was ten, and old enough by this 
 time to know that there was really 
 no reason why he should be frightened 
 of his uncle Shwe Myaing, even though 
 the latter had of late contracted the 
 
X TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 169 
 
 habit of living out in the jungle with 
 doubtful characters, and seemed always 
 to be connected in people's minds 
 with that alarming personage Bo 
 Chet. Through the plantain-grove they 
 wended their way together, and before 
 Shwe Myaing had had time to hear 
 half the latest village-gossip an open- 
 ing in a rough bamboo-fence brought 
 uncle and nephew out on to a cleared 
 square of dry levelled earth which 
 formed the enclosure of the monastery. 
 To their right, at one corner of the 
 fenced quadrangle, was a pagoda, built 
 of brick, plastered and rigorously white- 
 washed : the sides of the enclosure were 
 lined with crazy wooden zayats, or rest- 
 houses, and in front of them the teak- 
 wood piles and walls of the monastery 
 stood out dark against a background 
 of sunlit foliage. A monastic stillness 
 reigned over the precincts, till a sleek 
 black pariah dog, roused by the near foot- 
 steps, uncurled itself frofti a dusty siesta 
 
lyo TREASURY-OFP'ICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 by the entrance to bark at the new- 
 comer. Immediately, as though by 
 magic, the quarter rang with the sound 
 of hoarse canine voices ; but a clod of 
 earth, deftly hurled by Po Lu, silenced 
 the inhospitable cur ; the din subsided 
 as quickly as it had arisen, and the 
 man and boy crossed the open space 
 before the monastery unchallenged. 
 
 There were yellow -clad forms sta- 
 tionary, or in sedate motion, on the 
 open railless verandah of the main 
 building, and underneath, amid the 
 forest of rounded piles, a crowd of 
 small shorn boys, each one ridiculously 
 like his neighbour, was squatted, en- 
 gaged in a perfunctory washing of 
 plates and bowls. Po Lu made 
 straight for his companions, who 
 stared curiously but without fear at 
 the visitor ; but Shwe Myaing, being 
 by no means anxious to attract atten- 
 tion, did not follow the boy to the 
 monastery, but glided away to one of 
 
X TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 171 
 
 the rest-houses, where a few minutes 
 later he might have been seen, seated 
 in a remote shady corner, demolishing 
 with ravenous appetite a huge pile 
 of sticky rice that his nephew had 
 placed before him on a portion of 
 plantain -leaf. Coming as an emissary 
 from Bo Chet's camp, he had the best 
 of reasons for not wishing to court 
 publicity, even in his native village ; 
 yet it would have surprised and amused 
 a spectator to note how swiftly the 
 tidings of his coming were diffused 
 through the building, and how careful 
 all were to conceal, and at the same 
 time satisfy, their curiosity with regard 
 to him, and to avoid giving any indica- 
 tion of knowledge that might hereafter 
 be considered compromising. An old 
 lady, who had brought an offering to 
 the monastery and was returning to 
 the village, shuffled past the rest-house 
 with many a sidelong glance in, for she 
 had overheard a fragment of what Po 
 
172 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 Lu was saying to his companions ; and 
 a couple of young priests clambered 
 down from the platform to the ground, 
 ostensibly to look after the boys below, 
 but really to obtain a stealthy glimpse 
 of the dacoit as he bent over his food. 
 Shwe Myaing, however, paid but in- 
 different heed to his observers. He 
 was enjoying his first full meal for a 
 fortnight, and so long as his hunger 
 was appeased and no actual harm came 
 to him (and of actual harm there was 
 very little danger) he did not much 
 care what people thought ; so he 
 looked away with a suppressed grin 
 and crammed his mouth afresh with 
 the glutinous lumps of grain. But he 
 turned when a few minutes later a 
 well-known husky voice called him by 
 name, and saw standing opposite him 
 in the sunshine the man he wanted 
 to see, a short, stout elderly Burman 
 monk, swathed in the orthodox yellow 
 robes of the Buddhist priesthood 
 
X TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 173 
 
 which left his right arm and shoulder 
 bare. 
 
 ' Your Reverence ! ' he exclaimed, 
 rapidly changing his negligent attitude 
 for the more decorous posture that a 
 layman was expected to assume when 
 addressing an ecclesiastic of the Bud- 
 dhist church. 
 
 U Ananda chewed in silence at his 
 mouthful of betel and looked severely 
 into the upturned eyes of the Burman. 
 The archdeacon was certainly not out- 
 wardly prepossessing, for his face was 
 coarse and thick-lipped, and his large 
 ears stood out bat-like at each side of 
 his close-cropped head. ' So you have 
 come, Shwe Myaing,' he said after a 
 pause. 
 
 ' I have come, your Reverence,' 
 Shwe Myaing made answer, waiting 
 for a lead and wondering what his 
 Reverence would say to his presence 
 there. It was a matter of no little 
 importance to him, for he knew well 
 
174 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 that the village would take their cue 
 from the monastery, and that his re- 
 ception at Minywa would be friendly 
 or the reverse as the priest dictated. 
 
 ' And you have come from, — from 
 the east ? ' pursued U Ananda. The 
 words conveyed a statement of fact, 
 not a question, though the interroga- 
 tive particle was used. 
 
 ' From the east,' said Shwe Myaing 
 submissively. This was as good and 
 safe an expression as any he could 
 think of for the locality from which 
 he had come. 
 
 ' And what have you come here 
 for, — to buy rice .? ' 
 
 ' To buy rice,' came like an echo 
 from Shwe Myaing's lips. 
 
 The priest nodded a solemn approval, 
 and Shwe Myaing's face brightened. 
 To a European the words would have 
 sounded perfectly innocent, but as a 
 matter of fact the whole conversation 
 was nothing more or less than a pleas- 
 
X TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 175 
 
 ing little farce, into the spirit of which 
 the audience fully entered. The crowd 
 of wide-eyed schoolboys and gaping 
 deacons, whom the dialogue had 
 attracted to the spot, knew well 
 whence Shwe Myaing had come and 
 what his business was in Minywa ; 
 but they also knew, as well as the 
 two speakers themselves, how necessary 
 it was to keep up appearances. 
 
 ' When do you return ? ' the arch- 
 deacon went on. 
 
 ' To-day, at sunset,' answered Shwe 
 Myaing ; ' if I can get rice,' he added, 
 as an after-thought. 
 
 ' How much rice do you want .? ' 
 ' Two baskets, your Reverence.' 
 ' I cannot say whether you will get 
 so much. The harvest has not been 
 plentiful ; but you can try, can you 
 not .? ' 
 
 ' I can try, your Reverence.' 
 
 ' Good. Is all well in the east ? ' 
 
 ' All is not well, your Reverence,' 
 
176 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 said Shwe Myaing. ' The crops are 
 not good and there is much sickness, 
 but with food things will be better. 
 We only look to your Eminence for 
 
 succour. The saya-gyi '^ Here 
 
 he broke off on a look from the priest, 
 which showed him that his last two 
 words were superfluous, but after a 
 pause, during which U Ananda munched 
 grimly, he repeated in plaintive tones, 
 ' With food things will be better.' 
 
 ' Well, you may see what you can 
 get here ; but, remember, not more 
 than two baskets,' and the priest, turn- 
 ing on his heel as a sign that the 
 interview was at an end, clambered 
 into the monastery with as much 
 dignity as was compatible with his 
 squat figure and the cramped position 
 he was forced to assume to scale the 
 
 1 Saya or Saya-gyi is used by a Burman in speaking 
 of, or to, any one of superior rank or position ; it is 
 equivalent to huzoor in Hindustanee, your Honour or 
 his Honour. 
 
X TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 177 
 
 primitive ladder - like staircase. The 
 throng of inquisitive youths and boys 
 hung for a time open-mouthed round 
 the rest-house, and then, realising that 
 there was nothing more to be seen or 
 heard, dispersed by twos or threes to 
 sleep or smoke the hot hours away, 
 while Shwe Myaing, left to himself, 
 settled with a sigh of satisfaction into 
 a dark corner to try conclusions with a 
 prodigious cheroot. Before many puffs 
 he was fast asleep, breathing as evenly 
 as any child, his head pillowed on his 
 cloth, a shamefaced grin still lurking in 
 the corners of his big mouth. 
 
 A drowsy silence seemed to per- 
 meate the atmosphere. In half an 
 hour it seemed as though all the 
 human occupants of the monastery had 
 followed the example of Bo Chet's 
 emissary. Only the beasts were awake. 
 Before long one of the vagrant dogs, 
 that hung like shabby, unclean spirits 
 about the enclosure, approached and 
 
178 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 began surreptitiously to devour the 
 scanty remains of Shwe Myaing's meal, 
 the few gummy mouthfuls of rice he 
 had been unable to devour before sleep 
 overtook him. The scavenger was not, 
 however, left long in undisturbed pos- 
 session of his spoil ; his movements 
 had not escaped the observation of a 
 godless brace of bright - eyed crows, 
 black with a physical and moral black- 
 ness, but comely withal after the come- 
 liness of their kind, who before long 
 were bobbing backwards and forwards 
 in his vicinity, taking it in turn to 
 entice him from his meal. Their 
 fiendish skill proclaimed them inveter- 
 ate in crime. No sooner had the un- 
 fortunate cur made a dash for one of 
 his obscene sidling tormentors, than the 
 other hopped in jeeringly from the 
 flank and abstracted a white morsel or 
 two, and every time he leaped angrily 
 out to annihilate the second robber, he 
 had to return baffled, to find that the 
 
X TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 179 
 
 first had in its turn secured a beakful 
 of food. These tactics were kept up 
 till the rice was finished and the victim 
 hoarse with fruitless snarling ; and not 
 till then did the diabolical birds leave 
 him, and flutter, shouting in noisy 
 triumph, to the nearest jack-tree, there 
 to compare notes and indulge in mutual 
 invective. But Shwe Myaing heard 
 nothing of the flapping and the growls 
 at his side ; he was in a state of ab- 
 solute exhaustion, in which he would 
 have slept through the most riotous 
 farce and been unmoved by the noisiest 
 orchestra. Later on in the afternoon, 
 however, when the sun was dipping 
 towards the western line of jungle, he 
 awoke with a start, stretched himself, 
 yawned and, casting a hasty look around 
 him, picked up his knife and cloth and 
 slunk off in the direction of the village. 
 It was dusk when he returned to 
 the monastery, followed by a sturdy 
 villager who carried, slung at each end 
 
i8o TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 of a bamboo - pole, a basket full of 
 husked rice. There was a broader grin 
 than usual on the robber's face as he 
 halted within the enclosure. Thanks 
 to his interview with the priest earlier 
 in the day he had found it easy enough 
 to fulfil his delicate mission. How he 
 had secured his two baskets full of rice 
 it is needless to describe here in detail ; 
 but, as Bo Chet was not in the habit, 
 when he sent into a village for supplies, 
 of providing his messenger with cash, 
 it may be inferred that, in saying that 
 he had come to buy rice, Shwe Myaing 
 had been indulging in one of the grace- 
 ful euphemisms to which the Burmese 
 are, as a race, addicted. The main 
 thing was that the rice was forthcom- 
 ing, and that he had transacted his 
 business without friction and expedi- 
 tiously. The coolie, who had been 
 pressed temporarily into the great out- 
 law's employ, was on the other hand 
 less satisfied with himself and his day's 
 
X TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING i8i 
 
 work. He knew that the offence of 
 assisting to supply dacoits with food was 
 one that was not passed over lightly 
 by the authorities, and he had an un- 
 comfortable premonition of possible 
 collisions with patrols in the jungle. 
 Wherefore he grumbled a little while 
 his principal was absent, bidding a 
 formal farewell to the archdeacon ; yet 
 he was too much of a Burman not to 
 join heartily in the laugh that went 
 up when one of the bolder wits at the 
 monastery comforted him, in the hear- 
 ing of one or two .choice spirits, with 
 the assurance that, when Bo Chet came 
 into his kingdom, he would surely 
 make him Governor of the Chindwin 
 Provinces as a reward for trusty services 
 rendered, and then proceeded to pros- 
 trate himself before the prospective 
 ruler. 
 
 Shwe Myaing did not hear this sally, 
 or he would have giggled as loudly as 
 any of the others. He was at the 
 
1 82 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 moment squatting humbly before U 
 Ananda in a small inner chamber of 
 the monastery. The room was dark, 
 except for the light of a small smoky 
 oil-lamp which cast a feeble glow on 
 the priest's fat sensuous face. The rough 
 plank floor was covered with two or 
 three gaudy European rugs, and the 
 walls and posts were dotted with a selec- 
 tion of pictures from English illustrated 
 journals. The two were alone, and the 
 fact was sufficient to account for the 
 greater freedom of their speech. 
 
 ' I have got the rice, your Rever- 
 ence,' said Shwe Myaing, pressing his 
 joined palms against the floor, ' and I 
 am now going back, — to the east.' 
 
 ' It is well,' replied the priest. ' Tell 
 me now, Shwe Myaing, how goes it 
 with the saya ? ' 
 
 ' The saya has recovered from his 
 fever, and can eat, when there is rice ; 
 but Shwe Lan is ill again. The wound 
 he got at Thayetbin has reopened and 
 
X TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 183 
 
 he suffers great pain. Nothing does the 
 sore place good but the yellow powder 
 the saya-gyi once got from the Govern- 
 ment dispensary at Tatkin ; but that is 
 all finished now.' 
 
 ' Does the saya-gyi' s skill avail nothing 
 to give his followers relief ? ' 
 
 ' He has applied leaves to the wound, 
 but it will not heal. He goes to-morrow 
 to Thonze to get more drugs from 
 Maung Waik.' 
 
 'Thonze,' said U Ananda, 'let him 
 take care how he goes to Thonze. I 
 have heard that the Deputy-Commis- 
 sioner himself goes there soon to settle 
 who is to be headman of the village. 
 It would not do for the saya-gyi and 
 the aye - baing ^ to meet, would it ? 
 You know the rewards that have been 
 offered.' 
 
 ' I know them,' said Shwe Myaing, 
 a sullen look creeping over his face, but 
 
 1 An official of high rank answering to our Deputy- 
 Commissioner. 
 
184 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 the priest went on with unction. ' For 
 Nga Chet one thousand rupees, for 
 Nga Le and Nga Cho five hundred 
 each, for Shwe Lan two hundred 
 and fifty, and for Shwe Myaing, — I 
 have forgotten, — how much for Shwe 
 Myaing?' 
 
 ' One hundred,' said the individual 
 in question, rather sulkily. It was 
 degrading enough to know that this 
 absurdly low price had been put upon 
 his head, and to have the figure cast 
 constantly in his teeth by his more ex- 
 pensive companions ; the humiliation 
 was twofold when the sneer came from 
 a mere monk, a man who had never 
 carried his life in his hand, had never 
 even missed a meal in freedom's cause. 
 If it had not been for the stupid affair 
 with the old woman at Thayetbin, he 
 would not have hesitated a moment to 
 turn Queen's evidence ; but that little 
 episode had, he knew well, cut him off 
 from all hope of mercy at the hands of 
 
X TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 185 
 
 a pig-headed Government that never 
 would realise how apt young bloods are 
 to be carried away with boyish excite- 
 ment, and how marvellously the amuse- 
 ment of prodding obstinate ladies with 
 a spear grows upon one. As it was, he 
 could not help thinking that it would 
 perhaps be the wisest thing to silence 
 his colleagues' scoffs for good and all by 
 some exploit that would enhance his 
 value in the Government's eyes. In 
 for a penny, in for a pound ; the old 
 woman was certainly not worth hanging 
 for, and hanged he certainly would be 
 if he were caught. Now if he could 
 only account for some valuable Govern- 
 ment official, say the Deputy-Commis- 
 sioner, or,— but the priest's voice broke 
 in upon his meditations. 
 
 ' One thousand, five hundred, two 
 hundred and fifty, one hundred,' repeated 
 U Ananda. ' Don't let the rewards be 
 forgotten, and remember that even in 
 Miny wa there may be those who would 
 
i86 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 like to earn them. See that there is no 
 further demand for rice before the rains. 
 Who goes with you to carry the rice to 
 the saya-gyi ? ' 
 
 ' Ko Meik Gyi goes with your 
 servant. He waits down below. All 
 is ready.' 
 
 ' Go quickly then, and tell the saya- 
 gyi that the bearer of the rice is not to 
 be let or hindered in returning. It will 
 not be wise to anger the only village 
 that supports the jungle-dwellers, will 
 it?' 
 
 ' No, your Reverence, it will not,' 
 said Shwe Myaing ; and then with a 
 parting obeisance he retired as quickly 
 as possible from the awe-inspiring pres- 
 ence of the archdeacon. 
 
 The path down to the river branched 
 off from the track leading from the 
 monastery to the village, at a point 
 about a hundred yards from the en- 
 closure. For these hundred yards, 
 therefore, Shwe Myaing's road lay 
 
X TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 187 
 
 along the path to the village, and thus 
 it was that a minute or two after his 
 start he had an opportunity, himself 
 unseen, of watching a cavalcade that 
 was coming from the hamlet to the 
 monastery, and of thanking his stars 
 that he had left not later than he did. 
 He had sent Ko Meik Gyi with the 
 baskets of rice on ahead, while he 
 stopped behind to get a handful of 
 cheroots from one of the idlers at the 
 monastery ; he was hurrying along to 
 catch his man up, and had come near 
 the branching of the roads, when he 
 suddenly became aware of approaching 
 horses, and had only just time to dodge 
 into the brushwood to avoid being seen 
 by a rider who was making at a rapid 
 trot from the direction of the village 
 for the monastery. It was a European ; 
 the lines of his helmet stood out clear, 
 and by the glint of a steel scabbard in 
 the moonlight the robber, as he crouched 
 in the jungle, judged that it was a 
 
1 88 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 policeman. There were sounds of 
 more horsemen behind, and before he 
 emerged, trembling in every limb, Shwe 
 Myaing had seen half a dozen mounted 
 Burman police pass spectre- like after 
 their leader towards the monastery. Im- 
 mediately the last of the riders had 
 passed, and he was satisfied that the 
 coast was clear, the outlaw slipped out 
 on to the path and sped down the turn- 
 ing to the river with a conviction that, 
 whatever he might do later, the present 
 was not a suitable opportunity for get- 
 ting the reward for his own capture 
 raised. The coolie was just visible on 
 the rice-fields in front of him, a dark 
 figure staggering under his load through 
 the dim moonlight, and a few seconds 
 sufiiced to catch him up and hurry 
 him, mildly protesting, across the stream 
 into the jungle on the farther side. 
 Then, and not tell then, did Shwe 
 Myaing stop to ponder on the narrow- 
 ness of his escape, and to congratulate 
 
X TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 189 
 
 himself on all things having turned out 
 as they had. 
 
 There could be no doubt who the 
 police were after ; even one hundred 
 rupees were apparently worth a little 
 exertion. They had got some definite 
 information, it was clear. Some one 
 must have gone into Tatkin to tell of 
 his arrival that morning in Minywa. 
 Who that some one could have been 
 he could not for the moment even 
 hazard a guess ; he could only conjec- 
 ture that it was some evilly -disposed 
 person in the village itself, or more 
 probably some stranger who knew him 
 by sight and was not afraid of angering 
 the archdeacon. If this were the case 
 there had been no time lost either by 
 the informer or the police, for it was 
 a good ten miles from Minywa to the 
 District headquarters. Truly there was 
 something alarming in the energy of 
 these white folk ; the Thonze sergeant 
 would certainly not have come so quick. 
 
igo TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch.x 
 
 though he was a good deal nearer 
 Minywa. However, all was well that 
 ended well. He knew that the police 
 would not get much out of the villagers 
 of Minywa, nearly all of whom had 
 friends or relations who either still were 
 or had been in Bo Chet's gang, and that 
 he himself was in no immediate danger 
 of being pursued ; and he reflected that, 
 even if he was followed, he had by this 
 time got a good start and ought to have 
 no difficulty in shaking his pursuers off. 
 So he called a halt for a moment in a 
 moonlit space to light cheroots, one for 
 himself and one for Ko Meik Gyi, 
 whom he had, for good reasons of his 
 own, not told of his adventure ; and 
 presently the pair were jogging along, 
 talking cheerily, through the lights and 
 shades of the jungle towards the robbers' 
 camp. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 The Smarts' visit to the pagoda was 
 not to be one of recreation only. The 
 Deputy -Commissioner and his friends 
 had no intention of foregoing, if it could 
 be helped, travelling - allowance, that 
 most useful supplement to the hard- 
 worked official's salary ; and therefore 
 in good time it was discovered that 
 Heriot had a plantation in the vicinity 
 of Thonze to visit, that Smart was 
 expected to ascertain the validity of the 
 claim of two applicants for the appoint- 
 ment of thugyi, or headman, of that 
 village, and that it was Waring's 
 bounden duty to write a report on the 
 pagoda, which would entail a personal 
 inspection of the building. As Trea- 
 
192 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 sury-Officer the last - named had been 
 finding, since his arrival in Tatkin, that 
 it was his lot to perform many of the 
 multifarious odd jobs that are in Upper 
 Burmah, as elsewhere in India, daily 
 thrust upon the ill - starred District- 
 Officer ; and so useful had our young 
 friend proved himself that when, a day 
 or two before the expedition, Smart 
 received from Government a request for 
 the submission, before February 28th, 
 of a list of objects of historical and 
 antiquarian interest in his District, a 
 short report on such of the pagodas 
 enumerated in the list as were thought 
 sufficiently important to be administered 
 by trusts, and detailed proposals for the 
 creation of such trusts, he unhesitat- 
 ingly transferred the papers to the 
 Treasury - Officer ' for favour of early 
 report,' adding in his own hand below 
 the official endorsement, ' T.-O. might 
 make a beginning by taking up the 
 Thonze pagoda, one of the most im- 
 
XI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 193 
 
 portant in the District, on Monday next. 
 The Civil Surgeon will be placed tem- 
 porarily in charge of the Treasury.' 
 The report was duly commenced by 
 Waring on the afternoon of the arrival 
 at Thonze, after he had viewed and 
 jotted down the architectural details of 
 the structure, and had questioned the 
 residents of the village on its history 
 and on the trust - scheme ; but, for 
 reasons which have still to be narrated, 
 it was never brought by him to com- 
 pletion. Still it was progressing merrily 
 enough that first afternoon, and so 
 engrossed was Waring in his task of 
 compilation that when, at about three 
 o'clock, he still showed no signs of 
 flagging, he was brought by Ethel 
 Smart to book for his unsociability, and 
 asked what it was that was engaging his 
 attention to the exclusion of all earthly 
 matters. 
 
 They had left Tatkin behind them 
 in the mist that morning about seven 
 o 
 
194 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 o'clock, and a two hours' ride, first along 
 winding sandy lanes hedged about with 
 cactus, then over gentle ridges of 
 bamboo and tree jungle, had brought 
 them to where the village of Thonze 
 straggled along the shelving bank of 
 one of the tributaries of the Chindwin 
 up to the eminence tipped with the 
 whitewashed brickwork of the pagoda. 
 The rest-house, where the party was 
 lodged, commanded a full view of the 
 slope, of the grey line of masonry steps 
 winding up the brown hillside, and of 
 the pyramidical pile on the summit 
 standing out in snowy relief against the 
 misty blue billows of the mountain- 
 chain behind. Waring had but to raise 
 his eyes from the table before him to 
 behold the subject of his treatise em- 
 bodied in the shimmering middle dis- 
 tance, while that white vision on the 
 hill-top was in itself an inspiration ; 
 and his pen had been scratching unin- 
 terruptedly over the foolscap for over 
 
XI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 195 
 
 twenty minutes when Ethel's reproach- 
 ful voice roused him to himself. 
 
 They were sitting in the shade 
 underneath the rest-house, — one of the 
 ordinary inartistic type, lifted heaven- 
 ward on high teak-wood piles, with a 
 verandah in front, two bedrooms behind, 
 a shingled roof above, and room for 
 half a dozen ponies, if need be, below. 
 They had breakfasted in the front 
 verandah, and after the meal Ethel, 
 Waring, and Heriot had descended to 
 the cool lower regions, where they sat, 
 surrounded by saddles, gram-bags, and 
 implements of sport, Waring at a rough 
 wooden table brought for him from 
 the police-station, Ethel and Heriot in 
 easy chairs within talking distance, the 
 latter smoking indolently, the former 
 reading, or pretending to read, a Bur- 
 mese grammar. Outside the village lay 
 basking silently in the hot sunlight ; 
 not a living being was stirring in the 
 long rambling street save a few dusty 
 
196 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 consequential fowls and a dissolute 
 yellow pariah-dog, which, in the in- 
 tervals of scratching itself, showed its 
 resentment at the foreign invasion which 
 had driven it from its usual resting-place 
 by hurling a fitful yelping bark in the 
 direction of the rest-house. Just within 
 the limits of the shade of the roof 
 plodded, with fixed bayonet and down- 
 cast mien, a Burman policeman, for the 
 moment much exercised in his mind at 
 the hostile attitude of the pariah, but 
 uncertain whether or not to quit his 
 post and drive it away. He was one 
 of the Deputy - Commissioner's guard, 
 told off^ for duty at the rest-house from 
 the stockaded police-station just visible 
 among the tamarind-trees to the right. 
 The drowsy buzz of voices filtered 
 sleepily down from the verandah above, 
 where Smart was sitting in state investi- 
 gating the claims of the rival headmen. 
 The two factions had, an hour or so 
 before, shuffled apologetically up the 
 
XI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 197 
 
 verandah-steps in single file, arrayed in 
 their most dazzling silks, and were now 
 squatting on the boards at opposite ends 
 of the verandah, their eyes riveted on 
 the Deputy - Commissioner, who, his 
 fourth cheroot between his lips, was 
 stabbing with a penknife a rough 
 genealogical table which lay on the 
 blotting - pad before him, while he 
 listened wearily to the list of enormities 
 with which the junior of the claimants, 
 the late headman's eldest brother's son, 
 had to charge the elder competitor, the 
 deceased's youngest brother but one. 
 
 ' What are you so busy over, Mr. 
 Waring ? You haven't spoken a word 
 for the last half- hour. You seem to 
 have forgotten all about us lazy people 
 here.' 
 
 Waring awoke suddenly to his sur- 
 roundings and looked up with a smile. 
 He was just then in a healthily hopeful 
 mood. So far everything had pro- 
 gressed as favourably as he could have 
 
198 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 wished. Heriot had that morning been 
 unwontedly genial and magnanimous, 
 and had showed an amazing willingness 
 to let his companion have his full share 
 of Ethel's society. He had ridden for 
 some distance that forenoon with Smart, 
 and had allowed the Treasury- Officer 
 and the Deputy- Commissioner's sister 
 to enjoy a long conversation in the rear 
 of the cavalcade, which to Waring's 
 mind had done much towards clearing 
 the ground. They had spoken about 
 Waring's leave, and the terms in which 
 the girl had referred to his departure 
 had raised in his breast a faint hope 
 that, after all, Heriot might not be 
 the only stranger in the Station whose 
 doings were of motnent to her. Since 
 breakfast, too, Heriot had been much 
 preoccupied, and had more than once 
 led Ethel to exclaim against his 
 dulness ; and in all this Waring 
 imagined that he detected a desire on 
 the part of his inscrutable friend to 
 
XI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 199 
 
 withdraw gracefully from the field and 
 give him a free hand. With anything 
 of a lead now from Ethel he felt 
 he would be able to say all he wanted 
 to say. 
 
 ' It's a report on the pagoda for 
 your brother,' he replied in answer to 
 Ethel's question. 
 
 ' On this pagoda ! Dear me, what 
 does Jack want with a report, I 
 wonder. Do let me see what you've 
 written. Will it be printed .? I hope 
 you've said something about the soda- 
 water bottle on the top and the dear 
 old priest that showed us round,' and 
 she held out her hand for the manu- 
 script. 
 
 ' It's only a stupid official thing,' 
 muttered Waring deprecatingly. ' No, 
 it won't be printed, I'm thankful to 
 say.' He placed the paper in her hand 
 and sat chewing the end of his 
 pen, wondering inwardly, fond youth, 
 whether Ethel was enough of a judge 
 
200 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 to appreciate the indubitable excellence 
 of the last three paragraphs. But the 
 girl only looked at the top sheet. 
 
 ' Why are you thankful that it 
 won't be printed .? ' she asked, looking 
 up. ' I'm su^e it looks very interest- 
 ing, though I haven't the remotest 
 idea what several of the words 
 mean. What are hti and pyothet, for 
 instance .? ' 
 
 "■ Pyat-that, not pyothet,' corrected 
 Waring. ' I'm afraid my writing is 
 not very clear. Hti is the golden 
 umbrella-business on the very top of 
 the pagoda, the thing they'd stuck 
 the soda-water bottle on the top of, 
 do you remember .? Py at -that is a 
 kind of gabled erection with a lot of 
 stories. There was a py at -that at the 
 foot of the hill ; look, you can see its 
 top twinkling from here.' 
 
 ' Oh yes, and didn't the old priest 
 say it was part of a covered way which 
 once went a good distance up the slope ? 
 
XI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 201 
 
 How I wish I could understand 
 Burmese ! ' 
 
 ' Yes, I've mentioned that in the 
 report.' 
 
 ' Have you ? Ah yes, so you have, 
 farther down. Oh, L see you've 
 written quite a lot of pages, six, seven, 
 eight, why, nine altogether ! I thought 
 it was only one. Ij: looks a very nice 
 report ; I'm sure it ought to be printed,' 
 and she handed the manuscript, wnith 
 all its beauties undetected, back to 
 Waring. ' But what does Jack want 
 with a report on the pagoda ? ' she 
 went on. 
 
 ' He wants to send it to Rangoon.' 
 
 ' Fancy their wanting it there ! ' 
 exclaimed the girl. ' But why does 
 Jack make you do it, Mr. Waring, 
 instead of d.oing it himself ? ' 
 
 ' He's got enough work to do al- 
 ready.' 
 
 ' Then why doesn't he do it, instead 
 of sitting up there talking to those 
 
202 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 natives ? He and those men seem to 
 have done nothing but chatter since 
 breakfast-time.' 
 
 ' Hush, hush, Miss Smart ! ' said 
 Heriot ; ' you really must not speak 
 of the affairs of the nation so lightly. 
 The fate of the District, I may say of 
 the Province, trembles at this moment 
 in the balance ; all depends upon w^hat 
 verdict your brother gives upstairs.' 
 
 ' He's got to appoint a new head- 
 man,' said Waring. ' There are two 
 claimants, you see, and your brother 
 has to settle which of the two is to be 
 appointed.' 
 
 ' Poor Jack, however is he to know, 
 I wonder ! I shouldn't like to have 
 to settle. I should be afraid that 
 the man I didn't choose would try 
 to revenge himself on me. Can he 
 appoint whom he likes ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, practically.' 
 
 ' Fancy ! I wish he'd appoint that 
 nice policeman who came with us this 
 
XI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 203 
 
 morning from Tatkin, the one that 
 scratched himself picking me those 
 flowers. I wonder whom he will 
 appoint.' 
 
 ' The one with the best claims, I 
 should think,' opined Waring. 
 
 ' Not a bit of it ; the one with the 
 most cheek,' asserted Heriot. ' I'll 
 put all my money on the brazen-faced 
 young ruffian in a pink pahso, who led 
 the way up. It's always the same ; 
 your diffident, retiring chap never has 
 a chance against a fellow with lots of 
 assurance, however good a case he may 
 have.' 
 
 ' You think so ? ' said Waring 
 grimly. 
 
 ' I'm sure of it ; I've tried.' 
 
 * In what capacity .? ' The Forest- 
 Officer's complacency was rapidly irri- 
 tating Waring. 
 
 ' Oh, as the diffident, modest indi- 
 vidual, of course. What should you 
 have thought .? ' 
 
204 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' What's going to be done to-morrow 
 morning ? ' interposed Ethel. There 
 was something in the voices of the 
 speakers that made her scent possible 
 discord in the air, and with feminine 
 quickness she tried to divert the stream 
 of conversation into a less troublous 
 channel. 
 
 ' I'm going to ride out to the 
 plantation,' replied Heriot ; ' I've 
 arranged to meet the ranger there. 
 Will you come with me, Miss Smart .? ' 
 
 ' Is it far ? I don't want to tire 
 myself to-morrow.' 
 
 ' About five miles out ; we can be 
 back by eleven.' 
 
 ' I'm afraid that's too far ; we shall 
 be riding home after dinner, you know. 
 What are you going to do to-morrow. 
 Mr. Waring ? ' 
 
 ' I promised your brother to go out 
 with him to shoot over the jheeh ^ 
 behind the village. If Mr. Mullin- 
 
 1 Marshy grounds. 
 
XI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 205 
 
 tosh is to be believed, they are full 
 of snipe,' 
 
 ' I wonder whether I might go with 
 you,' exclaimed Ethel. ' I've never 
 seen any snipe-shooting.' 
 
 ' I shouldn't,' remarked Heriot. 
 ' They won't want you, the unsociable 
 brutes, and you'll get yourself in an 
 awful mess. Much better come with 
 me and look at the plantation. Say 
 you will, and I'll make it ten o'clock.' 
 For the first time to Waring's know- 
 ledge his friend seemed to be really 
 going out of his way to secure Ethel's 
 company. 
 
 ' I don't see why you shouldn't come 
 with us, Miss Smart,' said Waring, 
 who observed with satisfaction that 
 Heriot's eagerness was producing ex- 
 actly the opposite efl?ect on the girl 
 to what the latter had expected. ' It's 
 beautifully clean shooting. No wading 
 over those dirty paddy-fields, you know. 
 All little narrow jheels ; one could do 
 
2o6 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 it in silk socks and dancing -pumps. 
 You can walk back, too, whenever you 
 feel tired.' 
 
 ' I should like to of all things,' 
 said Ethel resolutely ; ' it'll be a new 
 experience. I'll ask Jack.' 
 
 The movement in the verandah 
 above told them that Jack was at 
 that moment engaged in dismissing 
 the villagers, who presently poured, a 
 motley stream, down the wooden stairs, 
 gathered up their sandals, and tailed 
 sheepishly away in two bands to the 
 village, each claimant at the head of 
 his party, followed at a respectful dis- 
 tance by his adherents, body -servants, 
 betel -box carriers, and what not, for 
 they kept great state in Thonze. 
 
 Smart followed a little later down 
 the steps, yawning prodigiously. 
 
 ' Well ! ' asked Waring, when the 
 Deputy -Commissioner stood by them, 
 ' who is it to be, Maung Walk or 
 Maung Myo ? ' 
 
XI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 207 
 
 ' Maung Myo,' 
 
 ' Is he the young one or the old 
 one ? ' enquired Heriot, while Ethel 
 murmured, ' What appalling names ! ' 
 
 ' Young 'un,' replied Smart, seating 
 himself on a gram -bag and yawning 
 again. ' I say, isn't it about tea-time ? 
 What's the hour ? ' 
 
 ' Only a little past three ; do you 
 want your tea now ? ' asked Ethel. 
 
 ' May as well have it now,' said 
 her brother. ' Then we can get out 
 immediately it's cool enough, say at 
 four. I'm going round to inspect the 
 police-station after tea, and have a look 
 at the jheels we're going to shoot over 
 to-morrow.' 
 
 * I told you so,' said Heriot. 
 
 ' Told me what ? ' asked Smart. 
 
 ' Not you, your sister. I said you'd 
 choose the young one.' 
 
 ' Maung Myo, you mean ? I 
 couldn't do otherwise. The old one 
 is a confirmed opium-eater, and from 
 
2o8 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 what I've just heard must be hand 
 and glove w^ith all the dacoits in the 
 neighbourhood. He's always been 
 suspected of harbouring Bo Chet, and 
 I'm pretty sure now that our suspicions 
 have been well founded. One gets all 
 kinds of useful information on enquiries 
 like this when there's a little bad blood 
 on both sides.' 
 
 ' What, do you mean that poor old 
 thing that went o£F just now at the 
 head of one of the processions .? ' 
 exclaimed Ethel. ' That gentle, frail 
 old man, I'm sure he can't have any- 
 thing to do with dacoits. He wouldn't 
 hurt a fly, I'm positive.' 
 
 ' Frail be blowed ! ' ejaculated her 
 brother. ' He's not fifty yet ; it's the 
 opium that makes him look so old. 
 I've no doubt he's a thorough -paced 
 old blackguard — I say, some one yell 
 for tea.' 
 
 'Jack, dear,' said Ethel, when the 
 tea had been brought and she was 
 
XI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 209 
 
 pouring it out into the thick camp 
 tea-cups, ' I am going out with you 
 and Mr. Waring to-morrow morning. 
 I may, mayn't I .? I want to see 
 how you shoot snipe. Now, don't 
 say no ; I shan't be a bother, and I 
 shan't get myself in a mess. Mr. 
 Waring says it will be quite clean 
 walking.' 
 
 ' Humph,' said Smart. ' I don't 
 know about the clean walking, but if 
 Mr. Waring doesn't mind, I don't. 
 Only you must go back before the sun 
 gets too hot, and mind you don't get 
 in anybody's way.' 
 
 ' No, I'll take care,' replied Ethel. 
 ' I'm sorry that you should have to 
 ride out by yourself to-morrow morn- 
 ing, Mr. Heriot, but it's really rather 
 too far for me. I hope you won't be 
 lonely.' 
 
 ' I shall bear up,' smiled Heriot ; 
 ' don't think of me. After all, I have 
 got the ranger to comfort me ; a most 
 p 
 
210 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING xi 
 
 worthy officer, I assure you, quite an 
 authority on cutc/i-reserves.' ^ 
 
 He spoke with his usual im- 
 perturbability, but it struck Waring 
 somehow that he was really rather 
 annoyed at the prospect of a solitary 
 ride. 
 
 1 Cutch, a brown dye made from the heart-wood of 
 an acacia {Acacia catechu, whence cutch). 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 ■• Confound this mist, I wish it would 
 clear away ! ' grumbled Smart. ' We can 
 do nothing until it is a bit brighter.' 
 
 The Deputy - Commissioner, his 
 sister, and Waring were threading 
 their way through the high elephant- 
 grass to the snipe- grounds which lay 
 about half a mile from the village. 
 The path along which they walked was 
 narrow, so narrow that progress had to 
 be made in single file, Smart in front, 
 immediately behind the villager who 
 was showing the way, Ethel in the 
 centre, and Waring just ahead of the 
 two Burman peons who brought up the 
 rear laden with snipe-sticks and spare 
 cartridges. All round them the earth 
 
212 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 was shrouded in vapour, so opaque that 
 Waring was quite unable to see the 
 wiry active frame of the old Burman 
 who was guiding them through the 
 grass ; he had indeed no particular 
 wish to see it, being quite content to 
 feast his eyes on the view he had of 
 Miss Smart's back and of a wealth of 
 auburn hair tucked under that young 
 lady's white sun-hat. 
 
 ' Yes, it's a nuisance,' he said. ' The 
 birds will be as shy as shy this morning, 
 I expect.' 
 
 ' Are they very much more difficult 
 to shoot when they are shy .? ' asked 
 Ethel over her shoulder. 
 
 ' Oh, of course, a great deal ; they 
 get up much farther off. They always 
 are more shy early than when the sun 
 is high. You will have gone home, I 
 expect. Miss Smart, long before they 
 have begun to lie close to-day.' 
 
 ' But you'll have had some sport 
 before then, I suppose.' 
 
XII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 213 
 
 ' Oh, dear me, yes, I hope so. We 
 shall begin on the snipe immediately it 
 is clear. Meanwhile, we may possibly 
 be able to get a duck or two ; they are 
 easier to see than snipe.' 
 
 There was silence for a space, during 
 which the party plodded on through the 
 morning stillness. The thud of boots 
 on the baked clay of the path sounded 
 faintly through the monotonous drip of 
 the dew from the grass and leaves on 
 each hand. Presently the guide halted, 
 — Waring had just begun catching 
 glimpses of him over Smart's shoulder, 
 — and indicated by a gesture that they 
 had arrived at their destination. Smart 
 held up his hand as a signal for those 
 behind. 
 
 The path opened out in front ; the 
 high grass came to an end, and before 
 them they could distinguish the white 
 shimmer of water beyond an expanse of 
 hard mud. Through the morning air 
 came the distant splash and the subdued 
 
214 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 conversational cackle of water-fowl in 
 their element ; but the mist was still 
 too thick to allow of their making any- 
 thing out on the surface of the jheel. 
 
 ' Stop here. Waring, and do this one, 
 will you ? ' said Smart in a low voice. 
 ' I will go on to the next jheel and shoot 
 up it. We shall meet again at the 
 farther end in time, and can settle then 
 how to manage the oth.tv j heels. You'd 
 better stop with Waring, Ethel. Come 
 along, Shwe Chit,' and he was gone, 
 leaving Ethel, Waring, and one of the 
 peons standing on the dried mud at the 
 edge of the white water. 
 
 For a minute or two they stood 
 silent, gazing into the mist around 
 them ; then Waring exclaimed in a 
 loud whisper, ' By Jove, it's lifting fast ! 
 I can make out some teal on the water 
 out there. Let's come up a little 
 closer.' 
 
 The two proceeded warily along 
 the water's edge, while the morning 
 
XII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 215 
 
 vapours rose around them, and the sun, 
 taking advantage of the blue glimpses 
 above, made a determined effort to 
 struggle through. On a sudden a shot 
 from Smart rang out at a little distance, 
 and w^ith a mighty scrambling flutter 
 the denizens of th&jheel rose out of the 
 water into the air, and circled round 
 and round far overhead, the hurried 
 flap of their wings approaching and 
 retreating through the mist. 
 
 ' What a pity,' exclaimed Ethel, 
 ' they are all gone ! No, wait, I can 
 still see some birds flying low down 
 over the water. What are they ? 
 They look like snipe ; can they be .? ' 
 
 ' No, they're only snippets,' Waring 
 made answer ; ' no good at all. The 
 snipe are there all right, but they're 
 sitting tight. Wait a bit, we shall 
 have a duck or two settling here in a 
 moment. Hark to those whistlers, 
 what a noise they're making — ah, here 
 you are ! ' 
 
2i6 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 As he spoke the flapping of nearer 
 pinions sounded above the confused 
 tumult which reverberated over their 
 heads, and a couple of ducks wheeled 
 swiftly into sight and swept across the 
 line of vision, dark against the dim 
 white vapour behind them. Waring's 
 gun rose like a living thing to his 
 shoulder ; a sudden angry spurt of 
 smoke leaped from the barrel into the 
 willing embrace of the mist ; a loud 
 report cleft the morning air, and be- 
 fore Ethel had fully realised what had 
 happened, a dark object slanted rapidly 
 across the sky and hurtled into the high 
 grass some twenty yards to the left. 
 
 ' Not clear enough yet for a second 
 barrel,' muttered Waring, jerking open 
 the breech of his gun. ' Go fetch, Ko 
 Myaing,' he added in Burmese ; ' this 
 side of the tree, over there.' 
 
 The peon vanished into the grass and 
 reappeared after a short interval with a 
 fine duck dangling loosely in his hand. 
 
XII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 217 
 
 ' A bronze - head, by Jove ! ' ex- 
 claimed Waring. ' Not a bad begin- 
 ning by any means.' 
 
 ' What a great fat lump ! ' cried 
 Ethel. ' How odd it is that that big 
 clumsy thing can fly at such a rate 
 through the air. It's very like an 
 ordinary duck, isn't it ? It's handsomer 
 though, much handsomer.' 
 
 ' And better eating,' said Waring 
 the matter-of-fact; 'that's even more 
 important. Well, Miss Smart,' he 
 added after a space of a minute or 
 tw^o, during which he stood motion- 
 less, watching each quarter of the 
 heaven intently, ' nothing else seems to 
 be coming our way just at present. If 
 you're quite ready we'll push on down 
 theJAee/and meet your brother at the 
 farther end. It's quite light enough to 
 see snipe now,' and swinging his gun 
 into the hollow of his arm he skirted 
 along the edge of the water, striding 
 slowly through the short reeds which 
 
21 8 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 fringed its margin, while Ethel followed 
 at a little distance on the drier ground 
 that lay nearer the high grass. The 
 mist was fast drifting away, and the 
 line of jungle on the opposite bank, 
 a stone's throw off, was now clearly 
 visible. 
 
 The first fifty yards or so were 
 covered in silence, which Ethel at last 
 broke by observing : ' How very like 
 snipe those birds are that are flying 
 about, snippets, I think you called them. 
 I saw one quite close just now ; it had 
 a long bill just like a snipe.' 
 
 ' Yes, it's hard to tell one from the 
 other at first,' replied Waring, his face 
 still fixed stedfastly ahead ; ' but there's 
 no mistaking the genuine article when 
 once one has seen it. Do you mind, 
 though, not talking just now, Miss 
 Smart .? Our voices might disturb — 
 ah!' 
 
 There was a squawk and a whirr, 
 and a brown object whizzed up from 
 
XII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 219 
 
 the sedge and zigzagged away across 
 the water. Waring's gun rang out 
 twice, and the second shot drove a 
 ragged bundle of feathers into the 
 reeds ahead of them. 
 
 ' Was that a snipe, Mr. Waring ? ' 
 ' Yes, got him the second barrel, 
 — one moment, please ; we'll reload 
 before we move on to pick that beggar 
 up. We may put up half a dozen 
 birds between here and where he lies. 
 Ah, I thought so, there goes a second, 
 and a third. They're sitting tighter 
 than I thought they would. Hark ! 
 there goes your brother again ; I 
 wonder what sport he's having. Now 
 I'm ready, if you are. Ko Myaing, 
 keep your eye on that bird.' 
 
 ' Poor thing ! ' cried Ethel, as they 
 came up to the snipe which had just 
 been brought down. ' I can see its 
 beak sticking up into the air so 
 pitifully. Why, I don't think it's 
 dead ! ' she exclaimed, as Waring 
 
220 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 stooped to pick up the little crumpled 
 mass. 
 
 ' No, not quite, but I've put it out 
 of its misery by this time,' said Waring. 
 ' Catch, Ko Myaing. The beauty of 
 snipe. Miss Smart, is that they're like 
 mosquitoes, tricky, but once touch them 
 and down they come. They don't fly 
 away with a charge of shot in them, 
 like duck. Nice gentlemanly little 
 chaps they are.' 
 
 ' Poor little dears ! ' mourned Ethel. 
 ' It does seem a shame to shoot them ; 
 they are so pretty. I don't mind see- 
 ing those great fat waddling ducks 
 brought down, but I must say I'm sorry 
 for these sweet little things. But there, 
 I won't talk. Let's go on, and do try 
 and kill the next one outright.' 
 
 The next one was killed outright, 
 fifteen seconds later ; and so was the 
 next, which was not secured until 
 Waring had emptied three barrels in 
 vain, and a minute or two after this 
 
XII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 221 
 
 last had been picked up the couple 
 met the Deputy-Commissioner at the 
 farther end of the Jhee/. 
 
 ' What luck ? ' enquired Smart, 
 taking off a huge sun-hat to wipe the 
 perspiration from a heated brow. 
 
 ■• One duck and a brace and a half 
 of snipe, so far,' returned Waring. 
 ' What have you done ? ' 
 
 ' Two teal and a snipe. The birds 
 are very wary this morning. I've only 
 had one chance at a snipe up till now. 
 By the way, Ethel, I think it's time 
 you were trotting home. You've seen 
 what you wanted to see by this time, 
 I expect. We've got rather a muddy 
 bit to go through to get to the other 
 jheels ; I don't think you can manage 
 it.' 
 
 ' Very well,' replied the obedient 
 sister. ' I suppose the funny old man 
 who brought us here will show me 
 the way back to the village. I could 
 almost find the way myself, but I 
 
222 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 suppose I had better have the old 
 thing.' 
 
 ' Yes, take him ; he's waiting at the 
 end of the path for us. You can make 
 him understand you want to be shown 
 the way back, can't you ? Say pyan 
 tkwa ; that will show him what you're 
 up to. Then, when you've got to the 
 rest-house, you can let him go. Say 
 t/iwa then, without the pyan, and he'll 
 understand. Give him an empty soda- 
 water bottle if Ramaswamy has got 
 one. Waring and I will find our way 
 back somehow. See .? ' 
 
 'I do ; thisoa^—pyan thwa, I'll re- 
 member. Good-bye, then, for the 
 present. Don't shoot more snipe than 
 is actually necessary, Mr. Waring ; I 
 know it's no use asking Jack to hold 
 his hand. Poor little things, I wish 
 you would be satisfied with ducks and 
 not kill the snipe. It's a pity they 
 are so nice on toast. Good-bye, — 
 thwa, — pyan thwa.' And she turned 
 
XII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 223 
 
 and picked her way daintily back to 
 the farther end of the jheel. 
 
 It was an hour and a half later that 
 Waring, after a vast deal of striding 
 and wading, found himself back again 
 at the point where the path from the 
 village debouched upon the snipe- 
 ground, and rested for a while where 
 Ethel had quitted him, warm and 
 weary, to count his spoil. Nine brace 
 of snipe and a brace of duck, — the 
 second of the latter secured with a 
 charge of number nine loosed at a 
 venture — was a fairly good bag for a 
 moderate shot like himself; in fact, 
 as he looked at the birds and remem- 
 bered Ethel's parting injunction, he 
 feared it might seem far too good a 
 bag to her. However that might be, 
 he decided to leave off ; he had 
 slaughtered enough for that day, at 
 any rate quite as many snipe as were 
 actually necessary. Smart's gun was 
 barking incessantly more than half a 
 
224 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 mile away ; it would be long, he knew, 
 before the enthusiast could be pre- 
 vailed on to retrace his steps, and it 
 was certainly not worth while wait- 
 ing for him. Altogether it was small 
 wonder that, before he was aware of 
 it, his mind had roved away from the 
 muddy grass -encircled jheel^ already 
 blazing under the hot blue sky, to the 
 cool shade of the rest-house, where 
 some one sat who was reckoning on 
 his not butchering to excess that day, 
 and might deign to commend his 
 moderation when she had seen the 
 slain. As he looked again at the 
 pendent bodies he felt almost sure 
 that Ethel would think their number 
 too great, and before he made a move 
 from the jheel, he did what he had 
 never done before, and was half ashamed 
 of doing now — that was to arrange 
 his spoil on the snipe-stick so as to 
 make the total appear smaller than it 
 really was ; he had not the heart to 
 
XII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 225 
 
 throw any away. Then he arose, and, 
 following an irresistible impulse, turned 
 down the path which led to the village. 
 He hoped to find Ethel alone in the 
 rest-house, and to have half an hour or 
 so with her before Heriot returned 
 from the plantation. What could he 
 not do in half an hour .? 
 
 There was a muffled click in the 
 high elephant-grass to his right, as he 
 reached a point where the path forked, 
 to meet again on the farther side of a 
 bufFalo-wallow full of rich, grey slime. 
 But on the eve of a meeting with the 
 young woman of his choice the average 
 young man is inclined to be intro- 
 spective, and not over -susceptible to 
 external sights and sounds unconnected 
 with his tryst, and our friend was no 
 exception to the rule, so the click, for 
 all it had a nasty metallic ring in it, 
 went unheeded. If Waring heard it, 
 he put it down to the snapping of a 
 twig caused by the passage of some 
 
226 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 bird through the grass, and gave it no 
 second thought. His peon had lagged 
 behind to light a cheroot, and arrived 
 at that particular spot too late to hear 
 the sound, otherwise his suspicions 
 might have been aroused ; but as it 
 was, he scurried past, the snipe bobbing 
 at his side, to catch the Assistant- 
 Comrnissioner up, and was aware of 
 nothing. The patter of his bare feet 
 had, however, scarcely died away in 
 the hot air before two men pressed 
 with cautious tread through the grass 
 and stood, side by side, near the edge 
 of the buffalo-wallow, glaring nerv- 
 ously, now up and down the path, now 
 into each other's eyes. One was the 
 dacoit, Shwe Myaing, loose-limbed and 
 slovenly, the other a shorter man, broad- 
 shouldered and bull-necked, with the 
 white seam of an old sword-cut across 
 his forehead. 
 
 ' Are you mad, Shwe Myaing ? ' 
 whispered the latter, turning on his 
 
XII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 227 
 
 companion when it was clear that their 
 presence had not been detected, with a 
 scowl that broke up the scar on his 
 brow into separate white ripples. ' Do 
 you want us both to be killed that you 
 try to fire in broad daylight ? Suppose 
 you had missed the thakin.'' ^ 
 
 ' I should not have missed the thakin,' 
 returned Shwe Myaing ; ' I could not 
 have missed him. How was I to know 
 that the cap had gone bad and that the 
 powder would not catch ? ' The dacoifs 
 big mouth was wreathed with its 
 habitual shame-faced grin, but on his 
 face the beads of cold perspiration told 
 that his courage had needed a good deal 
 of screwing to reach the sticking-point. 
 His breath came and went in short, 
 quick pants. It was a bitter disappoint- 
 ment. He had come with his leader to 
 Thonze early that morning, before he had 
 properly rested from his exertions of the 
 previous day, hoping against hope that 
 
 ^ Lord or master ; equivalent to Sahib. 
 
228 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 a lucky shot at the Deputy-Commissioner 
 or some other official would enable him 
 to put an end for evermore to his 
 comrades' gibes. A couple of minutes 
 earlier it had seemed as though his 
 chance had really come. The Assistant- 
 Commissioner, whom he had good 
 reason to know of old, had strolled, all 
 unheeding, past the spot where he and 
 Bo Chet lurked, waiting for the dusk ; 
 the pressure of a finger ought to have 
 done all that was required. Heedless 
 of Bo Chet's admonishing gesture, he 
 had pulled the trigger only to find him- 
 self covered with shame and obloquy. 
 His old musket had missed fire ; his 
 price was still a paltry hundred rupees. 
 
 ' And even if you had hit him,' 
 snapped the dacott -leader, 'what good 
 would that have done ? The police 
 would have been on us in a moment. 
 There would have been no getting 
 away into the forest. Fool ! I should 
 not have let you come if I had thought 
 
XII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 229 
 
 you were going to risk our lives like 
 this. You let the woman pass a while 
 back ; why should you want to fire at 
 this one ? ' 
 
 ' A woman ! what good is there in 
 killing a woman ? ' muttered Shwe 
 Myaing. Then, suddenly remember- 
 ing that his behaviour at Thayetbin 
 had been hardly consistent with this 
 lofty sentiment, he went on in an 
 explanatory undertone. ' That was the 
 wundauk^ saya-gyi, who imprisoned me 
 for three months last year.' 
 
 ' That makes no difference,' was the 
 rejoinder. ' If you don't take care you 
 will spoil everything. You are only 
 fit to do coolies' work and fetch in 
 rice.' 
 
 ' None of the others dared go into 
 Minywa yesterday,' retorted Shwe 
 Myaing, extracting a fresh cap with 
 trembling fingers from a knot at the 
 corner of his waist-cloth and fitting it 
 
 1 Magistrate. 
 
230 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 with deliberation on to the nipple of 
 his musket. 
 
 This was an undoubted fact, and the 
 dacoit-\tz.6.tr was unable to 'contradict it. 
 That did not, however, hinder him 
 from saying again in a sulky undertone : 
 ' Fool ! you are only fit for coolies' 
 work.' 
 
 ' Besides,' Shwe Myaing went on, 
 ' even if the gun had gone off, the 
 police would have thought it was one 
 of the officers firing at ducks and done 
 nothing.' 
 
 * How about the peon then ? ' said Bo 
 Chet. ' Do you think he would have 
 done nothing ? ' 
 
 ' I should have shot him too,' said 
 Shwe Myaing, with as much assurance 
 as though his weapon had been a 
 double-barrelled breech -loading rifle, 
 and not a decrepit Brown Bess that 
 never would come up to the scratch. 
 
 Bo Chet gave a short, sharp, in- 
 credulous laugh. ' Well, let there be 
 
XII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 231 
 
 no more firing now,' he said, ' not even 
 if we see the Deputy -Commissioner 
 coming up the path. Remember we 
 have come to Thonze to get drugs, not 
 to shoot Government officers.' 
 
 Shwe Myaing made no answer, 
 though he took the liberty of dis- 
 crediting his leader's last statement. 
 If drugs had been the sole object of 
 Bo Chet's visit to Thonze, that astute 
 individual would surely have selected 
 some day for his expedition when the 
 Deputy-Commissioner and his party 
 were not in the village. Of that the 
 dacoit was certain, but at the moment 
 he was not in the mood for argument, 
 and his grunt, as he followed the great 
 man into the remoter depths of the ele- 
 phant-grass, meant that, so far as he was 
 concerned, the discussion was closed. 
 
 But of all that was going on behind 
 his back Waring knew nothing. By 
 the time the two dacoits had resettled 
 themselves comfortably in their ambush 
 
232 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING xii 
 
 he had reached the village and was 
 opposite the rest-house. There was 
 the shimmer of a white dress in the 
 verandah, and a fair face looked down 
 upon him as he halted for a moment at 
 the bottom of the steps. Heriot's pony- 
 was not in the stable out by the servants' 
 quarters. Heriot had evidently not 
 yet returned from his plantation, and 
 Waring perceived that he and Ethel 
 were likely to have some little time 
 together undisturbed. The opportunity 
 seemed to be the very one he wanted 
 for saying something that he had long 
 wished to say, something very important 
 that he had very nearly said the evening 
 before as he walked alone with Ethel 
 in the moonlight. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Ethel had resumed her seat by the 
 time Waring arrived at the top of the 
 steps, and was fanning herself ener- 
 getically with a palm-leaf fan at her 
 brother's table. 
 
 ' So you have come back alone,' she 
 exclaimed. ' Arc you tired .? ' 
 
 ' No, not a bit.' 
 
 ' You ought to be, I'm sure. You 
 look as though you had been wading 
 in mud up to your waist. I'm so glad 
 I didn't go any farther with you ; I 
 should have been drowned.' 
 
 ' Yes, we had one or two dirty bits 
 to cross, but of course you could have 
 gone round them. We got some very 
 good places.' 
 
234 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' Won't you sit down ? ' she said. 
 
 ' I will when I'm fit to,' he made 
 reply ; ' but I must get some of this 
 stuff off.' He had been scraping his 
 boots against the side of one of the 
 posts of the stair-rail. She watched 
 him in silence while the flakes of dried 
 mud fell on to the boards, and sat 
 immersed in her own thoughts, hardly, 
 so it seemed, aware of his presence till 
 the boots were partially cleaned and, 
 with a final stamp of both feet, he said, 
 ' Some of the best I've seen this year,' 
 when she appeared to collect herself 
 and murmured : ' Ah, so you got some 
 good places, did you .? How many 
 birds did you shoot ? ' 
 
 ' Nine brace of snipe, one of duck. 
 I don't know what your brother's bag 
 is. I came home without him ; he's 
 still hard at it.' 
 
 His eye, as he spoke, stole round 
 guiltily towards the game, the greater 
 part of which his peon had brought up 
 
XIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 235 
 
 and placed conspicuously in a corner of 
 the verandah, but he need have had no 
 alarm lest Ethel should take exception 
 to the number of the slain, for she had 
 clearly forgotten the piteous appeal she 
 had made on behalf of the snipe earlier 
 that morning. Her preoccupation was 
 a little disconcerting, for the very im- 
 portant something had still to be said, 
 and gave no promise of falling readily 
 into words ; and now that the time had 
 come, he began to feel that without 
 some little encouragement from her he 
 might be forced to let this exceptional 
 chance slip through his fingers. How- 
 ever, he sat down when he had finished 
 scraping his boots and waited, patiently 
 enough, for her to break, the silence, 
 offering up an inward prayer that she 
 would give him some kind of help. 
 
 'Jack will be here in time for break- 
 fast, you may be sure,' said Ethel. ' By 
 the bye,' she continued, ' Mr. Heriot 
 has not come back yet.' 
 
236 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' Apparently not.' 
 
 ' He has been a long time, hasn't 
 he?' 
 
 ' Not very ; I don't think he ex- 
 pected to be back till eleven.' 
 
 ■• Didn't he say ten ? ' 
 
 ' If you were going with him he 
 was going to make it ten, I believe ; 
 not otherwise.' 
 
 ' Oh, I thought he was coming back 
 at ten in any case,' and she wielded her 
 fan assiduously, while her eyes wandered 
 away to that point on the village road 
 where a rider coming from the planta- 
 tion would first be visible. 
 
 There was another pause, during 
 which Waring, watching the direction 
 of her glance with a vague sense of irri- 
 tation, came to the conclusion that his 
 time had perhaps not come yet, and 
 that, if Ethel was going to brood over 
 Heriot's absence, he himself would be a 
 good deal more profitably employed in 
 changing his wet things than in sitting. 
 
XIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 237 
 
 speechless and impotent, in a draughty 
 verandah ; but as, suiting his action to 
 his thought, he was stretching his stiff 
 limbs to rise, Ethel transfixed him with, 
 — ' Mr. Waring, you know the girl 
 Mr. Heriot used to be engaged to, don't 
 you.' 
 
 Used to be ! This was a bolt from 
 the blue with a vengeance ! In a 
 moment Waring saw the worst of those 
 awkward fears that he had been thrust- 
 ing sedulously into the background 
 realised in a manner all too ominous. 
 The question left him for a moment 
 bereft of the power of speech, but re- 
 gaining command over himself, he said : 
 ' You mean Miss Dudley Devant.' 
 
 ' Dudley Devant, yes, that was the 
 name. Then it is true .? ' 
 
 ' What ? ' 
 
 ' That he has been engaged, — you 
 know the girl .? ' 
 
 ' Yes, — I mean no, — no, I don't 
 know her myself, but my sister does, 
 
238 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 I believe, slightly. I thought he was 
 still engaged ; are you sure he is 
 not ? ' 
 
 ' Sure ? ' echoed Ethel, with a help- 
 less little laugh. ' How should I 
 know ? I know nothing but what 
 Mr. Heriot told me yesterday. He 
 mentioned, quite casually, that he had 
 been engaged to this girl, and that the 
 engagement had been broken off. It's 
 of no consequence to any one, of course, 
 but ' 
 
 ' Broken off, is it ? Really ! When ? 
 Did he say when .? ' 
 
 ■■ No ; I was rather curious to know, 
 but he did not say. It seems somehow 
 so odd to think of Mr, Heriot engaged 
 to anybody. I thought that as you 
 knew the girl (he said you knew her 
 and all about it) you might be able to 
 enlighten me. I suppose it has been 
 really broken off, though I'm never 
 quite sure when Mr. Heriot is joking 
 and when he is not. He cannot have 
 
XIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 239 
 
 been serious when he said you knew all 
 about it, can he ? ' 
 
 ' I know nothing about the breaking 
 off. I only knew, or rather believed, 
 that he was engaged.' 
 
 * And that the engagement was still, 
 — had not been broken off ? ' 
 
 ' Exactly.' 
 
 ' Ah, I begin to see. So you did 
 know that then ; have you known it 
 long ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, some time, more than a month 
 now.' 
 
 ' How funny ! I should never have 
 guessed. I wonder you didn't mention 
 it to me.' 
 
 ' Well, it was no business of mine, 
 you know.' 
 
 ' No more it was of mine, either, 
 I suppose,' laughed the girl, a trifle 
 abashed ; ' but of course one likes to 
 know things like these about one's 
 friends, and after all, an engagement is 
 not an everyday occurrence. I wonder 
 
240 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 now whether he is really still engaged ? 
 Does anybody else in the Station 
 know ? ' 
 
 ' Not that I know of. I certainly 
 haven't mentioned it to anybody ; no 
 more, I think, has Mr. Heriot.' 
 
 ' Well, there's no doubt you can keep 
 a secret, Mr. Waring. You would 
 have told me if you had been a girl, 
 now wouldn't you .? ' 
 
 It was Waring's turn to smile. 
 Ethel seemed to be facing the possi- 
 bility of Heriot's being still engaged 
 with such calmness that he began by 
 degrees to recover his own equanimity, 
 and to wonder, guileless simpleton, 
 whether the state of the Forest-Officer's 
 affections was as immaterial to his com- 
 panion as she was striving to make it 
 out to be. ' You should know that 
 best,' he made reply. ' Besides, how 
 was I to tell that you didn't know 
 yourself .? ' 
 
 ' Who could have told me, pray ? ' 
 
xiii TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 241 
 
 ' Mr. Heriot.' 
 
 ' Why should he have told me ? ' 
 
 ' Didn't he tell you himself yester- 
 day ? ' 
 
 ' He did, that's true ; but I think he 
 was a little surprised that you had not 
 told me. It would have come more 
 naturally from you. Don't laugh, Mr. 
 Waring ; if you were a girl you would 
 understand.' And then she added, 
 half to herself, ' I'm sure I don't know 
 what reason he could have had for 
 being so confidential. I cannot think 
 why it should be specially interesting 
 to me of all people to know that he is, 
 or, at any rate, has been, engaged ? ' 
 
 Ethel's last words made her hearer's 
 heart pulsate with a new hope, and 
 sent a sudden determination flashing 
 through his brain. A sane man would, 
 after what had gone before, have de- 
 ferred saying what he wanted to say to 
 a more favourable opportunity, but for 
 the moment Waring had succumbed to 
 
 R 
 
242 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 the most imbecile of impulses. He 
 ignored the inconsistency manifest in 
 the girl's last words ; he did not notice 
 the slight suspicion of pique that under- 
 lay them ; he was blind to the troubled 
 look that a keen observer would have 
 noticed stealing across her face. He 
 could only think how sweet that face 
 looked as it stood out from the dark 
 background of teak wall behind, and 
 resolve with idiotic perversity that now, 
 if ever, the hour for speaking out his 
 mind had come. Now that it was 
 evident that Heriot was free the neces- 
 sity for prompt action was all the more 
 urgent. Time and place, it seemed 
 to him, were both auspicious, and in 
 Heriot's engagement a subject had been 
 touched upon which bordered closely 
 on the one he was waiting for an occa- 
 sion to raise. The transition from one 
 to the other would, he knew, be easy 
 enough for any one with a little tact, 
 and as he sat and rubbed aimlessly at 
 
XIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 243 
 
 the dry mud with which his stockings 
 were coated, he cursed himself for the 
 ineptitude that hindered him from 
 making this golden opportunity his 
 own. But mental self- castigation, 
 though of the fiercest, has never yet 
 of itself produced either a happy flow 
 of ideas or a felicitous capacity of ex- 
 pression. Nothing came to him, as 
 he rubbed, in the way of an inspiration, 
 and in the end he was driven to making 
 by a sadly circuitous route for the point 
 he desired to reach. 
 
 ' It is very jolly here, isn't it ? ' he 
 began, after several false starts and 
 much preliminary clearing of the 
 throat. 
 
 ' Very,' she made answer. 
 
 ' I've liked this little trip very much 
 indeed,' he continued, casting about 
 desperately for an idea that would 
 draw the thread of talk in the right 
 direction. ■• I think it has been most 
 successful.' 
 
244 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' I am glad ; I hoped that you 
 would,' said Ethel impassively, gazing 
 straight in front of her. Nothing 
 could have shown more plainly that 
 she was paying but little heed to what 
 her companion said than her failure to 
 find anything remarkable in the abrupt 
 change in the conversation. 
 
 He plunged blindly on, speaking as 
 though in a dream and barely listen- 
 ing to her replies. ' I've enjoyed the 
 last two days more than any I've spent 
 since I came down from Minmyo, and 
 I must say I have had a first-rate time 
 at Tatkin.' 
 
 She looked at him for a moment 
 and then away again, while he went 
 on, feeling that each fresh remark of 
 his was more insane than the one that 
 had preceded it. ' You may not believe 
 it. Miss Smart, but I shall be really 
 almost sorry to go on leave next 
 month.' 
 
 He stopped, with a glance at Ethel, 
 
XIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 245 
 
 and a faint hope that he might be 
 spurred to speech by some echo of the 
 sentiments she had graciously vouch- 
 safed the day before when the subject 
 of his departure had been discussed ; 
 but there was no look or word of 
 encouragement from his companion to 
 help him now. Ethel barely moved 
 her eyes away from the distant pros- 
 pect, and murmured mechanically : 
 ' Yes, we shall all miss you, I'm sure.' 
 Obviously there was no chance of her 
 coming to his assistance. 
 
 ' I should not mind so much,' he 
 pursued doggedly, ' if I could be sure 
 of being sent back to Tatkin when my 
 leave is up, but I don't suppose I shall 
 have any such luck. I expect I shall 
 go back to Lower Burmah. It's enough 
 to make one feel inclined to chuck 
 one's leave.' 
 
 ' Well, I suppose you can cancel it, 
 can't you ? ' she said, turning her head 
 towards him. 
 
246 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 He sat silent for a space. ' Yes, I 
 can, of course,' he answered at last ; 
 ' and what's more, I would, if I could 
 only ' 
 
 But here she interrupted him hur- 
 riedly : ' Oh, but it would be a great 
 pity to do that.' There was a dawn 
 of prescience on her face by this time. 
 The listless look had vanished from it 
 as though by magic ; in a moment 
 she had become keen-eyed and alert. 
 
 ' I shouldn't mind a bit,' he re- 
 peated, "■ if I could be sure of getting 
 back to Tatkin and of ' 
 
 ' Of what ? ' she asked after a pause, 
 reluctantly, as though she only spoke 
 because he was waiting for her to 
 do so. 
 
 ' Of seeing you again.' The words 
 came out with an effort. 
 
 ' Oh, don't say that, Mr. Waring,' 
 exclaimed Ethel, now thoroughly roused 
 to herself and inspired with a sudden 
 hope of being able to combat senti- 
 
XIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 247 
 
 ment with flippancy. ' Don't say that ! 
 The world is small, and Burmah, what- 
 ever the Burmans may say to the 
 contrary, is even smaller. We shall 
 be cleverer than most people if we can 
 avoid running up against each other in 
 the future.' 
 
 ' In the future, yes, but it may not 
 be the same then,' he persisted. 
 
 ' Why not ? ' she laughed, with a 
 renewed attempt at sprightliness that 
 to a listener would have seemed very 
 strained. ' We shall both be a little 
 more decrepit perhaps, but ' 
 
 'It may be very different, — more 
 than that I mean, — things may have 
 changed utterly for both of us. I'm 
 afraid it will never be quite, — 
 quite ' 
 
 ' I don't see why it shouldn't be 
 quite the same,' she exclaimed. 
 
 ' Ah, but you don't understand me,' 
 he exclaimed. ' Who knows but what 
 by that time ' 
 
248 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' Good morning. Miss Smart.' 
 
 Heaven only knows what tender 
 admissions the emotion of the moment 
 might have wrung from Waring, if 
 these words, uttered in a sportive 
 bellow, had not sounded behind his 
 shoulder, almost in his ear. He turned 
 with an angry start (for even the 
 mildest of men resents being rudely 
 burst in upon when he is wrought to 
 the highest pitch of tremulous anticipa- 
 tion), and became aware of a crimson 
 countenance, rising into sight like an 
 aldermanic harvest-moon, over the top- 
 most ridge of the verandah steps. 
 
 ' Good morning, Mr. Mullintosh,' 
 cried Ethel, with sudden and un- 
 feigned alacrity. ' Whoever would have 
 thought of seeing you here ! ' 
 
 ' Ah, I thought you would be 
 surprised,' replied the Policeman, leer- 
 ing genially at the couple in the 
 verandah. ' Morning, Waring, how 
 are you ? Fact is. Miss Smart, I spent 
 
XIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 249 
 
 last night at Minywa, close by, and 
 hearing you were all here, I thought 
 I'd run over and see how you were 
 getting along.' 
 
 ' Well, we're very glad to see you,' 
 said Ethel. ' Come and sit down, do. 
 You'll stop to breakfast, I hope.' 
 
 ' Whatever took you to Minywa ? ' 
 asked Waring, not, it must be con- 
 fessed, very graciously. 
 
 ' Guess,' said Mullintosh. 
 
 ' Not Bo Chet again ? ' 
 
 ' The very same, my son. A man 
 came in yesterday, soon after you'd 
 left, to say that one of our friend's 
 gang had been seen that morning in 
 Minywa making himself jolly com- 
 fortable in one of the monastery 
 zayats, if you please, so I nipped over 
 yesterday evening with half a dozen 
 mounted men.' 
 
 ' Any luck ? ' asked Waring. He 
 was doing his best to suppress his 
 indignation at the unceremonious in- 
 
250 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 terruption of a conversation which had 
 promised to be so interesting, but he 
 found the task a difficult one. 
 
 ' Luck ? No fear ! ' replied Mul- 
 lintosh, seating himself astride of a 
 chair and resting his elbows on its 
 back. ' Not a sign of the beggar any- 
 where, and nothing to be got out of 
 the pongyi^ or the villagers. Made one 
 of them as an example over to Maung 
 Kyi to be interrogated out of my sight, 
 but it was no good ; no information 
 would the sinner give, though he 
 squealed like a good 'un every time 
 old Blunderbuss jogged his memory. 
 I wasn't supposed to be within earshot, 
 of course, but I heard a good deal. I 
 expect the informer must have been 
 dreaming, for the old buster in charge 
 of the kyaung is a decent, quiet sort of 
 chap, who will have nothing to say to 
 bad characters.' 
 
 ' Are they dacoits that you're talking 
 
 1 Priest or monk. 
 
XIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 251 
 
 about ? ' asked Ethel, to whom most 
 of what the Policeman said was Greek. 
 
 ' Ay, surely, as bad as they make 
 'em, Miss Smart.' 
 
 ' Some of the headman's people here 
 are suspected of being in with Bo 
 Chet,' observed Waring. ' The late 
 chap's brother is a friend of his. Smart 
 says.' 
 
 ' By Jove,' exclaimed Mullintosh, 
 ' I should like to put Maung Kyi on 
 to the late chap's brother for half an 
 hour or so to see what he could extract 
 from him with his divining-rod ! Can't 
 though here, I suppose,' he added, with 
 a wink at Waring. ' 'Twouldn't do, 
 eh ? Well, I'll see what I can do 
 after breakfast ; I must see Smart first. 
 Been out after the wily snipe, eh ? 
 Thought I heard popping as I came 
 along. What do you think of the 
 jheels ? Not so bad, are they ? What 
 have you got ? ' 
 
 ' Twenty head of game altogether. 
 
252 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 — nine brace of snipe. I don't know 
 what Smart's got.' 
 
 ' Smart's not back yet, I suppose. 
 Where's the great Heriot ? He's with 
 you, isn't he ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, he's gone off to inspect a 
 plantation.' 
 
 ' All by his little self? Fancy now ! 
 Why didn't you go too. Miss Smart, to 
 look after him ? ' 
 
 ' I went out with Mr. Waring and 
 my brother to see the snipe-shooting,' 
 replied Ethel composedly. She did 
 not, much to Waring's amazement, 
 seem to resent Mullintosh's tone of easy 
 familiarity. 
 
 ' Oh, did you ? Awfully sporting 
 of you,' continued the latter. ' Will 
 I have anything ? Thanks, I shouldn't 
 say no to a peg. I've had an uncom- 
 mon thirsty ride. By Jove, you're 
 comfortable here. Miss Smart, — all the 
 luxuries of the season. I see I've fallen 
 on my legs.' 
 
XIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 253 
 
 ' I think I'll go and change,' said 
 Waring a few minutes later as he 
 perceived Smart's thick. -set figure in 
 the distance swinging along towards 
 the rest-house, and realised that there 
 was no immediate prospect of renew- 
 ing his conversation with Ethel. 
 Mullintosh was in a chair beside the 
 girl with a long tumbler of whisky 
 and soda-water in his hand, holding 
 forth at the top of his voice on the 
 superlative qualities of the ground 
 that had been shot over that morning, 
 and Ethel was listening, smiling and 
 animated, to his blatant utterances. 
 Waring gazed at her half reproachfully 
 as he drew the curtain of the bedroom 
 behind him. He could not make out 
 what it was that was moving her to 
 act so waywardly ; her alternate fits 
 of moodiness and mirth mystified him. 
 Early that morning she had been as 
 cheery and benignant as she well could 
 be ; two hours later he had found her. 
 
254 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 on his return from the snipe-grounds, 
 apathetic and dull, with hardly a word 
 to say for herself. Again, when the 
 sentimental references to his departure 
 had marked the tenor of his thoughts, 
 there had been renewed attention and 
 (it seemed to him) a sudden glad light 
 in her eye. Yet, when encouraged by 
 her words and looks, he had begun to 
 speak out his mind, she had been unable 
 to disguise her relief at Mullintosh's 
 boisterous interruption. This succes- 
 sion of ups and downs was something 
 his slow-moving male mind was quite 
 unable to keep pace with. 
 
 Puzzled as Waring was to know 
 how to account for Miss Smart's vicis- 
 situdes of feeling, his conception of its 
 causes was scarcely less vague than 
 Ethel's. She felt worried and vexed, 
 but tried hard to persuade herself 
 that she knew not exactly why. The 
 reason was not, however, really very 
 difficult to discover. Although she 
 
xni TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 255 
 
 had so pointedly disclaimed all interest 
 in the aflPairs of Heriot's heart, she 
 could not honestly disguise from her- 
 self the fact that what he had told 
 her the evening before about his engage- 
 ment to Miss Dudley Devant had left 
 behind it an impression that was not to 
 be erased at a moment's notice. Up 
 till then she had steadily avoided try- 
 ing to analyse her feelings towards the 
 impenetrable Forest-Officer, and even 
 now would have met the suggestion 
 that her liking for him was anything 
 out of the common with an unqualified 
 denial. Still, shut her eyes as she 
 would, matters had reached a stage 
 with her at which the new knowledge 
 that Heriot's affections had been be- 
 stowed elsewhere had had the effect 
 almost of a personal slight. Despite 
 the doubts she had expressed she fully 
 believed that he was now free ; none 
 the less she would not have been sorry 
 to solace herself that morning with the 
 
2s6 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 visible assurance that there was some 
 one beside Heriot who really prized 
 her friendship, — if only she could be 
 certain that that some one would not 
 go too far, would be reasonable. It 
 was more than anything the sudden 
 fear that Waring might fail in modera- 
 tion that made her so ready to welcome 
 Mullintosh's interposition. It would 
 have been horrid, she assured herself, 
 to have to be nasty to one whom she so 
 thoroughly liked as Waring ; but even 
 while Heriot's treatment of her rankled 
 in her mind she felt certain that she 
 could not give the right reply to the 
 question she had half feared Waring 
 was going to put to her. She would 
 not, however, have admitted all this, 
 even to herself. All she was certain 
 of was that she was troubled that 
 morning and unsettled. All things 
 seemed to her for the moment to 
 be tangled and awry. She wanted 
 time to look about her, and readjust 
 
XIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 257 
 
 her ideas, and not knowing what to 
 expect from Waring, she clung to 
 the big voluble Policeman as to some 
 rough, storm-battered rock in a troub- 
 lous sea. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 ' Dinner is ready, Jack,' said Ethel. 
 ' We must make haste over it, for the 
 poor servants will have a lot to do 
 washing up and packing the things 
 before they can get away, and those 
 carts are so slow.' 
 
 She was sitting in the verandah of 
 the rest-house in the fast -gathering 
 twilight, with Waring on one side and 
 Heriot on the other. The table was 
 laid for the evening meal ; the cloth 
 gleamed white through the dusk ; 
 they had been waiting for Smart and 
 Mullintosh to begin. After dinner 
 they were all going to ride home to 
 Tatkin by the light of the moon 
 which had just begun to send up a 
 
XIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 259 
 
 golden glow behind the black tree- 
 tops. The day had been spent by the 
 three in the verandah for the most part 
 in idleness. Waring had made a faint- 
 hearted effort to finish his report on the 
 pagoda, but had thrown up the work 
 in disgust before he had written ten 
 lines of fresh matter. All settled 
 occupation filled him with loathing. 
 He was restless and ill at ease, always 
 feverishly watching for an opportunity 
 of renewing his interrupted conversation 
 with Ethel, and always watching in 
 vain. Heriot, his morning inspection 
 over, made no pretence of anything 
 approaching industry, but sat and 
 smoked through the heat of the day 
 near Ethel, and when, in the cool of 
 the afternoon, the latter went out, bore 
 her and Waring company, talking but 
 little, calmljr complacent, but as careful 
 as Waring %as never to let the girl out 
 of his sight. To an impartial spectator 
 the vigilance of the pair, the impatient 
 
26o TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 disquietude of the one, the serene 
 tenacity of purpose of the other, would 
 have afforded a diverting spectacle ; 
 and the humour of the situation was 
 not entirely lost upon Ethel as she 
 wandered up to the pagoda with her 
 two companions that still, sunny after- 
 noon. But she was the only one who 
 profited by the little exhibition ; the 
 other two men of the party were far too 
 busy to give a thought to the comedy 
 that was progressing under their eyes. 
 The importance of the news which 
 MuUintosh had brought had led Smart 
 to detain him in Thonze for the day, 
 and after the two had overhauled the 
 books in the police-station together, 
 they subjected the villagers to a minute 
 and searching cross-examination regard- 
 ing the redoubtable Bo Chet, whose 
 pestilent presence in the neighbourhood 
 they had every reason to suspect. They 
 had just returned, when Ethel spoke, 
 from a visit to Maung Walk, the un- 
 
XIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 261 
 
 successful candidate for the headman- 
 ship, whose relations with the dacoit- 
 leader were unquestionably of a very 
 doubtful character, and they were 
 full of their recent interview as they 
 mounted the steps of the rest-house. 
 
 ' ' All right, Ethel,' exclaimed Smart 
 in answer to his sister. ' You can tell 
 them to bring dinner whenever you 
 like ; Mullintosh and I are quite ready. 
 You noticed his face while I was speak- 
 ing, didn't you, Mullintosh ? ' 
 
 'You bet, — shifty beast! I'll lay 
 ten gold mohurs he knows as well as 
 anything where the beggar is.' 
 
 ' Who's that, Maung Walk ? ' asked 
 Waring. 
 
 ' Yes,' said Smart ; ' I've been question- 
 ing him about Bo Chet. The brute was 
 as sulky as a bear with a sore head, and 
 wouldn't siy a word. I'm certain that, 
 if he hasn't actually been harbouring 
 him, he knows where he's in hiding. 
 Apparently his wife is some relation of 
 
262 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 Bo Chet's ; she's one of the lot that has 
 been deported to Sagaing. I wish I'd 
 known it earher ; I can't imagine why 
 the myo-ok ^ didn't tell me.' 
 
 ' He'd never dare to harbour him 
 with the police-station so close,' ex- 
 claimed Waring. 
 
 ' I don't know so much about that,' 
 said Mullintosh. * In fact, I don't mind 
 betting that ten minutes after we've all 
 cleared out of the village. Bo Chet will 
 be hobnobbing with Maung Waik in 
 his back verandah.' 
 
 ' You think so ? ' said Smart. ' Well, 
 look here, tell the head-constable to pay 
 a surprise-visit there an hour or so after 
 the last of us have gone. Or stay, we'll 
 organise the little surprise ourselves. I 
 can't help thinking some of the police 
 have an inkling of what goes on in the 
 village. We'll start, as we intended, 
 after dinner, and in an hour or so's 
 
 1 The native officer in charge of a district under the 
 Assistant-Commissioner. 
 
XIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 263 
 
 time, when the servants have got well 
 away, we'll ride back and look in on 
 Maung Waik and see at the same time 
 whether proper guard is kept at the 
 police-station.' 
 
 ' And what's to become of poor me 
 while you're i/acoit-hunting ? ' enquired 
 Ethel in plaintive protest. 
 
 ' Oh, the deuce, I forgot you,' ejacu- 
 lated Smart curtly, in a tone that 
 brought a glow to his sister's face. 
 ' Here, Heriot, you wouldn't mind see- 
 ing my sister home, would you, while 
 I come back to the village with Mullin- 
 tosh and Waring to reconnoitre ? ' 
 
 ' I think you're very rude, Jack,' 
 exclaimed Ethel emphatically. ' I'm 
 sure I don't want to be a nuisance ; I 
 can easily ride home by myself.' 
 
 ' Oh, bless you, Heriot will like it,' 
 returned the unabashed Smart. ' Won't 
 you, Heriot .? ' 
 
 ' Is it necessary to ask .? ' replied the 
 Forest-Officer, with a gracious inclina- 
 
264 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 tion towards Ethel. There was a ring 
 of such genuine satisfaction in his voice 
 that the look of mortification almost 
 died away from the girl's face, and she 
 was able to acknowledge his speech 
 with a grateful smile. The exchange 
 of glances was not lost upon Waring, 
 who, at the thought of the long ride 
 which Heriot would thus be enabled 
 to have alone in Ethel's company, 
 silently relegated Bo Chet and all his 
 followers and supporters, together with 
 his own ill-bred superior officer, to the 
 bottomless pit. His reflections would 
 certainly not have been sweetened could 
 he at that moment have read Heriot's 
 thoughts, and been made aware of the 
 resolve which the latter forthwith took 
 to make the utmost of the magnificent 
 opportunities that had been placed thus 
 unexpectedly within his grasp. His 
 rival had had his turn that morning at the 
 snipe-grounds, and had apparently failed 
 to further his suit. To himself it had 
 
XIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 265 
 
 now been given to plead his cause in 
 the romantic moonlit watches of the 
 night, and he had by this time really 
 made up his mind. 
 
 ' Come along, let's get to dinner,' 
 continued Smart, as the panting servants 
 mounted the steps laden with plates of 
 soup. ' Sit down, you chaps, will you ? 
 Where's the lamp, Ramaswamy ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, sir, bringing, sir,' replied 
 Smart's Madrasi boy breathlessly ; and 
 when the five were seated and had 
 started eating their tinned soup he 
 descended again to the lower regions, 
 and reappeared carrying a white- 
 globed paraffin lamp which he placed 
 on the table in front of his master, dart- 
 ing off immediately afterwards for the 
 whisky. 
 
 ' Very poor light, that,' said the host, 
 as he gazed critically at the dim flame. 
 ' Can you fellows see to eat at the other 
 end of the table .? I thought not ; you're 
 quite in the dark, Mullintosh. Turn 
 
266 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 the lamp up, Ramaswamy. Where's 
 he gone to ? Below again ? Bringing 
 up the drinks, I suppose. Come, we 
 must see the way to our mouths.' 
 
 He rose from his seat as he spoke 
 and turned up the wick, till the flame 
 of the lamp shone out clear and white, 
 and illumined his broad forehead and 
 deeply furrowed cheeks with a startling 
 refulgence. Waring watched him with 
 listless eyes, only half aware of how 
 under the heightened glare the Deputy- 
 Commissioner's clean-shaven face stood 
 out ever more and more distinct against 
 the dark sky-line behind. He was 
 turning his gaze away to his plate when 
 the sharp crack of a rifle from outside 
 roused him rudely to a full and sudden 
 perception of his surroundings. Simul- 
 taneously the globe of the lamp clicked 
 angrily, and a sharp, scalding pain near 
 his right shoulder brought him to his 
 feet with a start. As he rose something 
 swayed slowly forward at his side, and 
 
XIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 267 
 
 he turned, to see Smart lying in the bright 
 glare, face downwards on the white 
 tablecloth, quite still, with a ruddy 
 stain spreading out round him. Before 
 the startled diners had fully realised 
 what had happened, a second rifle-shot, 
 which pealed up through the wooden 
 floor at their feet, told that the sentry 
 below had been prompt to respond to 
 the challenge from the jungle. Then 
 followed a scurrying of bare feet, a bark- 
 ing of dogs, and a confused babel of 
 voices outside, and while Ethel sprang 
 towards Smart, Heriot and Mullintosh, 
 leaping to their feet, clattered noisily 
 down the verandah steps. Waring, who 
 was still dazed with the shock, of his 
 wound, was slower in quitting the table, 
 and as he staggered unsteadily after the 
 other two he became aware of Ethel's 
 face gazing up at him, piteous and white 
 in the lamp-light. She was kneeling 
 by her brother's side. 
 
 ' Don't go too, Mr. Waring,' she 
 
268 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 wailed, catching hold of his sleeve. 
 ' Stop with me, stop, please ! Help 
 me to look after him, — lift up his 
 head, — he doesn't move ! Oh, poor 
 Jack, poor Jack ! ' 
 
 They lifted up the sunken head 
 from where it lay pillowed on the 
 cloth, and Waring tried as best he 
 could with his uninjured arm to 
 staunch the flow of blood and to force 
 a spoonful of whisky between the 
 white lips, but it was of no avail. 
 The Deputy-Commissioner's body lay 
 like a log in their arms ; his jaws 
 were firmly clenched, and the ragged 
 puncture in the breast of his khaki 
 jacket told a tale there was no mis- 
 construing. There could be no hope 
 with a bullet-hole there, and Waring 
 felt that Ethel had realised this almost 
 at the first glance, for when he at 
 length desisted from his fruitless efforts 
 she looked up with a gaze of blank 
 despair into his face. 
 
XIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 269 
 
 ' Do you think there is any chance 
 
 of ' she began in a hoarse whisper, 
 
 and when he slowly shook his head 
 she went on : ' I thought not. Poor 
 old boy ! Poor old boy ! ' A moment 
 later she winced as though in pain, 
 and exclaimed : ' Oh, Mr. Waring, I 
 was so cross with him a moment ago, 
 — before this, you know — because he 
 was rude to me. He was rude, wasn't 
 he ? It seems so wrong of me now.' 
 
 Waring was silent. He reflected 
 that his own last sentiments towards 
 the dead man he now held in his arms 
 were not of a nature calculated to soothe 
 his conscience. Nothing was said for 
 a short space, during which Ethel, still 
 kneeling, stroked the still head that 
 lay on her breast. Then she looked up 
 and said — 
 
 ' I can't believe it. Who could 
 have done it ? Who could have 
 dared ? ' 
 
 ' It must have been Bo Chet, or one 
 
270 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 of his lot,' replied Waring ; ' no one 
 else would have dared. We shall know 
 directly,' he went on, ' for it sounds 
 as though they had got the man who 
 fired the shot. I'll go and see, shall 
 I ? ' And he attempted to rise, but 
 in doing so he rested for a moment on 
 his wounded arm, and the acute pain 
 which the pressure occasioned made 
 him drop back with a groan of 
 anguish. 
 
 ' What is the matter .? ' asked Ethel, 
 and then, for the first time, observing 
 the condition of his left arm which 
 was saturated with blood, she cried, 
 ' It's — it's your own then ! Are you 
 hurt too ? ' 
 
 "• I was hit at the same time,' he 
 replied ; ' they must have used slugs. 
 I'm afraid the bone is broken, but 
 I'm not sure. That's better,' and he 
 struggled laboriously to his feet. ' I 
 must go down to see what is being done.' 
 
 ' Oh, please don't leave me,' en- 
 
XIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 271 
 
 treated the girl. ' Can't you wait till 
 the others come back ? ' 
 
 ' I'm afraid not. They may not 
 come back for a long time ; they may 
 go straight off after the dacoits ; they 
 may want me. I won't be a minute, 
 not a second longer than I can help. 
 I'll send Ramaswamy up, if you like.' 
 
 ' No, don't,' she cried after him. 
 * Come back yourself quick.' 
 
 The wavering flicker of a couple of 
 hurricane-lanterns guided the Treasury- 
 Officer across the dusk to where Mul- 
 lintosh and Heriot with some Burman 
 police and a few scared villagers stood, 
 talking eagerly, round an object that 
 rested motionless on the grass. It was 
 a Burman in a dirty white jacket and 
 scanty waist-cloth, a long-limbed, ill- 
 favoured creature who lay gazing wide- 
 eyed and mute at the little group that 
 encircled him. He had been shot 
 through the body by the sentry on 
 guard five seconds after emptying into 
 
272 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 the mess-house verandah the contents 
 of the muzzle-loader now lying harm- 
 less by his side. 
 
 ' It was a great piece of luck the 
 beggar wore a white jacket, otherwise 
 there would have been nothing to tell 
 the sentry where he was,' Mullintosh 
 was saying as Waring came up. ' As 
 it was, it was a bit of a fluke bringing 
 him down in the dark like this. Who 
 is the sentry, Maung Kyi .? He's not 
 a Thonze man, is he .? I seem to have 
 seen him lately in Tatkin.' 
 
 ' He is a Thonze man, sir,' replied 
 the sergeant, ' but he has been at head- 
 quarters for training. His name is 
 Shwe Zin, a third-class constable.' 
 
 ' I thought I knew his face. A 
 Thonze man, is he, and third-class .? 
 Well, my lad, you're in luck ; if you're 
 not a first-class constable before the 
 month is out it won't be my fault.' 
 
 ' Do they know who it is .? ' asked 
 Waring, joining the group. 
 
XIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 273 
 
 ' It's Bo Chet himself, at least so 
 these chaps swear,' said Mullintosh. 
 
 Waring glanced down at the recum- 
 bent dacoit, who uttered no sound, but 
 turned a pair of pleading eyes up to 
 him like a beast in pain. ' Not a bit 
 of it,' he said, after a short scrutiny, 
 ' it's no more Bo Chet than I am. It's a 
 man I gave three months to at Minmyo 
 last year. Shwe Myaing, I think his 
 name is.' 
 
 ' Ah, our Thayetbin friend ! ' ex- 
 claimed Mullintosh. ' Well, even that's 
 not so bad ; at any rate he's one of Bo 
 Chet's lot.' 
 
 ' Whoever he is,' observed Waring 
 grimly, ' he has done for poor old 
 Smart.' 
 
 ' Good God !' ejaculated Mullintosh, 
 ' I'd almost forgotten about Smart ! 
 You don't mean to say he's — he's 
 killed him ! Are you sure .? ' 
 
 ' Certain, — right through the heart. 
 He hasn't moved a finger since. Come 
 
274 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 back with me to the rest-house, will 
 you, and see ? ' 
 
 ' I will ; but look here, we must 
 lose no time in going after the gang, 
 whether he's dead or not. The sentry 
 says he only saw one man ; but if 
 that's one of Bo Chet's happy family 
 the rest ought to be somewhere near. 
 The dirty scoundrels ! We'll rout the 
 whole village out and scour the jungle, 
 — but I must have a look at Smart 
 first. He may not really be done for 
 after all. Come along ! Hullo ! were 
 you hit too, old man .? ' he exclaimed 
 on a sudden, as the light from one of 
 the lanterns played on Waring's blood- 
 stained arm. 
 
 ' Yes ; I've got something just below 
 my left shoulder, a slug, I think. It 
 feels as though the arm were broken.' 
 
 ' The deuce it does,' growled Mul- 
 lintosh, as they hurried hot-foot to- 
 wards the rest-house ; ' that's awkward.' 
 
 The dying dacoit lay perfectly still 
 
XIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 275 
 
 on the grass in the centre of a gather- 
 ing crowd. His life-blood was ebbing 
 fast ; nothing moved but his eyes, 
 which wandered ceaselessly round the 
 ring of pitiless scared faces. For a 
 while no one spoke or touched him. 
 The throng seemed to look upon the 
 wounded man as a ghastly curiosity, 
 as something to be inspected from 
 a distance but not to be approached 
 inadvisedly. Then some one, a friend 
 of Shwe Zin, exclaimed in an audible 
 congratulatory undertone, ' It will be 
 a hundred rupees, Shwe Zin,' and a 
 man on the fringe of the crowd 
 laughed. Shwe Myaing's eyes sought 
 and rested on the speaker, and he 
 opened his lips as though to say some- 
 thing, but no sound issued. Then his 
 head fell back and he closed his eyes. 
 He was not dead yet, but the by- 
 standers could see that his hours were 
 numbered even before they set about 
 lifting him up to carry him to the 
 
276 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 police-station. Poor Shwe Myaing ! 
 He had achieved his ambition of the 
 moment, but at what cost ? The 
 Deputy-Commissioner lay dead in the 
 rest-house verandah, but he w^as never 
 to know it ; the mouths of the scoffers 
 had been stopped, but so, alas ! had his 
 own. It was not to be his to witness 
 the casting down of the scornful. 
 
 Prominent among those who helped 
 to bear him to the station was Shwe 
 Zin, third-class constable, late from 
 headquarters and the Municipal market, 
 whose breast was swelling with an 
 elation that threatened to burst his 
 tight khaki jacket. Happy third-class 
 constable ! He too, like the man 
 whose ankles he so lovingly hugged, 
 had secured the great wish of his heart, 
 but, unlike his victim, he was destined 
 to live to enjoy his good fortune. 
 He plodded onward through the dusk, 
 walking on air, oblivious of the weight 
 on his arms, blind to all things ex- 
 
XIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 277 
 
 ternal. Before his eyes danced ravish- 
 ing visions of the entertainment he was 
 going to give at Thonze ; he could 
 hear the banging of the band and 
 see the prima donna s contortions. A 
 hundred rupees ! What a show he 
 was going to have for that ! Dancers 
 from Mandalay, food unlimited, an 
 entertainment such as had never yet 
 been seen in Thonze ! One hundred 
 rupees ! Perhaps now they might 
 make it two ! What was that they 
 were saying about the Deputy- Com- 
 missioner's being hit ? They ought to 
 make it two if the Deputy-Commis- 
 sioner died. Surely if he did die it 
 would be two. Perhaps in any case ! 
 At any rate the hundred rupees were 
 certain, and a first-class constableship 
 to boot. Had not the District-Super- 
 intendent said so .? There was one 
 light-hearted man in the village that 
 night, but not many more, it is to be 
 feared. 
 
278 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' That's awkward,' said Mullintosh 
 a second time as he and Waring neared 
 the rest-house. ' In that case you had 
 better not come with us after the 
 beggars. I tell you what you had better 
 do, if you're up to it, that is, get Miss 
 Smart home as soon as you can ; she can 
 do no good here. If Smart is really 
 finished off you might take him in too. 
 There's no knowing how long we may 
 be out after the gang. Besides, you'll 
 have to have your arm looked to. You 
 could send us out baggage and stores 
 from Tatkin, couldn't you ? ' 
 
 The last words were uttered as they 
 reached the foot of the rest-house 
 steps. Here they halted for Mullin- 
 tosh to issue a few brief orders to 
 the sergeant who had followed them. 
 Then all three mounted the steps softly 
 and entered the verandah in awed 
 silence. 
 
 Ethel had not moved from her 
 brother's head since Waring had left 
 
XIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 279 
 
 her. She rose to her feet, however, as 
 the three men approached, and watched 
 while first Mulhntosh and then Heriot 
 stooped over the body to try and detect 
 some sign of life. As each of them 
 raised his head she looked earnestly 
 into his eyes in the hope that she 
 might trace in them some sign of com- 
 fort, but there was no spark of en- 
 couragement in their gloomy faces. 
 Then she sat down dumb and dry- 
 eyed while Mullintosh addressed her 
 quietly. Waring marvelled to see how 
 a few minutes had sufficed to transform 
 the noisy, tactless lout into a clear- 
 headed, resolute man of action. 
 
 ' Miss Smart,' he said, ' we think 
 it is best that you should get back to 
 Tatkin as soon as possible. I am 
 afraid we can do nothing for your 
 brother, but of course we are not 
 medical men, and if anything can be 
 done for him it will be better done at 
 Tatkin than here, and therefore we 
 
28o TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch, 
 
 want to get him there without delay. 
 Of course you will go with him. 
 There is a cart all ready below which 
 could take him in to Tatkin in a 
 reasonably short time. Mr. Waring 
 will see you safely home. Will you 
 get ready for the ride .? I am sorry 
 we cannot stop with you, but we 
 have to try to get to the bottom of 
 this matter. You understand, don't 
 you ? ' 
 
 She uttered not a word, but rose 
 obediently and turned away to the 
 inner bedroom. When she had drawn 
 the curtain behind her, however, the 
 three men in the verandah heard her 
 pent-up emotion burst out in a muffled 
 choking torrent of sobs. 
 
 ' This is a damned bad business, you 
 chaps ; I wish to God it had been one 
 of us,' said Mullintosh in a husky 
 voice, walking to the edge of the 
 verandah and gazing out into the 
 moonlight. ' Are those men ready .? ' 
 
XIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 281 
 
 he shouted in Burmese a moment later 
 to some one below, and on receiving 
 a reply he turned again to his com- 
 panions. ' Come along, Heriot,' he 
 said. ' The police are all ready. 
 They will have torches at the station, 
 and we shall see then whether we 
 can find any tracks, though I doubt 
 whether it won't be a wild-goose 
 chase. I've told them to bring our 
 ponies after us, for we may have to 
 ride. Waring, you'll see her safely 
 home, won't you, — and him ? There's 
 a cart all ready. I've told two con- 
 stables off to accompany you ; it's just 
 as well to have them. Good-bye, old 
 man ; don't forget to send us out some 
 stores to-morrow.' 
 
 He disappeared down the steps 
 with Heriot, who had not uttered 
 a word, following him mechanically. 
 Waring watched their attendant lights 
 waver and glance towards the farther 
 end of the village and vanish into the 
 
282 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 jungle. Then he turned round with a 
 sigh. He was alone with Ethel in the 
 rest-house. 
 
 His first care was for the proper 
 disposal of Smart's body. The ser- 
 vants were clustered below the back 
 verandah chattering in a hushed under- 
 tone to the two policemen who were 
 to accompany him to Tatkin. These 
 latter he called up to him, and between 
 them they conveyed the corpse down 
 the steps, and laid it gently on a bed of 
 straw in one of the carts which were 
 to have conveyed the party's effects 
 that evening from Thonze. This 
 kindly ofHce completed, he gave a 
 few rapid instructions to the servants 
 and returned to the verandah. The 
 table was there as it had stood when 
 Smart was shot. The lamp still shone 
 brightly on the glasses and plates, and 
 on the dark stain that defiled the 
 whiteness of the cloth at one end of 
 the table. He hurriedly hid this 
 
XIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 283 
 
 ghastly relic from view with a couple 
 of table-napkins, but the sight of it so 
 unnerved him that he was fain to 
 pour himself out a wineglassful of neat 
 spirit and gulp it down. His arm 
 had been paining him, and he had 
 been feeling sick and giddy, but the 
 fiery draught revived him almost in- 
 stantaneously. Then for a while he 
 stood silent and listened, waiting for a 
 sound from Ethel. 
 
 ' Are you ready to go. Miss Smart ? ' 
 he asked at length, stepping up to the 
 door of the inner room. 
 
 No reply came from within, but 
 presently the curtain was drawn back 
 and Ethel came out into the lamp-light. 
 She looked haggard and careworn, her 
 face was tear-stained, but her eyes were 
 now dry and her mouth firm. The 
 first paroxysm of grief was over, and 
 she was perfectly calm and collected. 
 ' I'm ready,' she said ; ' shall we start .? 
 Have you taken him downstairs ? ' for 
 
284 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 she saw that her brother's body was no 
 longer there. 
 
 ' Yes,' he replied ; ' we have laid 
 him in the cart below. But wait one 
 moment ; won't you have something 
 to eat and drink before you go ? You 
 will be quite faint before you get home 
 if you don't.' 
 
 ' Yes, you are right. I will eat a 
 bit of this bread and a little soup. I 
 think there is some port in that bottle 
 over there ; I should like a little, 
 please. You are eating something 
 yourself, aren't you .? Why, your arm 
 is bad ! Let me see if I can do any- 
 thing for you.' 
 
 And before she would touch the 
 wine which he brought her, she in- 
 sisted on binding up his wound and 
 seeing that his arm was made as com- 
 fortable as possible. He suffered her 
 to busy herself about him, seeing that 
 she welcomed eagerly any occupation 
 that would take her out of herself, and 
 
XIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 285 
 
 keep her mind from what was lying 
 downstairs in the cart. 
 
 ' I suppose you would like to go in 
 the cart at your brother's side,' he said 
 when all was ready, and they stood 
 together at the head of the steps. 
 ' You are not up to riding home, I 
 expect.' 
 
 * No,' she said softly ; ' but don't 
 ride far from me, Mr. Waring. Pro- 
 mise to keep close to me all the way 
 home, won't you ? ' 
 
 Waring gave the required promise, 
 and they were on the point of descend- 
 ing the steps together when she shrank 
 closer to him and murmured : ' Have 
 they got the man who did it ? ' 
 
 'Yes, the sentry shot him, — the 
 second shot we heard, you know. I 
 don't suppose he will live till the 
 morning.' 
 
 ' How horrible ! ' she whispered, 
 half to herself, and then turning her 
 haggard face up to his she added : ' He 
 
286 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING xiv 
 
 is not below, is he, — that man ? I 
 shan't see him if I go downstairs ? ' 
 
 ' No, no, that will be all right,' 
 Waring made answer. ' They will 
 have taken him to the police-station 
 by this time.' 
 
 ' You are quite certain ? I couldn't 
 bear it.' 
 
 ' Quite.' 
 
 * Come along then, let us go.' 
 
 Thus it came to pass that after all 
 Waring rode home that evening alone 
 with Ethel through the moonlight. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 ' And now that you have given us a full 
 account of yourself, you must tell us about 
 poor Millicent's faithless young man.' 
 
 It was a London drawing-room, 
 a rather dull, ponderously furnished, 
 eminently respectable apartment. Out 
 of doors a cold March wind was 
 flicking long thin drops against the 
 window-pane, and in the street the 
 glistening pavement, the moist um- 
 brellas of the passers-by, the limp, 
 shining oilskins of the stolid policemen 
 (so different from the happy-go-lucky, 
 red-petticoated little guardians of the 
 peace in the land we have left behind 
 us) all reflected the tempestuous mood 
 of the weather. Waring shivered as 
 
288 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 he looked out of the window, and was 
 glad to draw still nearer to the fire 
 which blazed cheerily on the farther 
 side of the hearth-rug. He looked pale 
 and weak, which was not surprising, 
 considering what he had undergone 
 since the commencement of the new 
 year. A broken arm is at best an un- 
 palatable possession, and the evil plight 
 of the damaged limb had not been 
 bettered by a long ride into head- 
 quarters through the chill of a January 
 night to have the slug extracted and 
 the bone set. Add to this disadvantage 
 an agitated brain and the haphazard 
 treatment of a careless surgeon, and 
 it is small wonder that shortly after 
 his arrival at Tatkin the Treasury- 
 Officer contracted fever with blood- 
 poisoning, and was forced to lie up for 
 a matter of six weeks. For fully a 
 fortnight after his return to head- 
 quarters he was seriously ill, and the 
 first few days of his convalescence were 
 
XV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 289 
 
 not brightened by the news that Ethel, 
 so soon as he had been pronounced 
 out of danger, had quitted Tatkin for 
 Rangoon and England, leaving the ad- 
 ministration of her brother's affairs in 
 Heriot's hands. His one solace through 
 the long hours of recovery, beside the 
 memory of the brief messages from 
 her which had been brought from 
 time to time to his sick-bed, had 
 been the letter which the Deputy- 
 Commissioner's sister had left behind 
 her to be given to him when he was 
 fit to read it ; a letter telling in simple, 
 unaffected language of her gratitude for 
 what he had done for her during her 
 short stay in Burmah, more especially 
 in the hour of trial and distress, and 
 of her regret that circumstances should 
 have compelled her to leave Tatkin 
 before he was strong enough to see her 
 and bid her farewell. It concluded 
 with a hope that they would meet 
 again in the future under happier 
 u 
 
290 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 conditions, and this hope Waring found 
 himself echoing with fervour as he sat 
 that morning in his mother's drawing- 
 room and watched the drifting rain 
 from his seat by the fireside. He had 
 arrived in London the previous morn- 
 ing on six months' sick leave, and 
 had repaired immediately to his sole 
 relatives in England, his mother and 
 his sister, to retail his adventures afresh 
 to them, and at their hands to receive 
 the attentions to which, as an interesting 
 invalid from a far country, he felt he 
 was in justice entitled. He had spent 
 an instructive hour and a half of the 
 previous afternoon in narrating and 
 re- narrating to successive relays of 
 thrilled hearers the circumstances 
 connected with Smart's murder and 
 his own wound, and the mind of his 
 sister, who had by this time heard the 
 story repeated several times, now turned 
 to less exciting but to her almost as 
 interesting topics. 
 
XV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 291 
 
 For a moment her brother was 
 puzzled. ' Millicent, — MilHcent who ? ' 
 he demanded. 
 
 'MilHcent Dudley -Devant, stupid,' 
 returned Miss Waring, stopping on 
 her way to the window to at once 
 emphasise and soften the final epithet 
 by an admonitory pat on her brother's 
 head. ' Didn't you tell Mother in one 
 of the last letters you wrote before your 
 accident that the man she was engaged 
 to was living at Tatkin ? ' 
 
 ■• Oh, Miss Dudley-Devant,' replied 
 Waring ; ' why didn't you say so 
 before ? Yes, to be sure ; Heriot, the 
 man she was engaged to, was Deputy- 
 Conservator there. He was with us 
 when poor Smart was shot, you know.' 
 
 ' What is he like ? Is he nice ? I 
 can hardly think so after the way he 
 threw poor Millicent over.' 
 
 'Oh, he's not a bad sort, — proud, 
 haughty sort of individual. You know 
 the sort, don't you ? ' 
 
292 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' You are very explicit, — I think I 
 can realise. Is he nice-looking ? ' 
 
 ' Pretty fair.' 
 
 ' Clever ? ' 
 
 ' Middling, — not much to say 
 for himself, — rather uncommunicative 
 generally.' 
 
 ' Like you, then, or rather like what 
 you used to be, for you are not a bit 
 silent now. You positively made me 
 blush yesterday at the way you carried 
 on with Laura Simmonds. Didn't he, 
 Mother ? ' 
 
 ' He talked very nicely to Laura, 
 I'm sure,' replied Mrs. Waring, a 
 tranquil, white-haired, white-capped 
 widow, whose reposeful speech and 
 carriage bore a marked contrast to the 
 voice and mien of her energetic, rather 
 masculine daughter. ' It was quite a 
 pleasure to see them together ; they 
 made a very handsome couple.' 
 
 ' Go it. Mother,' laughed Waring, 
 and then he added : ' it's solitude, I 
 
XV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 293 
 
 suppose, that has done it. Living long 
 alone does make some people unsociable 
 after a bit, I know. It was solitary at 
 Minmyo and no mistake, though I liked 
 it well enough on the whole.' 
 
 ' Oh, don't talk to me about that 
 appalling place,' cried Gertrude War- 
 ing. ' Tatkin must from all accounts 
 have been bad enough, but it can have 
 been nothing to Minmyo. I should 
 have run away straight, and absolutely 
 refused to go back. Let's talk about 
 something pleasanter. Tell me more 
 about Mr. Heriot. Your description 
 of him, coupled with the one Millicent 
 gave me once (before the engagement 
 was broken off), makes him out quite 
 fascinating.' 
 
 ' Oh, blow Heriot ! When was it 
 broken off? ' 
 
 ' Don't ask me ; I don't know. 
 Wait a bit, though, — it was some time 
 early in December, I think. Millicent 
 was very low about it at Christmas- 
 
294 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 time, I remember ; it was very recent 
 then, and she was quite inconsolable.' 
 
 * And you say he broke it off, not 
 she ? ' 
 
 'Yes.' 
 
 This information gave Waring food 
 for some reflection, and he mused till 
 his mother's voice broke the silence. 
 ' She has not been long in consoling 
 herself since,' she said with a spice of 
 asperity in her tone. 
 
 ' Now, don't be hard on her. Mother,' 
 exclaimed Gertrude. ' You know as 
 well as I do that it's her people, not 
 her.' It is a regrettable fact, but in her 
 more impassioned moments Miss Waring 
 was apt to take unwarrantable liberties 
 with the vernacular. 
 
 ' What awful thing has she done ? ' 
 asked Waring. 
 
 ' She is engaged again already, you 
 know,' said Mrs. Waring solemnly. 
 
 ' Well, it really isn't her fault,' pro- 
 tested Gertrude. ' You must know. 
 
XV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 295 
 
 Rupert, that her people, or at any rate 
 her mother, were always against her 
 marrying Mr. Heriot. I understand 
 that he has very little money. That's 
 so, isn't it ? Perhaps you don't know. 
 Well, anyhow they, — or rather she, — 
 her mother, you know, — has always had 
 her eye on a Mr. Hexham, a young 
 fellow living near Ventnor who is un- 
 commonly well off. He has always 
 been devoted to her, I believe, — to 
 Millicent, not her mother, you know — 
 but till now she would have nothing 
 whatever to say to him, and very wisely 
 too, for he's not a nice man at all, — I've 
 met him several times. Well, when 
 the engagement with the horrid, fascinat- 
 ing Burmese man was broken oif, Mrs. 
 Devant seems to have badgered and 
 bullied poor Millicent to make her 
 accept Freddy Hexham, until a short 
 time ago she very weakly agreed to 
 give him a chance, and the consequence 
 is that now they are engaged. Awfully 
 
296 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 foolish of her,' continued this forcible 
 young lady ; "• I know she still hankers 
 after the wretch in Burmah, and will 
 never get to like that insufferable little 
 snob.' 
 
 ' Are they going to be married soon ? ' 
 asked Waring carelessly. Now that 
 Heriot had broken with her, the beauti- 
 ful Miss Dudley-Devant's doings had no 
 particular interest for him. 
 
 ' As soon as possible, I believe. I 
 understand that Mrs. Devant is in a 
 terrible fright lest the old love should 
 come to England before the wedding 
 and Millicent should change her mind, 
 so they are hurrying everything on in 
 the most indecent manner. I've told 
 Millicent again and again that she 
 ought to put her foot down and make 
 them wait a little, but she is far too 
 good-natured.' 
 
 ' You seem to have struck up quite 
 a friendship with her,' observed her 
 brother. 
 
XV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 297 
 
 ' Yes, I have. We've corresponded 
 pretty regularly ever since I left the 
 Prices, and I've been to stop with her 
 at Ventnor. Her father is rather a nice 
 old man, a great invalid ; but somehow 
 I don't fancy the mother much. She's, 
 — well, — she's not my line at all. 
 Millicent is a dear girl herself, though ; 
 I've always selected her for you, ever 
 since I've known her, — in spite of her en- 
 gagement, — ^just as Mother has mentally 
 chosen Laura Simmonds with the same 
 object' 
 
 * My dear Gertrude,' protested Mrs. 
 Waring. 
 
 ' It's no use your denying it, 
 Mother,' pursued the inexorable 
 daughter. ' I know what you're think- 
 ing of better than you do yourself. 
 But Millicent is too good for you, 
 Rupert, you know, far too good ; she 
 would let you have your own way in 
 everything, which would be very bad 
 for you.' 
 
298 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' So much too good for me that she 
 would be bad for me, eh ? You both 
 of you seem precious anxious to marry 
 me off,' laughed Waring, with an 
 amused recollection of how loud his 
 mother had been the day before in her 
 praises of Miss Simmonds, — a plump, 
 comely, rather short-sighted damsel 
 who, he learnt, had been specially in- 
 vited to meet him. ' How do you 
 know I want to be married ? ' 
 
 ' I can see it in your eyes, my dear 
 boy,' replied Gertrude. ' There's no 
 hiding it from me. You'd better tell 
 me who she is straight out ; I'll find 
 out for myself sooner or later, if you 
 don't. Whoever she is, though, she 
 won't be such a nice girl as Millicent.' 
 
 ' Won't she, though ! ' said her 
 brother, with such assurance and 
 emphasis that both Gertrude and her 
 mother smiled ; and then Waring 
 began to wonder whether there might 
 not after all be something in his sister's 
 
XV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 299 
 
 boast about her power of divination, for 
 she suddenly asked, in a tone which 
 implied that the fresh subject started 
 was a natural complement of what had 
 just been said : ' What has happened 
 to the poor girl whose brother was 
 murdered, — Miss Smart? I suppose 
 she is no longer at Tatkin.' 
 
 ' No fear,' said Waring ; ' of course 
 she could not stop on alone there after 
 her brother's death. She is in England 
 now.' 
 
 ' Poor thing ! ' said Mrs. Waring. 
 ' I wonder whether we can do anything 
 for her ? She has other relations, I 
 suppose ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, dear me, yes ; she is with her 
 people down in Surrey. Her father is 
 a country parson near Guildford. I got 
 her address before I left.' 
 
 ' And you are going down to see her, 
 I suppose,' observed Gertrude, picking 
 up a book and glancing at its back. 
 
 ' I suppose I ought to, — when I've 
 
300 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 got some decent things. In fact, she 
 asked me to look her up,' said Waring 
 as carelessly as possible, for he was 
 vaguely conscious that his sister's eye 
 was fixed critically upon him over the 
 top of the volume she was examining. 
 ' By the bye,' he added, turning in his 
 chair, ' I wish this beastly rain would 
 leave off. I want to get out to my 
 tailor's.' 
 
 ' You must take care of yourself, my 
 dear boy,' exclaimed his mother. ' I'm 
 so afraid of your going and knocking 
 yourself up, the first thing. Please 
 don't go out at all to-day ; you are not 
 fit for it.' 
 
 ' I really must. Mother, when it 
 clears,' said Waring. ' I am not going 
 to walk about in these things longer 
 than I can help. I shall be all right ; 
 I'm as strong as a horse.' 
 
 His looks belied his words, as, half an 
 hour later, when the rain had stopped, he 
 sallied forth, much against his mother's 
 
XV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 301 
 
 wishes, to accord his tailor an interview, 
 a pallid, gaunt figure in a greatcoat 
 green with age and a brown hat which 
 had accompanied him to Burmah six 
 years before. He was conscious that his 
 haggard, unkempt appearance attracted 
 here and there a glance of chastened 
 wonder as he elbowed his way through 
 the well-dressed crowds that thronged 
 Piccadilly and Bond Street, enjoying 
 the brief glimpse of sunshine that had 
 been vouchsafed after the rain. But he 
 recked little of the impression he made 
 on the passers-by ; he was wholly en- 
 grossed, as he walked along, drinking 
 in the old sights and sounds and smells 
 with automatic relish, in the prospect 
 of seeing Ethel Smart again amid the 
 happier surroundings referred to in her 
 letter. He had obtained her address in 
 England from Heriot before he left ; 
 but beyond this he had been able to 
 learn nothing about her from his 
 friend, who after Smart's death always 
 
302 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 assumed a sphinx-like demeanour when- 
 ever the late Deputy-Commissioner's or 
 his sister's affairs were discussed. Of 
 how Ethel was getting on in England 
 he had been able to ascertain practically 
 nothing, much less of what her attitude 
 towards the Forest-Officer had been at 
 the time of her departure from Tatkin ; 
 nor was he any wiser as to how Heriot 
 had employed the long hot days during 
 which he himself had been lying help- 
 less in his darkened bedroom in the 
 Mess. He could not, however, believe 
 that Ethel and the Forest-Officer could 
 have come to any sort of understanding 
 before the former left for Europe, for 
 nothing had been said to him on the 
 subject by the other residents of the 
 gossip -loving little station before his 
 own departure for England, and he tried 
 hard to persuade himself that the belief 
 that had haunted him during his illness, 
 the belief that Heriot had broken off 
 his engagement with Miss Devant in 
 
XV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 303 
 
 order to be free to propose to Ethel, was 
 a creature of his own prolific imagina- 
 tion. The news that his sister had 
 given him that morning, regarding the 
 date of the breaking-off and the party 
 who had taken the initiative, certainly 
 tended to confirm that belief, and he 
 was far from being clear yet of the 
 shadow of harassing surmises. Still, 
 after all, he remembered, there was no 
 knowing anything for certain. Heriot 
 was in Burmah, a continent and a half 
 away ; Ethel was within easy reach. 
 The sun was shining through the watery 
 clouds, and the brisk March wind was 
 sending the blood dancing through his 
 veins. In his present frame of mind 
 and body he felt that, come what would, 
 he would yet compass his cherished ends 
 and secure his heart's desire. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 It was some time before Waring was 
 able to pay his projected visit to Miss 
 Smart in her country home. Very 
 soon after his arrival in England, — how 
 soon his mother and sister were never 
 destined to know — he wrote to the 
 address he had obtained from Heriot, 
 enquiring after Ethel's welfare, and im- 
 plying that he would much like to be 
 permitted to call and give the latest 
 news of Tatkin and Burmah. For 
 some time his letter remained un- 
 answered ; so long, indeed, was the in- 
 terval of silence that Waring, morbidly 
 suspicious when transactions with Heriot 
 were concerned, began to entertain the 
 absurd idea that that inscrutable person- 
 
XVI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 305 
 
 age had purposely given him a wrong 
 address, though to what end he could 
 not say. At length, however, a reply 
 from Ethel (written from a remote 
 corner of Yorkshire, where it appeared 
 she was staying with a married sister) 
 quashed his unworthy suspicions. In 
 this she apologised for the delay in 
 answering (which was due to his letter 
 having been detained three days at her 
 Surrey home), and said that she intended 
 returning south about the middle of 
 April, when, she assured her corre- 
 spondent, her parents and she would be 
 delighted to welcome him at Crook- 
 holme. Waring chafed at the prospect 
 of waiting so long, but there was 
 obviously no help for it. He could 
 think of nothing that could possibly 
 take him to her neighbourhood in the 
 north, and was left to gather what 
 meagre comfort he could from the 
 reflection that, as April had only thirty 
 days, the middle of the month would 
 
3o6 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 come some few hours earlier than if it 
 had been March or May. Before break- 
 fast on the sixteenth the impetuous youth 
 had posted a letter, written the night 
 before, enquiring on what day of the 
 succeeding seven he might come down. 
 Again some time elapsed before a reply 
 reached him. The twentieth, however, 
 brought a note from Ethel, saying that 
 she had just arrived from the north, and 
 fixing a day in the following week for 
 his visit. Now that the thing was done, 
 and Ethel's invitation was safely in his 
 hands, his importunity struck Waring 
 as singularly tactless and ill-advised, and 
 he could have kicked himself for not 
 having allowed Ethel to write first to 
 him after her return home. Yet it was 
 mainly, if not entirely, the thought of 
 the view which Ethel's relatives might 
 take of his precipitancy that troubled 
 him. Ethel herself, he felt pretty sure, 
 would, if she interpreted his impatience 
 aright, condone it. Was there ever a 
 
XVI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 307 
 
 love-sick swain that did not delude 
 himself into the belief that the one and 
 only excess which could never by any 
 chance be objectionable to his adored 
 one was excess of devotion ? 
 
 She certainly did not look as if she 
 were offended at his zeal when he saw 
 her at the station. A newly -opened 
 branch line, cut ruthlessly through one 
 of the most picturesque portions of 
 Surrey, brought him about noon to 
 Crookholme. As soon as the train 
 drew up at the long bleak platform, he 
 saw that she was there, eagerly scanning 
 the carriage-windows, and almost before 
 the smile of recognition sweetened her 
 face he made the discovery that black 
 suited her to perfection. She looked 
 pale, paler somehow than he had 
 expected to find her in England, and 
 her pallor was heightened by her 
 sombre dress and the warm colouring 
 of her hair, which had never in Burmah 
 struck him as being so luxuriant or so 
 
3o8 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 richly hued ; but what impressed itself 
 most on Waring as he descended from 
 the compartment and moved forward to 
 meet the girl, was the fact that she was 
 looking far older and more careworn, 
 though not less attractive, than when 
 he had seen her last. She had parted 
 from him at Tatkin a girl, little more 
 than a child, to step again into the 
 circle of his surroundings a woman, 
 little less than a woman fully ma- 
 tured ; and her very womanliness, as 
 she stood there opposite him on the 
 platform with the light of greeting in 
 her eyes told him, more plainly than 
 any words could have, what she must 
 have gone through in the interval which 
 had elapsed since her brother's death. 
 His next thought, curiously enough, 
 was how that brother must have in life 
 resembled his parent. There was no 
 taking the broad-shouldered man in 
 clerical garb who stood by Ethel's side 
 for any one but Smart's father. It was 
 
XVI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 309 
 
 quite a shock to Waring to see his late 
 friend's rugged features reproduced with 
 almost painful fidelity in the Rector of 
 Crookholme's. The father's red hair 
 was now mellowed with grey, his back 
 bowed slightly under the weight of 
 years, but in all other respects the 
 Rector stood there, clean-shaven and 
 thick-set, the image of his dead son, 
 causing his offspring to live again in 
 him in a manner strangely paradoxical. 
 He greeted Waring with warmth, mur- 
 muring something, which the shouts of 
 the porters and the hissing of the engine 
 prevented the traveller from catching in 
 full, about friendship with his dear son 
 and kindness to his daughter, and then 
 turning rapidly, led the way, just as Smart 
 would have done, from the crowded plat- 
 form into the quiet country road outside. 
 It was an exquisite day — one of the 
 first of the year which could be con- 
 strued by a shivering visitor from the 
 East into a pledge of genial warmth 
 
310 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 to come. The hedges on all sides 
 shimmered with a tender growth of 
 green. In the lanes the catkins flaunted 
 yellow, the sun shone cheerily on the 
 common land and copse, and the birds 
 chirped earnestly together of the in- 
 clement March and of the kindly May 
 that nestled for them in the warm 
 bosom of the future. Waring drank in 
 these vernal sights and sounds with the 
 same grateful sensation as that with 
 which he inhaled the country air. It 
 was the first glimpse of rural life he 
 had enjoyed since his return to England, 
 and after the first interchange of ques- 
 tions was over and they had turned up 
 into the long village street, he began 
 to expatiate on this fact to Ethel. 
 
 ' It is my first spring in England for 
 seven years,' he said, ' so you may 
 imagine how I appreciate it. How 
 green everything is ; one doesn't realise 
 a bit in town how spring is going ahead 
 out here. It is jolly to see the daisies 
 
XVI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 311 
 
 all out, to say nothing of the primroses, 
 and the lambs cutting about in the 
 fields so precious pleased with them- 
 selves. I'd almost forgotten what lambs 
 looked like. I feel as though I should 
 like to lie down and wallow in the grass. 
 What wouldn't the people in Tatkin 
 give for a field of daisies now ? ' 
 
 ' What, I wonder,' returned Ethel, 
 while the Rector exclaimed : ' What ! 
 Have you nothing of a spring in 
 Burmah then ? ' He was confident in 
 his own mind, was this insular parson, 
 that there was nothing worthy of the 
 name of spring in the benighted East, 
 but he liked to be assured of the fact 
 out of the mouths of experts. 
 
 ' There's nothing like a good old 
 English spring,' returned Waring. ' A 
 good many of the trees put on fresh 
 leaves about now, but I can never make 
 out why they should ; I know I should 
 never have the energy. There's no 
 feeling of fresh life in the air, never 
 
312 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 anything to suggest the idea of sprouting. 
 It gets hotter and hotter every day ; 
 the crickets do nothing but drone, drone, 
 drone ; and they bring you in things 
 they call mangoes, tasting of nothing 
 but turpentine and sugar and water, and 
 think you're going to be comforted by 
 them ; and then that beastly hot-weather 
 bird begins. You've heard him, haven't 
 you. Miss Smart ? ' 
 
 ' Once or twice only last January, — 
 never properly.' 
 
 ' Well, you've missed nothing. To 
 me it is the most dreary sound in 
 creation, not in itself so much as because 
 it suggests the long depressing hot season. 
 Ugh ! Why, only the other day I was 
 looking out of my window in town 
 rather disgusted at the cold, cheerless 
 weather, — almost, — not quite, — yes, you 
 may think it funny after what I've just 
 been saying — but almost wishing myself 
 back in the sunshine of Burmah, when 
 all of a sudden I heard a street- boy 
 
XVI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 313 
 
 whistling below, going up the scale in 
 a way that reminded me irresistibly of 
 our friend the hot-weather bird, and I 
 assure you it didn't take a moment to 
 reconcile me to the cold and wet of 
 England.' 
 
 ' And to make you wish you need 
 never see Burmah again, I suppose,' 
 suggested the Rector. 
 
 ' Well, hardly that,' said Waring with 
 a sudden turn ; ' the hot season is pretty 
 bad, but there's no denying that life 
 during the cold weather out there is 
 glorious, absolutely glorious. It's all 
 very well for me to talk now, but before 
 September I expect I shall be yearning 
 for the green paddy-plains with the hills 
 beyond, and the creak of the cart-wheels, 
 and the clicking of the looms underneath 
 the houses.' 
 
 ' Ah, yes, and the thud of the rice- 
 pounders as you ride through the 
 villages,' put in Miss Smart. 
 
 ' Yes, not forgetting the rice- 
 
314 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 pounders,' said Waring. ' But still in 
 April one is better here than there ; no 
 one can deny that.' 
 
 ' I wish I had seen more of Burmah,' 
 said Ethel in a tone so suggestive of tender 
 memories that Waring, his heart beating 
 tumultuously, for a moment wished the 
 Rector of Crookholme at the opposite 
 end of his parish. As he did not reply, 
 she added : ' Tell me about Tatkin. I 
 feel as though I had been away years.' 
 
 He gave her what news he had to 
 give, but soon discovered not only that 
 she was posted up in the doings of the 
 place up to the date of his departure, but 
 that she was able to tell him much that 
 he did not know of what had occurred 
 since he had quitted Tatkin. ' How 
 did you come to hear about all this } ' 
 he asked at length, not without a vague 
 indefinable qualm, which was not allayed 
 when Mr. Smart said : ' We hear pretty 
 regularly from Ethel's friend, Mr. 
 Heriot. He gives Ethel the news.' 
 
XVI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 315 
 
 ■• Business letters, of course,' explained 
 Ethel, as though anxious that there 
 should be no misconception. ' You 
 know he is looking after poor Jack's 
 affairs in Burmah. He writes from 
 time to time to report progress, and 
 he generally manages to give us some 
 of the gossip of the Station in his 
 letters.' 
 
 Waring was relieved ; in the cir- 
 cumstances Heriot could hardly avoid 
 sending an occasional letter to Crook- 
 holme. He did not altogether relish 
 the idea of the Forest -Officer's being 
 thus enabled to keep his memory green 
 at the Rectory ; but he felt certain that 
 if his rival had been communicating 
 with Ethel in a capacity more intimate 
 than that of administrator of her 
 brother's affairs, the Rector and his 
 daughter would have made no secret of 
 the matter to him. 
 
 By the time these reflections had 
 flitted through Waring's mind they had 
 
3i6 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 reached the white gate of the Rectory, 
 and passing through it, found themselves 
 in front of a white house facing a well- 
 timbered lawn which sloped almost 
 imperceptibly from a level of a foot or 
 so above the gravel drive up to a low 
 iron railing, just visible between the 
 trees separating the garden from a 
 meadow beyond. The front of the 
 house was covered with wisteria and 
 roses, the former already giving bright 
 promise of its lilac clusters, the latter 
 not yet in bloom, but clinging lovingly 
 to the pillars and trellis -work of the 
 porch, where the three halted for a 
 moment to look up the garden. 
 
 ' Those are some of the finest cedars 
 in Surrey, and I think, when you've 
 seen them properly, that youM admit 
 that those beeches are hard to beat,' said 
 the Rector, waving his hand proudly in 
 the direction of the lawn. ' I'll show 
 you round the garden after lunch ; you'd 
 like to see it, wouldn't you .? But you 
 
XVI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 317 
 
 must come in now and be introduced to 
 my wife.' 
 
 Mrs. Smart was sitting in the 
 drawing-room to the left of the little 
 narrow entrance -hall when her guest 
 was ushered into her presence. She 
 was a slight, delicate -looking woman 
 who, Waring perceived, had dowered 
 her youngest daughter with her own 
 slender figure and regular features, and 
 by her own dark hair had tempered the 
 fiery paternal red down to the rich shade 
 of auburn which graced Ethel's head. 
 Ethel's mother must have been very 
 handsome in her youth. Waring thought, 
 as at her invitation he took a seat 
 opposite her by the fire and had an 
 opportunity of scanning her face ; but 
 she seemed altogether out of place in 
 the country Rectory, too languid and 
 fragile for the rough parish-life in which 
 the energetic Rector lived, moved, and 
 rejoiced ; and the more he saw of her 
 the more clearly he gathered from her 
 
3i8 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 demeanour that she was not altogether 
 happy in her rural surroundings. She 
 had a kind smile of welcome for the 
 stranger, but beyond giving vent to a 
 few commonplaces about the weather, 
 and expressing a hope that Waring was 
 not feeling the cold so much as her 
 daughter had felt it on arriving in 
 England in February, she had but little 
 to say to her guest, and was content to 
 let the burden of hospitality rest for the 
 most part on her husband and daughter. 
 Some instinct told Waring that Ethel 
 and her mother had few interests in 
 common, and he was not long in dis- 
 covering where the sympathy and 
 community of tastes lay, for it was her 
 father whom Ethel selected to assist her 
 in entertaining Waring throughout the 
 day and to whom she appealed on all 
 occasions. 
 
 They lunched in a quaint, low-ceiled 
 dining-room, a step lower than the 
 passage outside, hung around with prints 
 
XVI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 319 
 
 in broad, polished brown frames, and 
 wandered afterwards, Ethel between the 
 Rector and his guest, round the red- 
 wallcd back-garden, where the cherry- 
 blossoms shone white, through the 
 shrubbery and orchard, underneath the 
 incomparable cedars and the beeches 
 which, the visitor made no attempt to 
 deny, were very hard to beat, and finally 
 up the road to where, near some disused 
 chalk-pits, an ample view was to be had 
 of the rolling wooded country which rose 
 and fell round Crookholme. The scene 
 was peaceful, quiet, and ideally English, 
 totally different from the one which used 
 to delight Waring's eyes in his high- 
 perched bungalow at Minmyo ; yet in a 
 manner it recalled to him the brightly- 
 tinted treasures of that prospect, so that 
 when the Rector exclaimed, in a tone 
 as of triumphant proprietorship in the 
 landscape, ' You have nothing like that 
 in Burmah now,' he was in a moment 
 up in arms, with Ethel, defending the 
 
320 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 Eesthetic properties of the country of his 
 labours with as much ardour as he had 
 depreciated its hot weather a few hours 
 before. 
 
 Mr. Smart smiled at the fervour of 
 the young people's description, and at 
 length exclaimed with a chuckle : ' I 
 wonder you ever succeeded in tearing 
 yourself away from Burmah, Ethel ; 
 you seem positively enamoured of the 
 country. This is quite a new develop- 
 ment ; I believe you will be wanting 
 to go back next.' 
 
 Ethel made answer by a solemn 
 shake of the head, her lips pursed 
 tightly up. 
 
 ' Wouldn't you care to go back. 
 Miss. Smart .? ' asked Waring. He put 
 the question unthinkingly, but it dawned 
 upon him soon after the words were out 
 of his mouth that, coming from him, a 
 deeper meaning might possibly be placed 
 on them than he had intended to convey 
 when he spoke. 
 
XVI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 321 
 
 * I'm not sure that I would,' replied 
 Ethel, with her eyes still dwelling 
 dreamily on the distant view. ' It's a 
 beautiful country, and I shall always 
 have pleasant memories of the happy 
 time I had there ; but Tatkin will for 
 ever be associated in my mind with, — 
 with poor old Jack, you know.' 
 
 It was the first direct reference that 
 had been made that day to the family 
 loss, and Waring was silent ; but there 
 was a lingering indescribable something 
 in the tone of Ethel's reply that encour- 
 aged him to return to the charge a 
 minute later before anything else had 
 been said. ' Of course Tatkin will 
 always have sad associations,' he con- 
 tinued. ' But after all Tatkin is not 
 Burmah. You always look upon Bur- 
 mah as ridiculously small, I know, 
 but ' 
 
 ' Why should you think I look upon 
 Burmah as ridiculously small .? ' 
 
 ' You said so once at Thonz^, — don't 
 y 
 
322 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 you remember ? You justly observed 
 that the world was small, and Burmah, 
 whatever the Burmans might think to 
 the contrary, even smaller.' 
 
 She needed no reminding now. 
 ' What a memory you must have to 
 remember all my silly sayings ! ' she 
 exclaimed, with a short laugh and a just 
 perceptible flush. ' Well, and don't 
 you think Burmah small ? ' 
 
 ' It would be big enough, I think, to 
 give you all sorts of new sensations 
 without forcing you to draw on the old. 
 There must be hundreds of places there 
 that will not remind you of Tatkin any 
 more than, — well, any more than this 
 place does.' 
 
 ' Perhaps,' said Ethel ; and the 
 memory of the good fellowship that his 
 words had brought back seemed to fill 
 the glance she gave Waring with such 
 kindliness that for the second time 
 during the day he found himself longing 
 that his host would have the good taste 
 
XVI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 323 
 
 to discover that his presence was needed 
 elsewhere. 
 
 It is just possible that the host may 
 have had a shrewd idea of what was at 
 the moment passing in his guest's mind. 
 When the question of Ethel's possible 
 return was broached and began to be 
 discussed with such seriousness, the 
 Rector's bushy red eyebrows went up, 
 though he still kept his gaze fixed 
 immovably on the distant prospect, and 
 as the talk grew to his attentive ear 
 more and more suggestive of tender 
 sentiments unuttered, the suspicion of a 
 grim smile crept across his weather- 
 beaten face, but he held his ground 
 manfully and at Ethel's last word struck 
 in. 
 
 ' Well, Ethel,' he said, ' whether you 
 would like to go back again to Burmah 
 or not, I don't see that there is the 
 slightest chance of your doing so ; ' and 
 then he added in a brisker voice, 
 ' Come along, it's getting chilly, isn't 
 
324 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 it ? Shall we walk back by the Manor 
 House ? We shall be home just in 
 time for tea.' 
 
 Waring travelled up to town by a 
 train which left Crookholme soon after 
 tea at the Rectory was over. Ethel and 
 her father accompanied him to the 
 station and, as they stood on the plat- 
 form by the carriage-door just before 
 the train started, the traveller extracted 
 from his companions a promise that they 
 would, if possible, look him up the next 
 time they visited London. 
 
 ' I daresay we shall be coming up to 
 town some Tuesday early next month to 
 gloat over the shops,' said Ethel, ' and 
 we shall certainly try to see something 
 of you, and make the acquaintance of 
 your mother and sister. Tuesday is 
 generally the day we select for our 
 pilgrimages to town. It is our freest 
 day. Number forty-five, isn't it ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, number forty-five. Mind you 
 let me have a line to say when I am to 
 
XVI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 325 
 
 expect you. We're off now. Good- 
 bye, and many thanks for a very pleasant 
 day.' 
 
 Father and daughter walked some 
 distance of the way home in silence. 
 At length Ethel slipped her hand 
 through the Rector's arm and said, 
 rather shyly, ' What do you think of 
 him, Father, honestly now .? ' 
 
 ' You really wish me to say ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, say everything you want to say 
 about him. You know what I think.' 
 
 ' Well, I think he is a particularly 
 nice, honest fellow. I almost wish I 
 hadn't seen him.' 
 
 ' Why ? ' 
 
 ' Why, because I've taken such a 
 fancy to him, and of course if you ' 
 
 ' There's no doubt he is very nice. 
 I've always said that, haven't I, 
 Father .? ' said the girl as the Rector 
 broke off. 
 
 ' You have, my dear.' 
 
 ' And of course he practically saved 
 
326 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 my life once, and was so good to me 
 when poor Jack died, so I must be nice 
 to him, mustn't I ? ' 
 
 ' Indeed you must ; it's the very 
 least you can do.' 
 
 ' But you don't expect me to do more, 
 do you ? ' 
 
 ' Of course not, my dear. It must 
 come spontaneously, that sort of thing.' 
 
 There was a pause and then the girl 
 said : ' Thanks, Father, for doing what 
 I asked you.' 
 
 ' Don't thank me, child. I was very 
 nearly basely deserting you when he 
 began about your going back to Burmah. 
 I felt quite sorry for the poor lad, and, 
 besides, I'm not sure that it would not 
 have been best to get the thing over.' 
 
 ' Don't, Father ; I wonder what 
 would have happened if you had left us.' 
 
 ' I think I can guess,' and the Rector 
 indulged in a short laugh. ' Yes, there's 
 no doubt about it, he seems a first-rate 
 fellow, and yet, — I suppose ' 
 
XVI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 327 
 
 Ethel shook her head slowly. ' I'm 
 afraid not, Father,' she said ; ' I really 
 am afraid not. I shall always like him 
 very, very much, but ' 
 
 From which conversation it may be 
 gathered that, whereas Waring was at 
 all times scrupulously careful to conceal 
 his tender passion from the eye of his 
 mother, Miss Smart had, on the contrary, 
 been at pains to take her father to a 
 certain extent into her confidence in 
 regard to the question of the bestowal, 
 or perhaps it would be more correct to 
 say the withholding, of her affections. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 On his arrival at his mother's house 
 that same evening, Waring found his 
 sister so brimful of news that for some 
 little time she gave no thought to 
 enquiring how^ he, had prospered in the 
 country during the day, and what he 
 thought of Miss Smart as viewed through 
 the medium of an English environment. 
 She looked sharply up from her seat 
 at the writing-table as he entered the 
 drawing-room and greeted him with, 
 ' Well, you are a perverse boy.' 
 
 ' What's the matter now ? ' said 
 Waring, with his hand on his mother's 
 shoulder. She was sitting near the 
 fire and he had just stooped to kiss 
 her. 
 
xvxi TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 329 
 
 ' Matter ? Isn't it matter enough that 
 you should be away gallivanting about 
 over the country the very day I wanted 
 you to be at home ? ' 
 
 ' You never told me you wanted me 
 to be at home.' 
 
 ' Of course not ; how was I to tell 
 that she was coming to-day ? ' 
 
 ' Who ? ' 
 
 ' Millicent, to be sure.' 
 
 ' Oh, your dear Millicent has been 
 here, has she ? ' 
 
 ' She has, and naturally I wanted my 
 dear Millicent to see you and you to see 
 her, and there you were, if you please, 
 carrying on instead with a young woman 
 in the wilds, goodness only knows 
 where.' 
 
 ' You surely didn't want him to carry 
 on with Miss Devant, did you ? ' laughed 
 Mrs. Waring, while Waring, ignoring 
 the home-thrust conveyed in his sister's 
 hint as to the manner in which he had 
 been spending his day at Crookholme, 
 
330 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 said, ' What has brought her up to town 
 so suddenly ? ' 
 
 ' Matrimony. They are going to be 
 married in a fortnight hence — do you 
 hear ? — a fortnight hence ! ' 
 
 ' Well ? ' 
 
 "■ Well ! Do you realise, my dear 
 boy, what that means ? It means, in 
 the first place, that it will be May.' 
 
 ' Well, there's nothing very much in 
 that. It's an unlucky month, I know, 
 but ' 
 
 ' Nothing much in that ! No self- 
 respecting person is ever married in 
 May, especially not in town. Then in 
 the second place it means that everything 
 will have to be made in a fortnight, — 
 less than a fortnight now.' 
 
 ' I should have thought they could 
 have knocked a decent wedding-cake 
 together in that time,' observed Waring. 
 ' I knew a chap in Rangoon once 
 who ' 
 
 ' Wedding-cake ! ' exclaimed Ger- 
 
XVII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 331 
 
 trude, who found the only sure vent to 
 her contempt for her brother's obtuse- 
 ness in repeating, in a tone of ineffable 
 scorn, such of his words as most glaringly 
 demonstrated his ignorance. ' Who- 
 ever thinks of the wedding-cake ! One 
 thinks of the bridegroom before the cake, 
 if he is presentable ! You know as 
 well as I do that it was the trousseau 
 I was talking about. A fortnight, 
 imagine, — and not a solitary idea has 
 the poor thing got yet about sleeves or 
 anything, so far as I can make out. I 
 call it wicked ; I had a good mind to 
 refuse to be bridesmaid.' 
 
 ' Oh, so you are going to be one of 
 the bridesmaids,' said her brother. 
 
 ' The bridesmaid, if you please, the 
 only one. Just as well she didn't want 
 more. She wouldn't have found many 
 girls ready to take it up at such short 
 notice, I can tell you. I suppose that 
 is why she asked me. I can think of 
 no other reason except that she has no 
 
332 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 girl-relations in town. She is going to 
 be married in town, from an aunt's house, 
 apparently. A fortnight ! The prospect 
 is too awful to contemplate ! ' 
 
 ' And why is there such a hurry ? ' 
 enquired Mrs. Waring, who had been 
 knitting placidly through the perfervid 
 torrent of her daughter's talk. 
 
 ' Didn't you hear Mrs. Devant, 
 Mother ? Oh, of course, you didn't ; 
 you were talking to Millicent at the 
 time. " My dear," she said to me most 
 mysteriously (you know the way she 
 says my de-ar), " my dear, I suppose 
 you know that odious man is coming 
 home." ' 
 
 ' Who ? Heriot ? ' asked Waring, 
 his interest suddenly aroused. 
 
 ' The very same. I told her I knew 
 nothing, and she went on to say that 
 somehow (how, she did not deign to 
 inform me) she had heard that he had 
 got leave and would be home about the 
 middle of May. "And I am determined. 
 
XVII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 333 
 
 my dear," she said, shoving out her fat 
 double chin and wagging her old head 
 at me, " that Millicent shall be safely 
 married to Freddy Hexham before that 
 man puts foot on English soil." She's 
 frightened lest Millicent should try and 
 back out of it. Have you heard any- 
 thing about his coming, Rupert .? ' 
 
 ' Not a word. What rot ! ' said 
 Waring scornfully. ' You say he broke 
 it off. Why should he want it on 
 again .? ' A hope, remote enough in 
 itself, but fostered by a remark which 
 Gertrude had let fall on a previous 
 occasion had, at the news of Heriot's 
 impending return from Burmah, arisen 
 in his breast only to fade before the 
 knowledge that the wedding was being 
 expedited in order to obviate a contin- 
 gency which (for he was only human 
 after all) he could not but wish might 
 in some way or other happen. He 
 would have asserted in all sincerity, 
 had he been questioned on the point, 
 
334 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 that it was his fine innate love of fair 
 play that made him wish to see Heriot 
 given another chance with Miss Devant, 
 but it is not to be supposed that the 
 discerning reader will believe that, in 
 viewing with distaste the idea that every 
 means should be taken to prevent 
 Millicent and her old love from coming 
 together before the former's marriage, 
 our young friend was in reality actuated 
 by so pure a sentiment. 
 
 ' There is no accounting for the 
 whims of the men-kind,' returned Miss 
 Waring sententiously ; ' but still it does 
 seem ridiculous. A fortnight, — I can't 
 get over it ! Don't you ever ask me to 
 be one of your bridesmaids at a fortnight's 
 notice, for I won't,' and she turned 
 round to resume her task of letter- 
 writing. 
 
 ' How did you find Miss Smart, by 
 the way ? ' asked the mother, and War- 
 ing began wondering of what use his 
 precautions had been if Ethel was to be 
 
XVII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 335 
 
 always instinctively connected in his 
 relatives' minds with his own matri- 
 monial prospects. 
 
 ' Oh, she's very well,' he replied 
 rather abruptly. ' She'll be up in town 
 very shortly,' he added after a brief 
 pause, softening a little as he gazed into 
 his mother's eyes ; ' I've asked her to 
 come and look us up. She's a nice girl, 
 and I should like her to know you. 
 Mother.' 
 
 * I'm sure I should like to meet her, 
 dear boy,' said Mrs. Waring, while 
 Gertrude, who had been listening to the 
 conversation from her seat at the writing- 
 table, turned suddenly round and asked : 
 ' Is she as nice as she used to be in 
 Burmah ? ' 
 
 ' Of course, why not ? I say, Ger- 
 trude, does Miss Devant know why they 
 are hurrying the wedding on ? ' 
 
 ' I should think not. What a question 
 to ask ! And even if she did, she would 
 not have the spirit to protest. Why 
 
336 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 Mrs. Devant should tell me I cannot 
 conceive, any more than I can guess 
 why Millicent should ask me, a com- 
 parative stranger, to be her bridesmaid. 
 Do you know, there must be something 
 very attractive and reassuring about me 
 that all these good people should want to 
 make me their bridesmaid and confide in 
 me. Mind, this about Mr. Heriot must 
 not go beyond you, Rupert,' she con- 
 tinued, as though suddenly alive to the 
 fact that her discretion must seem hardly 
 such as to justify the confidence that had 
 been reposed in her. ' I don't think 
 Mrs. Devant would care to have it 
 generally known why they are in such a 
 hurry.' 
 
 ' Oh, you may trust me. I'm not a 
 girl,' laughed Waring, glad of the 
 chance of a dig at his sister, and then 
 the dressing-bell put an end to the 
 conversation. 
 
 Waring had an opportunity before 
 long of seeing Mr. Hexham's bride elect. 
 
XVII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 337 
 
 A morning or two after his visit to 
 Crookholme he received at breakfast 
 strict injunctions to be in for lunch, as 
 he was to meet Miss Devant and her 
 intended, who were coming to the 
 house after a morning of shopping. In 
 obedience to this behest he presented 
 himself at the appointed time in the 
 drawing-room, and was there introduced 
 by his sister to a tall, fragile-looking 
 girl (in whose pale face he had little 
 difficulty in recognising the features of 
 her of the white neck who had figured 
 so prominently on Heriot's writing-table) 
 and to a sandy-haired youth with round 
 eyes and a thick, tremulous under-lip, 
 who fulfilled in every outward particular 
 his preconceived idea of what the ob- 
 noxious but opulenlt suitor was going 
 to be like. The two were an ill-assorted 
 couple, as ill-assorted, so far as appear- 
 ances went, as Heriot and Miss Devant 
 would have been the reverse. Waring 
 had made up his mind on this point 
 z 
 
338 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 before they went down to luncheon. 
 He was obHged to confess to himself 
 soon after the meal had begun that he 
 was not as favourably impressed with 
 Gertrude's friend as, guided by his 
 sister's descriptions of her charms, he 
 had expected to be. He was not, it is 
 true, surprised to find her neither lively 
 nor communicative, but her reserve 
 exceeded his anticipations. He had 
 learned enough about her from Gertrude 
 to know that her apparent haughtiness 
 was merely a cloak for her shyness, but 
 with her reticence she combined such 
 an apathetic, almost vacant, demeanour 
 that he wondered at his sister's making 
 an intimate of so eminently uninteresting 
 an individual. As the meal progressed, 
 however, he began to understand that 
 she was treating this acceptance of her 
 bridesmaid's hospitality merely as one 
 of the preliminaries to a ceremony to 
 which he could see she looked forward 
 with no feeling of pleasure. Whatever 
 
XVII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 339 
 
 pangs of despised love the Heriot-episode 
 had left behind she was careful to hide. 
 She could pride herself in not having 
 been found wanting in filial duty, but it 
 was clear that she was not going to feign 
 an interest in the details of a wedding 
 that was distasteful to her, or simulate 
 an affection for her betrothed which she 
 did not feel. 
 
 Hexham, in marked contrast to the 
 bride elect, was animation itself The 
 young man was determined to render 
 himself as agreeable as possible, and, 
 with his mind bent to the task, did his 
 utmost to make up for the young lady's 
 lack of conversation at table. Waring 
 soon saw that, though empty-headed and 
 self-sufficient, the youth was perfectly 
 innocuous, and he soon understood from 
 her passive disregard of his banalities 
 how it was that Millicent had prevailed 
 upon herself to look upon a union with 
 him as possible or supportable. He was 
 an infliction, but an infliction which 
 
340 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 could be largely ignored, and she was 
 evidently looking to being able to render 
 her married life bearable by treating 
 him in nearly all points as a negligible 
 quantity. She did not speak of Heriot, 
 a fact which Waring took as an indication 
 that her wound still smarted, though 
 when once in conversation he referred 
 to Tatkin her eye lighted and she made 
 as though she would have said something 
 a propos of the place. She did not, 
 however, speak, and it was left to 
 Hexham to rush in where Millicent had 
 feared to tread, though he did not raise 
 the subject of the previous love till after 
 luncheon, when Waring had led him 
 into the little smoking-room at the back 
 of the house, and he sat puffing jerkily 
 at a cigarette, while he trifled with the 
 germ of a diminutive red moustache. 
 
 ' You knew a chap, Heriot, out in 
 Burmah, didn't you ? ' he asked. 
 
 Waring looked up at him, but 
 Hexham avoided his gaze. ' Yes,' he 
 
XVII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 341 
 
 said ; ' I was at a place called Tatkin 
 with him.' 
 
 ' Do you know him well ? ' 
 
 ' Fairly well.' 
 
 ' You know he was engaged to Miss 
 Dudley-Devant, don't you .? ' 
 
 ' Yes.' 
 
 ' What sort of a chap is he ? ' 
 
 ' Don't you know him ? ' 
 
 ' Never met him ; he doesn't come 
 from our part of the country. Millicent 
 met him up in Buckinghamshire some- 
 where.' 
 
 ' Ah, well, — he's queer rather, — 
 critical and sarcastic — a nasty one to 
 cross, I should think. One never can 
 tell what he's going to be up to next.' 
 He chose his words deliberately, not, I 
 regret to say, without a malicious hope 
 that they might bring some vague sense 
 of discomfort to the hapless youth before 
 him who had supplanted the subject 
 of their conversation. He very nearly 
 added, ' I suppose you know he is coming 
 
342 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 home shortly,' for he presumed that 
 neither of the innocents had been let 
 into the secret of Mrs. Devant's pre- 
 cipitation, but he remembered in time 
 the gibe he had cast at his sister only a 
 few days before, and refrained. 
 
 ' A gentleman, I suppose, and all 
 that ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, most decidedly.' 
 
 ' Have you any idea why he broke off 
 the engagement ? ' pursued Hexham the 
 ingenuous, gazing at his interlocutor out 
 of the corner of his red-rimmed eyes, 
 while he plucked at his nether-lip. 
 
 ' He did not tell me,' returned 
 Waring shortly. ' He's not in the 
 habit of indulging in confidences.' 
 
 ' I suppose it was some other girl,' 
 opined Hexham pacifically. ' Are there 
 any decent females out there by any 
 chance ? Tatkin I think you said the 
 name of the place was.' 
 
 ' No unmarried ladies,' said Waring 
 still more shortly ; the idea of a ' decent 
 
XVII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 343 
 
 female ' in Tatkin having been the cause 
 of Heriot's falHng away was one he had 
 no wish whatever to contemplate. 
 
 ' H'm, that's funny. I suppose he had 
 his reasons. Hope you don't think me 
 inquisitive ? It's a matter I'm rather 
 interested in. I've long wanted to come 
 across some fellow that knew the man. I 
 daresay it was some girl he had met in 
 England, though why he should break it 
 off out there I don't know. Thanks, — 
 I'll have another cigarette if I may.' 
 
 ' Well, what do you think of them .? ' 
 asked Gertrude, as her brother re- 
 appeared in the drawing-room after 
 escorting her guests to the front door. 
 
 ' Oh, I like her,' was the reply, 
 * though I don't think she is as interesting 
 as I expected.' 
 
 'Thank Heaven, she is not interesting,' 
 returned the sister. ' I shouldn't have 
 anything to say to her if she was. But 
 you do like her .? ' 
 
 ' Yes.' 
 
344 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' So does Mother now. You've got 
 over your prejudice against her by this 
 time, haven't you, Mother ? ' 
 
 ' I was never prejudiced, dear,' repUed 
 Mrs. Waring, and as her daughter 
 laughed incredulously, she added : ' I 
 think she is a nice lady-like girl. She 
 certainly improves on acquaintance, but 
 I don't think I care for the bridegroom 
 much. He seems rather a foolish young 
 man.' 
 
 ' Oh, he's too terrible for words,' 
 ejaculated Gertrude. ' I always thought 
 he was objectionable, but I never realised 
 till to-day that he was so absolutely inane. 
 He's never tried to be funny before. 
 What do you think of him, Rupert ? ' 
 
 ' He's rather a young ass, but harmless 
 enough, I should think. Not so bad as 
 I thought he would be.' 
 
 ' Did you ever see such eyes and such 
 a mouth .? ' 
 
 ' They might be more artistic' 
 
 ' And such terrible hair } ' 
 
XVII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 345 
 
 ' He's not a beauty, but there's no 
 harm in his hair that I can see.' 
 
 ' Why, you always used to loathe red 
 hair ! ' exclaimed Gertrude. 
 
 ' I don't now,' said her brother. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 It was some three or four days before 
 the date fixed for the wedding that 
 Waring was sitting writing in the 
 drawing-room. His mother and sister, 
 enticed by the beauty of the weather, 
 which had begun to take a decided step 
 summerwards, had gone out together, 
 and he had had the house virtually to 
 himself since luncheon-time. For the 
 information of those who may wonder 
 why our friend should have elected to 
 stop indoors for the better part of one 
 of the balmiest afternoons of the year, it 
 must be explained that he had felt, ever 
 since the morning, a vague but pervad- 
 ing conviction that the day was just 
 such a Tuesday as Ethel would be likely 
 
xviii TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 347 
 
 to choose for her expedition to town ; 
 and he trusted that she might, in the 
 course of her shopping, pass near enough 
 to his mother's house to think of paying 
 her promised visit. So firmly rooted 
 was this idea that when, about half- 
 past three, the bell rang, and a visitor, 
 who was not to be deterred by the 
 maid's shrill intimation that Mrs. and 
 Miss Waring were out, began to mount 
 the stairs, he rose to his feet with 
 quickening pulse, in the full expecta- 
 tion of seeing Ethel enter. However, 
 it was not Miss Smart, but Miss Dudley- 
 Devant whom the servant announced, 
 and Waring's face fell, with his hopes, 
 lamentably, as he saw the tall, slim 
 figure in the doorway, though he made 
 a manful effort to hide his mortifica- 
 tion. 
 
 Millicent entered the room hesitat- 
 ingly on seeing that it was occupied. 
 ' I hear Gertrude is not in,' she said, 
 in a tone of embarrassed apology. ' I'm 
 
348 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 so sorry. She said she would be in 
 about now, if I wanted to ask her any- 
 thing, so, as I wished to consult her 
 about dresses, I thought I would sit 
 here and wait for her a moment, — that 
 is, if I may. They didn't tell me you 
 were here. I hope I'm not disturbing 
 you.' 
 
 ' Not at all ; please sit down. I'm 
 very glad you came in. It isn't often 
 I'm in the drawing-room alone,' said 
 Waring, his disappointment sunk in the 
 wish to make Miss Devant feel that she 
 was not intruding. He was obliged to 
 confess that, as she sat near him, look- 
 ing in front of her with big, melancholy 
 eyes, she was a strikingly well-featured 
 girl. His flow of ideas was not, how- 
 ever, stimulated by his keen perception 
 of his visitor's good looks, and for several 
 minutes the conversation stumbled pain- 
 fully along, from Gertrude to the wed- 
 ding, from the wedding to the weather, 
 from the weather at home to the weather 
 
XVIII TREASURY-OFPICER'S WOOING 349 
 
 abroad, — in the East, — in India, — in 
 Burmah, and there it had stuck, on 
 Waring's suddenly realising that he was 
 treading on dangerous ground ; but, as 
 he was racking his brain during the 
 pause that ensued for some less perilous 
 topic, and wishing that his sister would 
 arrive on the scene quickly, he found 
 himself relieved of all responsibility by 
 his visitor, who during the silence had 
 been looking fixedly at the carpet, be- 
 ginning in a strained, nervous voice, as 
 though she had set herself to some un- 
 pleasant duty, — ' Talking about Burmah, 
 you knew Mr. Heriot at Tatkin, didn't 
 you ? ' 
 
 ' I did,' replied Waring, wondering 
 what his fair visitor expected him to be 
 able to tell her about her late betrothed. 
 
 ' Well ? ' she asked, just as Hexham 
 had done a few days before ; and as to 
 Hexham, so to her he made answer, 
 ' Fairly well.' 
 
 ' You haven't heard when he's com- 
 
350 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ing home, I suppose ? ' she continued, in 
 the same unnatural tone. 
 
 ' No, — -that is, — not definitely,' stam- 
 mered Waring, in doubt as to how he 
 was to evade a downright untruth in 
 answering the question he felt absolutely 
 certain she was going to put to him 
 next. She did not, however, as he 
 expected, go on to ask him exactly 
 what it was that he had heard, but 
 said, looking suddenly up, ' Is it true 
 that he has arrived in England already .? ' 
 
 ' No, — at least not that I've heard 
 of,' exclaimed Waring, this time with 
 such decision and in a tone of such 
 genuine surprise that Miss Devant 
 lowered her eyes with a sigh of con- 
 viction. ' I suppose you would have 
 heard if he had,' she murmured, finger- 
 ing a corner of her neat, well-made 
 jacket. 
 
 ' I'm pretty sure I should have,' he 
 replied. 
 
 There was another pause, — this time 
 
XVIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 351 
 
 a very long one — and Waring, in no 
 enviable frame of mind, silently watched 
 the girl's pale, handsome face, w^aiting 
 for her to say something, for he felt 
 there was more coming. At last she 
 spoke, but without looking up, tapping 
 restlessly on the floor the while with 
 the point of her parasol. 
 
 ' I hope you will excuse my asking 
 you about Mr. Heriot,' she said. ' You 
 know, I suppose, that, — he was once 
 engaged to me ? ' He gravely nodded 
 assent as she looked at him for a 
 moment, and she went on : ' Of course 
 that's all past now, and I am going 
 to, — to marry Mr. Hexham' — (here 
 she gave an awkward, nervous laugh) — 
 ' but you will understand, I think, that 
 I still, — that I must take some interest 
 in what he has been doing, and so I 
 thought that perhaps you might — you 
 know I have never quite understood 
 why he — why he should have — you 
 said you knew him fairly well ' 
 
352 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 Her voice died away, and somethiflg 
 dangerously like a sob rose into her 
 throat. The sound showed what agony 
 it must be to this shy, reserved girl to 
 lay bare the inmost recesses of her heart 
 to a comparative stranger. She was 
 forcing herself to speak, he could see, 
 humbling herself to a thing from which 
 her soul revolted. Every look, every 
 action recalled to him the occasion 
 months before when he had sat in Mrs. 
 Jones's drawing-room at Tatkin, goaded 
 by his insatiable yearning for fuller 
 knowledge into an abject condition of 
 inquisitiveness. He knew well enough 
 what it was that she wanted to know, 
 but for the life of him he did not see 
 how he could help her out, and it was 
 with a sense of inexpressible relief that 
 at that moment he heard the door-bell 
 ring again and fancied he recognised 
 his mother's voice in the hall. 
 
 The sound below served to spur 
 Miss Devant to speech. She broke 
 
XVIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 353 
 
 tRe silence, uttering her words with 
 effort, but swiftly, as though there were 
 no time to lose in saying what had to 
 be said. ' He must have had good 
 reasons. Tell me — there was a girl at 
 Tatkin, wasn't there, a sister of one of 
 the men there ? ' 
 
 ' Yes,' Waring made reply ; ' the 
 Deputy - Commissioner's sister, Miss 
 Smart.' 
 
 * Do you think he liked her ? ' 
 ' That I cannot say for certain.' 
 ' But what do you think ? You've 
 seen them together, I suppose.' 
 
 ' Yes, he certainly did admire her, 
 
 but of course ' and he broke off 
 
 with an indefinable sense of disquiet. 
 For a moment, as he pictured to him- 
 self Ethel in Heriot's company, he 
 could realise something of the anguish 
 his questioner must be feeling. 
 
 'Thanks, — that's all I wanted to 
 know. I was sure there must be some 
 good reason — I mean that that was 
 2 A 
 
354 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 why Did you say the name was 
 
 Smart ? ' 
 
 'Smart, — yes, Miss Smart,' said 
 Waring, as the door opened behind 
 him. 
 
 ' Mrs. and Miss Smart,' pronounced 
 the servant incisively, with an emphasis 
 on the Mrs., as though she were correct- 
 ing Waring, and the young man started, 
 with a burning face, to his feet, and 
 turned, to see Ethel and her mother 
 being ushered into the drawing-room. 
 
 The succeeding few minutes passed 
 by him as in a dream. He was but 
 half aware of how he stumbled through 
 the ceremony of introduction ; but across 
 the haze of swiftly rushing thoughts 
 came a vision of the deliberate search- 
 ing look that each of the girls gave as 
 he pronounced the two names, though, 
 as he was obliged to turn to speak to 
 Mrs. Smart, he felt rather than actually 
 perceived the mutual magnetic attrac- 
 tion the one had for the other. His 
 
xvin TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 355 
 
 first distinct recollection was of listening 
 to Mrs. Smart, who, seated on the sofa 
 at his side, was explaining in a plaintive 
 treble how it was that she and her 
 daughter had ventured to come in even 
 after they had heard that Mrs. and Miss 
 Waring were out, and of trying in a 
 kind of stupor to follow what she said 
 while eye and brain were concentrated 
 on the two girls, who had gravitated 
 instinctively towards each other, and of 
 whose talk he, ever and anon, caught 
 a fragment in the pauses between the 
 elder lady's slowly delivered sentences. 
 
 ' So, as we knew that you were in,' 
 said Mrs. Smart, ' and that your mother 
 would be back directly, and that there 
 was a lady waiting for her upstairs, 
 
 we thought ' and then his mind 
 
 wandered away, for he heard his sister's 
 name mentioned, and Miss Devant say, 
 ' She is going to be my bridesmaid, you 
 know,' and marked the note of startled 
 enquiry in Ethel's voice as she exclaimed, 
 
356 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' Bridesmaid ! What ! are you going to 
 be married ? ' And then Mrs. Smart's 
 insistent tones were borne in upon him 
 again, and he could only gather a dis- 
 jointed phrase of the girls' talk here and 
 there, such as — ' a Mr. Hexham ' — 
 ' Less than a week now ' — ' As soon as 
 that .? ' — ' Get it over soon ' — ' Suppose 
 I must congratulate you, then,' and ob- 
 serve that Ethel's voice waxed more 
 and more cheerful and her bright face 
 brighter as the conversation took its 
 onward course and new conceptions 
 dawned upon her. A fresh peal on 
 the door- bell roused him more fully 
 to himself, and he had just begun to 
 quake at the prospect of a further 
 feminine invasion, when a familiar 
 voice below told him that this time 
 it was without doubt his mother and 
 sister who had arrived. Mrs. and Miss 
 Waring's entrance was the signal for a 
 general redistribution of the assembled 
 company. Millicent lost no time in 
 
XVIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 357 
 
 seizing hold of Gertrude and leading 
 her away to a window to discuss a vital 
 point connected with the trimmings of 
 a hat ; and Waring, having entrusted to 
 his mother the task of entertaining Mrs. 
 Smart, who was only too ready to enter 
 into a second detailed explanation of her 
 reasons for having come into the house, 
 turned his own attention, with a sense 
 of duty nobly done, to Ethel. 
 
 ' I am very glad indeed that you 
 have been able to look us up,' he 
 exclaimed, sinking into a seat by 
 her side. ' I had a kind of presenti- 
 ment that you would call to-day. In 
 fact, that is partly the reason why I 
 stayed in.' 
 
 ' Did you stay in specially .? ' she 
 said. ' On such a lovely afternoon that 
 was indeed a sacrifice. In that case, I 
 am very glad we came in, although 
 your mother and sister were out. I 
 hope your mother does not mind.' 
 
 ' Not a bit. She would have been 
 
358 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 very disappointed if you had not come 
 in, and so, of course, should I.' 
 
 ' Thank you,' she smiled, and then 
 went on — ' What a very nice-looking 
 girl Miss Devant is. She is the Miss 
 Devant, I suppose ; I mean the one 
 Mr. Heriot used to be engaged to ? ' 
 
 ' Yes — the same.' 
 
 ' I thought it must be, — and yet I 
 could hardly believe it when she told 
 me she was going to be married. Isn't 
 it very sudden ? It can only be a short 
 time since her engagement to Mr. 
 Heriot was broken off.' 
 
 ' Yes. She certainly has been pretty 
 quick in getting engaged again, but of 
 course she has known Mr. Hexham for 
 a long time. He's the man she's en- 
 gaged to, you know.' 
 
 ' Yes, she told me. What is he 
 like } Anything like Mr. Heriot ? ' 
 
 ' Not in the least. A sandy-haired 
 brat of a boy, without an idea of his own. 
 I should like you to see and compare.' 
 
XVIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 359 
 
 ' Poor thing, I am sorry for her,' ex- 
 claimed Ethel. ' By the bye, I got a letter 
 from him a short time ago,' she added. 
 
 ' From Heriot ? ' 
 
 ' Yes. It came a day or two after 
 you were down at Crookholme. He 
 gives all kinds of news. He says 
 Captain Pym and Mr. Stevens got a 
 tiger the other day, — a man - eater. 
 They sat up all night to get him, and 
 were nearly bitten to death by mos- 
 quitoes. Mr. Stevens is back again 
 in Tatkin, you know. The Sparrows 
 are transferred to Bhamo, and another 
 married couple are coming in their 
 place, and, — let me see, what else did 
 he say ? ' 
 
 ' Did he say anything about coming 
 home shortly ? ' asked Waring, struck 
 with a sudden thought. 
 
 ' Yes,' said Ethel, looking up at him. 
 ' He has got his leave.' 
 
 ' Is he likely to be home soon, — I 
 mean within a week or two ? ' 
 
36o TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' Not that I know of; he did not 
 say. Why do you ask ? ' She looked 
 up at him again, this time with a look 
 of puzzled enquiry. 
 
 ' Oh, it's nothing, — merely curiosity 
 on my part,' returned Waring. He felt 
 that he could not tell her all the em- 
 barrassing thoughts that the news of 
 Heriot's early return to England had 
 conjured up in his mind ; and fortun- 
 ately there was no call for him to do 
 so. At this moment Miss Devant, 
 who had transacted her business with 
 Gertrude, and had shaken hands with 
 the two elder ladies, came up to them. 
 ' Good-bye, Mr. Waring,' she said. 
 
 ' What — are you off already .? ' he 
 exclaimed. 
 
 ' Yes. I haven't been long settling, 
 have I .? I am very busy, and I'm 
 afraid I can't stop to tea. Good-bye, 
 Miss Smart ; I'm delighted to have 
 made your acquaintance,' and she held 
 out her hand with a stiffness which 
 
XVIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 361 
 
 accorded but poorly with the gracious- 
 ness of the speech. 
 
 ' Good-bye,' said Ethel. ' I'm sure 
 I wish you every happiness.' 
 
 Millicent's lips moved in thanks, 
 and she turned away towards the 
 door. 
 
 Waring followed her downstairs and 
 stood by her in the hall, helping her to 
 collect a medley of small parcels which 
 she had left there. 
 
 ' That was a most marvellous co- 
 incidence,' she said impressively, with 
 her large eyes fixed upon him. 
 
 ' Wasn't it, by Jove ? ' returned 
 Waring. ' It quite took my breath 
 away, — just at the very moment that 
 we were talking about her ! ' 
 
 ' It was quite uncanny,' she said, 
 looking away with a shiver. Her 
 parcels were all collected ; he had 
 opened the front door for her, and 
 they had shaken hands. On the thresh- 
 old she stopped, and with her face 
 
362 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 still averted she murmured, ' Do you 
 think her pretty ? ' 
 
 ' Yes,' said Waring. 
 
 ' So do I. I think — I can under- 
 stand now, — why he broke it off. 
 Good-bye,' and with this tribute to 
 Miss Smart's charms, she left him to 
 his cogitations on the doorstep. 
 
 Ethel was talking brightly to his 
 sister when he rejoined the ladies in 
 the drawing-room, and during the rest 
 of her visit he had no opportunity of 
 resuming his conversation with her. 
 He was pleased to see, however, that 
 Gertrude seemed favourably impressed 
 with her brother's friend, and that Mrs. 
 Smart and his mother appeared to have 
 found interests in common. Still, even 
 this knowledge could not allay the un- 
 satisfactory feeling which the news of 
 Heriot's advent, coupled with Miss 
 Devant's parting words, had produced. 
 What was the fellow coming home 
 for just now — confound him ! And why 
 
XVIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 363 
 
 should he himself imagine that the 
 fellow's object was to marry Ethel ? 
 Was it because Millicent had found in 
 Ethel an answer to the question that 
 had been exercising her mind ? Was 
 it because Ethel was so radiant and so 
 well informed as to Heriot's move- 
 ments ? He could not say ; all he 
 could be sure of was that the unsatis- 
 factory feeling was there, and that it 
 detracted considerably from the pleasure 
 afforded him by Miss Smart's long- 
 expected visit. 
 
 Ethel and her mother left later 
 on, their shopping being completed, to 
 catch a train at Waterloo, and Waring 
 walked with them to the corner of the 
 street to show them exactly where they 
 would be picked up by the omnibus 
 that was to take them to the station. 
 Gertrude looked significantly at her 
 mother when they were alone together 
 after their guests had departed. Mrs. 
 Waring smiled a meaning smile back 
 
364 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 at her daughter, but said nothing. There 
 was no need for speech ; mother and 
 daughter had seen enough that after- 
 noon to perceive exactly how the land 
 lay with regard to a young man in 
 whom they were both interested. 
 
 ' It fully explains one thing that has 
 been puzzling me for the last few days,' 
 said Gertrude. 
 
 ' What is that ? ' 
 
 ' Why, that he should have suddenly 
 left off disliking red hair. It really is 
 a very pretty auburn.' 
 
 Mrs. Waring laughed. ' She seems 
 a nice, quiet girl,' was all she said. 
 
 ' He might have done worse.' 
 
 ' Though I don't think she will 
 make him as good a wife as Laura 
 Simmonds.' 
 
 ' Oh, bother Laura,' said Gertrude 
 impatiently ; ' he'll never look at her. 
 And how are we to know, mother, that 
 she, — she, I mean, will ever look at 
 him 1 There we go, talking as though 
 
XVIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 365 
 
 both parties had made up their minds. 
 There may be all kinds of complications. 
 I'm not sure yet that I can make out 
 where Millicent's faithless young man 
 comes in,' and then, unconsciously re- 
 echoing the sentiment to which Milli- 
 cent had shortly before given voice, she 
 added, ' I'm not at all certain, now that 
 I've seen her, that she, — she of course I 
 mean again — doesn't explain why it was 
 broken off.' 
 
 The two women sat for some time 
 in thought. To Gertrude, if not to 
 her mother, it seemed clear that the 
 case presented difficulties. In any case 
 there was a tacit understanding between 
 them that the subject was not to be 
 touched upon lightly. Thus it was 
 that on Waring's return home, although 
 he found himself rallied by his sister on 
 having been discovered surrounded, like 
 the giddiest of lady-killers, by a bevy of 
 fair dames in the drawing-room, he was 
 not, as he expected to be, chaffed by 
 
366 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING xviii 
 
 that ordinarily unmerciful young woman 
 for his devotion towards the younger of 
 his visitors from Crookholme. 
 
 Both mother and daughter, however, 
 called him severely to task for not having 
 told them that he had saved Miss Smart's 
 life in Burmah, and treated his assurance 
 that he had done nothing of the kind 
 with severe disdain. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 After what two of his visitors had 
 said about Heriot's coming to Eng- 
 land, Waring was in a manner pre- 
 pared for what the day following 
 Ethel's expedition to London had in 
 store for him. He had just come in 
 from his morning walk on that day, 
 and was in the act of settling down in 
 his den to a pipe and a novel when 
 his solitude was broken in upon by 
 the servant, with the information that 
 there was a gentleman in the hall who 
 wished to speak to him. Following on 
 the heels of the handmaiden, treading 
 with a firm leisurely tread over the oil- 
 cloth came the said gentleman, and, 
 even before his visitor's spare, straight 
 
368 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 form was visible, Waring had a vivid 
 foreknowledge of his identity. There 
 was a kind of fatality about the course 
 events were taking against which he 
 felt that he was powerless to struggle, 
 and he could only ejaculate rather help- 
 lessly when Heriot entered, ' I didn't 
 think you would be in England yet.' 
 
 ' You knew I was coming home, 
 then,' said Heriot, standing opposite 
 his friend, well-groomed, unruffled, and 
 sedate as ever, with the air (so it seemed 
 to Waring) of having been in England 
 for months. 
 
 ' Yes,' said Waring, ' Miss Smart 
 told me. She was here yesterday.' 
 
 ' Ah — Miss Smart. She was here 
 yesterday, was she ? I hope she is 
 well. She is at Crookholme still, I 
 suppose .? ' 
 
 He supposed she was still at Crook- 
 holme ! He did not know for certain 
 then ! That did not sound as if his 
 object in coming home was what 
 
XIX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 369 
 
 Waring dreaded. He must have been 
 mistaken after all, and a great load 
 seemed lifted off his heart as he said : 
 ' Yes. She came up yesterday for the 
 day only.' 
 
 ' H'm. That reminds me, I must 
 see her within the next few days, or 
 write to her,' and the visitor stood 
 thoughtfully jingling the silver in his 
 pockets, with his eyes on the hearth- 
 rug. * And how are you. Waring .? ' 
 he continued, looking up. ' Shoulder 
 all right by this time, I hope ? ' 
 
 * Quite fit and strong, thanks, and 
 having a very good time. How are 
 you ? You look uncommonly well. I 
 say, won't you sit down .? ' 
 
 ' No, thanks ; I'll stand if I may. 
 So you're having a good time ; that's 
 capital.' 
 
 ' First-rate, — never thought I should 
 enjoy a spring so much. You've come 
 in for the pick of the weather. What 
 are you home on ? ' 
 
 2 B 
 
370 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' Urgent private affairs — very urgent,' 
 and he laughed a short dry laugh as he 
 looked up again. ' I've got six months 
 to do them in too.' 
 
 ' Where are you staying .? ' 
 
 'At the Charing Cross Hotel. I'm 
 only in tow^n for a few days looking up 
 old friends, at least such of them as I 
 can find. May I light a cigarette .? ' 
 
 ' Do. You won't have a cheroot, 
 I suppose .? I have some Burmans 
 here.' 
 
 ' No, thanks ; I carry my own 
 tobacco about with me always.' He 
 lit his cigarette as he spoke, and, hold- 
 ing the match up, gazed at it pensively 
 while it flared itself out. ' It's nice to 
 get hold of a wax match again,' he said. 
 ' By the bye,' he added, as though the 
 thought had at the moment occurred 
 to him, ' talking of old friends, I think 
 you said once that you, — or your sister 
 — knew Miss Dudley-Devant ? ' 
 
 ' My sister, — yes, I did,' said Waring. 
 
XIX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 371 
 
 He was beginning to have an inkling 
 of how the land lay. 
 
 ' I suppose you have met her ? ' con- 
 tinued Heriot. ' She is up in town, I 
 believe.' 
 
 ' Yes, she is.' 
 
 ' You don't happen to know her 
 address, I suppose ? ' 
 
 ' No,' said Waring, slowly and with 
 deliberation, ' I don't.' 
 
 Such is the innate perversity of 
 certain pig-headed specimens of the 
 human breed ! What Waring said was 
 absolutely correct. He did not know 
 the address ; he had, so far as he could 
 recollect, never heard it, but perhaps it 
 is needless to say that it would not have 
 been a very difficult matter for him to 
 find it out for Heriot. His mother was 
 upstairs and knew it, he had no doubt ; 
 in any case there was a little red 
 morocco- bound book in the drawing- 
 room bearing the title Where is it ? 
 which would certainly have given it in 
 
372 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 a moment, for his sister kept it religi- 
 ously up to date ; and yet he made no 
 attempt to assist the Forest-OfBcer by 
 asking his mother or referring to the 
 address-book. And his refusal to help 
 was no act of stupid churlishness. Some 
 words that his sister had once uttered 
 came back to him now : ' I understand 
 that Mrs. Dudley-Devant is in a terrible 
 fright lest the old love should come 
 to England before the wedding and 
 Millicent should change her mind.' It 
 looked as if the worthy matron's appre- 
 hensions were about to be realised, and 
 if so, who, it might well be asked, 
 could wish them to be realised more 
 than he ? Yet for all this he held 
 his peace ; and the only reason he could 
 have assigned for so doing was that 
 his suspicion regarding the motive for 
 Heriot's question and the hope of the 
 advantage to himself that might come 
 of the meeting between Heriot and 
 Millicent seemed to make it a dis- 
 
XIX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 373 
 
 honourable thing for him to give the 
 address. It was precisely the same 
 mulish feeling that had silenced him 
 once before when in his heart of hearts 
 he would have liked to tell Ethel of 
 Heriot's engagement. 
 
 ' Ah, well, it's of no consequence,' 
 said Heriot, with a nonchalance that 
 showed that he had regained the perfect 
 command over his voice and features 
 that, as Waring remembered, he seemed 
 to have partially lost at Thonze. 
 ' There were some other addresses, 
 though, that I wanted to get out of 
 you. Let me see now, what were 
 they ? Ah yes, there was that skin- 
 man you told Pym about at Tatkin. 
 I've brought home a couple of leopard- 
 skins that I want done up, and your 
 friend would probably be the man for 
 me. Can you tell me where he lives .? ' 
 
 ' That I can,' replied Waring ; ' I've 
 got a bill of his somewhere,' and he 
 turned to search among the papers on 
 
374 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 his writing-table. ' It's not down here,' 
 he said presently, after a fruitless ex- 
 amination of several bundles. ' I'll tell 
 you where it is, though ; it's upstairs. 
 Do you mind waiting a minute while 
 I go up to my bedroom and fetch it .? 
 Make yourself comfortable while I am 
 gone, will you ? ' 
 
 Heriot watched the door close 
 behind Waring's back and, sitting 
 down, swore softly to himself. He 
 was evidently put out about something. 
 For a minute or two he sat puffing 
 moodily at his cigarette ; then, as 
 Waring did not return, he rose, and 
 taking from a shelf the first book 
 that came to hand, a copy of Shake- 
 speare's works, seated himself again, 
 opened it, and began to read. After 
 a while he stopped and gazed ab- 
 stractedly out over the volume at the 
 dreary black piles of bricks and mortar 
 visible outside the window. He had 
 just come by the merest chance across 
 
XIX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 375 
 
 a passage which he felt exactly repre- 
 sented his feelings at the moment. 
 They were well-known lines ; he was 
 pretty sure he had come across them 
 before, but never till now had they 
 appealed to him with such insistent 
 force. He read them through slowly 
 
 ° ' — For it so falls out 
 
 That what we have we prize not to the worth, 
 Whiles we enjoy it ; but being lacked and lost. 
 Why, then we rack the value ; then we find 
 The virtue that possession would not show us 
 Whiles it was ours. 
 
 He repeated the words softly to 
 himself two or three times, and then 
 drew a letter from his pocket and gazed 
 long and reflectively at the envelope. 
 If he could ever have looked pathetic, 
 he would have at that moment. He 
 was reviewing the past. 
 
 He had been engaged to Millicent 
 while in England on short leave some 
 two years before, about eighteen months 
 prior to the events chronicled on the 
 
376 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 earliest of these pages. He and the 
 young lady had seen very little of each 
 other before the engagement. Heriot's 
 leave terminated shortly after that 
 happy consummation was reached : his 
 pay was insufficient then to allow him 
 to support a wife ; and he had to bid 
 farewell to his betrothed for a period 
 of not less than two years, after an 
 acquaintance that barely extended over 
 a month in all. It may safely be said 
 that, when they parted for an indefinite 
 time, they were as devoted to each 
 other as two lovers well could be, and, 
 in Heriot's case, it was more than a 
 year before the inevitable reaction set in ; 
 but by the beginning of the previous 
 December he had begun to accept as 
 inevitable the knowledge that his ardour 
 had suffered a very appreciable diminu- 
 tion, the more appreciable as, with 
 Ethel's arrival at Tatkin, he was 
 brought in agreeable contact with a 
 fresh and, for him, particularly attract- 
 
XIX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 377 
 
 ive type of English girlhood. It was 
 the feeling he experienced as, day after 
 day, he saw more and more of the new- 
 comer, which told him first, not only 
 that there were other girls in the world 
 than Millicent Devant, but also that 
 there were other men than John Heriot; 
 for, as he reflected how readily he had 
 found that after all life without his 
 betrothed might be bearable, he began 
 to understand how easy, if not natural, 
 it must have been for Millicent to have 
 by that time made a corresponding 
 discovery. The thought led him, by 
 simple stages, to imagine that he de- 
 tected in Millicent's letters, now less 
 numerous than of yore, the cankering 
 growth of indifference under which he 
 himself lay, so that, when at length he 
 determined to free himself once for all 
 from the engagement, he felt charitably 
 sure that, whatever outward display of 
 reluctance the young lady might make, 
 she would at heart be only too glad to 
 
378 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 meet him half-way. He did not know 
 how the prospect of marriage with 
 Hexham (of old an importunate wooer), 
 which the helpless Millicent felt could 
 be the only other alternative, had served 
 to strengthen the bond that united her 
 to the man she loved. What had at 
 the best of times been for him a tie of 
 but moderate strength was for her the 
 cable that linked her to her anchor of 
 hope, the severing of which spelt ruin. 
 What she thought she did her best to 
 show in the letter a portion of which 
 we have read over Heriot's shoulder, 
 and, as we have seen, her cry for pity 
 he took for what he considered it was 
 worth. But it was soon after this that, 
 his bridges once burned behind him, 
 the revulsion set in that proved the 
 eternal truth of the lines he was at that 
 moment repeating to himself. For 
 some days after the decisive step had 
 been taken all his feelings were 
 swallowed up in the sense that Ethel 
 
XIX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 379 
 
 was the one woman in the world to 
 make him as happy as he deserved to 
 be, and, had it not been for Smart's 
 sudden death, there is no doubt that 
 he would have put a momentous 
 question to her before the close of the 
 expedition to Thonze, nor would there 
 be much difficulty in guessing what 
 the reply to that question would have 
 been. But, as it was, with the Deputy- 
 Commissioner's murder came delay, 
 and with delay came reflection, and 
 with reflection misgiving as to the 
 actual depth of his passion ; and with 
 the way made smooth with his only 
 possible rival removed from his path, 
 and with his prize daily within easy 
 reach, he began to discover that the 
 situation often failed to provide friction 
 sufficient to keep the warmth of his 
 admiration for Ethel at the glowing- 
 point, and soon found himself calling 
 regretfully to mind those virtues in 
 Millicent to which the sense of owner- 
 
38o TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ship had so obstinately blinded his eyes. 
 Thus it was that he said no word to 
 Ethel before she quitted Tatkin for 
 England, and let her go with but little 
 to support her fond hopes but the 
 recollection of past devotion and the 
 knowledge that the writing to her of 
 an occasional business-letter about her 
 brother's affairs would prevent her image 
 slipping entirely from his memory. 
 
 It is possible that, after she had gone, 
 the same forces might have operated to 
 endear Ethel as had made themselves 
 felt in the case of Millicent, had not 
 Heriot's renewed passion for the latter 
 been stimulated by the receipt of a copy 
 of an Isle of Wight newspaper setting 
 forth in a paragraph, carefully marked, 
 that a marriage had been arranged 
 between Miss Millicent Dudley-Devant, 
 daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert 
 Dudley-Devant of St. Cuthbert's, Vent- 
 nor, and Mr. Frederick Hexham of 
 Compton Hall, Shanklin. In this 
 
XIX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 381 
 
 delicate attention our friend thought he 
 detected the handiwork of Mrs. Devant, 
 who had throughout been opposed to 
 his suit, and might be expected to take 
 a malicious pleasure in proving to him 
 that the wound he had inflicted had not 
 been long in healing ; and the desire 
 to thwart her added fuel to the flames. 
 He would, however, have taken no 
 definite action had not a piteous letter, 
 — the letter he was holding in his hands 
 as he sat in Waring's chair — come from 
 Millicent, saying that she had learnt 
 what her mother had done, and assuring 
 him that her coming marriage was odious 
 to her, and that, so tar as he was con- 
 cerned, her feelings were unchanged. 
 This last communication brought for- 
 cibly home to Heriot what a power ot 
 stedfastness there was in the writer's 
 love for him. A quarter of an hour 
 after he had read it he had made out his 
 application for leave on urgent private 
 affairs (a death in the family afforded a 
 
382 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 suitable pretext), and before the middle 
 of April he had left Burmah for England, 
 with the intention of seeing the victim 
 before her marriage. 
 
 How to get speech with Millicent 
 before the eventful day was the problem 
 he had now set himself to solve, and he 
 found it by no means an easy one. His 
 first step on reaching London had been 
 to travel to Ventnor, and there try to 
 ascertain the latest news of Millicent ; 
 but, as events proved, his journey to the 
 Isle of Wight was practically fruitless. 
 A sprightly and communicative servant 
 at the house informed him, on enquiry, 
 that Mrs. and Miss Devant had gone to 
 London ; that she understood that Miss 
 Millicent was going to be married there 
 shortly, though exactly when she could 
 not say ; that she did not know the ad- 
 dress the ladies were stopping at in town, 
 though she dared say that he would like 
 to come in and see Mr. Devant, who, she 
 was sure, would be able to give him all 
 
XIX tREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 383 
 
 the information he required. Heriot 
 liked Millicent's father, and would 
 ordinarily have been ready enough to 
 have a chat with the elderly invalid ; but 
 for reasons of his own he had no wish 
 to see him on that particular occasion, 
 and left without giving his name, to 
 formulate a fresh plan of action in 
 London. It was not till after his return 
 to town that he suddenly remembered 
 that Waring's sister was acquainted with 
 Miss Devant, and that he might con- 
 ceivably be able to get the address from 
 his friend. He felt certain that Waring 
 would gladly further any action tending 
 to show that he was going to be left 
 alone in the running for the prize they 
 had both been competing for hitherto, 
 and he lost no time in looking him up. 
 He was surprised when the time came 
 to find his friend professing total ignor- 
 ance of Millicent's address ; but so sure 
 was he of Waring's perception of what 
 was to his own interest, that on hearing 
 
384 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 his emphatic denial he thought it mere 
 waste of valuable time to press him 
 further on the point. Now that he had 
 a second time been foiled, it was neces- 
 sary to consider his next move seriously ; 
 but, cast about him as he would, no 
 delicate inspiration came. He could 
 think of no one else in London who was 
 at all likely to be able to give him the 
 information he required regarding Miss 
 Devant's whereabouts. A reference to 
 their few common friends in the country 
 must of necessity involve delay, and 
 every moment, he felt, was inestimably 
 precious. It almost seemed as though 
 he would have to acknowledge himself 
 beaten. 
 
 Suddenly, as he thus chewed the cud 
 of bitter reflections, there came to him 
 guidance from an unexpected source in 
 the shape of a bustling young woman 
 who, entering rapidly after a perfunct- 
 ory knock, gave a low exclamation of 
 startled surprise as the receding smoke- 
 
XIX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 385 
 
 wreaths showed the figure in the arm- 
 chair to be not her brother but a distin- 
 guished stranger with dark hair slightly- 
 sprinkled with grey. 
 
 ' I beg your pardon,' she explained. 
 ' I thought my brother was here. I 
 imagined you were he for a moment. 
 Is he in ? I suppose you have come to 
 see him.' 
 
 ' It is I that should beg your pardon 
 for having startled you,' returned Heriot 
 rising. ' Yes, your brother is in ; he 
 has gone upstairs for a moment to get 
 me an address.' 
 
 ' Oh, that's all right. I suppose he 
 will be back again directly,' said Ger- 
 trude. "■ I must apologise,' she went on, 
 ' for rushing in so unceremoniously, but 
 I'm so busy just at present that I find 
 not a moment to spare for formalities.' 
 
 ' Ah,' observed Heriot, ' it seems to 
 me that everybody is horribly busy in 
 England. You are no exception, 1 can 
 assure you.' 
 
 2 c 
 
386 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' Oh, but I'm extra busy just now 
 getting ready for a wedding, you see. 
 I'm bridesmaid, you know, and really 
 with one thing and another I don't know 
 which way to turn.' 
 
 ' Bridesmaid ! Ah, Miss Dudley- 
 Devant's wedding, I suppose,' said 
 Heriot, tossing the end of his cigarette 
 into the fire and facing Gertrude with 
 his hands behind his back. The idea 
 came to him with a flash of inspiration. 
 
 ' Yes,' returned Gertrude, * I suppose 
 
 you ' and then a sudden perception 
 
 of who the visitor was and what his 
 presence at this eventful epoch might 
 mean swept over her, and she stopped 
 short with a very near approach to a 
 gasp. 
 
 ' To be sure,' exclaimed Heriot, 
 pursuing his advantage with airy grace, 
 ' I know her well ; I may say very well. 
 In fact, curiously enough, one of the 
 reasons I came here for was to find out 
 her address in town in order to present 
 
XIX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 387 
 
 my congratulations. Can you by any 
 chance tell me where she is stopping 
 now ? ' 
 
 ' Number eleven Roxburghe Gar- 
 dens,' replied Gertrude glibly. She did 
 not stop to consider what the result of 
 the disclosure might be. She mentally 
 compared the tall well -looking man 
 who stood before her with the misbe- 
 gotten puppy to whom Millicent was 
 doomed to be united, and resolved that, 
 come what would, it should not be her 
 fault if her friend had not a full and free 
 choice given her, were it at the eleventh 
 hour. She even went so far as to add 
 gratuitously : ' I am going to meet her 
 directly after lunch at the corner of 
 Oxford Street and Bond Street for some 
 shopping.' 
 
 ' Many thanks,' exclaimed Heriot. 
 ' I shall not forget the address.' 
 
 He was not likely to forget it. He 
 had got what he wanted, but only just 
 in time. A moment later, before the 
 
388 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 words had died away from the speaker's 
 lips, Waring appeared, full of apologies 
 at having been away so long, but with 
 the naturalist's address, which Heriot 
 made some show of taking down in his 
 pocket-book, though any one who had 
 looked over his shoulder while he wrote 
 would have made the discovery that the 
 address noted was not the one that 
 Waring had just read out to him, but 
 another in Roxburghe Gardens. 
 
 ' I'm sure I'm very much obliged,' 
 he exclaimed, shutting his note-book 
 with a snap when he had written what 
 he wanted. ' It will probably save me 
 a deal of trouble,' and for the rest of his 
 stay he made no secret to Waring of the 
 fact that he was on very much better 
 terms with himself than he had been 
 ten minutes before. He did not, how- 
 ever, stop long, for very soon after 
 Gertrude had gone upstairs, wonder- 
 ing, with a delightful sense of guilt, 
 what was to come of all this, he rose to 
 
XIX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 389 
 
 go, refusing Waring's invitation to lunch 
 on the ground that he had an im- 
 portant engagement immediately after 
 that meal, some little distance away. 
 
 ' By the way, will you dine with me 
 at the Criterion to-morrow at half-past 
 seven, old man ? ' he said with his hand 
 on Waring's shoulder as he took his 
 leave. ' I want to see something of 
 you.' 
 
 And Waring said ' Yes,' though, if 
 the truth be told, he was not par- 
 ticularly anxious to go. Heriot's over- 
 tures were friendly, almost affectionate, 
 but Waring was not sure enough, even 
 yet, of the Forest-Officer's intentions 
 to feel very desirous for much of his 
 company. He almost wished he had 
 given him Millicent's address. It might 
 have saved him a deal of trouble. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 ' By the way,' said Waring, ' I have 
 never yet asked you what the result of 
 the trial was. What did they all get ? 
 I mean the beggars that were tried for 
 Smart's murder.' 
 
 He was sitting opposite to Heriot at 
 a small table in the Criterion Restaurant, 
 sipping his coffee to the accompaniment 
 of an excellent cigar, while assiduous 
 waiters glided past his chair, and the 
 unrestrained babel of the diners around 
 him mingled with the clatter of their 
 dining in his ears. The hour was 
 nine, the concluding courses of an irre- 
 proachable meal had brought with them 
 a serenely beatific frame of mind, and 
 to the general feeling of placid content 
 
XX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 391 
 
 induced by his dinner was added the 
 pleasing sense of temptation success- 
 fully defied, which the sight of his 
 silent but attentive host kept ever 
 before him. Earlier in the evening 
 he had been moved to wonder from 
 time to time whether, after all, he had 
 rightly interpreted Heriot's desire to 
 get hold of Miss Devant's address, and 
 whether, supposing he were mistaken, 
 his own love-affair was going to be as 
 simple a matter as it had promised to 
 be the day before ; and his wonder 
 increased when, believing that the time 
 for action must have passed, he had 
 given Heriot what he thought would 
 be a piece of news — namely, that 
 Millicent was going to be married the 
 next day, and had found his friend un- 
 feignedly indifferent or at most regard- 
 ing the information as food for smiling 
 reflection. After dinner, however, there 
 was no room in his mind for plaguy 
 thoughts as to what Heriot still felt to- 
 
392 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 wards Ethel. He was now surer than ever 
 that he had not been mistaken the day 
 before as to Heriot's designs, and began 
 to recognise that, in giving him so excel- 
 lent a meal, his host was acting most 
 nobly towards one whom he might well 
 suspect of having helped to thwart them. 
 
 Heriot looked up from his plate at 
 Waring's question. ' The case was 
 finished after you left, was it ? ' said he. 
 ' I had forgotten that. Well, they hadn't 
 enough evidence for anything, soeveryone 
 of the lot they arrested was discharged.' 
 
 ' Couldn't they prove anything 
 against the disappointed claimant — 
 what's his name .? — Maung Waik .? ' 
 
 ' Absolutely nothing. His charm- 
 ing nephew tried hard to make out that 
 the gun found on the dacoit who was 
 shot was his uncle's, but he could get 
 nobody to speak to it definitely, and our 
 friend got off.' 
 
 ' Do you think he really had nothing 
 to do with it 1 ' 
 
XX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 393 
 
 ' I doubt it. My own opinion is 
 that the man whom the sentry shot, if 
 not Bo Chet himself, was hiding in 
 Maung Waik's house a good bit of the 
 time we were in Thonze, and that 
 Maung Waik put them up to the job ; 
 but Mullintosh said that he could get 
 no conclusive evidence to prove it. If 
 they were there, they must have lain 
 very low for the nephew to know 
 nothing about it.' 
 
 ' Could nothing be got out of the 
 man who was shot ? ' 
 
 'They tried to pump him before he 
 died, — trust Mullintosh to badger the 
 poor beggar to the last, — but it was no 
 good, as of course you heard. He 
 would say nothing.' 
 
 ' What did they give the policeman 
 who shot him ? ' 
 
 ' A first-class constableship and a 
 reward — I'm not sure how much, but at 
 any rate it was enough to allow of his 
 giving a most gorgeous pwe at Thonze. 
 
394 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 The show came off the last day of the 
 Sessions, and the first thing Maung Waik 
 and party did on their release was to 
 hurry off to the village, so as to be 
 in time for it. I believe they were 
 more exercised in their minds over the 
 prospect of losing the fun there than 
 over anything else connected with their 
 imprisonment.' 
 
 ' Well, it's a comfort they have got 
 some change out of the gang. Poor 
 old Smart ! Have you wound up his 
 affairs by this time ? ' 
 
 ' Not quite, but very nearly. There 
 are one or two things to do still, but 
 they can keep till the end of the year 
 when I go out again, — that's to say, if 
 I do go out again. If not, I must ask 
 you to do them.' 
 
 ' If you do go out again ! Is there 
 any chance of your not going ? ' 
 
 ' It's just possible that I may not ; in 
 fact, I may say it's very possible. It de- 
 pends on circumstances. I had an uncle.' 
 
XX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 395 
 
 ' Oh ! ' said Waring and sat waiting, 
 in case Heriot should think fit to ex- 
 plain this not over-lucid statement. 
 He did not, however, deign to do so, 
 but went on, as though desirous of 
 avoiding an explanation. 'Which re- 
 minds me that I want you to do some- 
 thing for me. Waring.' 
 
 ' And that is ' 
 
 ' I suppose you will be seeing Miss 
 Smart again before long.' 
 
 ' I suppose so,' returned Waring, 
 conscious of the faintest flush as he 
 looked at his interlocutor. 
 
 Heriot drew a square, thickish packet 
 from his pocket. ' I had hoped,' he 
 said, tapping the table-cloth gently 
 with it as he spoke, ' to go down myself 
 to Crookholme and make this little parcel 
 over to Miss Smart, but I am not at all 
 sure now that I shall be able to do so 
 before, — well, before you are able. I 
 should particularly like to have it de- 
 livered personally, and what I want to 
 
396 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 know is whether you will undertake 
 postman's duty. It contains papers of 
 Smart's which will certainly be of 
 interest and may be of value to the 
 Smart family. I have addressed the 
 packet to Miss Smart, not being per- 
 sonally acquainted with her estimable 
 father ; but of course, if you take charge 
 of it, you may use your discretion as to 
 which member of the family it goes 
 to. Would you care to make yourself 
 responsible .? Of course I should be 
 obliged if you would. There is no 
 hurry about it ; any time will do. In 
 any case there's a note for Miss Smart 
 in the parcel which I should like her 
 to have.' 
 
 ' I will take it to Miss Smart,' said 
 Waring, holding out his hand for the 
 packet. His heart gave a bound, for 
 he believed that by this act Heriot 
 intended to show once and for all that 
 he had renounced all claim to be con- 
 sidered a claimant for Ethel's hand. 
 
XX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 397 
 
 * Mind, I don't want it to be sent 
 by post,' said Heriot, giving the packet 
 to Waring. 
 
 ' All right,' returned Waring ; ' I 
 will see that it is safely delivered.' 
 Emboldened by this mark of confidence, 
 he was about to ask Heriot what it was 
 that made him think it very possible 
 that he would not return to Burmah 
 when his attention was diverted to the 
 last of a party of three gilded youths in 
 spotless raiment who had risen from a 
 table some little distance from them, 
 and were filing past the one at which he 
 and Heriot sat. There was something 
 familiar in the young man's features, 
 and for a moment he wondered where 
 it was that he had seen them before ; 
 then, as the object of his scrutiny turned 
 a vacant glance towards him and the 
 recognition became mutual, he ex- 
 claimed, ' Why, it's young Hexham ! ' 
 
 It was indeed young Hexham, not a 
 little exhilarated by his dinner. ' Hullo, 
 
398 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 Waring,' he cried, ' how are you, old 
 chap ? How's, — how's, — bridesmaid ? ' 
 
 The last word came out with an 
 effort, which betokened that his tongue 
 was proving itself even at this early 
 stage of the evening an unruly member. 
 The speaker came up to the table 
 unsteadily and leant over the back of 
 one of the unoccupied chairs. His 
 round eyes were fixed and glassy, but 
 the wine had loosened his tongue. He 
 had been transformed suddenly, from 
 the restless conciliatory youth Waring 
 had seen a few days before, into a 
 reckless, voluble, young debauchee. 
 
 ' The bridesmaid is very well,' re- 
 turned Waring shortly. ' You seem to 
 be having a good time of it here, young 
 man ; making the most of your oppor- 
 tunities, I suppose.' 
 
 ' Yes, going strong, thanks. Got 
 couple o' chaps dining with me here 
 to-night, — having final bust, — last day 
 of bach — bachelorship, y' know — hood 
 
XX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 399 
 
 I mean, not ship. I know, — I'm all 
 right. I say, you chaps,' and he turned 
 half round to where he imagined his 
 brace of boon -companions would be, 
 ' let me introduce you bride, — brides- 
 maid's, — brother, — hullo, where the 
 devil have they gone to ? ' 
 
 The couple referred to had marched 
 steadily on, without noticing that their 
 host had stopped, till they reached the 
 door, where they halted and began 
 looking round the room with preter- 
 naturally solemn faces for their missing 
 comrade. 
 
 ' They are waiting for you,' said 
 Waring, only thinking of how to get 
 rid of the bridegroom elect with all 
 expedition ; ' we'd better not be keep- 
 ing you. Good-bye ; I shall see you 
 to-morrow.' 
 
 ' Oh, they're all right,' returned Hex- 
 ham nonchalantly. ' They'll find their 
 way to the Empire right enough by 
 themselves. You chaps come too. Have 
 
400 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 a drink though first — must have a drink 
 — last day of bach — bach — can't get my 
 tongue round these beastly words, but 
 you know well enough what I mean, 
 don't you ? ' He sank into the chair 
 he was leaning on and, resting his elbows 
 on the table and his chin on his hands, 
 looked at Waring, and then away from 
 Waring to Heriot. ' Introduce me 
 friend,' he said, turning suddenly to 
 Waring. ' Friend must have drink 
 too.' 
 
 Waring gazed in desperation towards 
 the door, but Hexham's associates had 
 vanished. It looked as if they were 
 going to be saddled with this strayed 
 reveller for the night. ' This is Mr. 
 Heriot,' he said. ' I daresay you may 
 have heard about him.' 
 
 ' Heriot ! I should think so,' ejacu- 
 lated Hexham. ' Pleased — meet you, 
 Heriot — most pleased,' and he leant 
 over the table and shook the Forest- 
 Officer effusively by the hand. ' En- 
 
XX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 401 
 
 gaged Mil — Millicent once upon a 
 time ; I know all 'bout you.' 
 
 Waring was by this time so used 
 to Heriot's doing exactly the reverse 
 of what anybody else would do that 
 he was hardly surprised when his com- 
 panion returned Hexham's salutation 
 with apparent fervour, saying with thinly 
 veiled sarcasm, ' Ah, this is indeed an 
 unexpected honour.' 
 
 ' That's right,' exclaimed Hexham. 
 ' No ill-will — that's right. Never do 
 to bear will — ill-will.' For a moment 
 he seemed to be trying to collect his 
 thoughts and sat silent with his face in 
 his hands, then looking up at Heriot 
 he continued : 'All same you're precious 
 fool — chuck that girl over. Simple 
 ripper, I can tell you. Going to 
 t'morrow her to-m — marry her t'mor- 
 row, I should say. Not t'morrow yet, 
 I suppose,' and he plucked a watch 
 from his pocket and gazed at it with 
 lack-lustre eye. 
 
 2 D 
 
402 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' Ah, then I must congratulate you,' 
 replied Heriot in the same calm voice, 
 while Waring hurriedly interposed with, 
 ' I say, Hexham, those fellows will be 
 waiting for you.' 
 
 But Hexham was recalcitrant. He 
 sat for some time glaring emptily in 
 front of him, and then, ' I'm not going 
 without you two chaps,' he asserted 
 stoutly. ' Told you already those other 
 chaps all right. Both as drunk as 
 can be, but quite able look after 
 themselves ; find 'em at the Empire 
 or somewhere. We'll go after 'em 
 directly, but must have a drink with 
 Heriot first, to show no ill-will.' 
 
 He seemed to have conceived a sudden 
 affection for Heriot (who in a moment 
 entered into the spirit of the comedy), 
 and would not quit the table till he had 
 extorted a promise from them both to 
 come with him and have a drink below, 
 and when they had left the restaurant 
 clung lovingly to the Forest- Officer's 
 
XX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 403 
 
 arm, while the latter piloted him out 
 into the open and across the road to the 
 nearest music-hall in the expectation of 
 being able there to make him over to 
 his guests. But the wandering pair 
 were not there, and, once inside, Hexham 
 insisted on stopping to see a portion of 
 the entertainment and drinking whisky 
 and soda-water with his companions to 
 an extent which rendered his condition 
 more distressing than ever. Waring 
 had scant pity for the young fool whom 
 fate had chosen to inflict upon him ; 
 but as the evening slipped on and 
 Heriot plied Hexham ever more and 
 more with liquor and made himself 
 ever more and more agreeable, he tried 
 to interpose, though in vain. An ad- 
 journment to another place of entertain- 
 ment in search of the missing couple 
 was proposed by Hexham and acquiesced 
 in by Heriot. Waring demurred, and 
 hinted at its being time for all concerned 
 to go home, but a whisper from Heriot, 
 
404 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 — ' Stop a bit and see me through with 
 him ; he won't be long now ' — prevailed 
 on him to remain and watch the affair 
 out, as much in Hexham's interests as in 
 those of his elder companion. The 
 attempt to run the lost ones to earth at 
 another music-hall (for which Hexham 
 asserted roundly that they had arranged 
 to take tickets) bore no fruit ; but the 
 complacent youth was little moved at 
 the poor success of the search, and 
 again sought consolation in the flowing 
 bowl with such assiduity that towards 
 the end he threatened to become uproari- 
 ous, and Waring had a vision, as the 
 audience streamed out of the building 
 at the close of the performance, of 
 his being with difficulty restrained by 
 Heriot from violently avenging some 
 imaginary insult on a cheerful individual 
 with a red face and a powerful command 
 of the vernacular. They took the bride- 
 groom elect between them when they 
 were in the street, and having, after 
 
XX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 405 
 
 much argument, persuaded him that 
 there was nothing more to see, and 
 that, all things considered, he might do 
 worse than go to bed, prevailed on him 
 to walk, with them to the address in 
 Jermyn Street he gave, instead of, as he 
 wished, traversing the couple of hundred 
 yards or so to the spot in a hansom. 
 
 ' You'll come in and have a drink — 
 lots of stuff upstairs,' he said thickly, 
 as they stood together opposite the house, 
 and when they both declined, he ex- 
 claimed : ' P'raps you're right — won't 
 do — mustn't do — drink too much jus' 
 before wedding. Is it t'morrow yet ? ' 
 
 Heriot referred to his watch and 
 assured him that the eventful day had 
 arrived. 
 
 ' Well, see you t'morrow — no, not 
 t'morrow — t'morrow morning I mean. 
 Don't f'get bring bridesmaid, Waring. 
 You too, Heriot, old man, must come, 
 y' know, f rold sake's sake.' 
 
 ' I'm afraid I can't,' said Heriot. ' I 
 
4o6 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 leave town to - morrow, — to-day, I 
 mean.' 
 
 ' Put it off, put it off,' urged Hexham. 
 ' Must come t'wedding — shan't go up- 
 stairs till you say you're coming t'wed- 
 ding.' 
 
 But Heriot was firm, turning a deaf 
 ear to the young Bacchanalian's assertion 
 that he must still bear a grudge against 
 him if he would not come to see him 
 married ; and the bridegroom, finding 
 that blandishment and obloquy were 
 alike of no avail, staggered up the steps 
 and disappeared through the door, 
 showering benedictions on his two 
 guardians as he went. 
 
 The two guardians turned slowly 
 away when the door had shut behind 
 Hexham and passed without a word into 
 a quiet street leading towards Charing 
 Cross. As they paced together over the 
 pavement Waring was reminded irre- 
 sistibly of the evening when Heriot 
 and he had walked together from the 
 
XX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 407 
 
 Tatkin mess to dine with the Smarts. 
 It was a balmy night. The moon hung 
 motionless amid fleecy clouds overhead, 
 and the distant whirr of traffic on the 
 still crowded thoroughfares behind them 
 seemed a kind of urban parody of the 
 cicada's ceaseless note. 
 
 ' To think that that young sweep is 
 to marry Miss Devant in a few hours' 
 time,' cried Waring impatiently. He 
 was angry with himself now for having 
 refused to give Heriot the information 
 which might have saved Millicent, and 
 with Heriot for bowing so readily and with 
 so good a grace to the tide of circum- 
 stance. ' I'm precious sorry for the girl.' 
 
 Heriot made no comment on this 
 outburst, but gave a sigh, whether of 
 despondency or of relief at having rid 
 himself of Hexham, Waring could not 
 say. They walked silently on till they 
 reached the corner of the street and 
 were aware of a belated hansom bearing 
 steadily down upon them. Waring 
 
4o8 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 signed to the driver, and the vehicle 
 drew up on the roadway opposite them. 
 ' Good-night,' he said abruptly to Heriot. 
 ' I think I shall drive home.' He felt 
 he could not say more at the moment, 
 but he shook his friend's hand with a 
 grasp that spoke volumes. 
 
 ' Good-night,' said Heriot automatic- 
 ally, and as Waring stood with one 
 foot on the step of the hansom about to 
 get in he added, ' I think you will find 
 that she is not so very much to be pitied 
 after all.' 
 
 An hour later Waring was in bed, 
 in his dreams delivering and again and 
 again re-delivering a shadowy packet at 
 a certain white-walled country rectory ; 
 but for Heriot there was no sleep that 
 night. He walked slowly back to his 
 hotel, changed his dress-clothes for a 
 sober suit of grey, and till daybreak was 
 occupied in his bedroom in writing and 
 packing his bag. Early dawn found 
 
XX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 409 
 
 him shaved, alert, and unwearied, with 
 a formidable pile of letters on his table 
 as evidence of his labours, and soon after 
 sunrise he strolled across Charing Cross 
 Bridge towards Waterloo, his footsteps 
 ringing clear in the empty morning air 
 as he paced along the silent footway. 
 Arrived at the labyrinthine South- 
 western terminus, where his bag was 
 consigned to the custody of a yawning 
 porter, he made his way to the booking- 
 otfice, demanded a ticket, — on second 
 thoughts, two tickets, — to Ventnor, 
 pocketed them, and took up his position 
 at the steps outside where the vehicles 
 for the main line drive up to deposit 
 their passengers, waiting, with his 
 customary solace between his lips, for 
 some one to arrive. He had to renew 
 this solace several times, for none of the 
 cabs that drove up to the steps during 
 the next hour brought any interest for 
 him, and as the minutes slipped by his 
 equanimity seemed to filter away. He 
 
410 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 began to show signs of impatience, took 
 to striding firmly up and down, referred 
 several times to his watch, the hands of 
 which were creeping on towards half- 
 past six, and at last, as though despair- 
 ing of the arrival of the person he was 
 expecting, turned in through the book- 
 ing-office on the main-line platform, — 
 there to make the discovery that other 
 and wiser people have in their day 
 made, that Waterloo is of all Metro- 
 politan stations the most fatal for mak- 
 ing appointments at. He had not stood 
 looking about him for more than ten 
 seconds before a thickly veiled figure in 
 a long dark cloak moved shyly forward, 
 and a moment later there was a glance 
 of mutual recognition. 
 
 He raised his hat. ' How long have 
 you been here ? ' he asked. 
 
 ' About a quarter of an hour,' was 
 the reply. ' I've been looking about 
 everywhere for you.' 
 
 ' I was outside there,' he said. ' I 
 
XX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 411 
 
 thought you would drive up at those 
 steps. I was afraid you hadn't been 
 able to pull it off after all.' 
 
 ' I didn't come that way ; they 
 brought me in to quite a different part 
 of the station.' 
 
 ' Ah, that's because you didn't tell 
 them the main line. Well, never mind, 
 better late than never. You have five 
 minutes yet before the train starts. I've 
 got your ticket. Is that bag all you've 
 brought ? ' 
 
 ' That's all ; I had no time to col- 
 lect more things. It was terribly risky. 
 I don't know now how I managed to 
 slip away without the servants hearing 
 me. I'm sure the banging of the front 
 door behind me must have disturbed 
 some of them, and I had ever so far to 
 walk before I could get a cab.' 
 
 ' I ought to have met you at the 
 house,' he said. ' Have you had any- 
 thing to eat ? ' 
 
 ' No. I should have got something 
 
412 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 at the refreshment-room, if I hadn't 
 been afraid of missing you. I should 
 like something.' There was a sound of 
 tears in the voice behind the veil, and a 
 white ungloved hand fumbled nervously 
 with a pocket-handkerchief, 
 
 ' All right, I'll get you something,' 
 he exclaimed. ' This is your train and 
 here's your ticket. If you get into the 
 carriage I'll fetch you some tea or 
 something. Don't bother about the 
 bag ; I'll see about that when I come 
 back.' 
 
 She was seated in a first-class com- 
 partment when he returned to her with 
 a cup of coffee and a roll, which he 
 watched her consume, standing at the 
 carriage- door. 'You're better now, 
 aren't you .? ' he said tenderly, when 
 she had finished the coffee and was 
 drawing the veil down over her face 
 again. ' No need to keep that veil 
 down,' he added. ' It makes you look 
 terribly funereal with that cloak ; they 
 
XX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 413 
 
 will be putting you out at Brookwood 
 if you don't take care.' 
 
 She smiled a weary smile at this 
 sally. ' I'm bright enough underneath,' 
 she said, drawing up her cloak a few 
 inches and displaying a hand's-breadth 
 of the brightest of skirts below its lower 
 edge. 
 
 ' By Jove you are, and no mistake ! ' 
 he ejaculated. ' What dress is that ? 
 It's surely not your ' 
 
 ' Yes, it's my going-away dress. It's 
 sweet, isn't it ? ' And, as though re- 
 vived by the coffee, she regarded it 
 pensively. ' Gertude Waring helped 
 me choose it. It was the only thing I 
 had to put on ; there was nothing but 
 it and my wedding-dress in the room 
 with me. I couldn't get at anything else 
 without disturbing mother. She was 
 sleeping next door, you know. It seems 
 wrong, doesn't it ? But of course there 
 was nothing else to be done. I couldn't 
 wear my wedding-dress.' 
 
414 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 Heriot chuckled softly to himself 
 and drew up the cloak so as to have a 
 more unimpeded view of the glories of 
 the skirt. ' Of course there was nothing 
 else to be done,' he said. ' By the bye, 
 Millicent,' he added, looking up sud- 
 denly, ' that reminds me ; I've just left 
 a friend of yours, — well, not just ; it's 
 several hours ago now, but it seems 
 only a few minutes.' 
 
 ' Who .? Where .? Mr. Waring, I 
 suppose. You were dining with him 
 last night, weren't you ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, but I don't mean him. Some- 
 body a good deal more interested in 
 you than Waring.' 
 
 ' Not Freddy Hexham, surely ! ' 
 
 'The very same.' 
 
 ' Oh, Jack ! Where ? 
 
 ' At the Criterion.' 
 
 ' Was he dining there .? He didn't 
 tell me.' 
 
 ' I should think he was,' 
 
 ' Did he see you ,? ' 
 
XX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 415 
 
 ' Yes.' 
 
 ' And speak to you ? ' 
 
 ' Of course.' 
 
 ' And knew who you were ? ' 
 
 'To be sure. Who was I that I 
 should wish to conceal my identity ? 
 Really, Millicent, I must commiserate 
 you on having lost such a jewel. Such 
 spirits ! such a flow of language ! and 
 so passionately devoted to your humble 
 servant ! He was quite unhappy because 
 I said I couldn't come to his wedding, 
 — going to be married to-day, if you 
 please ! Honestly now, Millicent, have 
 you really considered all you are giving 
 up for me ? Think it over now, and if 
 you still ' 
 
 ' Don't, please don't ! Did he really 
 talk so much .? I suppose then, that he 
 was ' 
 
 'Delightfully so ! Don't blame him ; 
 in that particular state he is really 
 fascinating — one in a million.' 
 
 ' Please don't talk about him,' cried 
 
4i6 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 the girl with a shudder. ' He had no 
 suspicion of what we were going to do, 
 had he ? ' 
 
 ' Bless his innocent heart, no ; not a 
 shadow. If you had seen his effusive 
 affection for me you wouldn't ask that 
 question.' 
 
 ' One never knows. Do you know, 
 when I did sleep last night I did nothing 
 but dream he was coming after me .? 
 Jack, I'm frightened to go down by my- 
 self ! Can't you come with me .? ' 
 
 ' Impossible.' 
 
 ' Do you think so really ? Of course 
 you know best ; but it does seem to 
 me that there would be no harm in 
 your coming too, — in another carriage, 
 — can't you ? ' 
 
 ' Quite out of the question. It would 
 never do ; it would look exactly like 
 that most improper thing, an elope- 
 ment, and you know I wish to avoid all 
 occasion for a scandal. We must go 
 down separately. Keep your heart up ; 
 
XX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 417 
 
 you will be home by noon. I have lots 
 to do in town before I follow you.' 
 
 ' Very well ; I'll do as you wish. 
 You'll telegraph to Father to say I'm 
 coming, won't you .? And you'll let 
 Mother know where I am ; I don't 
 want her to imagine all kinds of things. 
 I ought to have left a note to say where 
 I was going, only I hadn't time.' 
 
 ' I'll see to that. I'll write a note 
 at the hotel and take it round myself 
 to Roxburghe Gardens. There will be 
 time to do that before my train ' 
 
 ' What is it .? ' she asked, clutching 
 the arm that rested on the carriage- 
 window. He had stopped and was gaz- 
 ing down the platform at something she 
 could not see from where she sat. 
 
 ' Nothing,' he said, turning an im- 
 passive face towards her. ' You needn't 
 be frightened. Your train ought to be 
 off by this time,' he continued, after a 
 pause of a brief duration which he 
 occupied in tapping the pavement nerv- 
 2 E 
 
4i8 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ously with his foot. ' You're overdue ; 
 I never saw^ anything like this Hne for 
 
 unpunc ah ! there's the w^histle, 
 
 good, you're off now^ ! Au revoir ; be 
 brave, I shall see you this afternoon.' 
 
 ' George ! ' exclaimed an individual 
 in green corduroy and a scarlet necktie 
 to a comrade, as the train snorted out of 
 the station. ' S'welp me, George ! that 
 chap's missed 'is train after all.' At this 
 early hour business w^as slack and the 
 porters had ample time to take an intelli- 
 gent interest in their surroundings. 
 
 * Who ? ' enquired George, stopping 
 in his manipulation of a milk-can to 
 gaze in the direction of the first speaker's 
 eyes. ' What chap ? ' 
 
 ' 'Im in a grey suit with a cigarette 
 out yonder under the clock. 'Im as was 
 talkin' to that girl and brought 'er a cup 
 of tea just now.' 
 
 ' Missed 'is train,' was the scornful 
 rejoinder, ' plucky lot of trains 'e's 
 
XX TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 419 
 
 missed ! 'E wouldn't be walkin' away 
 so peaceful if 'e'd missed 'is train. 'E 
 was seeing 'er off, that's all.' 
 
 ' What did 'e buy two tickets for 
 then ? ' 
 
 ' Did 'e buy two ? Never ! ' 
 
 ' Straight, 'e did ; I see 'im at the 
 bookin'-office with two ; and just now he 
 took two tickets out of 'is pocket, and 
 give the girl one, and put back the other.' 
 
 ' P'raps the other was for the old girl 
 'e's talkin' to now,' hazarded George. 
 * That's what it is. There, d'yer see 'er, 
 just by the cloak-room ? Fat old thing, 
 only just come up, might be the mother 
 of the girl 'e's just seen off. She don't 
 like losin' trains any way. Lor', ain't 
 she givin' it 'im 'ot ! Just as though it 
 was 'is fault she come too late. Just 
 like a woman ! Not that 'e minds, 
 though ; takes it calm and sweet enough, 
 don't 'e ? Take a lot to ruffle that 
 bloke, I'll lay. Come along, 'ere's the 
 six thirty-three.' 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 It was the end of May, the season when 
 the horse-chestnuts at Crookholme were 
 laden to their heaviest with blossom. 
 The tree which decked one corner of 
 the rectory's sloping lawn, near the 
 confines of the orchard, had broidered 
 its robe of soft bright green with a 
 pattern of purest white spikes, and stood 
 bearing more vivid testimony to the 
 power of summer's breath than even the 
 noble beeches, or the limes that fringed 
 the road above the front gate. Ethel 
 was wandering slowly up and down 
 where the shadows cast by the afternoon 
 sun chequered grass and gravel. She 
 held a branch of horse-chestnut in her 
 hand, a half-dozen or so of tender 
 
XXI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 421 
 
 wrinkled leaves surmounted by a delicate 
 cone of flowers, but she was not looking 
 at the spoil she had just gathered on 
 tiptoe from the drooping boughs. She 
 was in the rapt ecstacy of a summer day- 
 dream, and had yielded herself entirely 
 to the lulling influence of her sur- 
 roundings. The warm air, the patches 
 of light and shade carpeting the path on 
 which her eyes were bent, the hum of 
 insect life around, had transported her 
 in imagination to the East, and she was 
 wandering once more in the cool depths 
 of a Burmese forest, and hearing again 
 the clear far-off^ cry of beast and bird 
 re-echo through its leafy vaults, while 
 some one paced by her side who in 
 times gone by had with her listened to 
 the sounds which fancy now bore to 
 her ears. The click of the white 
 garden-gate merged for the moment with 
 the voices of the jungle and found a 
 harmonious interpretation in her brain ; 
 and it was not till the latch swung back 
 
422 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 with an answering snap that she raised 
 her eyes to see, approaching her along 
 the drive, a figure that was in a measure 
 in keeping with her inward vision. It 
 was not he who had been stepping with 
 her through the forest of her dream, but 
 one who might and, she instinctively 
 felt, would give her news of him. 
 
 Waring's quick eyes had sighted her 
 even before she looked up. He walked 
 past the front-door to where she came 
 slowly forward to meet him. 
 
 ' Father and Mother are out,' she 
 said, after the first words of greeting had 
 been spoken ; ' but Father will be back 
 in time for tea, I know. You will stop 
 and see him, won't you ? ' 
 
 ' I should like to, if I may. Isn't it 
 a grand day ? ' 
 
 ' Exquisite ; it reminds me of the 
 day we met last.' 
 
 ' Yes, that was a nice day, too, wasn't 
 it ? I was half afraid that on such a 
 fine afternoon you would be out. I've 
 
XXI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 423 
 
 been wanting to come down to see you 
 for some time past, but what with one 
 thing and another it has been impossible 
 till to-day. What a lovely bit of horse- 
 chestnut ! ' 
 
 ' Isn't it ? ' and she held it out for 
 examination. 
 
 ' I've seldom seen such a fine head 
 of blossoms,' he exclaimed ; ' it's perfect. 
 Yes,' he resumed, handing the branch 
 back, ' I've been meaning to pay you 
 a visit for the last week or more ; 
 I've been asked to give you some- 
 thing.' 
 
 ' Indeed,' she said ; ' what is that ? ' 
 
 ' A letter,' he replied, producing the 
 packet Heriot had made over to him at 
 the Criterion. 
 
 She was standing facing him, shading 
 her eyes from the glare with the feathery 
 bunch she held. He looked into her 
 eyes as she reached out her hand for the 
 packet, wondering whether she had any 
 suspicion of the course events had taken 
 
424 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 since he had last seen her, and, if not, 
 how she would receive the news he 
 would have to give her. 
 
 ' Why, what a thick letter ! ' she 
 exclaimed, as she took the packet from 
 his hand and turned it over. ' It looks 
 most formidable. It is very good of 
 you, though, to have brought it. Who 
 is it from .? ' 
 
 ' From Mr. Heriot.' 
 
 Her eyes lightened. Her instinct 
 had not failed her ; he had come with 
 a message from the person of whom her 
 thoughts had been so full but a minute 
 or two before. ' What, he has arrived 
 then ! ' she exclaimed. ' I thought he 
 must have ; how long has he been at 
 home ? ' 
 
 ' Nearly three weeks now.' 
 
 ■• Three weeks ! ' Her face clouded 
 slowly. 
 
 ' Yes. He hasn't written to you yet 
 then .? ' 
 
 ' No. Isn't this letter ' 
 
XXI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 425 
 
 ' It was given to me some time ago, 
 shortly after he arrived.' 
 
 The cloud thickened, and Ethel 
 reddened w^ith a sudden access of irrita- 
 tion. ' That is a long time ago,' she said 
 in a low^ voice, looking hard at the letter. 
 She was wondering what could have 
 induced Waring to keep the missive 
 back so long. It might perhaps have 
 explained the writer's long unaccount- 
 able silence ; there might have been 
 an answer required. It was most in- 
 considerate of the bearer to detain it — 
 more than inconsiderate — cruel ! She 
 was about to tear the envelope open, 
 regardless of her visitor's presence, when 
 his voice arrested her. 
 
 ' It contains papers of your brother's,' 
 he said, divining the cause of her dis- 
 composure. ' I was specially asked to 
 deliver it personally, or of course I should 
 have sent it by post. There is a note 
 for you, but Mr. Heriot said there was 
 no hurry, so I don't think it can have 
 
426 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 given any news or required any answer. 
 Any news that it gives must be un- 
 important.' 
 
 ' Why ? ' she asked. The glow had 
 not yet died away from her cheeks. 
 
 ' Comparatively unimportant, I should 
 have said. What I mean is that the 
 most important thing that has happened 
 to him lately has happened since he 
 gave me the letter to give to you.' 
 
 ' Happened ! What has happened 
 to him ? ' Her voice was almost fierce. 
 The flush had faded and she fronted him, 
 pale and apprehensive. 
 
 ' He is married,' he replied with 
 deliberation, as a leaden weight settled 
 heavily on his heart at the sight of her 
 anxious look. 
 
 She gave a little gasp, but said 
 nothing for a brief space. She picked 
 off one of the chestnut-leaves from the 
 stem, and in the silence that succeeded 
 Waring's words she began to pull it 
 mechanically to pieces, dragging out 
 
XXI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 427 
 
 the green tissue from between the ribs 
 till it hung, a limp, drooping skeleton 
 in her trembling hand. 
 
 ' Not to Miss Dudley-Devant ? ' she 
 murmured, when she had gained partial 
 control over her voice. 
 
 ' Yes.' 
 
 'Wasn't the engagement really broken 
 off?' 
 
 ' Yes.' 
 
 ' Then wasn't she really engaged to 
 the other man ? ' 
 
 ' She was, but she thought better of 
 it at the last moment when Mr. Heriot 
 arrived from Burmah.' 
 
 ' How long before the wedding was 
 that ? They were to have been married 
 a few days after I saw you last.' It was 
 almost as though she believed that there 
 must be some terrible mistake, that she 
 had not heard the news he brought 
 aright. 
 
 ' She seems to have made up her 
 mind the night before the wedding, for 
 
428 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 she left town early on the morning of 
 the wedding-day,' said Waring, deter- 
 mined that she should hear all he had 
 to say simply and directly. ' My sister 
 got a frantic letter from Mrs. Devant 
 the first thing that morning ; she 
 thought at first that her daughter had 
 run off with Mr. Heriot.' 
 
 ' Hadn't she .? ' 
 
 ' No. She found when she went to 
 Waterloo (where she met Heriot) that 
 Miss Devant had only gone down to 
 her father at Ventnor ; he followed her 
 by a later train. From there she wrote 
 to her mother to say that she was not 
 going to look at Mr. Hexham under 
 any conditions, and was determined to 
 marry Heriot or nobody, and, as he 
 was close at hand to back her up, 
 and she had got her father to her 
 way of thinking, the mother had to 
 give in. I believe she came round 
 willingly enough in the end, for 
 Heriot has had some money left him 
 
XXI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 429 
 
 by an uncle and is now moderately 
 well off.' 
 
 There was a long silence, and then 
 she looked up. ' You say he has been 
 in England three weeks,' she said. 
 
 ' About that. He came round to 
 see me the day after you were up in 
 town and told me that he had just 
 arrived. He seems to have got Miss 
 Devant's address from my sister, and to 
 have met her the same day.' 
 
 ' Your sister ! ' exclaimed Ethel. ' So 
 she told him, did she ? When were 
 they married ? ' 
 
 ' The day before yesterday.' 
 ' Did you go to the wedding ? ' 
 ' No,' said Waring, missing the object 
 of her question, and imagining that she 
 only wished to be definitely assured 
 that the wedding had taken place ; ' no, 
 but we heard about it yesterday. It 
 was at Ventnor, a very quiet affair ; my 
 sister was asked to go, but could not 
 manage it.' 
 
430 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' I suppose they were deeply grate- 
 ful to you and your sister,' said Ethel 
 bitterly ; ' it was most considerate of 
 you bringing them together again.' 
 
 She broke off and set to work rend- 
 ing another leaf to fragments, while 
 Waring watched her with a dull sense 
 of dismay. He saw now, as clearly as 
 though she had told him in so many 
 words, that Ethel had up to that 
 moment cherished the fond hope that 
 Heriot would in the end show that the 
 devotion of times gone by had not been 
 a semblance only and a hollow mockery. 
 He had journeyed to Crookholme that 
 day with but the dimmest conception 
 of all that Heriot still was to Ethel, 
 and this, not because he had forgotten 
 how puissant the Forest-Officer's €way 
 had been in the past, but because he 
 had overrated Ethel's power of shaking 
 off the spell ; and thus he had entered 
 the garden-gate, buoyed up by the hope 
 of better days to come, and imagining 
 
XXI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 431 
 
 that, with Heriot's wedding, he had 
 seen the last barrier between himself 
 and the maiden of his choice swept 
 away. Now, however, he perceived 
 that all that his news had effected was 
 to open a gulf between them which 
 widened at every moment. Ethel's last 
 words brought home to him, with a 
 sting that made him wince, the know- 
 ledge that she suspected him of having 
 helped to bring Heriot back to Millicent 
 in the furtherance of his own ends, in 
 the hope that he would, with his rival 
 disposed of, have it all his own way at 
 Crookholme. He longed to repudiate 
 the unspoken charge : twice he opened 
 his mouth to explain, and twice, as he 
 remembered how nearly he had yielded 
 to temptation, the words of vindication 
 stuck in his throat ; and in the end 
 he stood on the gravel, dumb and sick 
 at heart, with Ethel shredding leaves 
 remorselessly opposite him. 
 
 It was a very perturbed couple that 
 
432 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 the Rector, returning briskly from a 
 walk, came upon round the corner a 
 minute or two later. 
 
 ' Ah, Waring ! ' he exclaimed cheerily 
 as he approached, with hand outstretched 
 in welcome. ' I'm very glad to see you. 
 When did you arrive .? ' 
 
 'About five minutes ago.' 
 
 ' Good, then you're not off yet. I'm 
 sorry my wife is not here to receive 
 you, but she'll be in soon, and you must 
 stop and see her. I am going in half an 
 hour or so to fetch her from a friend's, 
 where she is having tea. We shall be 
 back before supper, and I daresay Ethel 
 will be able to amuse you till then. 
 You must stay and have supper with 
 us before you go.' 
 
 ' Thanks, I'm afraid I cannot stop ; 
 I must be off again directly,' replied 
 Waring, taking his cue from Ethel's 
 face. ' There's a train at half-past five 
 I want to catch.' 
 
 ' What ! and only arrived five minutes 
 
XXI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 433 
 
 ago ! Do you know, my dear sir, that 
 it's half-past four now. It's sheer non- 
 sense. There's a capital train that will 
 get you up to town before nine o'clock. 
 Ethel, can't you persuade Mr. Waring 
 to stay ? ' 
 
 ' Won't you stop to supper, Mr. 
 Waring ? ' said the obedient daughter ; 
 but the voice in which the invitation 
 was offered was not such as to lead 
 Waring to alter his determination of 
 leaving the Rectory at the first oppor- 
 tunity, and he could only repeat earnestly, 
 ' Thanks, I'm afraid I really can't.' 
 
 The Rector cast a rapid glance, first 
 at one and then at the other of the 
 young people, and his eyebrows went 
 up, as we have seen them go up before, 
 in mute surprise. For the two to have 
 met after a fortnight's absence, and to 
 have succeeded in quarrelling within 
 the short space of five minutes, was 
 a feat which altogether exceeded the 
 reverend gentleman's power of com- 
 
 2 F 
 
434 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 prehension. ' Well, you must come in 
 now and have some tea at any rate,' he 
 said, preceding them to the house. 
 ' Ethel,' he added when they had 
 reached the front door, ' will you run 
 and tell them to have the pony-carriage 
 ready at five o'clock ? I can drop you 
 close to the station, Waring, if you are 
 set on going by that half-past five train. 
 I shall be driving within a couple of 
 hundred yards of the railway.' 
 
 Tea was a very solemn function. 
 Neither Waring nor Ethel (the latter 
 of whom lingered over the ordering of 
 the pony -cart as long as she dared) 
 spoke more than was absolutely neces- 
 sary, and each rigorously avoided the 
 eye of the other. The Rector, whose 
 spirits were not easily damped, did his 
 best to ignore the prevailing sense of 
 depression and to infuse a little cheer- 
 fulness into the meal ; but all his 
 attempts to enliven his two companions 
 and make them talk fell flat, and, after 
 
XXI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 435 
 
 a while, he was himself reduced to the 
 briefest of commonplaces, and in the 
 end to almost total silence. Ethel 
 would eat nothing, and Waring merely 
 made a pretence of consuming his bread 
 and butter ; and altogether there was a 
 general feeling of tension relaxed when 
 wheels sounded on the gravel outside 
 and word was brought that the pony- 
 carriage was at the door. 
 
 ' Am I to give you a lift then. 
 Waring ? ' asked Mr. Smart, finishing his 
 second cup of tea with a gulp and rising 
 with a deep breath of relief ' Re- 
 member, you will not be talcing me out 
 of my way in the least.' 
 
 ' Thanks, I will come with you if I 
 may,' returned Waring. He would 
 have given a good deal to be able to 
 have a few minutes alone with Ethel 
 before he started. He had had time 
 to consider, and felt sure that a word or 
 two would suffice to disabuse her of one 
 at least of the delusions she was labour- 
 
436 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ing under with regard to him ; but he 
 did not see how he could well refuse the 
 Rector's offer, nor was he in the least 
 anxious to thrust more of his society on 
 Ethel if it was to be against her will. 
 
 Mr. Smart jumped actively into the 
 little, low pony-carriage, took the reins 
 into his hand, and, while Waring bid 
 good-bye to Ethel, turned his broad 
 back on them both and occupied him- 
 self with an obviously unnecessary ex- 
 amination of the whip and harness. He 
 was thinking how much better after all it 
 would have been had he driven off alone. 
 
 ' Good-bye, Miss Smart,' said Waring, 
 holding out his hand. ' I am, — I am 
 sorry if what I told you has upset 
 you.' Immediately the words were out 
 of his mouth he realised that they had 
 only made matters worse than they were 
 before. 
 
 ' Oh, I'm not upset ; it's nothing,' 
 murmured Ethel, barely touching the 
 proffered palm with her fingers. 
 
XXI TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 437 
 
 ' Good-bye ; I hope you will remember 
 me to your mother, — and sister.' 
 
 ' You must come for a longer stay 
 next time,' exclaimed the Rector, who 
 had completed his scrutiny of the 
 whip-lash, and was now making a last 
 desperate effort to dissipate the gloom. 
 ' Mustn't he, Ethel ? ' he added, turning 
 to his daughter as Waring took, his seat 
 by his side. 
 
 ' Yes, — next time,' said Ethel, gazing 
 straight in front of her. 
 
 She watched the pony-cart jog with 
 its occupants out through the front gate 
 and round the corner. Then she turned 
 her back on the porch and ran swiftly 
 up the steep stairs, with Heriot's letter, 
 still unopened, clutched tightly in her 
 hand. Arrived in her bedroom at the 
 top of the house she locked the door 
 behind her, dropped into a chair by the 
 dressing-table, and, resting her head on 
 her hands, sought relief in a flood of 
 bitter tears. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 Gertrude's first impulse, when she saw 
 who it was that was bearing down upon 
 her was to turn and flee, but the handle 
 of the door was abominably stiff, and at 
 the second fruitless effort she realised 
 that it was too late for flight, and that 
 she must resign herself to her fate. 
 
 She had sallied forth, alone, and in 
 one of her oldest dresses, to do a little 
 shopping on the day of her brother's 
 second visit to Crookholme, setting her 
 heart at ease with the assurance that at 
 the hour of sundown she was certain 
 not to meet any of her acquaintances 
 bent on the same errand as herself. 
 And so it came about that the only 
 thing that may invariably be reckoned 
 
XXII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 439 
 
 upon as certain to happen, to wit, the 
 unexpected, did that evening happen. 
 She had stepped into a jeweller's in 
 Oxford Street in the hope of being able 
 to see something that would do as a 
 present for her mother (whose birthday 
 was near at hand), had found that the 
 amiable individual presiding at her end 
 of the shop could show her nothing that 
 would suit, and was opening the door 
 to go out again, when she observed a 
 young man, who, at the further end of 
 the establishment, had just received a 
 small parcel from the hands of the 
 obsequious manager, move rapidly and 
 with an air of recognition towards her. 
 A sense of vague apprehension thrilled 
 her as she perceived that it was the 
 rejected bridegroom ; and a guilty recol- 
 lection of what she had done to bring 
 about his recent repulse making her, 
 she knew not why, anticipate a scene, 
 she mechanically dropped the door- 
 handle, feeling that, if anything was to 
 
440 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 happen, it were best that it should 
 happen in the shop and not in the street. 
 She need, however, have had no mis- 
 givings. Hexham raised his hat with 
 lamblike meekness when he reached the 
 door, and his countenance betrayed no 
 anger, nothing more than an inordinate 
 sheepishness with which was combined 
 an almost grotesque look of melancholy. 
 
 ' How do you do. Miss Waring ? ' he 
 said. ' I thought I recognised you. 
 Funny that we should be shopping at 
 the same time and at the same place. 
 Nice shop this, isn't it .? How are you ? ' 
 
 'I'm very well, thanks, Mr. 
 Hexham.' 
 
 ' Wish I was. I'm down in my luck, 
 as you may imagine. Are you going .? ' 
 for he saw that she had raised her hand 
 again to the door. 
 
 ' Yes, I must be getting home,' she 
 answered. ' Good-bye.' 
 
 ' May I walk home with you then a 
 little way .? ' he said. 
 
XXII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 441 
 
 He spoke so wistfully that she had not 
 the heart to refuse him, though she was 
 still doubtful what might underlie this 
 mild exterior. The door was flung open 
 by the urbane shopman, who seemed 
 clearly of opinion that Hexham was a 
 customer deserving of some attention, 
 and they left the shop together. 
 
 They walked for some little distance 
 in silence, till they had got clear of the 
 densest of the foot -traffic and had 
 emerged upon a clearer track of pave- 
 ment. Then Hexham broke out. 
 ' Don't you think it was precious hard 
 lines on me. Miss Waring .? ' 
 
 She did not reply at once. 'Perhaps,' 
 she said at length, assuming that he 
 referred to Miss Devant's treatment of 
 him ; ' but don't you think that it was 
 better that she should know her own 
 mind in time, than that she should have 
 married you and repented when too late ? ' 
 
 ' I don't know,' he replied despond- 
 ently. He really did seem very sorry for 
 
442 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 himself; his complexion looked pastier 
 than ever against his red hair, and his 
 round eyes had dark lines under them. 
 
 ' Your being married to her would 
 probably have made both your lives 
 unhappy. You must remember that,' 
 she went on, conscious that the comfort 
 she tried to give him could at best be but 
 slender. 
 
 •• Oh, I know that well enough,' he 
 answered. ' And after all, it isn't that 
 so much : I am more or less reconciled 
 to having to do without her ; but it's 
 the disgrace that I cannot stand. I was 
 not such a fool, Miss Waring, but what 
 I could see that she never cared for me 
 much, though I always hoped she would 
 get to like me more after we were 
 married, for I did mean to be a good 
 husband, 'pon my soul, I did. But 
 what bowls me over is the beastly 
 ignominy of the thing, and the hopeless 
 kind of feeling I've got that I shall 
 never get anybody to care for me now.' 
 
XXII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 443 
 
 ' Don't say that, Mr. Hexham,' ex- 
 claimed Gertrude, with a twinge almost 
 of compassion for the dejected youth. 
 ' I'm sure you must have lots of 
 friends.' 
 
 ' Not one, upon my soul,' returned 
 the downcast Hexham. ' You're the 
 first person that's given me a kind word 
 these last ten days. It's awfully good 
 of you to let me walk with you. You 
 were her greatest friend, you know, 
 and it comforts me even to look at 
 somebody who was a friend of hers.' 
 
 ' I'm glad I can do something to 
 cheer you up,' she murmured, not 
 knowing what else to say, and longing 
 for an opportunity of cutting short this 
 embarrassing interview. 
 
 ' If it weren't for you,' he broke out 
 after they had covered a few more yards 
 in silence, ' I believe I should commit 
 suicide. You've no idea how lonely I 
 am.' 
 
 ' You mustn't talk nonsense, Mr, 
 
444 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 Hexham,' exclaimed Gertrude with 
 cheery emphasis. She was a little 
 staggered by his last confession — 
 though only so far as it concerned 
 herself; she was not nervous about the 
 young m.an. ' Of course you have got 
 lots of friends, — you can be sure enough 
 of that — friends who are as sorry to see 
 you unhappy as I am. Now, I'm not 
 going to take you out of your way any 
 longer ; you see, I turn up here. 
 Please don't bother to see me the rest 
 of the way home ; the house is only a 
 step from where we are now.' 
 
 They had halted near that popular 
 trysting-place of Metropolitan wooers, 
 the Marble Arch, and stood, facing 
 each other, removed a few yards up a 
 side street from the impetuous stream 
 of pedestrians. 
 
 ' Oh, don't go in yet,' pleaded 
 Hexham eagerly. ' I am so precious 
 low, and you're so bright and jolly and 
 cheer a chap up so. Would you, — 
 
xxn TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 445 
 
 would you very much mind walking a 
 little with me in the Park ? ' 
 
 ' I couldn't possibly, Mr. Hexham. 
 Good-bye ; I really must be going 
 home.' 
 
 ' I wish you would come with me,' 
 persisted the youth with an earnestness 
 that surprised his hearer. ' It's a lovely 
 evening ; it would be a shame to go in 
 now. Besides, there's something more 
 I want to say. You've come along 
 Oxford Street with me,' he added ; 
 *■ why shouldn't you go a few yards into 
 the Park with me ? ' 
 
 Gertrude stood irresolute, but for a 
 second only. Hexham's last remark 
 had appealed to her common-sense. It 
 had always been her pride that she 
 could afford, on good occasion, to ignore 
 the ordinary conventions of society ; 
 and on this occasion it really seemed as 
 though, by a kind word or two and a 
 little humouring, she could help to 
 cheer up this woebegone young man 
 
446 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 whose misery, as she reflected, she 
 had in a measure herself brought upon 
 him. It was a duty she owed her 
 conscience. ' Very well,' she said, ' for 
 a few minutes then. But you must say 
 what you want to quick.' 
 
 Hexham was right when he said 
 that it was a beautiful evening. The 
 day had been as balmy in London as 
 at Crookholme. The sky smiled blue 
 and cloudless above, and the sun was 
 sinking slowly into a sea of dull orange 
 mist over the housetops of Kensington. 
 They entered the iron gates of the Park 
 together, differing outwardly but little 
 from the many furtive couples around 
 them, and together paced slowly west- 
 ward outside the fringes of the crowds 
 that surrounded the Park orators, past 
 the diverging of the ways, till they 
 penetrated into a region where the 
 sound of impassioned speech sounded 
 faint in their ears. 
 
 ' If you are so lonely, Mr. Hexham,' 
 
XXII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 447 
 
 exclaimed Gertrude when all around 
 them was comparatively still, ' why 
 don't you go down to your people in 
 the Isle of Wight ? ' 
 
 ' I've got no people down there,' he 
 replied ; ' only an old aunt or two. It 
 would be worse down there than here, I 
 assure you. Besides I shouldn't have you 
 down there to cheer me up,' he added. 
 
 ' Me ! I'm sure I'm no great 
 stand-by,' returned Gertrude, barely 
 able to restrain a smile at the young 
 man's last words, and they walked 
 onwards in silence till they reached a 
 seat under some trees, one of the seats 
 that line the path running parallel to 
 the Bayswater Road. Here Hexham 
 said, ' Let us sit down ; I want to show 
 you something.' 
 
 She sank obedient on to the bench, 
 determined to humour him to the 
 utmost. He seated himself at her side, 
 and drawing from his pocket a small 
 parcel began to remove the white 
 
448 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 tissue paper in which it was enveloped. 
 Gertrude watched his movements with 
 languid interest ; she recognised the 
 parcel as the one Hexham had received 
 from the jeweller's hands a few minutes 
 before. 
 
 The removal of the tissue paper dis- 
 closed a neat, dark morocco-leather case, 
 which Hexham opened and handed to 
 Gertrude. ' What do you think of it ? ' 
 he said. 
 
 ' It is perfect ! ' she exclaimed, roused 
 out of herself, almost against her will, 
 to undisguised admiration. 
 
 There was a diamond star in the 
 case, a twelve-pointed star formed of 
 brilliants of exquisite lustre, a quiver- 
 ing diagram of light on a background 
 of dark blue velvet. As Gertrude held 
 it up the facets caught the sunset glow 
 and sparkled with minute pin-points of 
 liquid fire. It almost dazzled her. 
 
 ' It was for her,' he explained, tak- 
 ing the case passively back from her 
 
xxii TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 449 
 
 hands when she had gazed her fill at its 
 contents. ' It was to have been ready 
 the morning of the wedding ; but I 
 didn't go and fetch it that morning, — 
 you know why. And now they won't 
 take it back. I went just now to find 
 out if they would, but they wouldn't.' 
 He stopped and looked at the ornament 
 critically at arms' length, with his head 
 a little on one side, his red-rimmed 
 eyes blinking in the blaze. Then he 
 turned round on Gertrude. ' Two 
 hundred and sixty quid seems a lot to 
 chuck away on a bit of a thing like 
 that, doesn't it ? ' he exclaimed. 
 
 ' It does.' 
 
 ' And it's all wasted now, — 
 unless ' 
 
 ' Unless what .? ' 
 
 ' Unless, — well, what else can I do 
 with it ? ' 
 
 ' I suppose you will marry some 
 day, Mr. Hexham. The diamonds 
 won't spoil by keeping.' 
 2 G 
 
450 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' You mean I could give them to my 
 wife, — if I ever marry now.' 
 
 ' Exactly.' 
 
 ' And if I don't marry ? ' 
 
 ' If you don't marry, — well — if you 
 don't marry, I should give them to 
 somebody else as a wedding - present. 
 Let me have another look at them, 
 please ; thanks. Have you got a sister .? ' 
 
 ' No ; why ? ' 
 
 ' Any cousins, girls I mean, that you 
 are very fond of and would like to give 
 a really handsome present to ? ' 
 
 "■ Only one — and she's forty — and 
 ugly, beastly ugly ! — and married, and 
 I'm not very fond of her.' 
 
 ' Well, in that case I really don't 
 know what you can do with them if 
 they won't take them back. They are 
 exquisite, far, far too good for an 
 ordinary everyday wedding - present. 
 You really must marry, Mr. Hexham, 
 for the sake of the star, if for nothing 
 else,' she added with a little laugh. 
 
XXII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 451 
 
 Hexham looked down and shuffled 
 with his feet uneasily. ' Will you take 
 the star, Miss Waring ? ' he muttered. 
 
 ' I ? ' The offer almost took her 
 breath away. The monosyllable was 
 all that she was able to get out. 
 
 ' Yes, you.' 
 
 ' I couldn't, Mr. Hexham. I'm, — 
 I'm not going to be married.' 
 
 ' But will you take it all the same ? ' 
 
 ' It's quite impossible.' She sud- 
 denly realised what she had brought 
 upon herself, — for there was no mis- 
 taking his drift — and spoke with 
 emphasis, for it was necessary that 
 there should be absolutely no mis- 
 understanding. ' It's quite impossible. 
 You know I could only take it if, — 
 
 well, if something happened that ' 
 
 she closed the case with a snap and 
 held it out to him — ' that never will 
 happen.' 
 
 But Hexham did not take the 
 proffered case. He kicked for awhile 
 
452 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 with the toe of his patent-leather boot 
 at an obdurate stone in the path at his 
 feet. ' Why should it never happen, 
 Miss Waring ? ' he exclaimed presently. 
 
 ' Don't be foolish, Mr. Hexham,' 
 cried the outspoken Gertrude. ' You 
 ought to know as well as I do that it 
 is quite out of the question. We are 
 utterly unsuited to each other. Please 
 take the case back.' 
 
 ' Do you really think so ? ' he 
 persisted. 
 
 ' Of course I do. Come, Mr. 
 Hexham, take this back, please.' 
 
 ' I know what it is,' said Hexham 
 sullenly. ' You have taken a prejudice 
 against me because I made an ass of 
 myself the day before the wedding. 
 Your brother told you, I expect.' 
 
 ' My brother told me nothing,' she 
 answered shortly. Even in the midst 
 of her anger at his importunity she 
 was near smiling at the thought that 
 he should imagine that it was one 
 
XXII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 453 
 
 single act of indiscretion that had 
 turned the scale against him. 
 
 Her answer non-plussed Hexham for 
 a moment, but he was not long in return- 
 ing to the charge. ' Then why should 
 you think we are unsuited ? ' he said. 
 
 She turned a freezing glance upon 
 him. All pity for the young man's 
 desolate plight had vanished in her 
 amazement at his presumption. She 
 saw that he needed an awakening of 
 the roughest, and she determined that 
 he should have one. 
 
 ' You say we are unsuited, but 
 surely we are as well suited as Miss 
 Devant and I were,' he urged. 
 
 ' No doubt,' she retorted, ' but I 
 never thought you and Millicent were 
 at all suited. Otherwise I should 
 never have brought her and Mr. 
 Heriot together again.' 
 
 ' You brought ' 
 
 ' Certainly. I encouraged Mr. 
 Heriot to make it up with Millicent. 
 
454 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 If it hadn't been for me probably you 
 would have been married to Millicent 
 at this moment.' This was putting it 
 a good deal more strongly than the 
 facts warranted, but she was resolved 
 that, so far as her share in what had 
 happened was concerned, there should 
 be no equivocation. 
 
 Hexham sat as one stunned for a 
 moment, then, to Gertrude's amaze- 
 ment, he broke out again plaintively, 
 ' I don't care. Miss Waring, if you 
 will only — ryou said just now you were 
 sorry to see me unhappy ' 
 
 ' But you ought to care,' interposed 
 Gertrude briskly, rising to her feet 
 with a view to putting a stop to all 
 further conversation. ' You cannot 
 possibly think seriously of proposing 
 to any one who has treated you as 
 badly as I have, can you ? ' 
 
 ' I suppose not,' murmured Hex- 
 ham, ■• if it's true ; but I can't really 
 believe ' 
 
XXII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 455 
 
 ' I know, but you've got to believe. 
 Good-bye ; no, you really mustn't 
 trouble to come with me ; I can easily 
 find my way home by myself.' 
 
 ' Oh, Miss Waring, if you only 
 knew how miserable, — how damned 
 miserable and lonely I am, you would 
 have pity, I'm sure you would,' ex- 
 claimed the unfortunate youth. He 
 had risen with her and stood, still 
 kicking at the same stone in the path, 
 and then when she did not reply sank 
 slowly on to the seat again. 
 
 ' I'm afraid I can do nothing to 
 make you less miserable and lonely,' 
 she made answer after some time. A 
 moment later with a more cheerful 
 air she exclaimed : ' You must cheer 
 up, Mr. Hexham ; you'll soon find 
 that it isn't so bad after all. Good- 
 bye.' 
 
 And with these words she turned 
 and marched steadily eastwards up 
 the shaded walk, chafing and laughing 
 
456 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 with alternate breaths, leaving her 
 companion speechless on the bench 
 behind her. She dared not for some 
 time turn and look back to see what 
 he was doing, whether he were follow- 
 ing her or not ; but as she directed 
 her steps towards a side gate by which 
 to leave the Park she cast a fleeting 
 glance in the direction from which 
 she had come. Hexham still sat on 
 the seat, a comically pathetic figure, 
 drooping like a wounded lily on its 
 stalk. He had not moved since she 
 had left him. 
 
 There was a telegraph - boy on 
 the doorstep as she reached her 
 mother's house, with a telegram for 
 Mrs. Waring, and a desire to know 
 whether he was to wait for an answer 
 or not. 
 
 ' Is Mrs. Waring in ? ' she asked 
 the maid in the hall, and on learning 
 that her mother was in the drawing- 
 
XXII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 457 
 
 room, she mounted the stairs with the 
 message. 
 
 ' Mother, here's a telegram for you,' 
 she said as she entered, and as Mrs. 
 Waring, who was advanced enough 
 in years to have a wholesome old-world 
 dread of telegrams, put on her spectacles 
 tremblingly, she added in a reassuring 
 voice : ' It's most likely from Rupert 
 at Crookholme to say that he is coming 
 up by a later train than he intended.' 
 
 She was partly right in her conjec- 
 ture, but only partly. The telegram 
 was from Crookholme, it is true, but 
 it was not from Waring. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 Ethel's was a strange mixture of 
 sensations. Disappointment and anger 
 strove for the mastery in her mind, 
 and for a moment the fierier, more 
 peremptory feeling prevailed. She 
 was angry, passionately angry with 
 Heriot for having played with her so 
 long and so dexterously, only to toss 
 her aside, like a broken toy, when all 
 need of her had gone ; and everything 
 that he had said and done in the past 
 came back to her now in the light of 
 one long, studied insult. But fiercer 
 even than her resentment towards 
 Heriot, because more directly the out- 
 come of what she had just seen and 
 heard, was her wrath at the part 
 
XXIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 459 
 
 Waring had taken in humbling her. 
 It was incredibly mean of him, she 
 thought, to have conspired to draw 
 Heriot away from her, for in her 
 blind indignation she did not doubt 
 that it was he, and not his sister, who 
 had arranged that Millicent should 
 meet her old lover before it was too 
 late ; but what roused her passion 
 to the highest pitch was the thought 
 that, in stooping to such a petty 
 scheme, he had been egged on by the 
 presumptuous hope of himself stepping 
 later into the Forest -Officer's shoes. 
 And as if that were not enough, he 
 must now heap an Ossa of insult on a 
 Pelion of injury — keeping the letter 
 back so as to be able himself to bring 
 the baleful news, gloating over her 
 distress, hugging himself in the com- 
 placent belief that, before long, he 
 would be called on to minister to her 
 sorrow and kiss away the tears he 
 had summoned to her eyes ! If only 
 
460 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 his motives had been dijfFerent, she 
 might have found it possible, some 
 day, to forgive even this wrong that 
 he had done her ; but as it was, she 
 knew she could never pardon him. 
 It was so unlike what she had ex- 
 pected of him. She had always be- 
 lieved him to be honest and upright, 
 incapable of a base, underhand action ; 
 but she saw now that she had been 
 mistaken. He was as unprincipled 
 and self-seeking as the worst of them. 
 It was very hard to bear, — but, — but 
 she would have to bear it. 
 
 The first spasms of rebellious grief 
 passed slowly away, and in a few 
 minutes she raised her hot head from 
 her hands with a sense of numbed despair 
 and saw Heriot's letter, still unopened, 
 lying on the dressing-table before her. 
 And as she looked, across the blackness 
 of her misery there struggled a faint 
 flicker of curiosity, a desire to know 
 what he had got to say for himself, why 
 
XXIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 461 
 
 he had chosen to make the missive over 
 to Waring, how it was that he had not 
 written to her before. It occurred to 
 her that the letter itself might explain 
 what had happened, and she yearned 
 to lay hold on something that would 
 throw light on the devastating facts and 
 make them more comprehensible, and 
 therefore easier to bear. Wearily she 
 tore the envelope open and took out the 
 contents. There was a thick bundle of 
 papers inside, tied round with tape, — 
 bills, old letters, lists of effects, and the 
 like — also a short note written on a 
 separate sheet of paper, which she 
 eagerly seized. It was headed Charing 
 Cross Hotel, and ran as follows : — 
 
 Dear Miss Smart — The address above will show 
 you that I am back in England. I daresay by this 
 time you will have learnt now I have been improving 
 the shining hours since my arrival, and I hope you 
 will congratulate me on having exhibited, for once, 
 a moderate amount of zeal. I am sending you a 
 batch of your brother's papers with this. The trusty 
 Waring will, I expect, take it to you. The foolish 
 
462 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 youth has been making a most misguided attempt to 
 frustrate my little plans for the future ; still, for all 
 that, I have come to the conclusion that he is about 
 the truest friend I have. I daresay there is some 
 one else who has made the same discovery. I think 
 this w^ill be the last lot of business-papers that I shall 
 trouble you with, but if there should be any other 
 matter that requires settling, I shall see to it when 
 my leave is up ; or if, as is just possible, I do not go 
 out again to Burmah, I feel sure that Mr. Waring 
 will be only too glad to give it his best attention. 
 To his good offices I commend you.^Sincerely 
 yours, John Heriot. 
 
 Heriot wrote a good hand, but her 
 eyes were blurred with tears, and she 
 had to read the letter through two or 
 three times before she took it all 
 in, and even then it brought no 
 consolation. She had looked for him to 
 give some explanation, some justification 
 for having treated her so cavalierly. 
 Surely all the close intimacy of the past 
 entitled her to some such consideration. 
 But neither explanation nor justification 
 was there, nor the haziest sign of a 
 feeling that either was called for. It 
 
XXIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 463 
 
 ^was as though he thought that what had 
 happened was the most natural thing 
 in the world. She did not consider, as 
 she would have done in more rational 
 moments, how difficult it would have 
 been for him to make the blow lighter 
 without humiliating her still more ; she 
 could only writhe impotently under the 
 sting of his airy assumption that she 
 could not have ventured to cherish any 
 such hope as would have made this a 
 blow for her or given her a claim to 
 have it softened. And after all, perhaps 
 it was better so ; nothing could now 
 avail to undo the past. He did not, 
 apparently, expect her to want sympathy, 
 and with a hardening of her heart she 
 determined that she would do with- 
 out it. 
 
 She read the letter through again 
 slowly, this time with a steadier pulse 
 and a new feeling in her breast, one of 
 cold defiance. This re-perusal brought 
 a fresh idea into prominence. It was 
 
464 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 obvious that, whatever Waring had 
 done, he had not brought about or even 
 connived at the reconciliation between 
 Heriot and Miss Devant. The ' plans 
 for the future ' which he had made ' a 
 misguided attempt to frustrate ' she felt 
 sure could only be Heriot's intentions 
 with regard to the bride -elect. He 
 must, in some way or the other, have 
 tried to prevent a renewal of the en- 
 gagement. She saw now that she had 
 accused him unjustly, and following on 
 the full perception of the wrong she had 
 done him, came, with a burning sense 
 of shame, the thought that she might 
 possibly have been crediting him all 
 along with a stronger feeling towards 
 herself than he had actually experienced. 
 After all, when she came to consider, 
 there was nothing, absolutely nothing 
 to show conclusively that he had ever 
 thought of proposing to her. His 
 words on the morning of a notable day 
 at Thonze might, it is true, have been 
 
XXIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 465 
 
 construed into an indication of such a 
 design ; but had she been justified, she 
 asked herself, in putting so extreme 
 a construction on them ? Might not 
 her conceit have exaggerated a kindly, 
 brotherly interest in her welfare into a 
 tender regard. What right had she to 
 assume that she was more to him than 
 any other girl of his acquaintance, and 
 how had she dared, a few minutes 
 before, to think that he hoped to 
 comfort her by his own faithfulness 
 for Heriot's defection ? That defection 
 served, now that her wrath had cooled, 
 to remind her, tragically enough, that 
 she was not so indispensable to the 
 happiness of her fellow-mortals as she 
 had fondly imagined. She had been 
 flattering herself that she was something 
 to the man who from the beginning 
 had looked upon her as the sport of an 
 idle hour ; was her judgment less likely 
 to be fallible in Waring's case ? The 
 latter had probably acted throughout as 
 2 H 
 
466 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 a friend, and nothing more ; if she had 
 not been so blind she would have seen 
 that herself long ago. Others had 
 been more discerning. She understood 
 now what the writer meant by a passage 
 in the letter that up till then had 
 puzzled her. Who could say but what 
 Waring was the truest friend that she 
 too had ever had ? And then, with a 
 miserable sense of degradation, she 
 realised that she had let this friend go 
 in the belief that she loathed and 
 mistrusted him, — that he had gone just 
 when she could worst afford to lose 
 him. One bereavement had followed 
 close on another. Heriot's idol lay 
 shattered at her feet, and it seemed as 
 though there were nobody now to 
 mourn with her over the fragments. 
 Just when she most needed sympathy 
 too ! Poor girl ! The outlook loomed 
 black and solitary. Under the aching 
 pressure of the double loss that she had 
 sustained her sunny head dropped afresh 
 
XXIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 467 
 
 over the dressing-table, and the bitter 
 tears poured down again. 
 
 The rumbling of wheels on the 
 drive below roused her. Had it been 
 half an hour later she would have 
 declared that it was the pony-carriage 
 back again, for the sound the vehicle 
 (whatever it was) made as it turned 
 in at the front gate seemed familiar ; 
 but she knew that her father could 
 not have had time to fetch her mother 
 back. Still it might be somebody 
 who would want to see her. She 
 sprang to her feet and hurriedly 
 bathed her tear-stained face. She 
 heard the front door open ; a sound 
 of distant voices was wafted up to her 
 from below, and as she turned the 
 lock and stepped on to the landing 
 outside her bedroom she became con- 
 scious that one of the voices was her 
 father's. It was the pony-carriage 
 back after all. Why had it returned 
 so soon ? She stood on the landing 
 
468 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 irresolute, anxious not to exhibit the 
 tokens of her grief to the Rector's 
 keen eye, yet at the same time feeling 
 that something had happened that 
 might require her presence below. 
 As she wavered, with her hand on 
 the balustrade, she heard the Rector 
 calling to her to come down. The 
 summons cut short her hesitation. 
 She ran down the stairs. 
 
 The little hall seemed full of men, 
 — men whom she knew from the 
 village, six or seven it seemed to her. 
 There was a laboured shuffling of feet 
 and a confused murmur, above which 
 Mr. Smart's voice sounded clear. 
 ' Carefully there,' he was saying. 
 ' Upstairs now. The room to the 
 right at the end of the passage when 
 you get to the top. Keep his head high.' 
 
 ' What's the matter. Father ? ' she 
 exclaimed, gazing down with startled 
 eyes from where she had halted a few 
 steps up the last flight. 
 
XXIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 469 
 
 ' We've had a spill, and I'm afraid 
 Waring is rather badly hurt, poor chap. 
 I'm having him taken up into the spare 
 room. Open the window there wide, 
 will you, dear, and get some water and 
 a sponge ready ? They are going to 
 put him on the bed.' 
 
 Rather badly hurt! She turned 
 quickly and sped up the stairs again 
 to her ministrations with a palpitating 
 heart. The Rector's words, and the 
 momentary glimpse she had had of the 
 body that strong arms were carrying to 
 the foot of the stairs, struck a chill of 
 horror into her. There was neither 
 water nor sponge in the spare room ; 
 she had to dart off to fetch both from 
 her own, to find on her return that the 
 villagers, whose aid the Rector had 
 invoked, had already laid Waring on 
 the bed. He was stretched on the 
 counterpane insensible ; his eyes were 
 shut, his face, where it was not ob- 
 scured by the blood which still 
 
470 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 dribbled from a gash near the temple, 
 was ashy white ; but, in answer to the 
 frightened, questioning look his daughter 
 gave him, the Rector was able to say 
 with cheery emphasis, ' No, it's all 
 right, he's not dead,' and she felt the 
 colour come back to her cheeks. 
 
 ' How did it happen ? ' she asked 
 her father in an awestruck voice when 
 the blood had been washed from the 
 senseless man's forehead and the wound 
 temporarily bound up. The villagers 
 had all gone below, and only the maid 
 was with them at the bedside. 
 
 ' Tommy took fright, — shied at 
 something, a shadow or a leaf, I 
 couldn't see what, — and upset the cart 
 on to the side of the road. I can't 
 make out how it was, but anyway over 
 we went. I fell on to the grass and 
 did not hurt myself in the least, but 
 Waring was pitched on to a heap of 
 stones ; his feet somehow got entangled 
 in the reins as he fell, and that seems 
 
XXIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 471 
 
 to have thrown him with greater 
 force. 
 
 ' Where was it that it happened ? ' 
 
 'Just beyond the pond, before we 
 had got to the village ; just where they 
 have begun mending the road. It was all 
 over in a second. Nothing else sujfFered, 
 curiously enough ; neither Tommy nor 
 the cart is injured in the least, andTommy 
 is not even frightened. He came back as 
 steadily as possible.' 
 
 ' Poor man ! Have you sent for 
 Dr. Braham ? ' 
 
 ' Not yet. After what has happened 
 I couldn't trust any of the men to drive 
 Tommy over and fetch him, but I'm 
 going on now in the cart to call for 
 Mother at the Wells's. Braham may 
 possibly be having tea there ; if not we 
 can go on to his house and fetch him 
 back with us ; it will save time. Do 
 you think you can look after him while 
 I am gone ? Perhaps you had better 
 keep Mary up here.' 
 
472 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ■• No, Father, I'm not afraid. I can 
 ring for Mary in a moment if I want 
 any help ; but I suppose we can do 
 nothing much till Dr. Braham comes .? ' 
 
 ' No. Let him have plenty of fresh 
 air and keep his head cool ; till Braham 
 comes I don't see that anything else can 
 be done. Poor boy, he looks in a bad 
 way.' 
 
 He left the room, and Ethel heard 
 him creaking briskly down the stairs 
 and through the hall. At the front 
 door he spoke for a moment to the 
 men who had carried Waring upstairs, 
 and then there was a clatter of heavy 
 boots and the sound of the pony-cart 
 moving away again down the drive. 
 The servant lingered a few minutes to 
 tidy the room ; then she too slipped 
 away to report progress in the kitchen, 
 and Ethel was alone with Waring. 
 
 He lay motionless on the bed with 
 his wan face turned up to the ceiling. 
 The evening sun slanted in at the 
 
XXIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 473 
 
 window and lighted up the wall immedi- 
 ately above the pillow. She stood and 
 watched him for a short space, then she 
 walked softly to the window and looked 
 out into the garden where the shadows 
 were lengthening lazily away from the 
 west. In the mulberry - tree, below 
 where she stood, a thrush was piping 
 its lustiest, and from the leafy summits 
 of the elms came the solemn, husky 
 caw of a colony of rooks ; save for this 
 the evening air was hushed and still, 
 for such of the village - folk as the 
 accident had attracted to the Rectory 
 had by this time either dispersed or 
 retired to the back premises. She 
 stood awhile collecting her shattered 
 senses and bathing her burning face in 
 the cool, fragrant breeze ; then with a 
 deep breath she turned cautiously, as 
 though the man on the bed were asleep 
 and she were afraid of waking him, and 
 stepping with noiseless footfall across 
 the carpet, sat down in a chair by his 
 
474 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 side, with her shadow brooding like a 
 guardian spirit in the centre of the 
 radiant patch of sunlight above his 
 head. 
 
 How still he was ! She watched 
 him, half fascinated, for a minute or 
 two to see if he gave any outward sign 
 of life, but she could detect none. He 
 was absolutely motionless ; he seemed 
 almost to have ceased breathing ; it was 
 as though he lay dead before her. For 
 a brief moment a great fear that he was 
 really dead seized hold of her, and in its 
 clutch her heart stood still. A closer 
 look showed a fitful, feeble motion of 
 the chest, and she drew back again 
 reassured ; but the transient horror had 
 set in motion a current of ideas which 
 up till then she had striven hard to keep 
 from her. He was still living, but, — 
 suppose he were to, — yes, she must face 
 the possibility, — suppose he were to 
 die ! She covered her eyes with her 
 hands to shut out the sight of that still 
 
XXIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 475 
 
 form on the bed and the memories that 
 the vision would bring in its train, but 
 the black thoughts thronged in un- 
 bidden nevertheless. Suppose he were 
 to die — like Jack. How it all re- 
 minded her of her feelings at Jack's 
 murder ! She saw again the well-re- 
 membered dinner-table in the verandah 
 of the rest-house at Thonze, and in 
 sharp succession the events of that 
 awful night passed before her ; her 
 brother's careless, slighting speech, the 
 sudden angry thought that leapt out in 
 her mind at his words, the fatal rifle- 
 shot, the hard set look on the dead face, 
 full (so it seemed to her) of dumb 
 reproach for the resentment that had 
 flamed within her, no fiercer than the 
 resentment she had felt that day ; and 
 then came the memory of the bitter 
 days that had followed, when the 
 burden of her mourning was ever 
 this, ' If only he could have lived to 
 know that I was sorry,' and, haunted 
 
476 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 by that grim, inexorable shadow of 
 remorse, she had again and again 
 wished that death would come and 
 put an end to her agonies of self- 
 reproach. They were a ghastly 
 memory, those days that had suc- 
 ceeded her brother's death ; she could 
 hardly call them to mind even now 
 without shuddering. And now, de- 
 spite the thousand penitent resolves that 
 they had wrung from her, it seemed 
 as though exactly the same thing 
 might happen again. Exactly the 
 same ! Who could tell but what 
 Waring might not in his turn pass 
 away, with the memory of her unjust 
 anger on his face, never to know how 
 keen, how passionate her repentance 
 had been ? Might not his life's sun 
 go down upon her wrath in the same 
 cruel way that Jack's had gone ? She 
 pressed her fingers tighter, but, white 
 as the pillow it rested on, Waring's face 
 rose ever before her eyes, recalling the 
 
XXIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 477 
 
 long drawn-out horrors of the past, and 
 filling her with the grisliest of fore- 
 bodings for the future. She could not 
 bear it ; it would kill her if the same 
 thing happened again. Oh, if only it 
 were not so like, so terribly like what 
 had happened before ! 
 
 There was a low groan from the 
 bed. Ethel took it as an indication 
 of dawning consciousness. She leant 
 anxiously over the prostrate form and 
 sponged the white forehead, waiting 
 for a fresh sound or movement. She 
 was determined that he should live to 
 hear the outpourings of her contrition, 
 to learn that she was not without 
 gratitude. For a time, however, there 
 was no other sign of animation. To 
 make him more comfortable she 
 loosened the collar at his throat, 
 undid another button or two of his 
 waistcoat, and threw the flaps of his 
 jacket farther back. 
 
 In doing so, she noticed on the bed 
 
478 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 a small packet of papers which she 
 remembered having seen her father 
 take out of Waring's pocket in order 
 to relieve his chest of all superfluous 
 weight. She was about to place it 
 on the table by the bed when some- 
 thing familiar in the handwriting on 
 the uppermost of the papers caught 
 her eye, and with a start she examined 
 it closer. It was her own. Before she 
 fully realised what she was doing she 
 had swiftly scanned the five or six 
 other papers in the bundle. Then she 
 folded them together again with a 
 glow, partly of shame for her own 
 vulgar curiosity, partly from another 
 feeling. They were all the same, all 
 old letters of hers to Waring, little 
 trivial notes, enquiries after his injured 
 thumb, invitations to rides, the letter 
 in which she had bid him good-bye 
 before she left for England, those she 
 had sent him from Yorkshire and 
 Crookholme, all arranged in chrono- 
 
XXIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 479 
 
 logical order, with the date, where it 
 was omitted, inserted in pencil. In a 
 flash she recognised them all, though 
 never till this moment had she realised 
 that she had written so many. He 
 seemed to have kept all that she had 
 ever sent him. 
 
 If any one, a few hours earlier, had 
 told Ethel in plain, bald, unvarnished 
 terms that a young man of her ac- 
 quaintance had been infatuated enough 
 to treasure up all the letters that he 
 had ever received from her, ephemeral 
 or otherwise, and keep them in a 
 pocket next his heart, the announce- 
 ment would have struck no tender 
 chord in her. The form that the 
 young man's adoration had taken 
 would have appeared to her as ludi- 
 crous and nothing more. But now the 
 sight of those well-thumbed slips of 
 paper, and the knowledge of what they 
 must have meant to him who lay there 
 white and still, hovering, for all she 
 
480 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 knew, on the fringe of the shadow of 
 death, thrilled her with a strange 
 emotion in which pity seemed ready 
 to merge by mysterious gradations into 
 the higher, nobler passion to which it 
 is eternally akin. She had not cast the 
 memory of Heriot from her heart. 
 The dominion of his personality was 
 too strong to lose its power in a 
 moment ; but the fiery trial of the last 
 hour had been slowly purging her dis- 
 appointment of all that was passionate 
 and unreasoning, and the soberer, 
 thoughtfuller residue was for the 
 time swallowed lip in her vehement 
 yearning for an opportunity of aton- 
 ing for the wrong she had done to 
 Waring, and in the great fear lest her 
 repentance should have come too late. 
 
 The sunlight slipped up the wall 
 above the bed and died softly away, 
 and the summer twilight stole in 
 through the windows of the room. 
 The thrush in the mulberry-tree had 
 
XXIII TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 481 
 
 ceased its song, but hard by a nightin- 
 gale burst out into a sudden flood of 
 melody that filled the air with sound. 
 Ethel had no ears for the liquid notes ; 
 her thoughts were overwhelming her. 
 Slowly she slipped from the chair in 
 which she had been sitting watching 
 her patient, and, dropping on her 
 knees, buried her face in the pillow 
 near Waring's head, and poured out 
 her soul in a heart - broken prayer 
 that he who had saved her life, who 
 had loved her so long and so faithfully, 
 might be spared, if for nothing else 
 than to receive some sort of reparation 
 at her hands. 
 
 2 I 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 Mrs. Waring arrived that same 
 evening at Crookholme in obedience 
 to the summons conveyed in the tele- 
 gram she had received, and found her 
 son conscious, though much shaken 
 and weakened, for he had lain a long 
 time insensible. He was not, however, 
 so feeble but what he could give her 
 a vivid enough account of the accident, 
 and tell her that the doctor had said, 
 after examining him, that he had 
 sustained no serious injury, and that 
 all he required now was perfect rest 
 and quiet ; and she was able to tele- 
 graph to Gertrude a reassuring summary 
 of this verdict before bedtime. She 
 slept one night only at the Rectory, for 
 
XXIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 483 
 
 the next day found Waring, after a long 
 dreamless night's rest, like a giant re- 
 freshed with wine, and she left again 
 for town on the afternoon of that day, 
 satisfied, from what she had seen, that 
 her son was progressing under a care as 
 tender and systematic as any he could 
 receive at home. 
 
 ' He won't be back in two or three 
 days, my dear Mother,' said Gertrude 
 oracularly, as Mrs. Waring, after describ- 
 ing how matters stood at Crookholme, 
 expressed a confident hope that her son 
 would be home within that time. ' We 
 shall be lucky if we see him before the 
 end of seven. Trust him to be as long 
 as possible recovering ! So you think 
 he said nothing, — nothing, — interesting 
 to her before the accident.' 
 
 ' He would have told me if he had, 
 I feel sure.' 
 
 ' Well, I am surprised. I did really 
 think he meant business ; he was 
 so terribly solemn and self-important 
 
484 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 before he went down. But he would 
 never have said anything to you if she 
 had not accepted him. You don't 
 think he can have proposed to her 
 and been rejected, now ? Did he look 
 limp, — and crushed, — and shattered, — 
 and, — well, — as a man looks who has 
 just been refused ? You know how 
 they look.' 
 
 ' Perhaps, though I don't know how 
 you can know, dear. He was certainly 
 limp, — very limp, but very happy, 
 poor boy, quite in the seventh heaven, 
 following her about with his eyes 
 everywhere.' 
 
 ' And she was nice to him ? ' 
 
 ' As nice as she could be ; nothing 
 was too good for him. She slaved for 
 him, I assure you, day and night.' 
 
 ' Was she very much cut up ? I 
 wish you were a little more communi- 
 cative. Mother dear ; I have to drag 
 everything out of you.' 
 
 Mrs. Waring laughed. ' She seemed 
 
XXIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 485 
 
 terribly cut up,' she said ; ' so were 
 they all, of course, but she showed it 
 most. I have seldom seen a girl so 
 changed. Do you remember how 
 bright and animated she was the other 
 day when she was here ? There she 
 was as white as a sheet, and never 
 smiled except at Rupert. She looked 
 as if she had been crying her eyes 
 out when I arrived.' 
 
 ' That may have been remorse,' 
 said the cold-blooded daughter ; ' but 
 no, I think it's a case. We shall not 
 see him again till his fate is sealed. 
 I will give him a week to make up 
 his mind. That ought to be enough 
 for anybody, but he is such a slow old 
 boy ! ' 
 
 •■ My dear child, what curious ideas 
 you seem to have about that sort of 
 thing ! Men always like to consider 
 well before taking such an important 
 step.' 
 
 ' Always ! I assure you. Mother, 
 
486 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 you are wrong there. Some of them 
 are uncommonly sharp in popping the 
 question, some that you would never 
 expect to have sense enough to make 
 up their minds about anything in less 
 than a fortnight. Now take off your 
 bonnet, and let me carry it upstairs 
 while you make the tea.' 
 
 ' My dear Gertrude,' exclaimed 
 Mrs. Waring, seating herself at the 
 tea-table, 'one would imagine by the 
 way you talk that you had been pro- 
 posed to yourself.' 
 
 ' And how do you know I have not 
 been ? ' retorted Gertrude. ' Wait till 
 I have put your bonnet away, and I 
 will a tale unfold.' 
 
 Meanwhile Waring was, as his 
 mother had remarked, revelling in a 
 veritable seventh heaven. In his case 
 this state took the form of a kind of 
 Elysium, which, except in so far as 
 it was conducted on strictly temperate 
 
XXIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 487 
 
 principles, might have been the ideal 
 Moslem one, involving a good deal of 
 repose on soft couches in a horizontal 
 position, lapped in soft rural sounds, 
 with a good many roses — red, white, 
 and yellow — to minister to his senses of 
 sight and smell, and a good deal of the 
 company of at least one dark- eyed 
 attendant houri, who, if she did not 
 ply him with the beverage beloved 
 of Omar Khayyam, yet saw that there 
 was no lack at their proper seasons of 
 barley-water and beef- tea. Gertrude 
 had rightly surmised that the wish that 
 was uppermost in his mind was that his 
 injuries could have been (outwardly 
 at least) severer, so that he might have 
 a more valid excuse for lingering on 
 in charge of his two assiduous nurses. 
 And who could have blamed him for 
 wishing to prolong the bliss, as full 
 as it was unexpected, in which he lay 
 and sunned himself? He could at first 
 scarcely credit his senses when, after a 
 
488 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 long, blank interval of darkness he came 
 to himself, to find that he had awakened 
 into a new bright world, that the face 
 in which, when last he had seen it, he 
 had read distrust and ill-disguised anger, 
 shone now with radiant peace and a 
 tenderness past belief. He could not 
 understand how this had come about, 
 and the more he thought, the firmer 
 his conviction grew that after all it was 
 better not to understand it. It was a 
 long time before he could recall the 
 events of the half- hour immediately 
 preceding the accident ; they did not, 
 in fact, come back to him in all their 
 fulness till the present, with its changed 
 conditions, displayed them in the light 
 of disagreeable facts that had better be 
 forgotten as soon as possible ; and it 
 was a satisfaction to discover that for 
 his poor puzzled brain it was infinitely 
 easier to forget than to remember. 
 Wherefore he was content to lie at his 
 ease, to take things as they came un- 
 
XXIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 489 
 
 questioningly, and to bask, so to speak, 
 in the sunlight of his own happiness. 
 
 And Ethel ? Reparation was all 
 that occupied her mind ; a desire to 
 earn forgiveness for the injustice and 
 blindness of the past was uppermost 
 in her thoughts, and with it a hope 
 that, in the active accomplishment of 
 these aims, she would be mercifully 
 enabled to forget her own suffering. 
 And with this object in view she set 
 herself to the task of tending the 
 injured man, wearing herself to a 
 shadow at his bedside, full of anxious 
 solicitude for his welfare, thrilled with 
 the keenest pleasure if she could 
 anticipate the smallest of his wishes, 
 till the longed-for, passionless calm 
 enveloped her ; and when she was 
 roused from it, it was to find herself 
 being drawn in mysterious wise closer 
 and ever closer to the man who had 
 done so much for her, whose love she 
 was from a sense of duty trying to 
 
490 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 repay, and to learn that it was daily 
 becoming easier to conceive the possi- 
 bility of rewarding that love in the 
 only way he could ever really wish to 
 have it rewarded. Truly that packet 
 of old letters was beginning to do its 
 work. 
 
 And so the days rolled on. On the 
 fifth morning after the accident the 
 doctor declared that there was no 
 reason why his patient should not 
 return to town, as he was quite fit 
 to be moved, and reluctantly the 
 patient made his preparations for 
 leaving the same afternoon. These 
 consisted merely in packing the bag 
 that his mother had sent down to 
 him from London, and arranging for 
 a fly to take him to the station (he 
 had had enough of the pony-cart), and, 
 as the latter duty was performed by 
 Ethel, who also helped him to pack, 
 on the ground that it was dangerous 
 for him to stoop much, it cannot be 
 
XXIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 491 
 
 said that his labours were very ex- 
 hausting. Yet, when everything was 
 ready, he was told that he must have 
 tired himself and ought to have a 
 good rest before he started for the 
 train ; and, ever obedient, he elected 
 to take his rest in an easy - chair 
 beneath one of the spreading beeches 
 on the Rectory lawn. A balmy air 
 was floating through the garden, and 
 a myriad leaves bent and nodded to 
 its caress with a silvery rustling 
 murmur ; the shrubbery hard by 
 Waring's seat was all a -twitter with 
 bird -life ; the brown bees, humming 
 as they sailed down the breeze, pro- 
 vided a mirthful background of sound, 
 soft enough to lull the wakefullest to 
 sleep ; but there was no sleep for 
 Waring, though he lay at his ease in 
 outward conformity with his surround- 
 ings. The Rector had gone out to 
 his parish -work in the village, and 
 was to be at the station to say good- 
 
492 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WQOING ch. 
 
 bye to his visitor ; Mrs. Smart was 
 lying with a nervous headache in her 
 darkened bedroom, and Ethel was 
 attending to her indoors. Waring 
 therefore had a time to himself to lie 
 and ruminate in. 
 
 What his thoughts were, as he lay 
 stretched in the easy-chair, it is un- 
 necessary to specify here in detail. 
 Suffice it to say that they were merely 
 a repetition of what had been filling 
 his mind for the past five days, and 
 that they were vividly and pleasantly 
 embodied when the front door opened 
 softly, and a vision in a large straw 
 hat paced slowly up the lawn towards 
 the beech-tree. 
 
 ' Now, Mr. Waring, you are not to 
 get up,' she exclaimed, as Waring on 
 her approach dropped his long limbs 
 and attempted to rise. ' Keep where 
 you are, please. Look, I am quite 
 comfortable in this chair.' 
 
 ' How is Mrs. Smart ? ' enquired 
 
XXIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 493 
 
 Waring, sinking back into his 
 cushions. 
 
 ' Sound asleep now, I am glad to 
 say. If once she can get off to sleep 
 she is all right, for when she wakes 
 up the headache is gone.' 
 
 ' I hope the noise of my fly won't 
 disturb her. Perhaps it could wait 
 outside the gate.' 
 
 ' I don't think that is necessary, 
 thanks. Her bedroom does not look 
 out on to the front drive ; besides, 
 when once she is thoroughly asleep 
 nothing disturbs her.' 
 
 ' When does the train start ex- 
 actly ? ' asked the convalescent. 
 
 'At 3.23 ; it isn't a quarter to 
 three yet. The fly will be round 
 directly, so, you see, you will have lots 
 of time to get down to the station in,' 
 
 She leant back in her chair and 
 gazed up into the piled wealth of 
 greenery above her head. She was 
 attired in a cool white dress, the very 
 
494 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 one, if he remembered aright, that she 
 had worn as she sat in the verandah 
 of the rest-house after the morning's 
 snipe-shooting at Thonze. His eye 
 wandered jealously over the soft curves 
 outlined against the dark tree-stem, 
 and, stretched at ease as he was, like 
 a lazy lotus-eater, the strong man's 
 heart was filled with an unutterable 
 yearning to clasp the slim, white-robed 
 figure to his heart and speak out all 
 that was in his mind. But all he 
 did was to draw his watch from 
 his pocket and remark, in the most 
 mundane of tones, ' Then I haven't 
 very much more time ; I must make 
 the most of it.' 
 
 And he proceeded to make the 
 most of it by flinging himself more 
 luxuriously back in his chair and, to 
 all appearances, giving himself over 
 with half- closed eyes to a full enjoy- 
 ment of the drowsy summer day. 
 
 ' Did they give you a letter that 
 
XXIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 495 
 
 came for you by the mid-day post ? ' 
 asked Ethel, after a pause. 
 
 ' Yes, thanks,' returned Waring ; 
 ■• it was from my sister. She had an 
 idea I was not coming up till to- 
 morrow, so she wrote to me to-day.' 
 
 ' You would have done better to 
 go up to-morrow,' observed Ethel. 
 ' I don't quite like your going to-day, 
 even though Dr. Braham says there 
 is no danger of your being upset.' 
 
 ' Oh, I am really quite well now,' 
 declared Waring stoutly, ' thanks to 
 you. I feel I ought to go ; I have 
 been nuisance enough as it is.' 
 
 ' Now, Mr. Waring, you know you 
 have been no nuisance at all. I'm 
 sure a better patient never existed. 
 But of course your mother and sister 
 will be pining to see you. I hope 
 they are well ? ' 
 
 ' Quite, thanks ; Gertrude tells me 
 that she has had a letter from Mrs. 
 Heriot.' 
 
496 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 , From where he lay he could just 
 see her face, and he watched, as he 
 spoke, narrowly, for he was anxious 
 to know whsit effect the mention of 
 Heriot's name would have upon his 
 hostess. Three days before he would 
 not have dared to utter it in her pre- 
 sence, but of late he had somehow 
 begun to notice a change in Ethel 
 which encouraged him to venture on 
 the hitherto dangerous ground ; and 
 as now he looked he could see no 
 shadow of emotion cross her face, and 
 could detect no tremor in her voice as 
 she replied : ' Indeed, and how are 
 the happy couple getting on ? ' 
 
 He was quite right. There was a 
 change in Ethel ; she realised it her- 
 self now plainly enough. Four days 
 before she had dreaded the mention 
 of Heriot's name as she would have 
 dreaded a spear-thrust, as something 
 sharp, pitiless, stabbing. Four days 
 before she had wondered when the 
 
XXIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 497 
 
 memory of Heriot would ever lose its 
 fatal power of wounding. But now, 
 — now it was not so difficult a matter 
 after all to think with unquickened 
 pulse of Millicent as Heriot's wife, to 
 feel an interest in what she did, nay, 
 even to smile and wish her well, with 
 as much sincerity and fervour as when 
 she imagined that she was going to 
 marry Hexham. Much that is aston- 
 ishing can happen in four days. 
 
 ' I believe they are getting on 
 capitally,' said Waring, cheered by 
 the result of his scrutiny of Ethel's 
 face ; ' they seem to be enjoying their 
 honeymoon. She gave me another 
 rather interesting piece of news,' 
 he went on. ' You remember Mr. 
 Hexham, the man Miss Devant was 
 engaged to ? ' 
 
 ' I never saw him, but both you 
 and she mentioned him. What of 
 him ? ' 
 
 ' He is engaged again.' 
 2 K 
 
498 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' What, already ! To whom ? ' 
 
 ' To a girl in the Isle of Wight. 
 My sister does not mention her name, 
 but says he has known her all his 
 life. Gertrude seems much amused.' 
 
 ' Fancy ! he has not been long over 
 it, has he ? ' 
 
 ' I should think not. And what 
 makes it more remarkable is that 
 Gertrude says she knows, as a matter 
 of fact, that he actually proposed to 
 another girl before that. He was 
 evidently determined to be married.' 
 
 ' It seems so,' she murmured, al- 
 most to herself. 
 
 For some time they sat silent near 
 each other, while the breeze laughed a 
 leisurely, ceaseless laugh in the tree- 
 tops above them, and the perfect 
 peace of that summer's day crept 
 softly into their hearts and brooded 
 there. At length came a distant 
 rumble on the quiet road outside, and 
 the sound of a deliberate measured 
 
XXIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 499 
 
 trot, which approached nearer and 
 nearer, and at last stopped in front of 
 the garden-gate. 
 
 ' Why, there's the fly,' exclaimed 
 Ethel. ' Already ! I didn't expect 
 it for some little time yet. Well, it 
 can wait. Don't hurry, Mr. Waring, 
 you know it's bad for you. Come 
 slowly down the lawn ; the servants 
 will be putting your bag in ; there is 
 lots of time.' 
 
 They made a pretty picture as they 
 strolled soberly, side by side, across 
 the flickering lights and shadows of 
 the smooth green sward, and emerged 
 on to the broad belt of sunshine by 
 the carriage-drive. The fly was really 
 unconscionably early, and, even after 
 Waring's bag had been safely bestowed, 
 Ethel declared that it was absurd to 
 think of starting for the station for 
 another quarter of an hour. 
 
 ' In that case, may I take a turn 
 through the garden ? ' said Waring. 
 
500 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 ' I don't think I've seen the orchard 
 properly yet. It looks delightfully cool 
 and shady in there under the trees.' 
 
 ■• Of course,' she made answer. ' I 
 couldn't hear of your spending all 
 that time in the waiting-room at the 
 station. Come along ; you'll be able 
 to make yourself very comfortable in 
 the shrubbery, — and, ah, that reminds 
 me, — I must get you some flowers to 
 take up to town with you. It would 
 never do for you to go back empty- 
 handed,' and they turned away up 
 the garden again together. 
 
 The flyman watched their retreating 
 figures until they were lost to sight, 
 and then shifted into a more comfort- 
 able position on his seat, wagging his 
 head profoundly, for he imagined he 
 knew a thing or two. He would have 
 liked to have some one to communicate 
 his ideas to, but the maid had gone 
 back into the house, and he had been 
 left alone on the box to his own 
 
XXIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 501 
 
 reflections. He looked in front of him 
 and yawned, not once or twice, but 
 three times. The afternoon seemed to 
 be growing warmer and warmer. The 
 fly-horse, a venerable bay, was basking 
 in the sunshine between the shafts, just 
 sufficiently alive to his surroundings to 
 remember at intervals to switch at 
 the flies with a languid tail. The sight 
 of the steed's reposeful back was 
 sufficient in itself to provoke sleep ; 
 before the driver had watched the 
 glossy surface for a minute his eyelids 
 began to droop, and ere long his chin 
 was on his chest and he was dozing 
 peacefully. 
 
 A voice aroused him suddenly. He 
 heard his own name uttered, and with 
 a start gathered up the reins. How 
 long he had been asleep he could not 
 say, but he was aware that the young 
 couple were again standing by his side ; 
 the same young couple that had walked 
 
502 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 up the garden together a few minutes 
 back, — and yet, strange to relate, not 
 the same. To his drowsy eyes they 
 were unchanged : it was not given him 
 to perceive the new glad light in their 
 faces ; but it was there, that new glad 
 light which for the moment seemed to 
 transfigure them. Something had hap- 
 pened in the garden, while the driver 
 sat dozing on his box, which had 
 altered the whole world for the two 
 who stood looking up at him. 
 
 ' Barrett, we shall not want the fly 
 this afternoon after all,' Ethel was saying 
 in a clear ringing voice. ' Mr. Waring 
 is not going back to town till to-morrow, 
 so we want you to come round to take 
 him to the station to-morrow instead of 
 to-day, in time for the same train — you 
 understand ? — to-morrow.' 
 
 She punctuated her remarks by a 
 succession of taps on a bundle of what 
 looked like old letters that she held in 
 her hand. 
 
XXIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 503 
 
 ' Yes, Miss, I understand,' he said, 
 and when Waring's bag had been lifted 
 out shook the reins and drove 
 mechanically away, while Ethel turned 
 round and faced her companion. 
 
 'That's all right,' she said with a 
 deep breath ; and then for a space they 
 stood and faced each other while the 
 fly-wheels rumbled away in the distance. 
 They were silent ; words had suddenly 
 grown for them almost a superfluity ; 
 they had so much in common now. 
 When all was still again, save the bees 
 and the birds and the ever -rippling 
 leaves, they turned and passed up the 
 drive side by side, still without a 
 word. 
 
 Under the horse-chestnut tree they 
 halted while Ethel picked a spray of 
 blossom. She held it out to her com- 
 panion. ' See, it is still in flower,' she 
 said. 
 
 ' So it is, still,' he made answer. 
 He had seized hold of it, and of the 
 
504 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 hand that held it. ' What a time it 
 has lasted ! How long is it since you 
 showed me that spike of flowers and I 
 admired it so much ? You remember, 
 don't you ? Four days, is it ; five ? I 
 can hardly believe it.' 
 
 ' Five days ! ' she exclaimed. ' Im- 
 possible ! It feels like five months, 
 five years. I have lived a lifetime 
 since then.' 
 
 ' Let's look upon it as a lifetime 
 then,' he said, ' and start afresh— 
 from half an hour ago.' 
 
 ' And you are not afraid ? ' she 
 asked. They had strolled a little 
 farther away from the house and had 
 halted again. 
 
 ' Afraid ? Afraid of what ? ' 
 
 ' Of taking me on trust like this, 
 before I really know my own mind ? 
 It's a great risk. You remember what 
 I said about, — about what I thought 
 five days ago.' 
 
 ' Five days ! Five years, you mean,' 
 
XXIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 505 
 
 he laughed. ' Yes, yes, I know ; you 
 have told me everything ; but, after all, 
 I risk nothing more than you.' 
 
 ' Than I do ! ' she exclaimed. 
 ' Nonsense ! There's no risk for me. 
 Don't I know you by this time .? 
 Haven't I had proofs of what you are 
 ever since I first knew you ? ' 
 
 ' That's only since November last, — 
 not seven months yet.' 
 
 ' But it's more than enough,' she 
 said, ' to make me feel perfectly safe 
 in trusting myself to you. But of 
 me you know nothing, — except that 
 I ' 
 
 ' Except that you are willing to let 
 yourself be taken on trust. Isn't that 
 an honour for me ? ' 
 
 ' But it's only on trust, you 
 know.' 
 
 ' Yes ; I know. It's a good com- 
 mon-sense understanding to come to, 
 and, after all, we have been through so 
 much together we can afford to look at 
 
5o6 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING ch. 
 
 things from a common-sense point of 
 view, can't we ? ' 
 
 ' I suppose so ; but it's nothing more 
 than on trust, you know.' 
 
 ' I remember, and I want nothing 
 more now.' 
 
 ' But you will want more later,' 
 
 ' And don't you think it's just 
 possible that I shall get it ? ' He had 
 both her hands now and had fixed her 
 with his grey eyes. 
 
 Hers, dropped for a moment. 'I 
 think so,' she murmured ; ' but how 
 can I tell ? It is so soon still, so very 
 soon.' But presently she raised her 
 head again. ' And yet,' she said very 
 softly, ' it seems so long ago, — I mean 
 what went before — that I'm not sure 
 that it will be so very, very difficult 
 to, — to start afresh.' 
 
 ' You would like to speak to Father 
 directly he comes in, wouldn't you ? ' 
 she said, after they had made the 
 
XXIV TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING 507 
 
 round of the garden. ' But, of course, 
 he won't be back before tea-time. 
 He will wonder why you haven't gone 
 by the train you meant to.' 
 
 ' I suppose he will. And that 
 reminds me, I must send a telegram 
 to my mother to tell her that my 
 plans are altered.' 
 
 ' Will you tell her why ? ' 
 
 ' Not in the telegram, I think,' 
 he made reply, smiling brightly into 
 her eyes. ' I must speak to your 
 father first.' 
 
 ' Yes, I suppose you must,' she 
 said. ' Will it be a surprise to 
 them ? ' she asked after a pause, 
 adding, ' I mean to your mother and 
 sister.' 
 
 ' A great surprise,' he answered 
 gleefully. 
 
 ' Had they no idea, — none what- 
 ever ? ' she pursued. 
 
 ' Not the remotest, — I kept my 
 feelings very close ; it's a way I have. 
 
5o8 TREASURY-OFFICER'S WOOING xxiv 
 
 you know. I am pretty sure that 
 nothing was farther from their 
 thoughts. It will be a great surprise, 
 a very great surprise.' 
 
 And, as in duty bound, she believed 
 him. 
 
 THE END 
 
 Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh 
 
Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
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 TREASURY OFFICER'S WOOING 
 
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 THE DAY'S WORK 
 
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 CONTENTS 
 
 The Bridgebuilders — a Walking Delegate — The Ship 
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 auEROR — •■007 — The Maltese Cat — Bread upon the 
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 sympathy with the English-speaking race, wherever their life-tasks may 
 lie. The style is throughout Kipling's own — terse, nervous, often rugged, 
 always direct and workmanlike, the true reflection of Mr. Kipling's own 
 genius." 
 
 MORNING POST.— "The book is so varied, so full of colour and 
 life from end to end, that few who read the first two or three stories 
 will lay it down till they have read the last." 
 
 PALL MALL GAZETTE.— "There are the same masterful grip 
 and wielding of words that are almost surprised to find themselves 
 meaning so much ; the same buoyant joy in men who ' do ' things." 
 
 ACADEMY. — "With sure instinct he labels the volume The Day's 
 Work. That is just what these tales are — the day's work of a great 
 imaginative and observant writer, of a master craftsman who, when he 
 has no magnum opus on hand, rummages in drawers, peers into cup- 
 boards, for notions noted and not forgotten, for beginnings laid aside to 
 be finished in their proper season." 
 
 SCOTSMAN. — " A fine book, one that even a dull man will rejoice 
 to read." 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd., LONDON 
 
Crown 8vo, 6s. 
 
 A DRAMA IN SUNSHINE 
 
 By HORACE ANNESLEY VACHELL 
 CONTENTS 
 
 The Prologue 
 
 Chapter I. — Sausages and Palaver 
 1 1 . — Illumination 
 III. — William Chillingworth 
 IV. — Calamity CaSon 
 V. — Speculations 
 VI. — Which contains a Moral 
 VII. — Of Blood and Water 
 VIII. — Which ends in Flames 
 ,, IX. — " Is Writ in Moods and Frowns and 
 Wrinkles Strange" 
 X. — The Daughters of Themis 
 
 LITERATURE. — " It has the joy of life in it, sparkle, humour, 
 charm . All the characters, in their contrasts and developments, 
 are drawn with fine delicacy ; and the book is one of those few which one 
 reads again with increased pleasure. ' ' 
 
 £)^7Ly TfiLSGif^PH.— '■ Astoryofextraordinaryinterest . . . Mr. 
 Vachell's enthralling story, the denouement of which worthily crowns a 
 literary achievement of no little merit." 
 
 PALL MALL GAZETTE.— " The tale is well told. Besides more 
 than one scene of vividly dramatic force, there is some really excellent 
 drawing of American character." 
 
 WORLD. — " Curious and engrossing . The wife of the man 
 chiefly concerned is a. finely presented character, and at the close the 
 author achieves the beautiful and the true." 
 
 ACADEMY. — "A virile and varied novel of free life on the Pacific 
 Coast of America." 
 
 ATHENMUM. — " It is a story which the English reader will greet 
 with pleasure . The book is good reading to the end." 
 
 SPECTATOR. — "Full of colour, incident, and human interest, while 
 its terse yet vivid style greatly enhances the impressiveness of the 
 whole." 
 
 SCOTSMAN. — "Showing the grasp of a powerful hand on every 
 page . . It is impossible in a brief sketch to give a grasp of all the 
 threads in this complicated story, but they are unravelled with so much 
 skill that the reader feels that everything happens because it must. The 
 characterization, generally speaking, is masterly, and the dialogue is 
 clever. The story increases in power and pathos from chapter to 
 chapter." 
 
 DAILY MAIL. — "Full of spirit as well as of all-round literary excel- 
 lence . . . The scenes are vivid, the passions are strong, the persons 
 who move in the pages have life and warmth, and the interest they 
 arouse is often acutely eager. The book grips." 
 
 MANCHESTER Gi7^i?D//JW.—"Aparticularly clever and readable 
 story." 
 
 MACMILL'W & CO., Ltd., LONDON 
 
Seeond Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 THE PRIDE OF JENNICO 
 
 BEING A MEMOIR OF 
 
 CAPTAIN BASIL JENNICO 
 
 By EGERTON CASTLE 
 
 ACADEMY. — "A capital romance." 
 
 COUNTRY LIFE. — " This story of the later years of the eighteenth 
 century will rank high in literature. It is a fine and spirited romance 
 set in a slight but elegant and accurate frame of history. The book 
 itself has a peculiar and individual charm by virtue of the stately 
 language in which it is written. It is stately, polished, and full of 
 
 imaginative force." 
 
 LIVERPOOL DAILY MERCURY.— ■■ The book is written in a 
 strong and terse style of diction with a swift and vivid descriptive touch. 
 In its grasp of character and the dramatic nature oS its plot it is one of 
 the best novels of its kind since Stevenson's Prince Otto." 
 
 COSMOPOLIS. — " A capital story, well constructed and well written. 
 The style deserves praise for a distinction only too rare in the present 
 day." 
 
 iVIACMILLAN & CO., Ltd., LOXDUN 
 
Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 BUCCANEERS AND PIRATES 
 OF OUR COASTS 
 
 By FRANK R. STOCKTON 
 
 AUTHOR OF "RUDDER GRANGE" 
 WITH ILLVSTRAriONS BY 
 
 GfJORGE VARIAN and B. WEST CLINEUINST 
 
 PALL MALL GAZETTE.— - A fine book . . . They are exciting 
 reading . . . Eminently informing." 
 
 ACADEMY. — " Mr. Frank R. Stockton is always interesting, whether 
 he writes for young or old." 
 
 SCOTSMAN. — " In these stirring romances of the sea he does not 
 profess to give anything fresh ; he merely puts into bright, crisp, modern 
 language, the tales that were told in the seventeenth and eighteenth 
 centuries by the recognized chroniclers of the deeds of the freebooters 
 «ho disported themselves on the American coasts in those picturesque 
 times . . . The book is very finely illustrated." 
 
 INDEPENDENT {NEW YORK).— " This book of buccaneers will 
 stir the blood of young people who care for stories that tell of wild 
 fighting on pirate ships and lawless riots ashore in the time when the 
 ocean was not at command of steam's civilizing power .^ . . Mr. 
 Stockton has given the charm of his genius to the book." 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd., LONDON 
 
Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 THE 
 
 TREASURY OFFICER'S WOOING 
 
 By CECIL LOWIS 
 
 BRITISH WEEKLY.— ■• The scene is laid in India, and to our 
 mind it is quite as good as Mrs. Steel." 
 
 WHITEHALL REVIEW.— - Kc\&vn tale." 
 
 SPECTATOR. — " It is plain that the writer may yet be a formidable 
 rival to Mrs. Steel." 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd., LONDON 
 
Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 B I S M I L L A H 
 
 By A. J. DAWSON 
 
 AfJTHOR OF "MERE SENTIMENT," " GOD'S FOUNDLING," ETC. 
 
 A romantic story of Moorish life in the Rift Country and in Tangier 
 by Mr. A. J. Dawson, whose last novel, God's Foundling, was well 
 receiAed in the beginning of the year, and whose West African and 
 Australian Bush stories will be familiar to most readers of fiction. 
 Bismillah is the title chosen for Mr. Dawson's new book, which ma^' 
 be regarded as the outcome of his somewhat adventurous experiences 
 in Morocco last year. 
 
 ACADEMY. — "Romantic and dramatic, and full of colour." 
 
 GUARDIAN. — "Decidedly clever and original ... Its excellent 
 local colo«ring, and its story, as a whole interesting and often dramatic, 
 make it a book more worth reading and enjoyable than is at all 
 common." 
 
 SPEAKER. — " A stirring tale of love and adventure . . . There is 
 enough of exciting incident, of fighting, intrigue, and love-making in 
 Bismillah to satisfy the most exacting reader." 
 
 MANCHESTER GUARDIAN.—'- An interesting and pleasing tale." 
 
 SCOTSMAN. — "Mr. Dawson sustains the interest of his readers to 
 the end. The characters are well defined, the situations are frequently 
 dramatic, the descriptive passages are clear and animated, and a rich 
 vein of genuine human nature runs through the narrative." 
 
 DUNDEE ADVERTISER.— " Mr. Dawson has caught the spirit of 
 the country, and his romance has the Moorish glamour about it delicious 
 as a memory of Tangiers in sunset." 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd., LONDON 
 
Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 HER MEMORY 
 
 By MAARTEN MAARTENS 
 
 AUTHOR OF " MY LADY NOBODY," ETC 
 
 DAILY TELEGRAPH.— "Full of the quiet grace and literary 
 excellence which we have now learnt to associate with the author. ' ' 
 
 DAILY NEWS. — 'An interesting and characteristic example of 
 this writer's manner. It possesses his sobriety of tone and treatment, 
 his limpidity and minuteness of touch, his keenness of observation. 
 .... The book abounds in clever character sketches. . . It is very 
 good." 
 
 ST. jf AMES'S GAZETTE. — There is something peculiarly fascinat- 
 ing in Mr. Maarten Maartens's new story. It is one of those 
 exquisitely told tales, not unhappy, nor tragic, yet not exactly ' happy,' 
 but full of the pain — as a philosopher has put it — that one prefers, which 
 are read, when the reader is in the right mood, with, at least, a subdued 
 sense of tears, tears of pleasure." 
 
 ATHEN.1EUM. — "Maarten Maartens has never written n. brighter 
 social story, and it has higher qualities than brightness." 
 
 PALL MALL GAZETTE.—" It is a most delicate bit of workman- 
 ship, and the sentiment of it is as exquisite as it is true. All the 
 characters are drawn with rare skill : there is not one that is not an 
 admirable portrait.' 
 
 LITERATURE. — " Apowerful and sometimes painful study, softened 
 by many touches of pathos and flashes of humour — occasionally of 
 sheer fun. On the whole, it will stand comparison with any of its 
 predecessors for dramatic effect and strength of style." 
 
 TRUTH. — '■ Mr. Maarten Maartens' latest and, perhaps, finest 
 novel." 
 
 SCOTSMAN. — "The book is one of singular power and interest, 
 original and unique." 
 
 LEEDS MERCURY.— " Her Memory is a. book which only a man 
 of genius could write, and as a study of character it is fascinating . . . 
 The prevailing impression left by Her Memory is that of beauty and 
 strength. Unlike the majority of contemporary novels, the story before 
 us is one which arrests thought, as well as touches some of the deepest 
 problems of life." 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd., LONDON 
 
Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF 
 FRANCOIS 
 
 Foundling, Thief, Juggler, and, Fencing Master during 
 the French Revolution 
 
 By S. WEIR MITCHELL, M.D. 
 
 ADTHOR OF " HUGH WYNNE," ETC. 
 
 DAILY TELEGRAPH.— ■■ It is delightfully entertaining throughout, 
 and throws much instructive light upon certain subordinate phases of 
 the great popular upheaval that convulsed France between 1788 and 
 1794. . . Recounted with unflagging vivacity and inexhaustible good 
 humour." 
 
 DAILY MAIL. — "This lively piece of imagination is animated 
 throughout by strong human interest and novel incident." 
 
 LITERATURE. — "It is a charming book, this historical romance 
 of Dr. Weir Mitchell's ; in narrative power, in dramatic effect, in vivid 
 movement, and in mordant and singularly effective style. . . No 
 novelist of whom we know, not even Felix Gras, has so vividly brought 
 before us the life of lower Paris in the awful days of the Terror. A 
 dozen or so admirable reproductions of the dravrings specially made by 
 A. Castaigne for ' Francois,' during its serial appearance, add attraction 
 to a romance as notable as it is delightful." 
 
 MANCHESTER GUARDIAN.— ■• The author meets with a master's 
 ease every call that is made upon his resources, and the calls are neither 
 few nor light. The design, bold though it is, lies so well within his 
 compass as to suggest a reserve of strength rather than limitations. And 
 a style that is versatile but always distinguished, delicate but always 
 virile, terse but never obscure, is in a strong hand an instrument for 
 strong work. The pictures by A. Castaigne are worthy of the text." 
 
 GLASGOW HERALD.— "Dr. Weir Mitchell's story deserves 
 nothing but praise." 
 
 SHEFFIELD DAILY T£L£Gi?^PH.—" There is plenty of move- 
 ment, and the interest culminates but never flags. It is quite the best 
 picaresque novel we have come across for a long time past. . . The 
 story could haidly be bettered." 
 
 GLASGOW DAILY MAIL.— "It is altogether a most entertaining 
 narrative, witty and humorous in its dialogue, exciting in its incidents, 
 and not without its pathetic side." 
 
 DAILY CHRONICLE.— "Br. Weir Mitchell is certainly to be 
 congratulated on the whole volume." 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd., LONDON 
 
 [8 
 
Second Impression Now Ready 
 Extra Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 ELIZABETH AND HER 
 GERMAN GARDEN 
 
 LITERATURE.— ■■ A charming book. . If the delightful wilder- 
 ness which eventually develops into a garden occupies the foreground, 
 there is still room for much else — ?or children, husbands, guests, 
 gardeners, and governesses, all of which are treated in a very enter- 
 taining manner." 
 
 TIMES. — " A very bright little book — genial, humorous, perhaps a 
 little fantastic and wayward here and there, but full of bright glimpses 
 of nature and sprightly criticisms of life. Elizabeth is the English 
 wife of a German husband, who finds and makes for herself a delightful 
 retreat from the banalities of life in a German provincial town by 
 occupying and beautifying a deserted convent." 
 
 SCOTSMAN. — "The garden in question is somewhere in Germany. 
 . Its owner found it a vrilderness, has made it a paradise, and tells 
 the reader how. The book is charmingly written. . . The people that 
 appear in it are almost as interesting as the flowers. . . . -Altogether it 
 is a delightful book, of a quiet but strong interest, which no one who 
 loves plants and flowers ought to miss reading." 
 
 ACADEMY. — " ' I love my garden '—that is the first sentence, and 
 reading on, we find ourselves in the presence of a whimsical, humorous, 
 cultured, and very womanly woman, with a pleasant, old-fashioned 
 liking for homeliness and simplicity ; with a wise husband, three merry 
 babes, aged five, four, and three, a few friends, a gardener, an old 
 German house to repose in, a garden to be happy in, an agreeable 
 literary gift, and a slight touch of cynicism. Such is Elizabeth. The 
 book is a quiet record of her life in her old world retreat, her adven- 
 tures among bulbs and seeds, the sayings of her babies, and the 
 discomfiture and rout of a New Woman visitor. ... It is a charming 
 book, and we should like to dally with it." 
 
 GLASGOW HERALD.— - Thishook has to do with more than a 
 German garden, for the imaginary diary which it contains is really a 
 description, and a very charming and picturesque one, of life in a north 
 German country house." 
 
 MANCHESTER GUARDIAN.—" No mere extracts could do justice 
 to this entirely delightful garden book." 
 
 ATHENjEUM. — " We hope that Elizabeth will write more rambling 
 and delightful books." 
 
 SPEAKER.—" Entirely delightful." 
 
 OUTLOOK. — "The book is refreshingly good. It has a good deal 
 of stuff in it, and a great deal of affable and witty writing ; and it will 
 bear reading more than once, which, in these days, is saying much.' 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd., LONDON 
 9] 
 
Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 THE LOVES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LADY ARABELLA 
 
 By M. E. SEAWELL 
 
 SPEAKER. — "A story told with so much spirit that the reader 
 tingles with suspense until the end is reached A very pleasant tale 
 
 of more than common merit," 
 
 PALL MALL GAZETTE.— ■•It is short and excellent reading . . 
 Old Peter Hawkshaw, the Admiral, is a valuable creation, sometimes 
 quite ' My Uncle Toby ' The scene, when the narrator dines with 
 
 him in the cabin for the first time, is one of the most humorous in the 
 language, and stamps Lady Hawkshaw — albeit, she is not there — as one 
 of the wives of fiction in the category of Mrs. Proudie herself . . The 
 interest is thoroughly sustained to the end Thoroughly healthy 
 
 and amusing." 
 
 WORLD. — "Brisk and amusing throughout." 
 
 SA TURD A Y RE VIE W.—' ' A spirited romance ... It is the brightest 
 tale of the kind that we have read for a long time." 
 
 DA IL Y MA IL. — "A robust and engaging eighteenth century romance." 
 
 SCOTSMAN. — "The story possesses all the elements of a good-going 
 love romance, in which the wooing is not confined to the sterner sex ; 
 while its flavour of the sea will secure it favour in novel-reading quarters 
 where anything approaching sentimentality or sermonizing does not 
 meet with much appreciation." 
 
 MORNING POST. — " There is a spirit and evident enjoyment in 
 the telling of the story which is refreshing," 
 
 ACADEMY.— •• A brisk story of old naval days." 
 
 SPECTATOR. — " Pleasant reading is furnished in The Loves of the 
 Lady Arabella." 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd., LONDON 
 
 [10 
 
Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 A 
 
 ROMANCE OF CANVAS TOWN 
 
 AND OTHER STORIES 
 
 By ROLF BOLDREWOOD 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 A Romance of Canvas Town 
 
 The Fencing of Wandaroona : A Riverina Reminiscence 
 
 The Governess of the Poets 
 
 Our New Cook: A Tale of the Times 
 
 Angels Unawares 
 
 DAILY TELEGRAPH.—'' Eminently readable, being written in the 
 breezy, happy-go-lucky style which characterizes the more recent fic- 
 tional works of the author of that singularly earnest and impressive 
 romance, Robbery under Arms." 
 
 DAILY MAIL. — " As pleasant as ever." 
 GLASGOW HERALD.— "They will repay perusal." 
 SCOTSMAN.— •' Kvolnrae. of five short stories by Mr. Rolf Boldre- 
 wood is heartily welcome . . All are about Australia, and all are 
 excellent . . His shorter stories will enhance his popularity." 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd., LONDON 
 
 .0 
 
Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 THAT LITTLE CUTTY 
 
 DR. BARRERE, ISABEL DYSART 
 By MRS. OLIPHANT 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE CHRONICLES OF CARLINGFORD," ETC., ETC. 
 
 SATURDAY REVIEW.— "U has all her tenderness and homely 
 humour, and in the case of all three stories there is a good idea well 
 worked out." 
 
 LITERATURE. — " To come across a work of Mrs. Oliphant's is to 
 come across a pleasant, little green oasis in the arid desert of minor 
 novels ... In these the author's refinement, tenderness, and charm of 
 manner are as well exemplified as in any of her earlier works . . . The 
 book is one that we can most cordially recommend." 
 
 DA IL Y NE WS. — ' 'Each story that comes to us from the hand of 
 Mrs. Oliphant moves us to admiration for its delicate craftsmanship, the 
 keen appreciation it displays of the resources of situation and character. 
 The posthumous volume, 'That Little Cutty, and other Stories,' is an 
 excellent example of Mrs. Oliphant's power of telling a story swiftly 
 and with dramatic insight. Every touch tells . . . The little volume is 
 worthy of its author's high and well-deserved reputation." 
 
 DAILY CHRONICLE.— "All three are admirably written in that 
 easy, simple narrative style to which the author had so thoroughly 
 accustomed us. It will be for many of Mrs. Oliphant's friends a wholly 
 unexpected pleasure to have a new volume of fiction with her name on 
 the title-page." 
 
 PALL MALL GAZETTE.— "They are models of what such stories 
 should be." 
 
 SHEFFIELD DAILY TELEGRAPH.—" Excellent examples of 
 Mrs. Oliphant's work." 
 
 SCOTSMAN. — " All three stories have a fine literary flavour and an 
 artistic finish, and within their limited scope present some subtle 
 analyses of character." 
 
 NORTHERN IFH/G.—" Anything from the pen of the late 
 Mrs. Oliphant will always be welcome to a large number of readers, 
 who will therefore note with pleasant interest the publication by 
 Messrs. Macmillan of a neat volume containing three tales, ' That 
 Little Cutty,' ' Dr. Barrere,' and ' Isabel Dysart.' Of the three, 
 although all are most readable, the most skilfully constructed is the 
 second named, the plot and climax of which are decidedly dramatic. 
 The last story deals with the still unforgotten period of the horrible 
 Burke and Hare revelations in Edinburgh." 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd., LONDON 
 
Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 THE FOREST LOVERS 
 
 A ROMANCE 
 
 By MAURICE HEWLETT 
 
 SPECTATOR. — " The Forest Lovers is no mere literary tour de force, 
 but an uncommonly attractive romance, the charm of which is greatly 
 enhanced by the author's excellent style." 
 
 DAILY TELEGRAPH.— •■Mr. Maurice Hewlett's Forest Lovers 
 stands out with conspicuous success . . He has compassed a very 
 remarkable achievement For nearly four hundred pages he carries 
 
 us along with him with unfailing resource and artistic skill, while he 
 unrolls for us the course of thrilling adventures, ending, after many 
 tribulations, in that ideal happiness towards which every romancer 
 ought to wend his tortuous way There are few books of this 
 
 season which achieve their aim so simply and whole-heartedly as 
 Mr. Hewlett's ingenious and enthralling romance." 
 
 WORLD. — " If there are any romance-lovers left in this matter-of- 
 fact end of the century. The Forest Lovers, by Mr. Maurice Hewlett, 
 should receive a cordial welcome. It is one of those charming books 
 which, instead of analyzing the morbid emotions of which we are all 
 too weary, opens a door out of this workaday world and lets us escape 
 into fresh air. A very fresh and breezy air it is which blows in 
 Mr. Hewlett's forest, and vigorous are the deeds enacted there. . 
 There is throughout the book that deeper and less easily defined charm 
 which lifts true romance above mere story-telling — a genuine touch of 
 poetic feeling which beautifies the whole." 
 
 DAILY MAIL. — " It is all very quaintly and pleasingly done, with 
 plenty of mad work, and blood-spilling, and surprising adventure." 
 
 James Lane Allen, Author of The Choir Invisible, writes of 
 The Forest Lovers : " This work, for any one of several solid reasons, 
 must be regarded as of very unusual interest. In the matter of style 
 alone, it is an achievement, an extraordinary achievement. Such a 
 piece of English prose, saturated and racy with idiom, compact and 
 warm throughout as living human tissues, well deserves to be set apart 
 for grateful study and express appreciation. . . In the matter of 
 interpreting nature there are passages in this book that I have never 
 seen surpassed in prose fiction." 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd., LONDON 
 
 >3] 
 
Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 THE 
 
 GOSPEL OF FREEDOM 
 
 By ROBERT HERRICK 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE MAN WHO WINS," "LITERARY LOVE LETTERS, AND 
 OTHER STORIES " 
 
 DAILY MAIL. — "Distinctly enjoyable and suggestive of much 
 profitable thought." 
 
 SCOTSMAN. — " The book has a deal of literary merit, and is well 
 furnished with clever phrases." 
 
 ATHENjEUM.—" Rem3.Tka.hly clever. . . . The writing through- 
 out is clear, and the story is well constructed." 
 
 W. D. HowELLS in LITERATURE. — " A very clever new novel." 
 
 GUARDIAN. — " The novel is well written, and full of complex 
 interests and personalities. It touches on many questions and problems 
 clearly and skilfully." 
 
 DAILY CHRONICLE. — "A book which entirely interested us for 
 the whole of a blazing afternoon. He writes uncommonly well." 
 
 BOOKMAN. — " The excellence of Mr. Herrick's book lies not in the 
 solution of any problem, nor in the promulgation of any theory, nor 
 indeed in any form of docketing and setting apart of would-be final 
 answers to the enigmas of existence. He simply tells a story and leaves 
 us to draw what conclusion we like. The admirable thing is that his 
 story is a particularly interesting one, and that he tells it remarkably 
 well . . There are some delightful minor characters." 
 
 MANCHESTER GUARDIAN.— ■■ The characters, all American, 
 have originalitj and life The self-engrossed Adela is so cleverly drawn 
 that we are hardly ever out of sympathy with her aspirations, and 
 Molly Parker, the ' womanly ' foil, is delightful." 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO , Ltd., LONDON 
 
 [14 
 
Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 THE 
 
 GENERAL MANAGER'S 
 STORY 
 
 By HERBERT ELLICOTT HAMBLEN 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 PALL MALL GAZETTE.— "Rema.rka.Hs for the fulness of its 
 author's knowledge. Nor does the interest of Mr. Hamblen's 
 
 volume depend solely on its vivid account of sensational escapes and 
 dramatic accidents, though there is no lack of exciting incidents of this 
 kind in his story. . . . What charmed us chiefly in the story was the close 
 and exact account of the every-day working of a great railroad. . 
 There was not a page that we did not find full of interest and instruction. 
 It was all real, and most of it new, while Mr. Hamblen's vivid and 
 straightforward style does much to enhance the intrinsic merits of his 
 narrative. . We venture to think that no one will be able to leave 
 the breathless and realistic account of such an episode as the chase of 
 the runaway engine — not a figment of the imagination, but a sober and 
 hideous fact, accounted for and explained by tha most intelligible of 
 mechanical reasons — without a thrill of genuine excitement." 
 
 SCOTSMAN. — " Mr. Hamblen shows a mastery of detail, and is easy 
 and fluent in American railwaymen's jargon, much of it more expressive 
 than polite. His book is well written, instructive, and of thrilling 
 interest. There are almost a score of capital illustrations." 
 
 DAILY MAIL. — "The pages are full of rough, but attractive, 
 characters, forcible language, brakemen, locomoti\es, valves, throttles, 
 levers, and fire-scoops ; and the whole dashing record is casually 
 humorous amid its inevitable brutalities, and is of its kind excellent." 
 
 ATHEN.S.UM. — "The story is vividly told, and decidedly well kept 
 up with tales of hairbreadth escapes and collisions commendable for 
 vigour and naturalness. ... A book which holds the interest." 
 
 WORLD. — " Better worth readmg than half the romances published, 
 for it contains matter that is as interesting as it is absolutely novel." 
 
 ACADEMY. — "A monstrous entertaining little book. Open it 
 anywhere and your luck will hardly fail you. And for real gripping 
 adventure you begin to doubt whether any career is worthy to show 
 itself in the same caboose with that of an ' engineer.' . His life is as 
 full of adventure as a pirate's ... A valuable contribution to the 
 literature that is growing around the Romance of Steam." 
 
 WESTMINSTER G^ZfiTTE.—" Singularly fascinating. It is just 
 crammed with moving episodes and hair-raising adventures, all set 
 down with a vivid and unadorned vigour that is a perfect example of 
 the art of narration. The pulses quicken, the heart bounds, as we 
 read." 
 
 DAILY CHRONICLE.—" A most interesting volume." 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd., LONDON 
 
 is5 
 
100,000 copies of this work have been sold 
 Fcap. 8vo. 6 s. 
 
 THE CHOIR INVISIBLE 
 
 By JAMES LANE ALLEN 
 
 AUTHOR OF "SUMMER IN ARCADY," " A KENTUCKY CARDINAL," ETC. 
 
 ACADEMY. — "A book to read, and a book to keep after reading. 
 Mr. Allen's gifts are many — a style pellucid and picturesque, a vivid and 
 disciplined power of characterization, and an intimate knowledge of a 
 striking epoch and an alluring country. ... So magical is the wilder- 
 ness environment, so fresh the characters, so buoyant the life they lead, 
 so companionable, so well balanced, and so touched with humanity, the 
 author's personality, that I hereby send him greeting and thanks for a 
 brave book. . . . TAe C/fOJj- /nms/We is a fine achievement." 
 
 PALL MALL G^ZETTfi.—" Mr. Allen's power of character draw- 
 ing invests the old, old story with renewed and absorbing interest. . . . 
 The fascination of the story lies in great part in Mr. Allen's graceful 
 and vivid style." 
 
 DAILY MAIL. — " The Choir Invisible is one of those very few books 
 which help one to live. And hereby it is beautiful even more than by 
 reason of its absolute purity of style, its splendid descriptions of 
 nature, and the level grandeur of its severe, yet warm and passionate 
 atmosphere." 
 
 BRITISH WEEKLY.—- Certainly this is no commonplace book, 
 and I have failed to do justice to its beauty, its picturesqueness, its 
 style, its frequent nobility of feeling, and its large, patient charity." 
 
 SPEAKER. — " We trust that there are few who read it who will fail 
 to regard its perusal as one of the new pleasures of their lives. . One 
 of those rare stories which make a direct appeal alike to the taste and 
 feeling of most men and women, and which afford a gratification that 
 is far greater than that of mere critical approval. It is, in plain English, 
 a beautiful book — beautiful in language and in sentiments, in design 
 and in execution. Its chief merit lies in the fact that Mr. Allen has 
 grasped the true spirit of historical romance, and has shown how fully 
 he understands both the links which unite, and the time-spaces which 
 divide, the different generations of man." 
 
 SATURDAY REVIEW.—- Mr. James Lane Allen is a writer who 
 cannot well put pen to paper without revealing how finely sensitive he 
 is to beauty." 
 
 BOOKMAN. — " The main interest is not the revival of old times, but 
 a love-story which might be of to-day, or any day, a story which 
 reminds one very pleasantly of Harry Esmond and Lady Castlewood." 
 
 ATLANTIC MONTHLY.— "We think he will be a novelist, perhaps 
 even a great novelist — one of the few who hold large powers of divers 
 sort in solution to be precipitated in some new unexpected form." 
 
 GUARDIAN. — "One of those rare books that will bear reading 
 many times." 
 
 DAILY NEWS. — " Mr. J. L. Allen shows himself a delicate observer, 
 and a fine literary artist in The Choir Invisible." 
 
 ST. JAMES'S GAZETTE —" A book that should be read by all 
 those who ask for something besides sensationalism in their fiction." 
 
 SPECTATOR. — " Marked by beauty of conception, reticenceof treat- 
 ment, and it has an atmosphere all its own." 
 
 DAILY CHRONICLE.— "It is written with singular delicacy and 
 has an old-world fragrance which seems to come from the classics we 
 keep in lavender. . . There are few who can approach his delicate 
 execution in the painting of ideal tenderness and fleeting moods." 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd., LONDON